Dick Clark

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 10:19am

I had no idea he would look and sound as bad as he did. This is why he had been kept under wraps. I think last night was the last time he will be on a New Years eve show. He has all that money and yet it does not help him now. Without your health, everything else is meaningless.

My prayers go out to him. You can see Ryan Seacrest is being groomed to take his place permanently

[morosco]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 10:31am

His appearance was the highlight of the New Year. What a brave, courageous, and inspiring man. He's come a long way since he fell ill in late 2004. Thank you Dick Clark!
Dick Clark at the telecast

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 10:56am

Good for him. That was very brave and I'm sure it gave a wonderful boost to people recovering from strokes and their families.

He said "I wouldn't have missed this for the world." Good for him.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 11:06am

I didn't turn it on until after midnight, but I just cried. God bless him.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 11:07am

an amazing man and an amazing career

[Luscious]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 11:49am

"You can see Ryan Seacrest is being groomed to take his place permanently."

Ryan Seacrest has already been hand-picked by Dick Clark to replace him. IMO, last night was Dick's way of passing the baton onto Ryan. I'm not a big Seacrest fan, but I think he's a good choice for something like this. As for Dick, hard to say whether this will be his last New Year's Rockin' Eve, but I give him props and wish him well (although, from what I hear, he can be one mean sonofabitch).

Updated On: 1/1/06 at 11:49 AM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 12:04pm

I really didnt think he sounded that bad. He sounds pretty good and he'll sound better if he goes on next year. I thought it was good that he went on. Showed how much doing the New Year's balldrop meant to him.

On the other side of the spectrum completely, I. HATE. RYAN. SEACREST.

[mominator]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 12:22pm

Sadly I missed the broadcast last night. Strokes are scary stuff, for him to even be on the air a year later is just a wonderous thing! God bless him, may he have a full and speedy recovery.
BTW, Ryan Seacrest will never hold a candle to Dick Clark!!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 12:28pm

I'm not the biggest Dick Clark fan, but the '50s payola scandal and other shady business practices aside, I thought Roxy's assessment was particularly cruel. I'm sure Dick wasn't slurring half as much as Roxy last night. Or any other night for that matter.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 12:44pm

I agree Namo. For suffering a severe stroke not one year ago, Dick is looking and sounding great. Seeing him was heartbreaking, but uplifting all at once, because if he's in this good shape so soon after the stroke, he may just rebound in time. I hope so. Perhaps Mr. Roxy hasn't had experience with any stroke victims and his remarks come out of ignorance of the subject.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 12:50pm

Ignorance walks hand-in-hand with Mr. Roxy.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 12:53pm

This I did not know.

[morosco]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 3:04pm

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world. Last year I had a stroke. It left me in bad shape. I had to teach myself how to walk and talk again. It's been a long, hard fight. My speech is not perfect but I'm getting there." -Dick Clark

You are our hero Dick Clark and we all admire your courage.

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 3:13pm

I also found those words to be inspiring. To me it said, "I had a stroke and I'm here - what can YOU accomplish 'til the next ball drop?" I found it to be very inspiring.

[morosco]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 3:20pm

"I also found those words to be inspiring. To me it said, "I had a stroke and I'm here - what can YOU accomplish 'til the next ball drop?" I found it to be very inspiring."

Amen!

[442namffug]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 3:23pm

Oh quit your whining Namo. He sounded terrible. Don't try to rationalize. He had a stroke and, as expected, he is in a physically declined state. The truth is the truth.

Of course, I never wish ill-health, sickness, or pain upon anyone, but Dick Clark has never been a compassionate or kind human being. Don't believe me? Take a look at "Bowling for Columbine" for starters. Then meet him in person...

[The Grovers Corners Yenta2]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 4:04pm

Dick Clark had a stroke and has been working hard in rehab to get where he was on New Year's Eve. That took one little step at a time and he is still on his way up. I lived with a couple who were both in wheel chairs. She had a spinal cord injury and he had Cereberal Palsy. Both were in wheel chairs. The couple had a beautiful little baby boy. Many ignorant people were shocked and wanted to know how they could have possibly had a baby since they were disabled. My reply to these people was " THEY _HAD SEX!" Strokes, spinal cord injuries, cereberal palsy might be limiting, but the worst disability is that of ignorance.

[LionessInWinter]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 4:10pm

I thought he did a really great job and it was great to see him back.

