Mommy, I'm scared

A thread on, well, it's not Matt Ottinger's board any more, asked people for their "game show terrors." As so often happens on the board, the thread ran into some sour-lemon-ish personal bickering and then rolled completely off the rails into a silly snipefest. The final yelling started over, of all things, the Emergency Broadcast System. (Now there's a really fun game show for ya, kids!)

But a few interesting posts managed to poke their way through. Various game show graphics, logos, and sound effects gave posters the willies when they were young'uns. I could say something rude and silly...like the size of Richard Dawson's ego always terrified me. But the real fear and loathing of my childhood was watching that big clock run down on Beat the Clock.

I know, it sounds bizarre. Still, there was something so ominous about watching that huge clock hand tick off those precious seconds right down to the fateful, final end. Just scared the bejesus out of me, as if my life were about to expire along with the contestants' fleeting moments.

It didn't help that the unctuous Bud Collyer seemed like a snake-oil huckster, even to my uncynical childhood self. He looked like just the kind of guy who would pull a truly evil trick on little old me. Okay, nobody ever died on the show. But time always does win, after all.