Bad fits for established hosts/announcers

[BillCullen1]

Seconded on Gene Wood/TPIR.

When Johnny O died, G-T needed an announcer to get the shows in the can, so that was a temp job and I suspect Gene knew that. As for my takes on bad fits on hosts:

Louie Anderson for Family Feud
John Davidson for Pyramid and Hollywood Squares - he was okay on Time Machine
Patrick Wayne on Tic Tac Dough
Mike Darow on The $128,000 Question
Rolf B on Wheel of Fortune
Billy Bush on Let's Make a Deal
JD Roberto on Shop Till You Drop

[Jamey Greek]

Seconded on Gene Wood/TPIR.

When Johnny O died, G-T needed an announcer to get the shows in the can, so that was a temp job and[i][/i] I suspect Gene knew that. As for my takes on bad fits on hosts:

Louie Anderson for Family Feud
John Davidson for Pyramid and Hollywood Squares - he was okay on Time Machine
Patrick Wayne on Tic Tac Dough
Mike Darow on The $128,000 Question
Rolf B on Wheel of Fortune
Billy Bush on Let's Make a Deal
JD Roberto on Shop Till You Drop

Also, Mike Reilly on Monopoly.  I wish Merv Griffin would have given Tim Brando who also auditioned to host Wheel a chance on Monopoly.  Also, I think MG Kelly should have had a shot to host Daytime Wheel when Pat left to do his talk show.  After all that announcing gig was only temporary before Charlie O could come back.


My take on established hosts/announcers a bad fit.


 Marc summers as announcer on anything.  I love Marc and everything but he is a better host than an announcer. 

[wdm1219inpenna]

I'd say of all the Feud hosts, Richard Karn was the one who seemed to be the most "fish out of water" host.

One week during Woolery's tenure on Wheel, Alex filled in as host, I remember seeing one or two of those episodes and it was a rather odd combination to me.

I was about to say Jon Bauman on MG/HS Hour but he was not an established host...come to think if it neither was Richard Karn so please strike that from the record!

[MSTieScott]

Agreed that Gene Wood wasn't right for TPIR, but if nothing else, for the Home Viewer Showcase the show did shortly after Johnny Olson passed, Gene knocked it out of the park as Santa -- even better than Johnny would have done.

Conversely, when Johnny filled in for Gene on Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, it was always an awkward fit. Maybe it was simply because Johnny never learned when he was supposed to wait for the giant wall of lights to display certain parts of his script, but his intros lacked the oomph that Gene gave his.

[Dbacksfan12]

I’m not sure Tom himself could’ve saved Split Second 86, and I say that as someone who enjoys the show for what it is. It was the first version I remember watching, but when you see the OG version you realize just how badly they watered down the material, esp. the bonus round.

Unfortunately, Hollywood Squares sniped the original SS bonus round.  When we play SS online, we tend to use the original format on the '86 set.

[chris319]

There exists somewhere a test show of TPIR with Bob Hilton announcing. He should have been made the permanent announcer.

He did about 10-12 aired shows in early 1986. Solely on his voice, yes, I thought Bob Hilton was the best of the crop that included Gene, Rod, and Rich Jeffries. But as an on-air character, they ended up doing quite well with Rod.

-Jason

Did we ever see Bob Hilton or any other sub as a character?

[JasonA1]

As Scott said upthread, only Gene Wood got the opportunity when he played Santa Claus in a Home Viewer Showcase.

-Jason

[Stackertosh]

TPIR never had a good announcer after Johnny Olson passed, and that includes Rod Roddy and Rich Fields. Rod was not a disciplined performer and made mistakes, resulting in pickups. Gene Wood didn't have the pipes for TPIR.

There exists somewhere a test show of TPIR with Bob Hilton announcing. He should have been made the permanent announcer.

Bob Hilton should've got the job in 85 and Burton Richardson or Art Sanders in 2004, Rich just sounded rough when he yells.
 
I am not a fan of George Gray he just sounds like a parody of an announcer and the same goes with Jonathan Magnum.

