The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: cmjb13 on April 28, 2004, 09:11:32 PM
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-Art Sanders was almost hired on the spot. Bob really liked him a lot. Apparently, Bob didn't want to go through an exhausive search. Jim Thorton did better than I thought, but he was almost yanked after 1 day. The agreement was Daniel Rosen was terrible.
-Rich Fields will be still be working as a weatherperson until late May, when he
will work on Price full-time. He has a contract that goes through May sweeps. He also mentioned that he was in the audience 23 years ago and Johnny let him announce his name.
-Kathy Greco did not do contestant choosing for the Primetime specials. Sylvia and Jeff are no longer chosing contestants.
-The Switcheroo clock was not broken when the 99 year old man played.
-There will not be any retro clips on the Primetime special inducting Barker into the TV/Radio Hall of Fame. They weren't opposed to it, but there really wasn't time to do adequate research going through hundreds of tapes. There was an idea to show some clips from Truth or Consequences, but it seemed too much work to get them through Ralph Edwards. There will be a small speech by Les Moonves inserted into the show.
-The showcase podiums were partially changed because of Barker not having to lean over. The Eggcrate display was switched to eventually put a vent on the top to eliminate heat.
-If anyone noticed on the Primetime special when the contestant played Triple Play there was a blue panel in the background behind Barker. Apparently this was used because they didn't want the monitors and tables to be shown.
-The TPIR back audience logo that was changed for the Primetime specials (from the 30th season logo to a solid white/grey) is carried over to the daytime show.
-There was a recent article where it stated that CBS may be moving some of its facilities out of Television City and into a new building to be built in the Valley/Studio City. I don't think Price would be moving there because of all the money invested in the studio over the years, but you never know. The shows that were mentioned in the article that questioned what would happen with them were TPIR, Y&R, B&B, and the Late late show.
-The deal with the Grocery game on the Teachers $1M special was this. There is a price list next to the register with the products and certain amounts. The price list only lists up to 20 of each item. So in order to get 25, Brandi would have to enter 20 + 5 separately. She didn't know how to do that, so they said the register couldn't handle that.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\'] -Kathy Greco did not do contestant choosing for the Primetime specials. Sylvia and Jeff are no longer chosing contestants. [/quote]
Then who is? And did Roger select the contestants for Primetime by himself?
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[quote name=\'ClockGameJohn\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 09:37 PM\'] [quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\'] -Kathy Greco did not do contestant choosing for the Primetime specials. Sylvia and Jeff are no longer chosing contestants. [/quote]
Then who is? And did Roger select the contestants for Primetime by himself? [/quote]
We know Roger did the choosing for the Primetime shows, but there was a post here recently that said Kathy was part of the selection process. She was not. That person was actually Gina Nyman.
This week Stan Blits did the contestant choosing. They are trying several things out. I don't think that's a long term solution.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:44 PM\'] [quote name=\'ClockGameJohn\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 09:37 PM\'] [quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\'] -Kathy Greco did not do contestant choosing for the Primetime specials. Sylvia and Jeff are no longer chosing contestants. [/quote]
Then who is? And did Roger select the contestants for Primetime by himself? [/quote]
We know Roger did the choosing for the Primetime shows, but there was a post here recently that said Kathy was part of the selection process. She was not. That person was actually Gina Nyman.
This week Stan Blits did the contestant choosing. They are trying several things out. I don't think that's a long term solution. [/quote]
W-O-W.
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Stan tells me he has also done some Showcase writing. A very bright, capable fellow that Stan.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\']-The TPIR back audience logo that was changed for the Primetime specials (from the 30th season logo to a solid white/grey) is carried over to the daytime show.
[/quote]
[font=\"Arial\"]That's great! I hated the season 30 logo.[/font]
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Yes, apparantly Stan and Adam write the Showcases now. I see Stan now wears 3 hats. :)
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I think I missed this joke, or it went WAY over my head..
Can the experts explain? Thanks...
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Apr 29 2004, 08:19 AM\'] I think I missed this joke, or it went WAY over my head..
Can the experts explain? Thanks... [/quote]
The "Stan now wears 3 hats" means that he's currently helping writing showcases (I had heard he's done it before, but first I've heard on a regular basis,) choosing contestants, and handling music selection (his main priority)
Rest assured him choosing contestants is not a long term solution for obvious reasons.
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[quote name=\'MaryM7643\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 11:05 PM\'] [quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\']-The TPIR back audience logo that was changed for the Primetime specials (from the 30th season logo to a solid white/grey) is carried over to the daytime show.
[/quote]
[font=\"Arial\"]That's great! I hated the season 30 logo.[/font] [/quote]
It's basically just the ribbons around the TPIR logo that are gone.
I was going to suggest that it was time for those logos to change, because it just seemed out of place with all the other set changes.
