PBS: The Video Game Revolution
Greg Palmer
Producer, Writer, Host and Narrator
Thursday, September 09, 2004; 2:00 p.m. ET
"The Video Game Revolution" takes viewers back to the early days of the first gamer and provides insight into how the art and economics of the creation of video games have changed over the years. In the 1950's, Cambridge University student A.S. Douglas created possibly the world's first game called "Noughts and Crosses" on the university's massive computer. In the 1960's, engineer Ralph H. Baer invented the concept of playing games using an ordinary home TV set, an innovation that started the home video game industry.
The PBS documentary features interviews with key industry participants, including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Nintendo's lead designer Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of such hit games as "Donkey Kong"™ and "Super Mario Brother,"® "SimCity"™ creator Will Wright, Microsoft’s Xbox® developer Seamus Blackley and Tim Moss, lead programmer for Sony Computer Entertainment.
Others interviewed, such as Jay Parker, co-founder of Internet/Computer Addiction Services and Pamela Eakes, founder of Mothers Against Violence in America (MAVIA, discuss the social impact of the video game revolution.
Join Greg Palmer, producer, writer and host, online Thursday, Sept. 9, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the documentary.
Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.
Palmer is a Peabody and Emmy award-winning writer, filmmaker and broadcaster whose national television credits include the acclaimed PBS programs "Death: The Trip of a Lifetime," "Vaudeville: An American Masters Special," "The Art of Magic and The Perilous Fight: America’s World War II in Color," all produced in association with KCTS/Seattle.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Los Angeles, Calif.:
What rating system is in place at this time, and what plans are there for future rating of game violence, sexual activity, language, etc.?
Video Game Revolution Producers: ESRB is the current rating system, please visit pbs.org/videogame under the Impact of Gaming section for details. or see below:
EC = Early Childhood
Titles rated EC – Early Childhood have content that may be suitable for persons ages three and older. Titles in this category contain no material that parents would find inappropriate.
E = Everyone
Titles rated E – Everyone have content that may be suitable for persons ages six and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal violence, some comic mischief and/or mild language.
T = Teen
Titles rated T – Teen have content that may be suitable for persons ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violent content, mild or strong language and/or suggestive themes.
M = Mature
Titles rated M – Mature have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain mature sexual themes, more intense violence and/or strong language.
AO = Adults Only
Titles rated AO – Adults Only have content suitable only for adults. Titles in this category may include graphic depictions of sex and/or violence. Adults Only products are not intended for people under the age of 18.
RP = Rating Pending
Titles listed as RP – Rating Pending have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting final rating.
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Fairfax, Va.:
What is your opinion regarding the ongoing debate about innovation and creativity being stifiled by a hit-driven video game industry? Is the video game industry in danger of pushing out small, but creative developers in favour of massive companies that make bland, cookie-cutter games in hopes selling the next million-dollar property? Greg Palmer: I should think any cretive medium--the movies spring to mind--that also becomes a huge source of revenue to big companies is going to face the possibility of the big boys just wanting big hits and forcing out the small innovators. I don't think it will happen in vid games--at least not too badly--simply because it is such a big industry, and those who make the big games now were once the small innovators--they have some sympathy for those up and coming, whereas, to continue the movie analogy, Louis B. Mayer could have cared less about the little guys.
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Fairfax, Va.:
The video game industry is the largest entertainment media industry in the world. Why is there still such a stigma against video games in mainstream society? Video Game Revolution Producers: All new entertainment media from Vaudeville to tv suffered the same scrutiny. I am not entirely sure that video games are not accepted as mainstream. I believe they are.
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New York, N.Y.:
I saw they interviewed Sid Meir on the documentary. Is there a qualitative difference in any discussion about "video games" between the Civilization-strategy type games of Mr. Meier and the graphics and arcade games of a Sega or X-box? In other words: is the former a "video game" all or really just a complicated form of chess or scrabble played on a computer? Greg Palmer: A difficult question to answer in this format--the whole title of video games has become misleading--it;s almost like still calling movies Nickelodeons or flickers.
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Fairfax, Va.:
More and more women are playing computer and video games, however there is a tragic dearth of games that appeal to a mainstream female audience in the console/computer gaming arena. I'm not including internet card games or gambling games played by middle-aged women. I mean PC and console games. At best, women get traditionally gendered games like Mary Kate and Ashley games, at worst, women are portrayed as one-dimensional side characters. No self-respecting female gamer over the age of 15 would be playing Mary Kate and Ashley and/or Barbie video games. I've been playing video games for 18 or my 26 years of life on this earth, and I'm a girl gamer. Will there ever be a happy medium for us girl gamers who have been playing games for most of our lives? Greg Palmer: I think there will be, and one can see that happening with people like Megan Gaiser at HER interactive, and the Nancy Drew stuff. Her success will lead to others doing the same thing, especially now that 43% of all gamers are women. The market will adjust to what those 43% want.
