Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Jim Peck AI simulator
(@Jim Peck_simulator)
Hub AI
Jim Peck AI simulator
(@Jim Peck_simulator)
Jim Peck
James Edward Peck (born April 16, 1939) is an American television and radio personality based in Milwaukee and is perhaps best known for his time as a game show host.
After Peck graduated from Marquette University with a double major in English and Psychology in 1962, he worked as an admissions counselor for Marquette. While thinking about his career options, Peck became interested in broadcasting. He had dabbled in acting by appearing in several theatrical plays on campus during his college years and the idea of performing intrigued him.
In 1968 he joined the staff of WISN-TV in Milwaukee as a booth announcer doing station breaks and other announcing chores. In 1969, Peck moved to WVTV in Milwaukee, where he served as host of the talk show Confrontation from 1969 to 1971, and then hosted Jim Peck's Hotline for WTMJ-TV from 1971 to 1973. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1973 to host the talk show Take It From Here for WRC-TV, where he remained for the next three years.
Ron Greenberg was developing the game show Showdown for ABC and hired Peck to host the pilot. Although ABC did not pick up the show, in 1974 Greenberg taped a second pilot and the show was retitled The Big Showdown. This time, ABC picked up the series and the show ran from December 23, 1974, until July 4, 1975. Peck continued hosting Take It From Here in Washington, D.C. during this time and commuted to New York City every three weeks to tape episodes for The Big Showdown.
Peck then hosted the unusual Hot Seat, a Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley production which featured an oversized lie detector to measure a spouse's responses to personal questions. Hot Seat began airing on July 12, 1976, along with Family Feud, but was gone after 15 weeks and aired its final episode on October 22 of that year.
Shortly before the demise of Hot Seat, Peck had moved to Los Angeles and following the show's cancellation, ABC President Fred Silverman put him under exclusive contract with the network to host game shows and other projects. Peck also occasionally substituted for David Hartman on Good Morning America. In March 1977 he began to helm Second Chance, produced by Bill Carruthers and a precursor to Carruthers' Press Your Luck that premiered in 1983 and ran for three seasons. Peck's series wasn't as popular as its follow-up and after 19 weeks of episodes, Second Chance left the air on July 15, 1977. Peck has not hosted a network game show since.
Peck began developing a late-night special for ABC called After Hours: The Jim Peck Special which he hosted and produced. The special was taped in the fall of 1977, but his contract with the network expired, and the special never aired. In the fall of 1978, Peck was called on to host a second revival of the 1960s classic word game You Don't Say! that Tom Kennedy had hosted. Suffering from low ratings and a lack of major market clearances, You Don't Say! did not last a full season, and its final episode aired in March 1979.
Afterward, Peck became host of the controversial Chuck Barris game show Three's a Crowd, which asked the question, "Who knows a man better, his wife or his secretary?" Three's a Crowd only lasted for 4+1⁄2 months (September 17, 1979 to February 1, 1980) due in part to both the low ratings the show pulled in and the backlash caused by the show's content.
Jim Peck
James Edward Peck (born April 16, 1939) is an American television and radio personality based in Milwaukee and is perhaps best known for his time as a game show host.
After Peck graduated from Marquette University with a double major in English and Psychology in 1962, he worked as an admissions counselor for Marquette. While thinking about his career options, Peck became interested in broadcasting. He had dabbled in acting by appearing in several theatrical plays on campus during his college years and the idea of performing intrigued him.
In 1968 he joined the staff of WISN-TV in Milwaukee as a booth announcer doing station breaks and other announcing chores. In 1969, Peck moved to WVTV in Milwaukee, where he served as host of the talk show Confrontation from 1969 to 1971, and then hosted Jim Peck's Hotline for WTMJ-TV from 1971 to 1973. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1973 to host the talk show Take It From Here for WRC-TV, where he remained for the next three years.
Ron Greenberg was developing the game show Showdown for ABC and hired Peck to host the pilot. Although ABC did not pick up the show, in 1974 Greenberg taped a second pilot and the show was retitled The Big Showdown. This time, ABC picked up the series and the show ran from December 23, 1974, until July 4, 1975. Peck continued hosting Take It From Here in Washington, D.C. during this time and commuted to New York City every three weeks to tape episodes for The Big Showdown.
Peck then hosted the unusual Hot Seat, a Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley production which featured an oversized lie detector to measure a spouse's responses to personal questions. Hot Seat began airing on July 12, 1976, along with Family Feud, but was gone after 15 weeks and aired its final episode on October 22 of that year.
Shortly before the demise of Hot Seat, Peck had moved to Los Angeles and following the show's cancellation, ABC President Fred Silverman put him under exclusive contract with the network to host game shows and other projects. Peck also occasionally substituted for David Hartman on Good Morning America. In March 1977 he began to helm Second Chance, produced by Bill Carruthers and a precursor to Carruthers' Press Your Luck that premiered in 1983 and ran for three seasons. Peck's series wasn't as popular as its follow-up and after 19 weeks of episodes, Second Chance left the air on July 15, 1977. Peck has not hosted a network game show since.
Peck began developing a late-night special for ABC called After Hours: The Jim Peck Special which he hosted and produced. The special was taped in the fall of 1977, but his contract with the network expired, and the special never aired. In the fall of 1978, Peck was called on to host a second revival of the 1960s classic word game You Don't Say! that Tom Kennedy had hosted. Suffering from low ratings and a lack of major market clearances, You Don't Say! did not last a full season, and its final episode aired in March 1979.
Afterward, Peck became host of the controversial Chuck Barris game show Three's a Crowd, which asked the question, "Who knows a man better, his wife or his secretary?" Three's a Crowd only lasted for 4+1⁄2 months (September 17, 1979 to February 1, 1980) due in part to both the low ratings the show pulled in and the backlash caused by the show's content.