Another Top 4 (Announcers)

[wdm1219inpenna]

Curious to hear your opinions and thoughts on this new topic, this one for game show announcers.

Johnny Olson.  There will never ever be another Johnny Olson.  I think I could perhaps count on one hand with at least 3 fingers left over the number of times I ever heard Johnny flub something.  The man came to work on Price even when he was sick as a dog and soldiered through his final weeks of life.  He truly was and forever shall be THE G.O.A.T. of announcers.

Gene Wood.  He did a great many announcing jobs, but I think he was most outstanding on Super Password, Card Sharks, Password Plus and most definitely Family Feud.  He also did an outstanding job with Alex Trebek on Classic Concentration as well.  Gene's distinctive voice and personality was an outstanding blend for what a game show announcer should be.  Also I neglected to include him for Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour, another outstanding job with that show too!

Jay Stewart - From being Monty Hall's sidekick for over 12 years on Let's Make A Deal, Jay's awesome announcing style and skills were such that not only did Hatos/Hall hire him, but so too did Barry/Enright and Reg Grundy and he was a terrific fit for all of the shows he announced. 

Johnny Gilbert - The man behind the mike for over 4 decades as the announcer on Jeopardy!, Johnny also did a great many other announcing jobs as well for Pyramid, Supermarket Sweep and many other shows as well.

This was a toughie as it was a toss-up between Jay Stewart and Don Pardo, but I had to give the nod to Jay.  I do feel fairly confident in my Mount Rushmore top four announcers but would love to hear your feedback and ideas as to who you'd select.

[SuperMatch93]

Johnny Olson, Johnny Gilbert, Charlie O'Donnell, and for me it's a tough choice between Gene Wood and Don Pardo but I'll go with the latter.

[mystery7]

I'll second the vote for Pardo over Gene Wood. As good as he was on the other shows, Gene just did not have it for Price Is Right.

Johnny Olson and Johnny Gilbert, though, no question. Charlie O is a solid choice, too.

[BillCullen1]

My list:

Johnny O (natch)
Johnny Jacobs
Charlie O'Donnell
Gene Wood

Honorable mention - Kenny Williams

[Chief-O]

Olson, Gilbert, Charlie O., and Pardo.

Honestly, I'd think Pardo would be more appropriate for a Mount Rushmore of *all* TV announcers, from game shows or otherwise, mainly through SNL. In that case, I'd also push to include John Harlan, who's had a few award and (I believe??) variety shows in addition to his GS credits.

[danderson]

Olson, Gilbert, Charlie O., and Pardo.

Honestly, I'd think Pardo would be more appropriate for a Mount Rushmore of *all* TV announcers, from game shows or otherwise, mainly through SNL. In that case, I'd also push to include John Harlan, who's had a few award and (I believe??) variety shows in addition to his GS credits.

I'd put Harlan in there for Name That Tune, Password and American Gladiators.

And if we include a Mount Rushmore of *all* TV announcers, from game shows or otherwise, then Bill Wolff on Another World, Mel Brandt on The Doctors and Bob Warren on The Lawrance Welk Show would count too.

[danderson]

I'll second the vote for Pardo over Gene Wood. As good as he was on the other shows, Gene just did not have it for Price Is Right.

Johnny Olson and Johnny Gilbert, though, no question. Charlie O is a solid choice, too.

I'll go with Pardo over Wood too, despite how good Gene was with Alex Trebek on Classic Concentration, not to mention his work with Dawson and Combs on Family Feud. Pardo's detailed prize descriptions, sponsor I.D.'s and instructions on mailing sweepstakes postcards to NBC really cinched it for me, not to mention his backup, Roger Tuttle, who did the same thing on Cullen era Price.

[PPatters]

I’m going to be “that guy” and y’all can say whatever you want. But like, don’t we find it at all concerning that for these Mt. Rushmore posts, everyone I’ve seen listed is White, almost always a man (always in this thread), etc…?

[Dbacksfan12]

That is a ridiculous thing to say.  Considering approx. 95% of game show personalities have been white men.

Put it this way...are you putting Burton Richardson or the lady who announced Nick Arcade on your top four announcers?