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Frederick, Md.:
What do you think about the studies and reports attributing video games to childhood obesity? Greg Palmer: Haven't seen them. Makes sense that a kid who sits in front of a computer five hours a day eating Fritos is going to be a tad chunky, but is that the game's fault, FritoLay's fault, or the kid's parents' fault?
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Live from Rockville, Md.:
I am amazed at today's coin-ops that require a player to really get involved, such as that boxing game with the two gloves, Dance Dance Revolution, and the one with the metal horse that you ride.
What's next when it comes to these sorts of games? Greg Palmer: More involvement, I should think. Arcades simply have to find ways to create experiences that can't be done in the home. So the first time we see something like the Holodeck from Next Generation, it's going to be in an arcade, not a home. And just like games, it will take some time to reach the home.
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East Lansing, Mich.:
I'm a professor at Michigan State University who teaches a class on teh history of videogames. I was wondering if there are planbs to release the documentary as a DVD set.
Cheers,
Ethan Watrall
Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media
Michigan State University
Video Game Revolution Producers: Hi Ethan, the show is available on DVD and VHS, please call 800,937.5387
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Magnolia, Tex.:
More comments than question....
Regarding violence in video games, it's all much ado about nothing. Yes, Harris and Klebold played doom, with about 20 million other kids in the US. To say that it lead to their rampage is complete spurious correlation. I guess it is easier for the "adults" of the world to blame it on something they don't understand than confront the realities of disenfranchised kids while they are all working too many hours chasing a paycheck, a school system that allows a caste system to develop and institionalizes bullying and elitism, and the overall issue of gun control. If it was 60 years earlier, they would have blamed comic books, and if it was 30 years earlier they would have blamed television. Richard Speck never played "Night Trap", and Charles Whitman never played "Silent Scope"....
Good documentary...enjoyed it...but nobody ever gives props to Colecovision. It really was the first system that people could pick up and go "wow...these are the same games I can play in arcades that are at least as good if not better".
One thing that is never brought up is how badly Nintendo bungled things with the N64. As I am sure you are aware, they were developing a CD based system with Sony, and walked away. So, that opened the door for Sony to come into the market on their own. Why did Nintendo do this? I have my theory. Nintendo loved to license games, not only to control the "quality" but also because they controlled the means of production...you had to have your cartridges manufactured in their facilities. I've worked in a major corporation long enough to know it probably came down to the factory folks insisting on making the next gen system cartridge based, so they could continue to milk the manufacturing cash cow (since they had millions in cart manufacturing assets). The fall out was that there was a very limited amount of games for the N64, because companies could only bring out games they felt were sure-fire hits. Cartridges cost about $20 to make, as opposed to $1 for a CD. If you had a bad cartidge game, you had millions in inventory to write off (not to mention the fact that you had to charge $10-$20 more for the game in the first place). The results were small developers where much less likely to introduce niche games, or take chances, which severely depressed the available titles. And, at the end of the day, people only buy the machines because of the games they will play, and so with a lack of compelling titles, the N64 floundered.
Also another apecte regarding Microsoft and the X-box. Their big mis-calculation was that they underestimated the resistance of Japanese developers to support an "american" company.
And even though ET gets all the notority, I think the game that really spelled doom for the 2600 was Pac-Man. It was the one game everyone was wildly anticipating (not so with ET..it was Warner's dillusional marketing team that thought people would want this game). It (Pac-Man)came out in April and was a major turd-pile, and disgusted many 2600 fans who then took a "wait and see" for future games (ET came out in December). People got sick of Atari and quit buying because of Pac-Man, and the result was that ET got buried in the desert. So, Pac-Man, not ET, killed Atari...ET was just collateral damage.
Greg Palmer: Thanks for writing in. I certainly agree with you that it's spurious to blame Columbine on Doom. That's why I put in the show that they, and all the other postal teens, were the victims of bullies.
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younger parents:
I'm in my mid 20's and grew up with video games of all sorts. Including the ones I was way to young to be playing. My parents, however, didn't really know the differece, one game was the same as any other game to them.
