Quizmaster

The Life and Times and Fun and Games of Bill Cullen

By: Adam Nedeff

Narrated by: Peter Bierma

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Question: What do Bob Barker, Dick Clark, Pat Sajak, and Alex Trebek have in common? Answer: Bill Cullen hosted more game shows than all of them combined. And all of them have referred to Bill as the best game show host of all time. Quizmaster: The Life and Times and Fun and Games of Bill Cullen is the remarkable story of a "a kid with polio" who became a mechanic, truck driver, photographer, pilot, disc jockey, and the finest master of ceremonies that a game show could ever have. Adam Nedeff is a freelance writer originally from Vienna, West Virginia, now residing in Glendale, California. He is also the author of the four-volume set This Day in Game Show History.

©2013 Adam Nedeff (P)2013 BearManor Media

Out of breath

I grew up with Bill Cullen and very much enjoy the content/story. But the narrator while having a very clear and pleasant voice, never breathes. Each chapter is like one long run-on sentence. With a different style, this book would have been 50% longer (a good thing). I like to be able think for a moment about what was just said, but there is absolutely no pause between sentences.

Great history of an amazing man. A lot of fun

I loved the detail about each show. You feel like you got to know the real man. My only complaint is the pronunciation of many names by the reader. Desi Arnaz, Victor Borge, Bennet Cerf, Tom Poston, Joe Garagiola, Melvin Belli, Jim Lange. These are giants in the TV world or history. Someone performing a book should make an effort to pronounce people’s names correctly. Anything else is an insult to those people.

Great Book, Subpar Narration

Any Game Show fan would enjoy this book don't buy the audio version tho.

Fascinating!

Enjoyed listening & learning about the fascinating career and life of Bill Cullen. I know him from watching many I've Got a Secret episodes and seeing him on some other game shows. I love biographies of stars from the early days of TV so this was right up my alley. Highly recommend!

A fitting bio for a legend of broadcasting

Good research and gave Cullen the credit he was do. However, the narrator spoke too fast ( reducing the speed helped) and had absolutely no clue how to pronounce names of other big players, which definitely dumbed the book down considerably. Poor Garagiola really got the worst, but Tom Poston got "Pahst-ahn".... just as bad. please consider fixing these. It jarred you right out of the story every time he garbled a name!!

Do your research

I love Bill Cullen and the history of early TV and game shows. I was excited to listen to this audio book. Just a few minutes into the book, I was disappointed to hear narrator Peter Bierma mispronounce a famous name. But that was just the beginning. Throughout the book, Bierma mispronounced so many well-known names that it was distracting beyond belief. Names pronounced like Desi "Arnauz," Don "Pardough," Joe "Gar-a-GE-ola," Jim "Lanje." And how getting Milton Berle to do a show was a "coop" (coup). I would think a narrator would do at least some research, but if not, are there no editors checking for mispronunciations? Another annoying technique they used was reading all Bill Cullen quotes with an effect like it is playing through a tiny speaker. I guess it was a cute way of making it sound like it was on an old fashioned tv. But the quotes were read in a monotone and were extremely monotonous.