Johnny Olson vs. Rod Roddy
Joh...@my-dejanews.com
is it just me, or does it seem Rod Roddy is a bit lacking in the enthusiasm
department lately. i was watching a show the other day, i could see the car
game coming (you know how you can kind of figure out what they are likely to
play just by where they go on the stage) and as the big doors opened to reveal
the car, i tingled waiting for the enthusiastic, "A NEW CAR!!!!!!!" and got a
very lame one. Rod announced it like it was a pack of Trident instead of a
car. i know Rod is no Johnny Olson (and who could be?), and no one will ever
do it better then him, but he has done much better previously. anyone agree?
(or disagree?)
JohnCTT
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DrCBo
>is it just me, or does it seem Rod Roddy is a bit lacking in the enthusiasm
>department lately. i was watching a show the other day, i could see the car
>game coming (you know how you can kind of figure out what they are likely to
>play just by where they go on the stage) and as the big doors opened to
>reveal
>the car, i tingled waiting for the enthusiastic, "A NEW CAR!!!!!!!" and got a
>very lame one. Rod announced it like it was a pack of Trident instead of a
>car. i know Rod is no Johnny Olson (and who could be?), and no one will ever
>do it better then him, but he has done much better previously. anyone agree?
>(or disagree?)
I tend to agree. Were you watching in late 1985 and early 1986 (or seen GSN
reruns from those years) when Gene Wood, Rich Jeffreys and Bob Hilton were in
the running for the spot? What would you have thought of any of them? And are
there names of other folks that would do well?
Dave Mackey
DrCBo wrote:
> I tend to agree. Were you watching in late 1985 and early 1986 (or seen GSN
> reruns from those years) when Gene Wood, Rich Jeffreys and Bob Hilton were in
> the running for the spot? What would you have thought of any of them? And are
> there names of other folks that would do well?
I stated my opinions on this a while back, but for the newcomers I
repeat myself here...
Bob Hilton was clearly the best of the bunch. I didn't think much of
Rich Jeffreys on a copy-heavy show like "Price" because his voice is
best heard in small doses. Gene Wood came pretty close to what "Price"
needed but I don't think he ever got the rhythm of the show quite down.
I think either of the guys who did the 80's LMAD, Dean Goss and Brian
Cummings, could have pulled off "Price" and in that department I would
have given the edge to Mr. Goss. Charlie Tuna could have done a nice
"Price" because his voice is quite pleasant to hear reading copy.
While I was happy to hear Rod Roddy get the job, it's clear recently
he's been phoning in his performance. He was tripping over "From Russia
With Love" on today's show, and even Bob was telling Rod to clean up his
act and "do (his) best" reading the copy.
Dave
Joh...@my-dejanews.com
In article <199805251937...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
dr...@aol.com (DrCBo) wrote:
> Were you watching in late 1985 and early 1986 (or seen GSN
> reruns from those years) when Gene Wood, Rich Jeffreys and Bob Hilton were in
> the running for the spot? What would you have thought of any of them? And are
> there names of other folks that would do well?
>
i was watching then, and i wasn't impressed with too many of them, with the
exception of Gene Wood. But i just had such a hard time seperating him from
the voice of Family Feud.
ROBDON33
I also agree with Dave. Bob Hilton was the best...and rightfully should've
taken the job. I'll give Gene Wood credit for coming in at a tough time
following Johnny's death...he did good, but didn't quite get into the rhythm
that Olson was famous for.
Brian Cummings and Dean Goss should've been given some consideration. Same for
Charlie Tuna.
Charlie O'Donnell would've been good also. Which brings me to Jay Stewart.
Jay brought a lot of enthusiasm to all of the game shows he announced, and he
would've been perfect for TPIR.
Instead, Stewart was announcing on Jim Perry's SOTC and was
not considered. Does anyone think if Jay was picked to replace Johnny O, he
would still be with us today?
akam...@aone.com
In article <199805270406...@ladder03.news.aol.com>,
robd...@aol.com (ROBDON33) wrote:
>
Which brings me to Jay Stewart.
> Jay brought a lot of enthusiasm to all of the game shows he announced, and
he
> would've been perfect for TPIR.
> Instead, Stewart was announcing on Jim Perry's SOTC and was
> not considered. Does anyone think if Jay was picked to replace Johnny O,
he
> would still be with us today?
>
Yes, Jay Stewart would have done very well with TPIR. He had a similiar style
of announcing on LMAD and Sale that would have made him a perfect fit. I
would have to believe he would still be here if he had the TPIR job because
after all, he would have something to live for if he had the job.
Albin O. Kampfer
C319Chris
I used to say that Rod Roddy is the Liberace of game show announcers, but that
holds true in wardrobe only. Liberace was a gifted showman.