Now that people with my experience are having children, do you see younger parents paying more attention to the games (and ratings) that their children are playing? For example, while I love games like Half Life, I'd never want a kid lacking a certain sophistication playing it. Greg Palmer: I assume younger parents will pay more attention, because older parents didn't know what was going on. But the younger ones have played the games themselves.
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Evansville, Ind.:
Hello, I was wondering if you could please brodcast the show one more time. Also, is there anyway I can purchase the show?
Thank You. Greg Palmer: I'm sure PBS will broadcast the show five more times, though when is probably up to the local stations. Show can be purchased by calling 1-800-937-5387.
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Connecticut:
I recall a person in the program saying that ultimately the responsibility for what the child does during his or her time lies with the parents, not the video game designer. What do you think?
Greg Palmer: I agree, but then I have two sons and I've always thought that up to a certain age, my wife and I were responsible in all ways for the tads. However, at the same time, it is ALWAYS easy to criticize other people's parenting skills, and I am loathe to do that. But if your ten year old spends five hours a day playing a video game, never goes outside, is obese and has trouble relating to other kids or the world in general--and plays violent games exclusively--who the hell is responsible for that but the parent who lets him or her do it? Pull the computer out of the wall, throw the games into the dumpster and go to the beach. Now.
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Washington, D.C.:
Why don't video games have more staying power? Monopoly has been around for 70 years. Risk is at least 30 years old. But Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Elite, even Zork, all blockbuster hits in their day, are gone. More recent games that I've played that were really fun, like Pirates!, Descent, Red Storm Rising, and X-Com, have disappeared. Surely they're still as fun to play now as they were originally. Is the cultural impact of video games blunted by the fact they disappear so quickly?
Greg Palmer: I think games, unlike Monopoly, are so based on technology that its no surprise that, except for nostalgia reasons, they go away and are replaced--rather like the 1972 Nash rambler, which may have been a nice vehicle at the time, but has gone away now, as it should have. And about cultural impact being lessened because games so quickly become obsolete, I don't know. Possibly. But believe me on this, if there was a large and hungry market for playing the old games, the game industry would find a way to feed it.
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Fairfield, Ohio:
Very good program!! I purchased a copy yesterday night right after it ended.
Given wireless access is ubiquitous, new worlds and new realities will be accessible everywhere, anytime, such as described in Neuromancer of William Gibson and other Sci-Fi novels (as long as the world is persisted in 24/7 computers and we use "clients" to connect and enter to it).
One could connect and see persons or creatures and have no clue is it's a human or an AI contolled entity, or both.
Other possibility is to have avatars that can be controlled both online and offline (for instance, assigning the avatar something to do, or how to respond while you are offline). The default action could be to sleep, but others could be programmed to do other things. It would be as having a double, as described in Castañeda’s books.
We could even interact and control the avatar from a cellphone, again, thanks to wireless, or be notified.
We are only scratched the surface.
Something that was missing from the show is virtual currencies and economies; in some virtual environments, you can sell and purchase virtual goods. I wouldn't be surprised to see more of that in the future.
Again, very good show, I’ll watch it again as soon as my copy arrives.
Claudio
Video Game Revolution Producers: Thanks for the Kudos,
The idea of vitual economies is here. Your right, it's getting easier and easier to live out a "life" in online worlds, and control of that "life" is getting more defined and honed. I think its going to come down to whether someone really wants to live that way. I love my one night a week online "poker night" of sorts, but it's about balance.
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South Norwalk, Conn.:
So, out of curiosity, do you have a "favorite" game? What do you play?
Greg Palmer: Sorry, I don't really. I've never really liked games much, which is why it's a really good thing there were devout gamers involved in the making of the show. From what I learned in the show, the folk I admire would be people like Will Wright and Peter Molyneaux, who have found a way to make interesting games that are also intellectually, morally, culturally challenging.
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Houston, Tex.:
There is a clip of the game Everquest on "The Video Game Revolution" Can you tell us where the clip originated from...please!!!
Greg Palmer: Except for the old games we sometimes shot off a screen, most of the game footage came from the game publisher--Sony provided almost all the Sony stuff.
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Seattle, Wash.:
Why did you give so much air time to the "games are bad" people, when they offered up no conclusive evidence that games are bad? None. If you are going to give them that much air time, they should have to have some evidence.
If fact, several measures of "violence" show that since the invention of first person shooters, violence among teens is actually down.
Why did you have to bring Columbine up? They may have played Doom, but every single mass murderer in the last 100 years has drunk milk. Does that make Milk a cause of murder?
