Sunday, January 23, 2000

Linkletter stays active outside of television

LOS ANGELES - Production begins this month on an A&E "Biography" episode about legendary TV personality Art Linkletter.
   It's about time. At 87, Linkletter has been in show business some 67 years and has plenty of stories to share with his biographers about his friendships with Walt Disney, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Bill Cosby, Ralph Edwards and other luminaries he worked with in radio and TV through the decades.
   He's not retired, but Linkletter said he's glad he's not doing TV anymore.
   "I don't miss anything about show business," Linkletter said during an interview at the TV critics' press tour recently. "I did it live for 26 years, five days a week. I don't miss doing it. I did it all."
   Baby boomers know Linkletter as host of the longrunning popular afternoon "House Party" show, which was a combination of game show, talk show and "Kids Say the Darndest Things" interviews, a format he invented.
   As a producer, Linkletter also put "Truth or Consequences" and "People Are Funny" on the air (both ran for 20 years) and helped Cosby revive "Kids" for its current run on CBS.
   Linkletter also has written 26 books and he stays active these days on the lecture circuit talking to seniors about "successful aging" and how to stay active and happy past age 70, something he seems to be expert at.
   "My secret to staying active is doing what I like to do," he said. "And I've never smoked or drank. I've also had the same wife (Lois) for 65 years."
   Just because he's not on TV doesn't mean he's not still a fan. Linkletter admits to watching a lot of A&E and Discovery channel shows and he's a fan of ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."
   The renewed popularity of game shows is just "part of the cycle of TV," said Linkletter. "Once you get a big hit on anything, you get a whole bunch coming through. In the '60s it was the westerns and all the doctor shows. Now you have all the daytime shows with judges. It's a copycat deal."
   He does see a niche that's not being filled on TV.
   "Pure man on the street shows. That's what I did best. Just go into an audience and make a show talking to regular folks and everyone knows it's real," he said. "Today's talk shows are so pre-interviewed and pre-written. It's hard to do what I did and nobody has done it long enough to be good at it."
   Overall, Linkletter said, "TV is better and worse than it's ever been. The good stuff is better and the worst stuff is worse. There's no more good taste. Things are coarser. But the drama shows are good. And news on TV has never been better than it's being done now."
   For "Biography," Linkletter gave the producers lists of friends and colleagues willing to be interviewed about him. And he said he doesn't mind if the show looks at some of the darker episodes in his long life.
   "The darkest time was the death of my daughter Diane (from a drug overdose in the '60s).
   But after that, I went on the offensive and began talking publicly about young people and drugs. I didn't try to hide anything. It was how I wanted to deal with it," said Linkletter. (His son, who'd taken over hosting his dad's talk show, was later killed in an accident.)
   Straight up and straightforward, just like he was all those years on TV, Linkletter shows no signs of slowing down. The medium was built on talents like his, and "Biography" is just the show to celebrate his contributions.
  
  
  

 
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