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March 13, 2006 8:56 PM

"...he just loved the genre of game shows." Peter Tomarken was killed today in a plane crash in Santa Monica, CA, while on an errand of mercy. As the host of the original Press Your Luck, he was associated with some wacky (and later controversial) Eighties television.
posted by LinusMines (15 comments total)

-- Another take on the scandal at the Rotten.com library (SFW)

-- As part of tributes, tomorrow evening GSN will air the 2003 two-hour documentary Tomarken hosted on the scandal.

-- "...A short film he did back in 2004 called 19 at 11 has been airing throughout this month on IFC as part of their second Short Film Collection (it's the third one in the set). It'll continue to air through the rest of March. He played a veteran news anchor at a local TV station who was somewhat bent on giving his newbie co-anchor a hard time..." (via)
posted by LinusMines at 8:57 PM on March 13, 2006

That's funny. I wondered who died this morning. I kept my ears peeled all day. Funny I would get my local news from MF.
posted by filchyboy at 9:37 PM on March 13, 2006

One of my favorite game shows ever. I still say "Big money, no whammies" whenever I'm playing a game of chance. Sad news.
posted by Ruki at 9:37 PM on March 13, 2006

Suck it Charles Van Doren!
posted by bardic at 9:39 PM on March 13, 2006

Allow me to put my . in now, before this thread disintegrates. I fear for it.
posted by evilcolonel at 9:43 PM on March 13, 2006

Can someone PLEASE pirate the GSN documentary for me? I'd love to see it, and I don't own a Tivo. Argh!

I remember hearing about this when I was a kid - I watched "Press Your Luck" like it was going out of style. I LOVED that show!

And it's sad that Peter died. Angel Flight does good work. :(
posted by drstein at 10:00 PM on March 13, 2006

I knew about the story of the guy who sort of scammed the game show (and wasn't there supposed to be a movie starring like Bill Murray or something?) but I never knew that he ended up using that money in a real estate scam and died of throat cancer while basically on the run from the law.

Weird.
posted by xmutex at 10:09 PM on March 13, 2006

Haven't we buried this one already?
posted by marvin at 10:45 PM on March 13, 2006

Yeah, that's some story xmutex. As for the (movie), I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon.
posted by tellurian at 10:50 PM on March 13, 2006

My heart still goes out to the family...
posted by darkstar at 3:02 AM on March 14, 2006

Thanks for taking my advice, LinusMines.

And again:

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posted by Gator at 3:50 AM on March 14, 2006

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posted by moonbird at 4:05 AM on March 14, 2006

I spent every day of my childhood looking forward to watching Press Your Luck. I loved that show...

Ruki: Same here. All the time.

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posted by jeversol at 9:31 AM on March 14, 2006

In the end, the whammies always win.

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posted by JHarris at 11:27 AM on March 14, 2006

I had heard he died, but I didn't hear it was on a trip for Angel Flight. That's a bit more tragic than I first thought - does anybody know what happened to the Angel Flight patient? I know his wife died as well, so I assume there were no survivors?
posted by etoile at 6:56 AM on March 15, 2006