Another chapter closes

One by one the leading figures in the game show rigging scandals are dying. Another sad note: Albert Freedman, producer of Twenty One, has died at age 95.

Freedman sort of admitted to the rigging on the show and got a second-degree perjury conviction for his pains. (He served no time, of course, like all the other people involved in the scandals.) He was never overly repentant. A statement from his family says Freedman always thought that the scandal was a "witch hunt" concocted by politicos and newspapers.

You can blame lots of things on politicians and the news media, but neither forced Freedman and friends to rig game shows. Blacklisted from TV, Freedman another job with Bob Guccione of Penthouse, of all people.

Hank Azaria played Freedman in Quiz Show, the sometimes accurate 1994 movie about the scandals. He is survived by no fewer than ten grandchildren. R.I.P.

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