I'm an occupational therapist who has worked with countless stroke survivors and I'm highly impressed with how well he seems to have done. He's obviously worked *extremely* hard at being able to present himself in the best possible way. I'm sure it was a huge accomplishment to get his speech to the point where he could talk at such a relatively fast rate of speech and have it be, for the most part, intelligible. There were occasional words that didn't come out very clear. He had a hard time at the end of sentences where it sounded like he was getting ahead of his mouth's ability to form the words, but for as much as he did, I'm proud of him.

It also appears fairly obvious that he didn't get much functional movement back in his arm, but not necessarily surprising. It was obviously a very serious stroke.
I'm sorry I missed his opening remarks.

There are plenty of everyday people who are afraid after a stroke to do something as mundane as going out to dinner because they don't want people to see them with their walkers or see that they can't cut their food themselves or need a special utensil to do so.
And Dick Clark gets out there on national tv in front of millions of people, impairments and all.
Kudos to him! I hope he comes back on the show as often as he wants.

All that being said, the lights in the background behind him were annoying. I felt like they were used to obscure him a bit so you couldn't see exactly that he looked a bit different. Also, it sort of looked like they might have used a filter. I could be wrong. The quick jumps away from him visually bothered me, too. Couldn't get a good solid look at him at one time. But there was probably longer shots in the beginning when I wasn't watching.
And I'm sure ABC (and maybe DC himself) didn't want anyone to get a long look at him. At least now.

I think he should go on Oprah, Diane Sawyer or someone and discuss his rehab. Maybe it would be inspirational for someone. Didn't Kirk Douglas do some interviews at one point talking about his rehab?

Updated On: 1/1/06 at 04:10 PM

[SamIAm]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 9:00pm

Lioness: I join you in applauding this man's courage. My father-in-law suffered a severe stroke 9 years ago on New Year's Eve and spent 8.5 years in a wheel chair, unable to speak or move his right side, until he finally passed away in May.

I heard a journalist on the radio today say that when you appear on national TV in front of millions of people, you should always be at your best and he said that Clark was not at his best so he should not have appeared.

I wish I had caught the guy's name. I would have sent him an email that would have set his butt on fire. What a boat load of garbage. Should the man be shot at dawn because he had a stroke. Should people with disabilities be hidden away from the public? I thought it quite brave of him to show his recovery as a work in progress and to have the courage to get out there and do what he wanted to do.

The heck with the idiots who think you have to have every hair in place before you can possibly appear in front of PEOPLE. To that ignoramus on the radio I say this: I sincerely hope you never have to experience this kind of disability yourself and that it never happens to anyone in your family. Because with your attitude, sir, you are unlikely to make it through the first week!

[guitargeek0624]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 9:37pm

I must say, he sounded terrible last night. It was really sad to watch. I really didn't expect him to look and sound like that, either. The fact that he did the broadcast anyway, though, was very inspiring.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 9:51pm

SamIAm -I totally agree with you and I'm sorry to hear of your father-in-law's death My sister suffered neurological damage. It landed her in a wheelchair and not being able to speak clearly. She was determined to be understood and not have people hang up the phone on her, so without therapy her speech is improved after many years of her trying. She still doesn't sound as good as Dick Clark does after less than one year, though. She's working on walking now, and actually can get out of the chair and walk while holding on. I'm so proud! I hate the attitude of that guy on the radio. Shame on him.

[singingwendy]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 9:57pm

I have to say, after the original shock of seeing and hearing Dick Clark, I realized he's doing amazingly well. I thought his pronunciation was pretty good, but his voice still sounds very weak. My mother suffered a minor stroke a few years ago, and had the same symptom and it has improved, so I would hope the same improvement for him. It was so evident that he was thrilled at being back to host "his show". Even, if this is his last one, it was definitely a triumphant return for Mr. Clark.

[wexy]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 10:16pm

I've got to give him credit for going on with the show. He obviously has been through a tough rehab. I understood him despie the speech difficulties and Jeez anything is better than watchin Regis.

[Celestial Entropy]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 10:37pm

Having been around people that have had strokes, I saw Mr. Clark's move to go on television as a sign of strength. That is his life... bravo to him for doing what he loves to do. My grandmother never recovered her ability to speak from her stroke before she passed and I wish I could have heard her voice one more time. A dear older friend, Mr. Billy, had partial paralysis to his vocal chords due to a mild stroke. I'll never forget the intense rehab that Mr. Billy went through just to speak... so I know Mr. Clark must have worked hard to get where he was last night. His voice may have been a little slurred here and there, and sure, it was evident that the stroke struck him pretty hard, but you could still hear the same enthusiasm he has always had in previous New Years broadcasts... plus his eyes were bright and he looked happy. Go him!

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/1/06 at 10:51pm

Just as an aside, CE, that's the most interesting cat picture I have ever seen!