INSIDE SCOOP

If you didn’t already plan to go to the 55th annual Costa Mesa Lyons Club

Fish Fry on Friday -- you’ll want to now.

Not only is it a great family event, you will get the chance to see none

other than Newport-Mesa Unified board of education trustee Jim Ferryman

behind the fryer.

He will be spending the day battering those fish and tossin’ ‘em in the

grease.

A GAME-SHOW HOST’S PERSPECTIVE

Former “Tic Tac Dough” TV game host Wink Martindale, passing through

Newport Beach on a book tour last week, got to talking a little bit about

his future plans, which may include producing some new game shows.

Martindale didn’t want to disclose too many details about the programs,

but he did drop a hint about how producers judge whether a game show is

successful or not.

“When people are literally yelling at their television sets,” he said,

“you know you’ve got a winner.”

IS NEWPORT BEACH WORTH IT?

As expected, Memorial Day weekend was a traffic nightmare. Cars were

backed up from Balboa Peninsula to Newport Boulevard and didn’t let up

until the mouth of the freeway.

Beachgoers who had come from as far away as Detroit to experience

Newport’s pristine beaches were left wondering if it was worth the trek.

“You take any meter you can find,” said tourist David Baywell, adding a

nonchalant “Oh yeah, we like Newport.”

After negotiating one hour to find a parking space, however, his son

Dennis disagreed.

Still, Jim Spicer of Chino Hills said that despite the one hour of

driving and 30 minutes to find a spot -- he and his family would still

make a day of it and try to enjoy the beach as much as possible.