Take Reality TV, for instance. You could argue that Barris invented the genre. In the 1965, he created television’s “The Dating Game.” He later launched “The Newlywed Game,” “The $1.98 Beauty Contest” and most notoriously, “The Gong Show.” Along the way, TV critics labeled him “the king of schlock.”

In today’s culture, some Hollywood producer would probably be happy to have that title. But back then, it was a different story. In 1980, at a career low, Barris checked into a New York hotel and began writing “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” In the book, which was released in 1984, he claimed that in the years he produced these TV shows, he moonlighted as a CIA hit man, along the way killing 33 people.

Fact? Fiction? It didn’t really matter because no one believed him and the CIA scoffed. The book sunk. But two decades later, actor George Clooney–whose father was a game-show host and TV producer in the 1970s–unearthed the book, commissioned a screenplay from wacky Charlie Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation”) and turned the tale into a movie, which was released Dec. 31. Like the book, the film details Barris’s rise and fall as a TV producer, and includes interludes of his various CIA assassinations. The critically acclaimed film (and the re-release of the book) has people buzzing again about 73-year-old Barris. He seems to fit better into pop culture this time around. NEWSWEEK’s B. J. Sigesmund spoke to Barris by phone.

NEWSWEEK: Let’s talk about your legacy.

Chuck Barris: I never thought I had a legacy of any kind, other than being connected to “The Gong Show.” That in itself is slightly dreadful and maybe disappointing in terms of what I think I’ve done in some other little areas. But I don’t think I can duck it. If I think if I were to die tomorrow, it would be, “Chuck Barris–gonged at last.” Legacies really don’t mean that much to me, simply because you’re dead. What do you care at that point?

You’re obviously familiar with all the reality shows on TV today. They’re getting more and more out there. Enterprising producers have created “Celebrity Mole: Hawaii,” “High School Reunion” and “Are You Hot?” And no one dares call these people sleazy!

I heard there was a show called “Wife Swap.” And then I heard there was a show about challenging a person’s will.

How different is this from the way Hollywood and the press treated you back in the day?

The day “The Dating Game” went on the air, the Chicago Tribune had a story that said television had hit an all-time low. From that point on, I was the guy the critics seemed to love to hate. I was called “the king of schlock.” The difference is, today these shows are accepted. These shows aren’t seen as lowering any bars. These are simply entertainment today.

Maybe you were ahead of your time?

Today, the language on “The Sopranos” is accepted. “The Anna Nicole Show” is accepted. I gotta believe “The Osbournes” came whatever they became just by saying “F–k” a lot on television.

Let’s talk about what led you to write the book “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” You started it when you were at an all-time career low.

On the weekend “The Gong Show Movie” opened here in New York, I hit about as low as I could get. The next day, I went to Philadelphia to see the Flyers play the Rangers in hockey. Somewhere during the game, the owner put my name up on the scoreboard, saying, “Let’s give a big welcome to Chuck Barris, the host of ‘The Gong Show’.” And 16,000 people booed. The owner told me it was a call on the ice. I hadn’t seen the scoreboard, I’d been watching the ice. And I didn’t see any bad call by any referee.

And that’s when you went to a hotel.

Yes, I thought I’d get this anger and bitterness and hurt on paper and maybe I could use it some time in the future. I checked into the hotel, and I didn’t leave for two and a half years. I just wrote this book. For good or bad or ill or whatever, the book came out with a beginning, middle and an end. I used my experiences to get the story across.

What were you trying to do with the book?

The premise was: here’s a guy–me–being crucified by the TV critics for trying to entertain the country while he’s being given medals and presidential citations for killing enemies of the United States.

And what point do you think the book makes?

I always hoped that it made the point that everything is basically futile. I wasn’t doing anything well in either sense. I wasn’t entertaining well, apparently, and I wasn’t doing the CIA thing well. What was I trying to say in some elevated point of view? I don’t know if I was trying to say anything. What I was trying to do, I did. I finished writing the book.

St. Martin’s Press was so excited about it they published 100,000 copies of it at the time.

Yes, and then it disappeared. It just came and went. Literary critics–Publisher’s Weekly and others–just killed the book. Not that some of their criticism wasn’t correct, but what bothered me was the feeling that the book wasn’t even read. That critics said, “Well, what kind of book do you expect from the guy who gave us ‘The Dating Game’ and ‘The Newlywed Game’?” That was it, dismissed. I don’t know if we sold more than 10,000 of them. All I know is, I had cartons and cartons of them in my basement for years.

When the CIA has been asked to comment on your book, they’ve always denied you had anything to do with them.

I’ve never spoken to the CIA and the CIA’s never spoken to me, in the sense of whether I did it or not. One time they said, “He was standing a little too close to his gong.” But it’s not important who believes me or doesn’t believe me. I say this again and again. And I know it’s a cop-out and an excuse and whatever you want to call it, a scam, whatever, but it’s still what I say: If the book is good read, and a person can’t put it down, then I’ve accomplished something.

Is there anything you’d like to add to the record at this time about your alleged involvement with the CIA?

Everything in my life has been covered. They’ve asked me everything already. There isn’t anything else that I want to make clear. What isn’t understood isn’t understood, and what’s clear is clear.

The book’s had somewhat of a resurgence since the movie came out.

Yes, it’s been selling well and it’s even been rereviewed. The reviews have been much more positive than the first time around, though some are still negative.

Your book signings have also been different this time around.

When the book first came out 20 years ago and I went to a book signing, there I was sitting at a table with piles of books around me and a big poster saying I’d be appearing there. Three people would show up. But now, when we go to a city like L.A. or Seattle or San Francisco, every place we went, they were hanging from the rafters. The reception was immensely friendly and warm. To me, it was some kind of vindication that I wasn’t totally disliked.