They read my mind.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:44 PM\'] [quote name=\'ClockGameJohn\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 09:37 PM\'] [quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\'] -Kathy Greco did not do contestant choosing for the Primetime specials. Sylvia and Jeff are no longer chosing contestants. [/quote]
Then who is? And did Roger select the contestants for Primetime by himself? [/quote]
We know Roger did the choosing for the Primetime shows, but there was a post here recently that said Kathy was part of the selection process. She was not. That person was actually Gina Nyman.
This week Stan Blits did the contestant choosing. They are trying several things out. I don't think that's a long term solution. [/quote]
There were about 3-4 people doing the contestant selection at the $1m Teacher special. Roger was definately one of them. I could have *sworn* Fingers was one of them, I recall at least one female doing the selection.
Now for why Jeff & Siliva aren't doing the contestants, you draw your own conclusions (I'm gonna guess because they picked the absolute most inept contestants one could find)
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 09:11 PM\'] -Art Sanders was almost hired on the spot. [/quote]
...but he had to turn down the offer because the colors were giving him seizures. :-)
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[quote name=\'Terry K\' date=\'Apr 29 2004, 12:22 PM\']Now for why Jeff & Siliva aren't doing the contestants, you draw your own conclusions (I'm gonna guess because they picked the absolute most inept contestants one could find)[/quote]
They were inconsistent. Sometimes good contestants sometimes not.
Remember, it's not as easy as it looks. Plus you can only work with what you are given. Often, you will have to pick from a not-so-enthusiastic group of contestants.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\']-The deal with the Grocery game on the Teachers $1M special was this. There is a price list next to the register with the products and certain amounts. The price list only lists up to 20 of each item. So in order to get 25, Brandi would have to enter 20 + 5 separately. She didn't know how to do that, so they said the register couldn't handle that.[/quote]
That incident happened every so often with Janice--the look of panic on her face the first time was classic.
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Would that be the 63 chunkys incident mentioned by Johnny O in the "This is your strife" Showcase from 1979?
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-Art Sanders was almost hired on the spot. Bob really liked him a lot. Apparently, Bob didn't want to go through an exhausive search. Jim Thorton did better than I thought, but he was almost yanked after 1 day. The agreement was Daniel Rosen was terrible.
Out of curiosity, what was the staff's thoughts on Randy?
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[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Apr 29 2004, 03:33 PM\']Would that be the 63 chunkys incident mentioned by Johnny O in the "This is your strife" Showcase from 1979?[/quote]
That would probably be it, but this sort of incident, as I stated, happened more than once over the years.
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I know, but I was just wondering about the first time.
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[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Apr 29 2004, 04:42 PM\'] I know, but I was just wondering about the first time. [/quote]
Yes, we gathered that much.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 08:11 PM\']-Art Sanders was almost hired on the spot. Bob really liked him a lot. Apparently, Bob didn't want to go through an exhausive search. Jim Thorton did better than I thought, but he was almost yanked after 1 day. The agreement was Daniel Rosen was terrible.[/QUOTE]
I really liked Art. He was the closest to Randy in talent IMO.
-The TPIR back audience logo that was changed for the Primetime specials (from the 30th season logo to a solid white/grey) is carried over to the daytime show.[/QUOTE]
Darn, I liked that sign...
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While I think Rich has the potential to grow into the job, and deserves time to do so, I think side-by-side, I've have chosen Art.
Now, I don't think I'm alone in having thought after using Burton and Randy for so long, it would be one of the two that was chosen. Would it be a fair guess that they had already been ruled out when the next batch of tryouts started?
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That Art Sanders reason may have been the funniest one I ever heard. I mean, why would anyone suffer a seizure from all those colors let alone Art?
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[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 04:59 AM\'] That Art Sanders reason may have been the funniest one I ever heard. I mean, why would anyone suffer a seizure from all those colors let alone Art? [/quote]
Read the original post again, and see which pricing game's name cropped up in the section about Art.
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[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 03:23 PM\'] [quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 04:59 AM\'] That Art Sanders reason may have been the funniest one I ever heard. I mean, why would anyone suffer a seizure from all those colors let alone Art? [/quote]
Read the original post again, and see which pricing game's name cropped up in the section about Art. [/quote]
I'm afraid if he didn't get the joke the first time, a subtle suggestion isn't going to be much help for him either.
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Apr 28 2004, 07:11 PM\'] -The Switcheroo clock was not broken when the 99 year old man played. [/quote]
Cheers to Fremantle that they let a 99 year old gentleman take his sweet time telling Bob where to insert the cubes. Too bad he didn't win anything though.
