# Gong Show 2004, why not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222 "2003-11-14T11:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crazy\_grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@crazy\_grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy_grady)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/1 "2003-11-14T11:45:32Z")
I think with the popularity of reality programs and American Idol, they should put the Gong Show back on the air. The Gong Show rocked. Who would host my Gong Show? Ben Stien would be good if he had a few drinks in him. I also Snoop Dogg for some odd reason, but he would be too expensive to get. Jimmy Kimmel? Ed O’Neill? Someone brilliant, yet crazy and dumb like Barris would be difficult but possible. Weekly Prize 5166.32 (Five thousand one hundred sixty six dollars and 32 cents), a 1000 dollar consolation to the worst act of the week, then at the end of the season, have a 1 million dollar payoff with real Hollywood agents. Panel members? Again Snoop Dogg, I like John Billingsley from Enterprise for some reason. Various other humerous TV actors can do it too. Bob Newhart, the voices from the Simpsons, who knows? If the networks hate it,(ABC or FOX might bite) take it to cable, where people can curse, and it would even be better. Bring back the Gong Show!!! ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/2 "2003-11-14T11:47:44Z")
I’d watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/3 "2003-11-14T12:50:25Z")
Bah! I thought this would be a thread about the band **Gong** [http://www.planetgong.co.uk/](http://www.planetgong.co.uk/) More coffee needed for Celyn, methinks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/4 "2003-11-14T13:39:20Z")
Count me out. I hated that show in the 70’s; I hated it when they brought it back in the 80’s. It would be like resurrecting Laugh-In - just leave it be. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/5 "2003-11-14T15:30:04Z")
They did the talent side of it with **30 Seconds to Fame** , last summer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/6 "2003-11-14T16:40:49Z")
I’d watch it. More possible celeb judges that I’d like to see: John Waters, the Hilton sisters, choreographer Jill Taylor, Tampa Bay Buc Warren Sapp, Deborah Harry, Tenacious D, Carrie Fisher, George Carlin, Parker Posey, Gene & Deen Ween, Simon Doonan, Elizabeth Berkeley [Showgirls], Spike Jonze & Sophia Coppola, TMBG, Bebe Neuwirth, Iggy Pop, Isaac Mizrahi… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/7 "2003-11-14T17:05:31Z")
I’m guessing American Idol or any other of those talent competition type shows would be immeasurably improved by the presence of a gong. I like some of **Scrivener** ’s judge suggestions, and I’d add Joel Hodgson and/or Mike Nelson, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and Statler & Waldorf from the Muppets (with Gonzo wielding the gong mallet?). ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/8 "2003-11-14T20:14:09Z")
Much as I like watching the original “Gong Show”, I have a bad feeling it may be somewhat unreplicable. In order for a remake to work, you need to find: 1. A host you can’t- and knows it, 2. Uninhibited panelists, especially ones of Z-Grade celebrity, 3. Contestants who can be a little shocking WITHOUT being unairable, and 4. Sufficiently quirky “recurring acts”. If you can get all that, then you have a program. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gong-show-2004-why-not/213222/9 "2003-11-14T21:12:48Z")
The original Gong Show had its own bizarre integrity. IMO, if it were recreated, it would be all slicked up, Post Modern ironic, wink-wink, we’re-so-bad-we’re-hilarious, and that would ruin it.