THE HYPE ANOTHER `LINK' IN THE CHAIN A NEW HOST TAKES OVER THE DAYTIME VERSION OF NBC'S PRIME-TIME GAME SHOW.George Gray has blond highlights in his close-cropped sandy hair, small, rectangular dark-framed glasses, a ``soul patch'' of whiskers See metal whiskers. just beneath his lower lip and a wardrobe that runs from black to black. He kind of looks like a Sundance Film Festival wanna-be. Anything but a game-show host. Wink Martindale he's not. But Gray isn't hosting a traditional game show. His is the new daytime syndicated version of ``The Weakest Link,'' which he calls an ``anti-game show.'' Gray, who lives in the hills above Universal City, is familiar to some viewers as host of TLC's ``Junkyard Wars,'' the game show for ``gearheads.'' ``The Weakest Link,'' he says, is a job he enjoys every single day. ``I'm just tickled stupid,'' he said. The show, debuting at 3 p.m. Monday on NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. (Channel 4), uses the same Burbank set, the same mood lighting and music, and the same basic rules as the NBC prime-time version that made British host Anne Robinson an unlikely (and unlikable) celebrity. But it has six contestants instead of eight and tightens the time clock on each round to compress it into a half hour. The former stand-up stand·up or stand-up adj. 1. Standing erect; upright: a standup collar. 2. Taken, done, or used while standing: a standup supper; a standup bar. comic and audience warm-up guy fires off questions with a brusk brusque also brusk adj. Abrupt and curt in manner or speech; discourteously blunt. See Synonyms at gruff. [French, lively, fierce, from Italian brusco, coarse, rough urgency that can make bright people blurt out the wrong response, shocking even themselves with the inanity in·an·i·ty n. pl. in·an·i·ties 1. The condition or quality of being inane. 2. Something empty of meaning or sense. Noun 1. of their answers. Between rounds, he chides the bumblers with a lighter touch than the sneering Robinson, then sends one packing with the now-familiar phrase, ``You are the weakest link. Goodbye.'' Gray cannot resist opportunities laid in his lap by a contestant who, when asked to name the British prime minister before Winston Churchill, shouted ``Richard Chamberlain!'' (``Was he prime minister before or after making 'The Thorn Birds'?'' he retorted) or a robotics company employee who gave the measurement of a right angle as 45 degrees. Those types are usually quickest to go when all the players vote one out. ``This ain't 'Jeopardy!' baby,'' Gray said. ``This is not about being a brainiac. This is about being smart enough to get through the show and fly under the radar This article is about the magazine. For other uses, see Under the Radar (disambiguation). Under the Radar is an American magazine that bills itself as "The solution to music pollution." It features interviews with accompanying photo-shoots. . ``Underachievers of the world, unite,'' he said with a laugh. ``It's about time It's About Time may refer to:
- Valerie Kuklenski WHO YOU GONNA WATCH?: At the beginning of ``Ghostbusters II,'' Bill Murray's character, Peter Venkman, has capitalized on his fame for saving New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. by hosting ``World of the Psychic,'' a cheesy cheesy (che´ze) caseous. cable-TV show on the paranormal paranormal, adj 1. outside the realm of normal experience or scientific explanation. n 2. collective term for anomalous phenomena. . One of ``II's'' writers was Dan Aykroyd, who also played Ghostbuster Ray Stantz. Now, what was a joke is becoming reality as the comedian/actor will host ``Dan Aykroyd's Out There,'' a Sci-Fi Channel late-night talk show on the world of the paranormal. Billed as an interactive talk show on the paranormal, the half-hour strip each night is to feature Aykroyd, celebrity guests and everyday people discussing topics of the bizarre and unexplainable. The show will have an interactive component, with viewers able to correspond with the show via the network's Web site, www.scifi.com. ``Out There'' will serve as a companion piece to Sci Fi's other paranormal reality series, ``Crossing Over With John Edward,'' in which host Edward serves as a medium to talk to the souls of the dead who have ``crossed over.'' The series, which begins production in New York this month, will be launched sometime in the spring. Aykroyd also hosted a similar, syndicated series, ``Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal,'' in 1996. - Staff and Wire Services CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) no caption (George Gray) (2) DAN AYKROYD |
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