Bill Cullen Tribute

[Teddy]

On July 7, 1990, the original TPIR host, Bill Cullen, died at age 70. Did the show ever air a tribute to him, similar to what had been done for other names connected to it (Johnny Olson, Frank Wayne, Rod Roddy, etc.)? I'm aware that the show was doing summer reruns of Season 18 at that point, and there was no mention of Cullen hosting when he appeared on Barker's show in 1982, but a special segment would've been a nice, fitting end to one of the greatest game show hosts that ever lived.

[pannoni1]

I'm not aware at all of this happening, just like when Art Fleming died with Jeopardy! or Richard Dawson with Family Feud, since those are considered to be different series. I myself never heard of Bill Cullen until GSN came along since I was born a little too late to remember his last appearance hosting (The Joker's Wild). It had also been 25 years since he last hosted TPIR, and much of the audience had long since moved on from the One Bid and maybe a bonus game era of the show. It's just not a thing you see too much on game shows if the host/announcer wasn't working until just before their passing like Johnny/Rod/Frank/Charlie O'Donnell. Of course, we didn't see any tributes for Dennis James in 1997, even though he also hosted TPIR as well and in the more familiar format.