USA Today Front Page!

[peacock2121]

Sting just told me Mikehardware (actually, he said your friend from Alabama) is on the cover today!

Get those copies!

[mikehardware]

I AM STUNNED AND AMAZED, AGAIN !!!

Wow. Incredible! I knew they were going to do a story, had no idea it would be that major, with pictures and all the quotes. Wow. (Now if it generates any job leads, then I'll really get excited!)

[peacock2121]

I AM STUNNED AND AMAZED, AGAIN !!!

Wow. Incredible! I knew they were going to do a story, had no idea it would be that major, with pictures and all the quotes. Wow. (Now if it generates any job leads, then I'll really get excited!)

Awesomeness!

I am sending Sting out to get me a copy.

[littlebeast13]

Amazing!!!

lb13

[NellyLunatic1980]

Sting just told me Mikehardware (actually, he said your friend from Alabama) is on the cover today!

Get those copies!

I assume that it's the same article and picture that is on the USA Today website.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television ... nomy_N.htm

[NellyLunatic1980]

Amazing!!!

lb13

Found it!

[MarleysGh0st]

w00t!

I'll have to go buy a copy of the paper. However, (excuse me for going into grumble mode here) reading the online edition of the article, I have to say that the premise is entire off-base.

Lawson represents the new breed of game-show contestants who are trying to get by in tough economic times.

We know that Eddie has been trying out for this show for a decade; it is only coincidence that he got The Call after playing the Phone Game so soon after being laid off. And as for most all the other contestants on WWTBAM and all other game shows, it is entirely dependent on what hooks the producers are subjectively selecting.

If gamers were economic barometers, Meredith Vieira, host of Millionaire's seven-season syndicated series, gauged shifting sentiment in 2008. "When you asked what they're playing for, it was no longer the dream vacation, beach house or car. They talked about holding on to their homes, the debt they're trying to get themselves out of, the child that would have to leave college," says Vieira, who co-hosts NBC's Today. "There's still a sense of real need, as opposed to want."

Do you have any idea what the real answer might be for your average auditioner, Meredith? Do you know that auditioners who say they want to pay off bills and save the money will never, ever get past your producers at the audition?

It may be that more people are auditioning out of financial need, these days, but the anecdotes in this article in no way prove that.

[gsabc]

Do you know that auditioners who say they want to pay off bills and save the money will never, ever get past your producers at the audition?

I'd be willing to place a moderate wager that this won't be true this season. We will hear more contestants saying they've been laid off or have been unemployed (and not just WE/WEs who are "between gigs") for a while. We will also see more and more people walking with amounts under $25K, because they need the money more desperately and aren't willing to take risks.

[MarleysGh0st]

Do you know that auditioners who say they want to pay off bills and save the money will never, ever get past your producers at the audition?

I'd be willing to place a moderate wager that this won't be true this season. We will hear more contestants saying they've been laid off or have been unemployed (and not just WE/WEs who are "between gigs") for a while. We will also see more and more people walking with amounts under $25K, because they need the money more desperately and aren't willing to take risks.

Yes, of course, because "struggling under today's economy" has been embraced by the producers as the theme of the year.

[kayrharris]

Way to go Eddie!! Very nice article. You are a star!!

kay

[hbomb1947]

Game shows are a TV mainstay as old as the medium itself, with legions of wide-eyed fans auditioning on a lark.

Grumble.

"People are happy to walk away with $2,000, $8,000," Vieira says. "They're grateful for whatever they can get."

Double-grumble. That makes for such compelling TV, Meredith . . .

In a medium awash with rivals, longtime executive producer Michael Davies says, the show's producers pondered boosting Millionaire's grand prize — except for rare episodes, it tops out at $1 million.
Yet given the economy's downturn, greater potential paydays don't seem necessary for now, Davies says.

Sounds to me like TPTB are using the recession as an excuse to be cheap bastards . . . . Maybe stacks without WWOQ's don't seem necessary to TPTB now, either . . .

[peacock2121]

When I got done exercising this morning, I found my copy sitting on my keyboard!

Haven't read it yet - I am going to anticipate.

[peacock2121]

Oh



and



The evil peahen loves the large photo on the front page as well.

[christie1111]

OMG!

How awesome is this!

Wait, was I stitting behind the check?

[ulysses5019]

OMG!

How awesome is this!

Wait, was I stitting behind the check?

I was going to ask if there were any bbs visible in the audience. Congrats Eddie. Awesome picture.

[NellyLunatic1980]

OMG!

How awesome is this!

Wait, was I stitting behind the check?

I was going to ask if there were any bbs visible in the audience. Congrats Eddie. Awesome picture.

I saw one.

[Snaxx]

Today only the cover is on the Newseum web site (both a JPG and readable PDF version) Tomorrow it changes to tomorrow's paper.

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages ... Vname=USAT


.

[maneuver12]

Very, very cool, Eddie!

[elwoodblues]

Did you read the comments after the article? Someone said they thought the picture was of Bill Gates waving a check.

[heelsrule1988]

Nice! Eddie's a straight-up superstar now.

[VAdame]

Holy Cow!

Eileen and I are there too -- right above Regis' head!

We're on Freakin' USA TODAY!!!

[hanzz]

You've even made it to the top of the pinnacle of technological coolness: the iPod touch USA Today app.






WTG, Eddie!

[clem21]

Yes!

I headed over to the machine-bots to send this morning's hotlist (Celebrity stories from the papers) to LA and Mike's glorious face is smiling up at me. Let it be known Eddie, that today you shared space with Tom Bergeron, Donny Osmond, a bikinied Britney Spears, Tiger Woods and much more.

I saved my copy.








Mainly for the bikinied Britney Spears...

[frogman042]

I was travelling to Detroit for work yesterday and saw someone reading the papaer - when they were done I asked if I could read the Life section, telling him that I knew the person on the cover - so he let me have the paper and thought it was pretty cool.

BTW, I'm surprised no one mentioned that TheConfessor made the related article regarding top gameshow winners. Unfortunately Hermillion wasn't on their list going with the non-BAM female million dollar winners.

Eddie, like I said, one of the greatest things being on the show is all the unexpected stuff that happens as a consequence - and you really hit the jackpot in that department.

CONGRATS!!!!

[littlebeast13]

Someone from days actually left the USA Today in the break room today, so I made sure to secure Section D to bring home with me.....

Funny that the top article is about the movie "Avatar".....

lb13