[PPatters]

That is a ridiculous thing to say.  Considering approx. 95% of game show personalities have been white men.

Put it this way...are you putting Burton Richardson or the lady who announced Nick Arcade on your top four announcers?

If you want to engage in earnest, rather than call me ridiculous, I’ll consider engaging back

[Trisscope]

It's tough just because most of the well-known announcers are ones that are generally the old school same type of person.

I don't there's been any bad choices made, but in general you're going to end up with most of the classic players just because of the group here.

That being said, Burton should at least be in consideration here given how prolific he was in the 90s into the 2010s. His voice was distinct and fit in with a lot of shows, whether it was To Tell the Truth, Family Feud, Family Game Night.

I'm struggling to come up with any good women who'd be viable for an announcer Mount Rushmore. There's been good ones like Debra Wilson on Weakest Link and Loretta Fox on Rock and Roll Jeopardy, but none of them has had a prolonged and storied announcing career as most of the ones being named.

I feel like it'd be most of the old guard for me on this list too. Gilbert, O'Donnell, they were part of multiple game shows that have stood the test of time and Gilbert's really the last of his kind, not only in a living sense, but also still announcing and doing things for Jeopardy. I'd probably put Burton there too to make sure the newer generation of game shows get represented. As for a fourth? I think it'd be one of Rod Roddy or Johnny Olson, where Price is the big lengthy, but both had big stuff outside of it too, Match Game and Body Language for Olson and Press Your Luck and Love Connection for Rod Roddy.

I think they're both distinctive enough and have their own flair that I'd put them both up there (though if you must limit it to one, Johnny by a hair).

[BrandonFG]

That is a ridiculous thing to say.  Considering approx. 95% of game show personalities have been white men.

Put it this way...are you putting Burton Richardson or the lady who announced Nick Arcade on your top four announcers?

If you want to engage in earnest, rather than call me ridiculous, I’ll consider engaging back

As a Black man, I can't say I'd put Burton or say...Michelle Roth from Crosswits in my Top 4 either. It's not because I don't think they're good announcers; it's just if I had a list I have four others ahead of them. And the others seemed to have my answer.

And I think that's the thing about these topics. Like the Mt. Rushmore of Contestants thread, I don't think the lists are gonna vary that much. It's not really that interesting of a topic because a "Mt. Rushmore" is designed to be the upper echelon, and I think just about every list will have Johnny O., Johnny Gilbert, Charlie O'Donnell, and Gene Wood or at least two of those four. Some might go off the board and select Jay Stewart or Kenny Williams.

By no means am I suggesting this, but it would prolly be easier to divide this up by timeframes. Maybe 1970-90 and then 1990-present.

[chris319]

If you want to go way back in time, there's Wayne Howell, Bill Wendell, Bill McCord, Hal Sims, Bern Bennett, Chet Gould.

Four openings doesn't seem like enough.

[PPatters]

As a Black man, I can't say I'd put Burton or say...Michelle Roth from Crosswits in my Top 4 either. It's not because I don't think they're good announcers; it's just if I had a list I have four others ahead of them. And the others seemed to have my answer.

And I think that's the thing about these topics. Like the Mt. Rushmore of Contestants thread, I don't think the lists are gonna vary that much. It's not really that interesting of a topic because a "Mt. Rushmore" is designed to be the upper echelon, and I think just about every list will have Johnny O., Johnny Gilbert, Charlie O'Donnell, and Gene Wood or at least two of those four. Some might go off the board and select Jay Stewart or Kenny Williams.

By no means am I suggesting this, but it would prolly be easier to divide this up by timeframes. Maybe 1970-90 and then 1990-present.

I'll be honest, I probably would have put Burton in my Top 4 (and have said so to others before). As a matter of fact, I think Burton may be my number 1 for me.

Some people may come for me, but I think in general we need to think about how these kinds of lists privilege already-privileged folks while largely glossing over accomplishments of others. (And to avoid getting political, I will abstain from explaining why I don't like having "Mt. Rushmore of X" lists at all lol)

[Stackertosh]

Johnny Olsen
Gene Wood
Rod Roddy Grew up hearing him on TPIR; I always liked his sense of humor
Toss up Between Burton Richardson and Bob Hilton.