Jim Peck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jim Peck (born June 5, 1943, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American game show host.
He got his start in the form of a contract with ABC to host three game shows (he also occasionally substituted for David Hartman on Good Morning America). His first hosting job came on the Ron Greenberg-produced hard quiz The Big Showdown, which ran on ABC from December 1974 through the following July. His next game show was a bizarre show called Hot Seat, also on ABC, but only for 13 weeks. This show centered around an oversized lie detector that was used to measure a husband's or wife's responses to personal questions. It was cancelled in 1976. Peck's last ABC game came in 1977 as Second Chance (which was the forerunner of the '80s game show Press Your Luck). This show fared little better than his previous efforts; it lasted four months.
After his contract with ABC expired, he was tapped to host a revival of the '60s classic word game You Don't Say! (originally hosted by Tom Kennedy in its first two incarnations). The revival lasted only one season. He then hosted the infamous Chuck Barris game show Three's a Crowd, which asked the question, "Who knows a man better, his wife or his secretary?" This show was a total failure in first-run syndication. He stayed away from hosting jobs for a while, his last game show hosting job being a substitute role for Jack Barry, and later Bill Cullen, on the syndicated quiz The Joker's Wild. Peck in fact was groomed by Barry and producer Ron Greenberg to take over the series in 1984; however, Barry died suddenly of cardiac arrest in 1984, and Dan Enright, who took over as CEO of Barry & Enright, chose Cullen to host over Peck, who was not much favored to take over full-time.
From 1985-1991, he played the courtroom reporter and announcer on the William B. Keene version of Divorce Court, often whispering through the proceedings of the case.
One of Peck's last jobs before leaving national television was as host of the annual Drum Corp International (DCI) competitions, seen on PBS.
He is now working in Public Relations for his alma mater, Marquette University, as a fund-raiser; hosts I Remember Milwaukee, a series revolving around the history of Wisconsin's largest city on PBS station WMVS (Channel 10); and hosts five hours of radio on Saturday mornings for WTMJ (AM 620) [1].
Jim recently resurfaced on national television doing commercials for the AARP/Walgreens discount card.
