OBIT - Jack Narz

[priceguy]

Damn.  This is real sad to hear.  Jack was one of the best hosts out there.  And I never knew of his relations to other game show hosts (Kennedy's brother and Cullen's brother-in-law).  He most definitely will be missed.

[Axl]

Mark Evanier has a nice remembrance over at his site, as well as a note about Shokus Internet Radio, where you can hear what was probably the last interview ever done with Jack.

[88JRFAN]

R.I.P Jack. You will be deeply missed

[edmojautis]

Man, This is just sad. 

I never knew a lot about Jack Narz, either. I am familiar with Tom Kennedy and Bill Cullen. I learned about Jack in the Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows and the first time I saw him was in that 1996 PBS special about the quiz show scandals.

I first saw him on GSN as a guest on "Match Game '74" and I did watch him on the original "Now You See It" when they brought it back for short time in '99. I kinda digged the suits he wore and he really did such a wonderful job.

I hope to see more of him on his other shows hopefully when I make trades for 70's Concentration and his other shows, too.

God Bless Jack Narz and my condolences goes to Tom Kennedy and the entire Narz family.

[bingocaller1]

Rest in Peace Jack and condolences for the family.

[crinos43]

And sadly, another great gameshow legend is now part of the studio in the sky.

Farewell Jack. You'll be sorely missed.

[jimlange]

Wow.  What a shock.  Jack was such a great host and really knew how to let the contestants be the stars of the show.  Jack is classic textbook article on how to be a game show host.  Jack also has his footsteps in TPIR history as well.  Jack was one of the many hosts who substituted for Bill Cullen while he was on vacation during the original TPIR run.  Rest In Peace Jack and my condolences go out to Tom Kennedy and the rest of the Narz family.

[Chief-O]

Ever since this news got to me, I couldn't help but think about how great he was on "Now You See It" alone. That's the only show of his I've really seen enough of, and I've come to realize that it was a show that he no doubt had fun doing. His intros---just running down the steps and letting out his occasional "Here I come, Johnny!"---you could tell he loved what he did. He didn't need to put on a "game show host" persona---he was just enthusiastic without coming off as a stereotype.

[SteveR]

Funny, it was Narz's version that was my first exposure to Beat The Clock. But, for me, his "golden era" was Concentration and NYSI.

He was under-appreciated, I think, because he was on in the same time as the more-well-known hosts -- Barker, Cullen, Ludden, even his own brother.

RIP, Jack.

[WarioBarker]

 

 

*Plays a slower rendition of the syndicated Concentration theme*

Unfortunately, my exposure to his classics was through trades - I've seen episodes of Seven Keys, Beat The Clock, and Concentration - plus some clips of Now You See It - and I never thought this day would come...

Well... *Raises a glass* Here's to you, Jack Narz - may GSN get your Concentration on the regular schedule and air it five days a week in your honor...

Hannah, another drink! (Don't you think you've had enough, father?) HEY, Jack Narz just died! (Oh.)

*Hannah comes out with Koyomiko and the two raise their glasses - the former's tea, the latter's orange juice*

To Jack Narz! (To Jack Narz!)
-Daniel

[pacdude]

My condolences to the Narz family. Jack truly was a stand-up, classy guy and a great, likeable host to boot.

This actually reminds me of an interesting (and embarrassing) story.  I got in trouble with the Narz family almost 9 years ago after I posted false information from Randy Amasia (by way of Justin Lollie) that Jack Narz died.

Off topic, and possibly rhetorical: Wasn't the story that Justin heard from "somewhere" and was just asking around if Jack died?

[Kirsten Vaccaro]

RIP Jack! 

[TPIRfan222]

RIP Jack. You were truly one of the best game show hosts out there.

[howierules86]

R.I.P., Jack. I had the pleasure of taping about a dozen episodes of his version of "Now You See It" when GSN aired it last fall, and I was very impressed with his hosting. I'm surprised he didn't get to host any game shows after 1978, when his version of "Concentration" ended. He did get to be the announcer for a few shows after that, and even filled in for Tom Kennedy on an episode of "Password Plus."

[justinthebull]

As Mr. Bielefeldt took it upon himself to threadjack this memorial with a barely-relevant half-truth, I feel compelled to offer clarification...

The Jack Narz story goes like this... a few months before he passed away, Randy Amasia sent me a message quoting something Narz had said on one of his shows. The way Randy worded it, I thought it was a quote of remembrance... 9/11 had just gone down, tragedy was on everyone's minds, and I thought Randy was relaying word of Narz's passing. I checked what news sites I could access and found nothing. (Bear in mind, this was before the days of Google News, where a simple search could cull every media outlet known to man.)

From there, I asked some individuals on my AIM friends list -- Bo amongst them -- if they had heard anything about Jack Narz having passed away. The next thing I know, Bo has posted an obituary on ATGS, citing me as a source. Narz, of course, was just fine, and when criticism came Bo's way, he was more than eager to deflect all of it my way. I wound up getting angry emails from Mr. Narz's son and other fans for "spreading awful rumors." Bo refused to take responsibility for his own hand in the episode, a pattern he would repeat often in the waning days of the newsgroup.

So today, seven years later, as all of this had supposedly been forgotten by myself and everyone else, along comes Bo and his long-yet-inaccurate memory, his still-rotten attitude and these grudges he still carries (it was Randy, David Zinkin and several of my "circle" of friends, after all, who shed light on his antisocial online behavior back in the day), and all he can offer to a conversation in remembrance of a television legend is a story where he continues to blame other people for his stupid mistake.

Bo, I can't make you retract your misinformation or take down your post, and I don't expect the myopic moderators of this fanboy cesspool to take any action aside from the eventual deletion of this rebuttal, but I can remind you that your douchebaggery will not go unnoticed by people who actually matter. You were a slimy lying punk back then, and you're still a slimy lying punk today.