That said, I think Rod should be prepped as a substitute emcee for Barker. He
might do better there.
Bill Mcdaniel
Since I was berated last time for making ANY comments about Rod Roddy,
all I can say about this subject is NO COMMENT
ROBDON33
c319chris wrote:
>That said, I think Rod should be prepped as a substitute emcee >for Barker.
He might do better there
I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Guys like Peter Tomarken and Jim Perry
would be more suitable to fill in for Bob.
Adam Seigel
ROBDON33 <robd...@aol.com> wrote in article
<199805280146...@ladder03.news.aol.com>...
I have to agree with this, and especially Jim Perry. I think that he would
be a great replacement if for some reason Bob could no longer do the show.
--
Adam Seigel
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/5304
Includes Game Show Sounds of the Month,
the Vanna White Picture Page,
and my large game show video collection!
C319Chris
>I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Guys like Peter Tomarken and Jim
>Perry
>would be more suitable to fill in for Bob.
You would have to pay them a retainer to be rehearsed and ready to go at a
moment's notice. If Barker pulls a muscle practicing his Karate kicks, Rod can
emcee and Gene Wood can come in and pick up the announcing with little advance
preparation. Years ago Dennis James substituted for Barker and Ed McMahon for
Johnny Carson, so there is precedent.
WLTXPromo
>If Barker pulls a muscle practicing his Karate kicks, Rod can
>emcee and Gene Wood can come in and pick up the announcing with little
>advance
>preparation.
Just a guess here, but I would imagine that TPiR already has some arrangements
just in case something of this type should happen to Barker requiring a quick
replacement. My guess is that they'd pull in Doug Davidson since he works
right across the hall at the Bill Bell studio!
Gmshwfan
In article <199805300013...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, wltx...@aol.com
(WLTXPromo) writes:
>My guess is that they'd pull in Doug Davidson since he works
>right across the hall at the Bill Bell studio!
Two Words: NOT HARDLY.
Actually, Barker missed a couple days of taping last week. So now, the last six
shows of 1997-98 will tape next week (June 1-3), and the first show of 98-99
tapes June 8th. (Get all that, Jeremy? :) )
'Brian
"Politics leads Americans to tighten up and withdraw like constipated English
aristocrats. It leads the English to relax and extend like American car
salesmen."
-- Michael Lewis, writing about the British election in "Slate" magazine.
Mark
Too bad it wasn't Johnny Olsen replacing Dennis James. I never saw Dennis
James host TPIR, and I'm not saying he didn't do a great job, from all the
good words from the NG, but it would have been fun to see Johnny in front
of the mic than behind it. They could of had him host the show and announce
the show on tape and Johnny would intro duce himself, sounds fun.
Imagine hearing Johnny Olsen saying
"...And now here's the star of the price is right, Johnny Olsen".
It just occured to me that in the early years of TPIR Bob always called
Johnny, Johnny, and in the later years he called him John. Just an
observation!
consi...@my-dejanews.com
Dick Clark introduced himself on the $20,000 Pyramid on several occasions
when Bob Clayton became ill and ABC could not get a staff announcer over to
the studio in time for the taping of several shows. It wasn't a matter of
geography, because TV-15, where Pyramid was taped -- or more accurately
performed -- was on West 58th Street and 7th Avenue, and ABC staff
announcers were located at West 66th Street and Broadway and on Sixth Avenue
and West 53rd Street -- both of which are less than a half-mile away from the
studio.
ABC believed that New York law subjected the taping of TV shows in New York
to sales tax, and the Pyramid and other shows were actually recorded on
videotape in New Jersey. The signal was sent either by microwave or phone
lines from New York to New Jersey. To make matters even more complicated,
the Chyron character generator that put the words and phrases of the game on
the screen was located on West 66th Street, as was the video playback deck
that showed the "crazy shots" (big-money wins of former contestants) at the
top of the $20,000 Pyramid. However, the digital clock that clicked off the
30 seconds or 60 seconds of game play was shot with a fixed black-and-white
camera in TV-15.
>
>
In article <01bd8e95$366e1fe0$a49aa5c6@default>,
Randy Amasia
Mark wrote in message
<01bd8e95$366e1fe0$a49aa5c6@default>...
>Too bad it wasn't Johnny Olsen replacing Dennis James. I
never saw Dennis
>James host TPIR, and I'm not saying he didn't do a great
job, from all the
>good words from the NG, but it would have been fun to see
Johnny in front
>of the mic than behind it. They could of had him host the
show and announce
>the show on tape and Johnny would intro duce himself,
sounds fun.
Johnny was perfectly happy being off-stage announcer and
doing audience warm-up for the G-T shows. As I have posted
before, he always projected the attitude that he had the
greatest job in the world.
Randy Amasia
The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man
---
http://www.geocities.com/~randy_amasia/whew/
"...and still it's left undone."
