Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Blind Item #8 - Kindness

Like many kindness posts, I just have edited to include descriptions rather than the names.

Years ago. When this former A+ list network hit was new and big, my best friend in school had been diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer. Most people with this cancer die within 6 months, and at the time of this kindness, she was on month 9. She came to my apartment, crying, because her boyfriend had broken up with her over the phone on her way to my place. So rather than whatever plans we had that night, we went to the hot restaurant in LA at the time because my best friend had always wanted to go. We were students and poor so we couldn't afford it, but we went anyway because if there was ever a night to do something you couldn't afford, that was it. Anyway, my friend's favorite show was the one mentioned above and this was a show night. We went to eat really early because she wanted to be back to see it (TiVo was still new, so this was back when you had to watch a show on its air slot). We'd just gotten seated, when the host of the show walked in and sat at the booth with four other people across from us. My friend was completely starstruck and thrilled just to sit across from the host of her favorite show. When she went to go to the bathroom, I got up (aided by several drinks), went to the host's booth, stopped their conversation and said 'I'm sorry but my friend is really sick and she's had a bad day and really loves your show. Will you come talk to her?'  I started crying somewhere in there, too. Without hesitation, the host stopped his conversation, left his dinner and came over to our table so when she came back from the bathroom he was sitting in her chair and there to surprise her. She was so shocked, and so thrilled. The host stayed there for 15 minutes talking to her, giving her some fun show gossip and inviting her to a taping. We were his guests at the next taping, and he wore a yellow watch band (like the livestrong bands) and came over to talk to her before the show, between every commercial break, and after the show. He told other stars on the show about her, so they came over during the breaks, too. She was on cloud nine that night, and couldn't have been made to feel more special. She died a few months later, and this was one of the last great memories I have with her while she was still well enough to be out. I will love this host forever for that. ‎


35 comments:

  1. This is the best ever. Wow. Thank you for sharing this one.

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  2. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"--Regis Philbin.

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  3. Deal or No Deal, Howie Mandel

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  4. Drew Carey, Whose Line is it Anyways

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  5. could picture this being regis, but what i can't picture is someone getting that excited that they have to get home by the time "millionaire" airs. but i was quite young during its heyday so maybe im wrong. if not regis, i agree with the drew carey guesses. i always really liked him

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  6. Love the Drew Carey / cast guess. Hope it's them.

    Has to be a show with more than one star, or there would have been no one else to meet at a taping.

    Another less likely possibility: American Idol (ew, Ryan Seacrest? doubt it.)

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  7. Drew Carey is quite generous to random strangers by all accounts. Also, political conservatives are often designated as kind on this blog, so he's a good guess.

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  8. This is totally Pat Sajak!

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  9. Whoever this is, I can't wait to find out. What a lovely story, and person.

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  10. Has to be Seacrest.

    Millionaire was shot in NYC, and Survivor is obviously mainly shot overseas (unless it was the finale they were invited too).

    Could be Drew Carey too. Was Who's line ever that big on network TV?

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  11. Not sure how big it was, but Whose Line was on ABC for a few years. Probably a pretty inexpensive production. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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  12. Who’s Line was definitely huge for a bit

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  13. Not Regis -- "He told other stars on the show about her, so they came over during the breaks, too." There were no other stars of WWTBAM.
    How about "Dancing With the Stars"/Tom Bergeron? First season was 2005.

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  14. Yah!! I love these blinds. I also can't imagine anyone being super excited about WWTBAM but who knows. I like the Drew Carey guess but can't wait to find out who it is. And what a wonderful friend (and a shitty boyfriend). I'm sure she cherished this moment many times before her passing thanks to her good friend.. and of course the mystery celebrity. Hope this one gets revealed soon.

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    1. You never know with people! Some people watch "Air Crash Investigation" every week, so of course it's totally possible for the friend to like WWTBAM. 👩🏻

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  15. TIVO was released in 1999.

    The same year that Who Wants... debuted. Idol did not debut until 2002,

    "Whose Line" debuted in 1998, so it's a possibility.

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  16. Seacrest is a douche. Regis and Drew Carey are awesome people...

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  17. Seacrest/American Idol?

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  18. My first thought was Tom Bergeron.

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  19. I love tom bergeron

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  20. Now that the servers seem to be back up and running, I guessed Drew Carey because he was mentioned on Enty's [twitter](https://twitter.com/entylawyer/status/938267668062158848) the other day as being a nice guy. Whose Line is it Anyways was big enough. Not necessarily this huge smash hit, but it was pretty popular, and Drew Carey was fairly famous from the Drew Carey Show.

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  21. Whoever it is gives me hope for mankind.

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  22. I am convinced this is Tom Bergeron.

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  23. Well, I TRIED to post my guess of Tom Bergeron when this was posted earlier today but the place kept spazzing. Hopefully the same problems don't exist tomorrow.

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  24. I gave this one a lot of thought and even a bit of research and I eliminated everyone but Bergeron and Carey I vote for Carey! dancing show came out 2005¹ several years beyond recorders and best I could tell that show films live² and it seemed as though kids were pressed for time and host sits at table for 5 with LA traffic? or indeed they went really early to dinner but makes mention of several drinks³
    however 2pm cocktails can always be justified⁴. in favor of Carey I see him sporting yellow bracelet over Bergeron and more likely to bullshit at table for 15minutes trading “show gossip” which to me just seems more game show than dance show oriented but heck if I know. I also read comment where someone said enty recently called drew carey nice⅝ .that one was kinda huge. since tricia isn't here to swing my vote I side with enty and declare DC the nice guy

    * ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⅝ research.

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  25. Anonymous3:24 PM

    It's silly, but I teared up

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  26. Anonymous3:24 PM

    It's silly, but I teared up

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  27. This was revealed yesterday as Ryan Seacrest.

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