Greg Palmer: In fact, in a two hour show, there aren't more than fifteen minutes of material about game violence--which has really whizzed the people who wanted a PBS show about videogames to be nothing but the bad stuff. And when you talk to those people, THEY are the ones who run Columbine up the flag pole. But the fact is the great majority of the show is about the history, present and future of video gaming, and not the negative stuff.
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Ellicott City, Md.:
What do you think the next generation consoles will be like? What do you think Nintendo/Microsoft will do to/try to do to compete with Sony and the PS2
Video Game Revolution Producers: I think that in some ways consoles like the x-box are trojan horses. The next step is intergrating them as your digital tv set top boxes (adding personal video recorders, video on demand and suites of internet services).
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Salt Lake City, Utah:
1st. Thanks for the run down memory lane. I dropped a lot of quarters in my time. If I had a quarter for every quarter I spent.... well I'd have all my quarters still.
2nd. What about text based video games? I used to MUD online. Yes the video was only text but still, it should be worth a mention, or how about ZORK?. (never mind, you just covered MUDs)
3rd. My local PBS station (KUED), which I donate monies to, decided not to air your program tonight. Which would kind of make it hard to comment on my viewing of your program. Luck for me I found it on satellite and was able to see it now and not two weeks from now.
4th. I'm looking forward to 'The Sims 2' later this month. Oh and before I forget, you touched on Japan, but what about anime based video games or Mahjong. I think a lot of adults (at least in Japan) play that to no end. Maybe you could do some sequels?
Thanks, great stuff.
Jim
p.s. Thanks for not mentioning the Vegas'ized video gambling machines. Nothing to see here..... move along.
p.p.s. A friend of mine made a fair amount of real $$$ selling characters/treasure in Everqeust. Perhaps you could mention the reverse Fantasy back to RealWorld link.
Greg Palmer: Even at two hours, there is just an incredible amount of material about video gaming here and around the world we simply didn't have time for. That's the way it always is. We tended to show stuff we could really show--hence text based games suffered, because the visuals with them, are, well, not visual.
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U Street, Washington, D.C.:
I don't know if I'm contributing much to the topic of today's discussion, but I just had to add my two cents. I have never been much of a video game person. The last video game (before now) that I played was pong and space invaders on the old Atari system my parents bought me in 1981.
Having said that, I must say that my life-parnter and I have come across an incredible find. The game is called City of Heros. It's a wonderful game and my parnter and I are addicted to it.
The game allows you to create a superhero from its archytype and origin, its super powers, its physical attributes and gender and even its costume.
After that, you then go online with other superheros played by other webusers and fight the bad guys and you gain experience points and the higher you get the more powers you are able to choose.
They've created an alternate world where you can go and run through and meet other people and its somewhat surreal.
Have games been like this during the past decade or is this a once in a lifetime find?
Greg Palmer: Interesting; somebody just told me about the wonders of City of Heroes the other day--or three months after we finished the basic work on the show. Thanks for sending in the info...
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Norris, Tenn.:
At the end of the documentary you stated something about video games continuing and living on while becoming more evoled and advanced, and then you said we will not. Were you implying that video games will kill us or somehow take over our the reality that we exist in today?
Greg Palmer: I'm sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. I meant THE SHOW will not, that it's over- I certainly wasn't implying games will kill you.
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Game Analyzer:
Hello, I enjoyed your program last night, it was especially quite educational for me, as I am practically more of a video game analyzer (as I like to put it) then a video game player. As many people know, and agree with, (unfortunately) Nintnedo has been in a way branded with the title of "kiddy." First of all, do you think Nintendo is a "kiddy" company, and second of all, what do you think Nintendo did to recieve such a steriotypical branding?
Video Game Revolution Producers: I think it starts with simple things, the xbox and ps2 are black and simple and can hide under the tv. The game cube is big, weird shaped and brightly colored, not something my wife wants as a permanant fixture in our "adult" living room. There is no doubt that nintendo marketed themselves toward a younger audience, the evidence is in the games (lots of animated quest/adventures). They love their characters and brand the heck out of them.
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Horseheads, N.Y.:
A lot of talk has been stired up over the competitive atmosphere now seaping into video games. Organizations such as The CPL have been the center-pieces for this. In fact, someone recently signed a contract to play Counterstrike for a team (for about $45,000 per year with a big signing bonus). Do you think we could soon see video games being played with and/or for money much like the NBA, NFL, NHL, etc?