WLTXPromo
>Johnny was perfectly happy being off-stage announcer and
>doing audience warm-up for the G-T shows. As I have posted
>before, he always projected the attitude that he had the
>greatest job in the world.
Johnny Olson was quoted in papers as having once said: "When I [shout] 'BOB
BARKER!', Man, that does it for me! I feel like I'm living!!"
"We'll be back with round three of the 'Dumb-off' right after this!"
-Gene Rayburn pitching to break at the end of a second round of MG where the
score is still 0 to 0.
Jeff Amdur
> Imagine hearing Johnny Olsen saying
> "...And now here's the star of the price is right, Johnny Olsen".
I remember Johnny hosting some sort of kids' program back when I was a
kid, probably in the mid-50's. I forget what it was called; but I
remember it seemed to come on the local Baltimore station right before
"Andy's Gang", with Andy Devine and featuring those battles between Billy
Gilbert and Froggy the Gremlin.
I have memories of a Johnny Olsen with more hair, leading us kiddies in a
follow-the-bouncing-ball sing-along of "Little Brown Jug". In fact, in
the 48-plus years of my life, I've only heard two people sing "Little
Brown Jug": Johnny Olsen was one, and the hiccoughing Carl "Alfalfa"
Switzer was the other, in a "Little Rascals" short I'm sure we've all seen
hundreds of times.
--
Jeff Amdur
Quality foreign language instruction since 1971 (Oy, gevalt! THAT long?!?)
Quality timekeeping for sports events since 1973
Mark
Do TPIR ever record voice overs from the announcer? Because sometimes when
something funny happened with Bob and the contestant or something happened,
you could hear Johnny laughing in the background or into his mic (like on
the 25th Anniversary Special when Bob gave a BIG kiss to Darlene, you could
hear Johnny saying "Ohh WOW!". And other times when something even more
funny, you don't hear anything. One time something happened in the showcase
titled "Holly's Travel Agency" and Johnny said "Opps" while he was saying
"this showcase can be yours.." and you know what I'm getting at.
Oh yes. Also, sometimes instead of one of the beauties shows the IUFB, Rod
comes out and shows it to them (like a man's watch) and there is a voice
over of him announcing it. I know this happens, but I was wondering if they
record prize descriptions just normally.
For instance, this could show you how good Johnny is at not screwing up like
Rod, but when the Amana frezzer fell down, he didn't even stop. I though it
was recorded, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't because when Johnny
reads a copy, he reads a copy and nothing else, like the professionals do.
Dave Mackey
Mark wrote:
>
> Do TPIR ever record voice overs from the announcer? Because sometimes when
> something funny happened with Bob and the contestant or something happened,
> you could hear Johnny laughing in the background or into his mic (like on
> the 25th Anniversary Special when Bob gave a BIG kiss to Darlene, you could
> hear Johnny saying "Ohh WOW!". And other times when something even more
> funny, you don't hear anything. One time something happened in the showcase
> titled "Holly's Travel Agency" and Johnny said "Opps" while he was saying
> "this showcase can be yours.." and you know what I'm getting at.
Whenever Rod appears in a showcase, Rod pre-tapes the VO's for the
showcase involved, and there's also a stock tape of "This is Rod Roddy
speaking..." hanging around in case he joins the throng on stage at the
end of the show. It worked the same way when Johnny O was in all those
showcases in the 70's and 80's.
The producers and technicians liked keeping Johnny's mic open during the
show for his reactions and the occasional "Yuh-HO!" that he'd emit
whenever a particularly lissome contestant ran down the aisle and took
her place in Contestants Row.
Dave
Dave
WLTXPromo
>The producers and technicians liked keeping Johnny's mic open during the
>show for his reactions and the occasional "Yuh-HO!" that he'd emit
>whenever a particularly lissome contestant ran down the aisle and took
>her place in Contestants Row.
Johnny was even a master at that!! :)
Mark
>>show for his reactions and the occasional "Yuh-HO!" that he'd emit
Could you explain this more please? I have not seen many Johnny Olson
episodes and probably won't because I live in Canada, but what do you mean
bu this?
Thanks.
M.C.
Peter Martin
> is it just me, or does it seem Rod Roddy is a bit lacking in the enthusiasm
> department lately. i was watching a show the other day, i could see the car
> game coming (you know how you can kind of figure out what they are likely to
> play just by where they go on the stage) and as the big doors opened to reveal
> the car, i tingled waiting for the enthusiastic, "A NEW CAR!!!!!!!" and got a
> very lame one. Rod announced it like it was a pack of Trident instead of a
> car. i know Rod is no Johnny Olson (and who could be?), and no one will ever
> do it better then him, but he has done much better previously. anyone agree?
> (or disagree?)
