Final gong

Chuck Barris, the madcap producer who gave us Dating Game, Newlywed Game and Gong Show, has died at age 87.

Chuckie baby had long since faded from public view, really since the demise of Gong Show in 1980. He wrote some books and invented a ridiculous story about spy exploits, but otherwise he pretty much dropped out of sight. The movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, about his fictional CIA career, brought a small wave of attention in 2003, but it was a minor bit of fame at best.

His shows have lived on, though. Newlywed Game went through many permutations, and reruns of Sherri Shepherd's version still turn up on GSN in the wee hours. ABC has reportedly ordered a revival of Gong Show, and Dating Game has spawned so many variants - game shows and reality shows - that it would be silly to try to count them all.

Barris gloried in his tastelessness, so there's no reason to rehash all the arguments about how he lowered whatever standards TV might have. He was the unabashed King of Schlock and loved every minute, though he would sometimes get defensive about his less than shining reputation. His personal life was stained by tragedy, when his only child died of a drug overdose. He once said, only half-jokingly, that his tombstone would read "Gonged at last." R.I.P.

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