Greg Palmer: Probably not, but one never knows what kind of things will end up as big time competitive sports. If somebody had said to me 20 years ago that some time in the future NBC would ignore half the sports at the Olymppics to show endless beach vollyeball with lightly clad women writhing in the sand I would have said even the networks wouldn't be that crass. Apparently, though...
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Crystal City, Va.:
Hi Greg!
Sim City. My daughter loves this game, but it isn't in english. Is there an english version?
Greg Palmer: You've got to stop going to one of those open-all-night Korean videogame stores. Trust me on this, it's available in English.
Sayonara.
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U Street, Washington D.C.:
This comment goes to the woman who ask why video games don't have more female influence. The game City of Heros allows you to create superheros.. you can choose their gender as well. It's a great game for all to play... there are male and female heros battling evil. You should really try it out.
Greg Palmer: Isn't that the case with practically any online game? That you can pick the gender of your avatar--friend of mine plays three men and two women--and so, in a sense, you can make it a game with a female hero; specifically, yourself? Just asking, don't have a lot of experience with this...
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Anonymous:
Comment
On the show you showed a kid at age 10 that
wouldn't get off starcraft when his parent asked
him to, he just kept on saying "Wait I'm waiting for
a reply" I believe there is a VERY fine line
between kids like him who are essentially
addicted to the game, and kids with a further
understanding that get off when asked to. There
are two video kids, the ones who constantly play
because they think it is fun and don't get off when
asked to because they aren't going to go do
anything better anyway, and the kids who play
because it is fun, but who get off even by their
own will, because there is more to life and they
realize it. They also know that a game although it
may be fun and especially addictive probably
won't get you anywhere in life unless you are a
Halo Tournament winner. Do you agree with my
statement?
Greg Palmer: Yes, I do. We used that particular kid, not because he was less than attractive re his relationship with his parents and gaming, but because of the irony of having a father who is a psychologist who wrote a pontifical book about games a long time ago, and is now dealing with the reality of having a kid who plays them, and is, frankly, kind of a spoiled brat about playing them. That particular scene, incidentally, where the kid refuses to quit, is approximately three times longer than what you saw, but it made me so mad to watching what I thought was both bad parenting and bad kid-ing that I cut it...
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Cambridge Mass.:
It has not escaped notice that one of the casualties of the video game revolution is the lack of games based on vector graphics; everything is now bitmapped.
I always liked these kinds of games, from Space War to Asteroids, from Space Duel (which I think was the last vector coin-op) to the Vectrex game console. Do you think there is a market for this kind of gaming style?
Video Game Revolution Producers: I love these old games too, especially Tempest. I think the market is the same as classic movie or good ol' classic rock.
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Arlington, Va.:
Did you study the video game industry in Europe at all? In the late '80s, I owned an ATARI ST personal computer that was largely a flop in the US but that developed a significant following in Europe, so I ended up with a bunch of European games. They were weird and subtle, but enormously creative. Does that sort of energy still exist in the industry over there?
Greg Palmer: I think it does, but we simply didn't have the time to look at much outside-the-us gaming other than Japan. Again, its the problem of doing a television show--even a 2 hour television show--about such a massive subject, especially when the majority audience--them pBS folks-don't realize how massive the subject is and a lot of them don't care.
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Beltsville, Md.:
Can you speak a little to the rise and fall of video-disc games sich as Firefox and Space Ace? It has not escaped my notice that, for example, Dragon's Lair went from a video-disc game to a pixellized version in the arcades. There was something oddly cool about this kind of game.
Greg Palmer: Here's a frank and open admission; I'm too dumb about that aspect of vid game technology to answer your question. Sorry.
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Lincoln, Neb.:
Out of curiousity, what did you think of when you attended gdfest or lans? do you think that video game competition will ever become mainstream?
Video Game Revolution Producers: I read an article about gaming in the Olympics; 2 years ago I would have laughed. Now, I am not so sure.
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Laurel, Md.:
So, the difference between the 'M' rating and the 'AO' rating is only for 17 year olds? Everyone else can use either both or neither?
Video Game Revolution Producers: Here is the link to the ESRB, please take a look:
http://www.esrb.com/
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Video Game Revolution Producers: Thanks for taking such an interest in the show and Web site, we really appreciated your questions.
Francine and Drew
(web folks)
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Greg Palmer: Thanks to you all for watching the show; buy them DVDs or VHSs and give them to old folks for the holidays, heh heh heh. So long for now-
Greg
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