Those of us who are old enough to remember when Saturday morning TV was THE place to be every week have lost a friend.
Dick Clark (born November 30, 1929) was a fixture of American popular entertainment for over fifty years, particularly through the Saturday morning program American Bandstand. He also was the host of several game shows, the most famous of which was The ($10,000/$20,000/$25,000/$100,000) Pyramid. Through the music programs he hosted/produced, he helped introduce America to many of it's most famous acts, from KISS to Michael Jackson to Madonna. It didn't matter the genre, if Dick Clark liked you, you appeared on Bandstand or his successful annual special Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
In the 80s, he produced and co-hosted (alongside the late, great Ed McMahon) TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, where TV's best mistakes and blunders were taken out of the vault and aired for all to see. They also played some brilliant practical jokes on some of the most popular celebrities of the day, which were recorded via hidden camera for air on the program. The (in my opinion) talentless hack known as Ashton Kutcher would later rip off the latter idea for his MTV program Punk'd.
In 2004, Clark suffered a debilitating stroke and was forced to miss that year's New Year's Eve special. The following year, he made his return to the telecast after having to teach himself how to speak all over again. He would continue to appear on the annual telecast over the next several years, with primary hosting duties being assumed by (in my opinion) another talentless hack- Ryan Seacrest. Dick Clark died today, April 18, 2012, following a heart attack. He was 82 years old.
I remember well, after my weekly dose of cartoons, watching Bandstand as a lead-in to my weekly dose of professional wrestling and monster movies (Japanese and otherwise). I miss those days greatly. I will miss Dick Clark just as greatly.
Rock on in the great beyond...
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