Life With Tagline
Peter Tomarken and his wife died in a plane crash. There’s a loss to game show land.
Before I go any further I need to make the following tasteless but unavoidable joke before anyone else out in Innanet-land does and I can claim all rights and ownership:
Control tower operators reported that the last communication they received from Mr. Tomarken, who was piloting the plane, was a report of engine trouble followed by the repeated phrase, “No whammies! No whammies! No whammies!” until the plane lost contact shortly thereafter.
OK, now I can continue. As a non-celebrity, I’m constantly fed this line, by celebrities, that being a celebrity can be hell. Sure, having to choose between blowout partes in the Hamptons or St. Bart’s can be agonizing but I’ll tell you what has to be true hell: Hosting a game show named “Press Your Luck” and having that follow you around the rest of your life.
I guarantee you that, at least once a week, Peter Tomarken had to listen to some schmuck he just met say something like, “Oh Peter! You’re going to get the raw oysters? I wouldn’t press your luck!” This would inevitably be followed by an awkward pause for expected but never provided applause.
I’m sure Tomarken had it down to a science: “If they mention the show or they mention the whammies, I walk.”
I’ll bet Bob Barker long since stopped bothering doing his own shopping of any kind.
I’ll bet Lee Majors switched to using self-service tax software on a home computer as soon as he could.
And, I’ll bet Peter Tomarken stopped engaging in risky behaviors, after a while, just because it wasn’t worth it.
Seriously, do you think the guy ever went to Vegas?
Oh Peter, pop culture weeps tonight.
