That Guy: The Ric Salizzo formula

Ric Salizzo was television's renaissance man. Photo / Martin Sykes

Opinion

They were a part of our everyday lives, as familiar as an old couch or well-worn slippers. They made us laugh, made us cry and touched our lives on a daily basis, so when they inexplicably and suddenly disappear from the face of the planet, we naturally ask the question: "Where are they now?"

Ric Salizzo: We knew him as the deadpan fatherly host of the TAB, Lion Red, Hyundai, and later Bond and Bond Sports Cafe.

He came from humble beginnings, a top athlete who could have been a footy great but never had the opportunities he deserved, often being forced out of key positions he believed he should have had, by "inferior" rugby players such as John Kirwan and Zinzan Brooke. Had he been born into any other era he probably would have been one of our greatest All Blacks, but as always the timing wasn't quite right. John Kirwan once remarked: "Ric always instinctively knew what to do in any given situation on the rugby field, but he was just never there in time to do it."

He forged ahead in TV, became one of our most unorthodox - and first balding - news anchormen, and then reinvented himself as New Zealand's first All Blacks media liaison officer. Later, returning to the small screen, he went on to create such iconic TV shows as Sports Cafe, The Bradley Bunch, and of course The Sugar Shack, which has now been syndicated to over 65 countries worldwide. It seems to be one of those shows that works better when it has been over-dubbed, and rather than things getting lost in translation, elements are somehow gained.

It is presently the fourth-highest rating family entertainment show in Bucharest, where Ric's image is still plastered on billboards and where he is still the face of a high-profile haemorrhoids awareness campaign.

With the success came the spoils and the high life. He was a reluctant man about town, attending so many social events that the social pages had to employ extra photographers to cover all the functions he attended. Like moths to the flame the paparazzi basked in Ric's limelight.

But where did he go? After more than 10 years at the top he called an end to shows like Sports Cafe and he probably died somewhere. For years, rumours circulated that he had faked his own death in order to escape the pressures of stardom, sponsors, and Inland Revenue.

There were even rumours that he produced the successful sports show The Crowd Goes Wild, incognito from a Las Vegas hotel room that had the windows blocked out with tin foil, just as the reclusive Howard Hughes did many years earlier.

Ric may have lived on - he may even still be alive - but even if he is, his fans are going to have to accept that he would be very old now anyway.

Much like Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and most fittingly the Big Bopper, we want to see these people in their heyday, not as they would be now.

If Elvis were still alive, would he still be relevant? Probably not, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate what he achieved in the past.

One way or another, most people by now have accepted the painful truth that Ric is no longer a part of our lives.

We still have the memories, the tapes and in my case, two of his cameras and a high-quality field microphone.

On a personal level, he taught me a lot about making TV - specifically, how not to make it. We have a phrase around the office: "Let's listen to what Ric says and then do the complete opposite." And it's a system that most of the country's top film and TV academies have also adopted, with the first year's curriculum often being dedicated to mastering - or rather, not mastering - the Ric Salizzo formula.

Ric was a true renaissance man like Da Vinci or Michelangelo, a true innovator like Thomas Edison or Henry Ford, and a creative force to be reckoned with like Hall and Oates. He was also a man of his time, and his time has passed.

So where is Ric now? Well, funnily enough I just got off the phone with him and it seems he is still living somewhere just north of the Bombays. It varies, as he lives in a caravan.

Next week: Where are they now? I take a look at my own career.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY