Chuck Barris oughta know: In 1976, Chuck Barris gave birth to "The Gong Show," whose spirit was ahead of its time, with people making spectacles of themselves via queer talents or no talent at all and boozy, woozy comedian-entertainers serving as executioners, hitting a gong to stop the madness. Barris' new novel, "The Big Question," feels like a dated reality show parable, although the story begins in 2011, after the president has declared euthanasia legal and CNN has televised a Texas execution. On "The Big Question," six people vie for $100 million in the ultimate Draconian contest: Answer the final question wrong and you die (by drinking poison for all the world to see).
Barris had a large hand in stirring the reality TV pot but then, it turned out, he wasn't around to revel in its actual boiling point. He became a Museum of Radio and Television footnote then re-emerged in 2002 with the re-release of his kooky 1982 memoir, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," which revealed that he not only produced popular TV shows but, he claimed, also took side trips out of the country as a covert assassin for the CIA.
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