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Author Topic: The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers  (Read 28764 times)

SRIV94

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #90 on: February 10, 2007, 06:26:20 PM »
[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' post=\'145829\' date=\'Feb 10 2007, 01:18 PM\']
Thanks for placing me in such good company. I'm thrilled to think that my contributions have meant something to a few fans, and that I may have influenced a few people in the way that I was touched by the voices that fascinated me.
[/quote]
Can I change my rankings?  :)

Well said, Mr. West.
Doug
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"When you see the crawl at the end of the show you will see a group of talented people who will all be moving over to other shows...the cameramen aren't are on that list, but they're not talented people."  John Davidson, TIME MACHINE (4/26/85)

chris319

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #91 on: February 11, 2007, 01:00:21 PM »
I will avoid the obvious joke about Rod Roddy and Tutti Frutti.

I'm sorry, but Jay Stewart deserves to be much higher than #7. In his work on LMAD he was not only outstanding as a comic foil, but he was a superb copy reader and had a great set of pipes with which he projected a tremendous sense of fun and excitement.

Kenny Williams deserves to be higher, too.
« Last Edit: February 11, 2007, 01:05:59 PM by chris319 »

clemon79

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #92 on: February 11, 2007, 04:19:29 PM »
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'145871\' date=\'Feb 11 2007, 10:00 AM\']
I'm sorry, but Jay Stewart deserves to be much higher than #7. In his work on LMAD he was not only outstanding as a comic foil, but he was a superb copy reader and had a great set of pipes with which he projected a tremendous sense of fun and excitement.
[/quote]
He was very very good on Sale, too, in my opinion.
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Matt Ottinger

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #93 on: February 11, 2007, 05:33:07 PM »
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'145871\' date=\'Feb 11 2007, 01:00 PM\']I'm sorry, but Jay Stewart deserves to be much higher than #7.
Kenny Williams deserves to be higher, too.[/quote]
If either of them were ranked 23rd, behind "that guy from that show" or whoever the announcer is for the Ohio State Lottery, then I'd be more inclined to agree with you.  As it is, the six names in the top five are (presumably) Olson, Wood, Pardo, Gilbert, Roddy and O'Donnell.  Not exactly hacks.

I tend to agree with Randy that at the top, rankings are purely subjective.  Wouldn't have surprised me if Stewart ended up a notch or two higher, but I don't think it's an egregious mistake on all our collective parts that he's not.
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.

chris319

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #94 on: February 11, 2007, 05:54:43 PM »
Quote
the six names in the top five are (presumably) Olson, Wood, Pardo, Gilbert, Roddy and O'Donnell
I'll take Jay Stewart over all of them except Johnny Olson. Don Pardo was positively dreary on TPIR. Rod Roddy was good when he started doing TPIR but as the years went by and before his health problems, his performance was slipping. Gene Wood was an OK but not a great announcer, Johnny Gilbert is good and Charlie O'Donnell is very good.

There are several network staff announcers who did game shows back in the day but who have been forgotten by those of us old enough to have heard them the first time around, or were never known to today's audiences: Wayne Howell, Bill McCord, Bern Bennett, Dirk Fredricks ...
« Last Edit: February 11, 2007, 06:05:02 PM by chris319 »

cweaver

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #95 on: February 11, 2007, 06:12:27 PM »
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'145871\' date=\'Feb 11 2007, 02:00 PM\']
I'm sorry, but Jay Stewart deserves to be much higher than #7....

Kenny Williams deserves to be higher, too.
[/quote]

While I'm not sure I would begrudge any of the big six (Kenny was #6 on my own list, in fact), it should be noted that Kenny Williams and Jay Stewart both had active, on camera roles which involved some acting and comic timing (Williams on Video Village, Shenanigans and Storybook Squares, Stewart on Let's Make a Deal) and deserved to rank fairly high for sure.

Don Howard

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #96 on: February 11, 2007, 07:15:48 PM »
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'145880\' date=\'Feb 11 2007, 05:33 PM\']
whoever the announcer is for the Ohio State Lottery[/quote]
In the 1970s that was Paul King and he was mighty good.
I would be curious to know the age bracket of those who voted.
Being in my 40s, the name and voice of Don Morrow are very familiar to me.
However, since none of the shows he worked on repeat anywhere, he wouldn't get any votes from the tween, teen or 20s crowd.

HairMetalLives

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #97 on: February 11, 2007, 07:21:35 PM »
[quote name=\'Don Howard\' post=\'145894\' date=\'Feb 11 2007, 04:15 PM\']
I would be curious to know the age bracket of those who voted.
Being in my 40s, the name and voice of Don Morrow are very familiar to me.
However, since none of the shows he worked on repeat anywhere, he wouldn't get any votes from the tween, teen or 20s crowd.
[/quote]

I'm 22 years old and put Mr. Morrow at #7.

JasonA1

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #98 on: February 11, 2007, 07:21:51 PM »
Quote
However, since none of the shows he worked on repeat anywhere, he wouldn't get any votes from the tween, teen or 20s crowd.

The latter two were able to hear him via USA's rerunning of $ale. I guess though, it parallels cases like Art James, where the younger set can only see him through random episodes of this and that traded around, rather than in daily service like some of our elder members saw him.

-Jason
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PYLW

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #99 on: February 15, 2007, 02:40:05 PM »
5. Johnny Gilbert- (Jeopardy! The $100,000 Pyramid) 175
4. Rod Roddy- (The Price is Right, Press Your Luck) 203
« Last Edit: February 26, 2007, 05:08:45 PM by Matt Ottinger »

davemackey

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #100 on: February 16, 2007, 06:38:11 AM »
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'145883\' date=\'Feb 11 2007, 05:54 PM\']
Quote
the six names in the top five are (presumably) Olson, Wood, Pardo, Gilbert, Roddy and O'Donnell
There are several network staff announcers who did game shows back in the day but who have been forgotten by those of us old enough to have heard them the first time around, or were never known to today's audiences: Wayne Howell, Bill McCord, Bern Bennett, Dirk Fredricks ...
[/quote]
Dirk Fredericks was one of the ABC staff guys, wasn't he? (along with the likes of Chet Gould)

And for my money, one of the most exciting announcers of the 1950's was Bill Rogers, who did "The $64,000 Question".

PYLW

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #101 on: February 21, 2007, 01:47:55 AM »
3. Charlie O' Donnell (Wheel of Fortune)/Don Pardo(Jeopardy!)-TIE 219 (With one first place vote for each)

PYLW

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #102 on: February 26, 2007, 05:00:30 PM »
2. Gene Wood- 253 (with 2 first place votes)

1. Johnny Olson- 315 (With 12 first place votes)


Thanks to everyone who participated, :)
« Last Edit: February 26, 2007, 05:01:27 PM by PYLW »

PYLdude

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #103 on: February 26, 2007, 05:19:49 PM »
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'145880\' date=\'Feb 11 2007, 05:33 PM\']
As it is, the six names in the top five are (presumably) Olson, Wood, Pardo, Gilbert, Roddy and O'Donnell.  .
[/quote]

Too bad we didn't get a pool going, eh Matt? :)
I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

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Matt Ottinger

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The Twenty Greatest Game Show Announcers
« Reply #104 on: February 26, 2007, 05:41:16 PM »
[quote name=\'PYLdude\' post=\'146957\' date=\'Feb 26 2007, 05:19 PM\']Too bad we didn't get a pool going, eh Matt? :)[/quote]
Well, at that point it was pretty much fish-in-a-barrel.

Meanwhile, I'm pretty pleased that the ten names I chose were the ten top vote-getters, though obviously not in precisely the same order.
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.