[wdm1219inpenna]

Bob Hilton should've got the job in 85 and Burton Richardson or Art Sanders in 2004, Rich just sounded rough when he yells.
 
I am not a fan of George Gray he just sounds like a parody of an announcer and the same goes with Jonathan Magnum.

Something about Rich Fields just rubbed me the wrong way.  He looked good on camera but his voice at times sounded too nasally and also bombastic at times, too over the top.  Also his voice reminded me a little bit at times of what the voice actor who did Barney the Dinosaur would have sounded like when not in character.

[chrisholland03]

You sure you meant Rich Fields and not Rich Jeffries 

Somewhere on VHS I have a copy of Rich Jeffries doing warmup.  He's quite enjoyable in that context.  I'll share when I find it. 

[colonial]

I thought Davidson was perfectly fine on Hollywood Squares -- not an A-level host but someone who played the straight man to a cast of crazies acceptably. Davison hosting Pyramid is another matter altogether -- a combination of oil and water.

Even mediocre Bill Cullen is better than what's defined as good nowadays, but the clips I saw of him hosting $25K Pyramid seemed like he was a slightly ill fit for the format. Clark was good at the format he made it his own. Cullen, while more than serviceable, was a tad jokey and not the fair, but occasionally stern taskmaster in Clark. And as we saw with TJW, Cullen's weak spot was primarily speed-centric formats.

Never really liked Monty outside of LMAD. Split Second was a speed-centric game and Hall never seemed comfortable with the format from the get-go.

JD

[BrandonFG]

I still believe Divorce Court was the biggest waste of Jim Peck's talent!

He deserved better but it kept him employed for several years. I don’t think he’s gonna call it a waste of his career just because it wasn’t a game show.

I dunno if this counts as established given that it was his only game show, but MG Kelly wasn’t a good fit as a Wheel announcer. He was a little too lowkey IMO.

Second everyone who said Rich Fields on TPiR. Anytime an episode from the 2000s plays, I hear “HERE IT CAH-MS!” and have to decide if I wanna keep watching.

[Neumms]

Has anyone heard if Bob Barker had any ill will toward Bob Hilton over The New T or C?

Bob Eubanks wasn’t good—or worse than his usual not good if you feel that way—on Dream House. I find it a lame show anyway, but with contestants who knew what a condiment is, he had nothin.’ He also seemed a little too chummy to the wives, what with their husbands standing there.

I think Meredith Viera is wrong on 25 Words or Less. Millionaire was different because it was essentially an interview, but she doesn’t really bring the fun. I’m also bummed she doesn’t do news anymore.

Also, that one week he filled in, Allen Ludden didn’t seem quite right on The Dating Game.

[TimK2003]

I thought Davidson was perfectly fine on Hollywood Squares -- not an A-level host but someone who played the straight man to a cast of crazies acceptably. Davison hosting Pyramid is another matter altogether -- a combination of oil and water.

Davidson on Squares was the equivilent of Burt Convy on Super Password:  Both replaced their far-better original hosts, both were not the greatest traffic cops when it came to keeping the games going at a good clip, and both tended to goof up more on camera than their predecessors.  Despite all of that, they made the shows their own, and they were far from being the worst game shows on the air at the time.

[wdm1219inpenna]

I still believe Divorce Court was the biggest waste of Jim Peck's talent!

He deserved better but it kept him employed for several years. I don’t think he’s gonna call it a waste of his career just because it wasn’t a game show.

I dunno if this counts as established given that it was his only game show, but MG Kelly wasn’t a good fit as a Wheel announcer. He was a little too lowkey IMO.

Second everyone who said Rich Fields on TPiR. Anytime an episode from the 2000s plays, I hear “HERE IT CAH-MS!” and have to decide if I wanna keep watching.

And tying in with Wheel and Rich, Rich did do some temp announcing work on Wheel after Charlie O'Donnel's passing and he was definitely not a good fit for Wheel.  Jim Thornton has proven a very worthy successor to Charlie, as well as Jack Clark.