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Jerry Lewis leaving MDA telethon

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Inky_Wretch, May 16, 2011.

  1. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

  2. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    God bless Jerry. He's done so much good.
     
  3. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    I think it will. They've got to find someone who could be good at entertaining like that for six hours. Someone like Tom Bergeron comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others.

    I echo Liut above. God bless Jerry.
     
  4. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    The telethon is dead. It's been fading for a while now, but it will never be what it was. TV stations simply won't clear that much time the way they once did. A lot of stations have been only picking up portions of it, or farming out hours to cable channels.

    It's such a hodgepodge of unknown and over-the-hill acts now that it's terribly unappealing for stations, which can make more money doing other things with those hours. A three-hour variety show, loaded with relevant acts, might have a chance. A 20-hour telethon isn't ever going to happen again.
     
  5. D-3 Fan

    D-3 Fan Well-Known Member

    Gee, that sounds a lot like our local Variety telethon. Over-the-hill acts, no-name B-actors, and the like. And they still pull in $2+ million every year. If television stations are concerned about making profit off of a telethon that raises money for children and individuals living with MDA, then that's their problem. Taking a financial hit for 2 days isn't going to ruin them. But that's their lost.
     
  6. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    It's already happened. WGN was in and out of the MDA Telethon. Stations in bigger markets aren't going to turn over 20 hours any more. Lewis' leaving makes that an easier decision.

    It's not about "making a profit off the telethon," it's doing other things with that time that will make money and, quite honestly, better serve the audience.

    BTW, MDA has a reputation for being inefficient with the funds it raises.
     
  7. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Not to be a further killjoy, but there are more than a few MD patients who don't care for Lewis' sob stories about their plight. Been years since I've seen one, but Parade has run an "op-ed" story to go along with the glowing cover stories on Lewis pre-telethon in recent years. If it's not shut down altogether after Lewis leaves, I can see more stations shuffling it off to their digital subchannels.
     
  8. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    I can only hope that sometime deep in the night of that final show, he screens "The Day the Clown Cried." I'd send him $100 if he does that.
     
  9. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    awesome work by jerry for the mda all these years. i know full well all of his personal shortcomings but two things can never be taken from his legacy: 1 -- the man was a comic GENIUS in his day, both on stage and as a filmmaker (guess steve martin, more recently jim carrey are the more modern versions).

    and

    2 -- the telethon. he was a driven, maniacal, 1-man force of nature when it came to his 'kids.' no doubt there are several behind-the-scenes horror stories insiders can tell, but this was his baby until the end.

    it's over. no one should even try to replace him. find another way to build up your research money.
     
  10. Mystery Meat II

    Mystery Meat II Well-Known Member

    Too bad Jerry couldn't do one final telethon, even an abbreviated one this year, and put the telethon to bed once and for all. I'll miss the kitchy 3 a.m. acts, but I guess we move on.
     
  11. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    um, he IS doing this year's, unless i misread....
     
  12. Rumpleforeskin

    Rumpleforeskin Active Member

    Won't somebody please think of the children!
     
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