12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's a Wonderful Life., October 26, 2008
This review is from: Big Chuck: My Favorite Stories from 47 Years on Cleveland TV (Hardcover)
Big Chuck Schodowski tells this story in his own words. At 74 years old, he's had a tremendous career, and made countless friends. Tom Feran, who co-wrote the book, does a great job of letting the Conversational style of Big Chuck come through in the narrative. To read this book, is to hear Big Chuck talking like he's standing right next to you sharing a beer.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Here We Go....Again!, December 26, 2008
This review is from: Big Chuck: My Favorite Stories from 47 Years on Cleveland TV (Hardcover)
From his late-night Friday start on Cleveland, Ohio, television by writing bits for Ernie "Ghoulardi" Anderson, to the improbable (for him) co-hosting stints with Bob "Hoolihan" Wells and "Lil'" John Rinaldi, Chuck Schodowski had an amazing 47-year run delighting viewers on the North Coast through his creative humor that was spiced up with local flavor.
His recollections - co-written by Tom Feran - are a wonderful romp through an era of Cleveland television (Channel 8, WJW) when a premium was placed on original programing. Schodowski was a station engineer who dabbled in creating skits for the popular Ghoulardi show; which featured Anderson as the incredibly outrageous host of a B-movie, typically in the horror or Sci-Fi genres.
Anderson left WJW in 1966 and Wells - a station weatherman - successfully auditioned to take the late-night slot for a new show. Schodowski, who had assisted "Hoolihan" with his pitch to station management, had hoped to continue writing for the program. But management wanted a co-host, so the Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show was launched. Schodowski thought he would have a co-hosting run of around 13 weeks. Was he ever wrong.
Recurring sketches like "Guitarzan," "Ben Crazy," "Rowdy the Wonder Dog" and "Readings By Robert" - with a B-movie also in the mix - made the show a hit, which continued after Hoolihan left in 1979 and was replaced by Rinaldi, a Cleveland businessman who had appeared in some of the sketches on Hoolihan and Big Chuck.
Schodowski has hilarious tidbits on how Rinaldi initially got involved with the show - one key element was "Lil'" John's height (4-foot, 3-inches) - and the unique "map" used by the station's celebrity softball team to find the locations for the summertime charity events.
In 1993 the show moved from the traditional 11:30 p.m. Friday slot to midnight on Saturday and then bounced between the two evenings - along with the addition of a Saturday morning show - until Schodowski announced his retirement in December 2006, with the final programs airing in June 2007.
The book puts a special coda on the amazing comedic career of a Cleveland original.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thanks, Big Chuck!, September 11, 2009
This review is from: Big Chuck: My Favorite Stories from 47 Years on Cleveland TV (Hardcover)
It took me less than 30 seconds into this book to start recalling, out loud, all of my favorite Hoolihan & Big Chuck sketches - not to mention singing "Here we go, again...". My wife, who grew up in Pennsylvania and never saw the show, was thinking I "went 'round the bend!"
This is a fun book to read - brings back a lot of memories. I'm really glad he wrote this - there is some special stuff here. Couple this with Linn Sheldon's "Barnaby and Me," and you cover a huge block of childhood.
The fact that I discovered an autograph on the inside only made this book that much more special.
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