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[quote name=\'GSWitch\' date=\'Apr 30 2004, 05:07 PM\'] Cheers to Fremantle that they let a 99 year old gentleman take his sweet time telling Bob where to insert the cubes. Too bad he didn't win anything though. [/quote]
That was one of the episodes I worked. Bob was brilliant in claiming the clock was "broken", and was incredibly patient allowing the gent to change his mind a whole bunch of times. Everybody was so disappointed he didn't win more. The segment ran about 10 minutes, but "portions of the program not affecting the outcome of the game were edited for broadcast". ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Apr 29 2004, 03:35 PM\']
-Art Sanders was almost hired on the spot. Bob really liked him a lot. Apparently, Bob didn't want to go through an exhausive search. Jim Thorton did better than I thought, but he was almost yanked after 1 day. The agreement was Daniel Rosen was terrible.
Out of curiosity, what was the staff's thoughts on Randy? [/quote]
Is that exactly appropriate to talk about here? I found it slightly insensitive, but that's just my $.02
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[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'May 1 2004, 09:41 AM\'] [quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Apr 29 2004, 03:35 PM\']Out of curiosity, what was the staff's thoughts on Randy? [/quote]
Is that exactly appropriate to talk about here? I found it slightly insensitive, but that's just my $.02 [/quote]
Hey D., I appreciate your sensitivity and your concern about what discussion is appropriate here. If your hesititation is over concern for my feelings... thanks, but don't worry. Criticism and rejection are a huge part of the entertainment industry; anyone who sticks around has learned to develop a thick skin. "Good" and "bad" are so subjective when dealing with an intangible such as a performer's style, anyway.
I've been a member here from when Chris and Matt were giving their first thoughts to starting the board. I never thought that my work would be part of any of the subjects. I'm here just to participate in the discussion, and don't want to inhibit the free exchange. I purposely did NOT become a member at golden-road.net when I learned that site existed because I knew it could affect the purity of the board's posts. I'd never want to do that. I was here from the beginning, I enjoy the discussion, and I can occasionally answer a question or two, so I'm not about to leave. But I don't want my presence to inhibit anybody from expressing their opinions.
Besides, anyone who is gonna work in public, to the public, has to be ready to hear anything. I am. I've been insulted by better people than you guys anyway! ;-P
Now let the gossip continue!!
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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Criticism and rejection are a huge part of the entertainment industry; anyone who sticks around has learned to develop a thick skin. "Good" and "bad" are so subjective when dealing with an intangible such as a performer's style, anyway.
Not only that, but the entertainment industry does not operate as a pure meritocracy. There are sometimes hidden agendas or ulterior motives for the bigwigs making the decisions they do. We call it "politics". People get hired/cast/chosen because the decision maker or his/her higher-up has a special relationship or affinity with that person or owes someone else a favor. Rejection always hurts but you develop defense mechanisms to get over it quickly.
I'm not saying "politics" played a role in the selection of Rich Fields; I am speaking strictly in the abstract. I'm inclined to think the decision-makers in this case won't be speaking freely about their decision-making process. If I were to ask one of them, I wouldn't ask "Why did you turn down Randy?" but "What is it you liked about Rich Fields?". Not that I'm going to ask, but it's considered protocol in Hollywood.
It has been rumored that female performers improved their chances of obtaining employment with a certain erstwhile game show producer if they, um, "curried favor" with the old geezer. So much for meritocracy.
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All of Randy's and Chris' comments having been made, the specific answer to the original question is that from everything that I ever heard, the overall staff response to Randy's work was extremely positive. As I hear tell (and no, not from Randy), the long-time crew members especially were impressed to see someone harken back to the halcyon days of Johnny O.
As Randy explained, "good" and "bad" is all relative, and the reasons one person gets picked over another can be made up of any number of factors. But the simple answer, as I understand it anyway, was that the staff was very impressed with Randy's work.
And why wouldn't they be?
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One of the things I like about Rich is that besides being super nice (you never know how people really are until you meet them) is that he really seems honored to be there.
He really seems to like that new podium seemingly going out of his way to show me some features, but I'm not really savvy when it comes to stuff like that.
I truly think he doesn't see this as just a "job".
And at least he likes game shows.
Man, Johnny really had an influence on people. That makes 2 people who were in the TPIR audience (Rod & Rich) who asked for advice and got the announce job.
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The more I think about it (and Randy, do not take this in a bad sense), I think they were trying to pick someone who wasn't a direct Rod or Johnny O protege.
You can't replace Johnny or Rod. You can't. I think Randy was *too* much like Johnny and/or Rod for the comfort of Bob. Randy is a class act and I think he should have gotten the job, but again, Rich has enough of Johnny and Rod in him to do the job, yet he's different enough to also make for a good succession.
Remember, when Johnny passed on, the announcer selection was a who's who of announcers, and every big name (and some not-so-big names) tried out for the job. Gene Wood, Bob Hilton, Rod, and a few others tried out for the job, and ultimately it went to someone we least expected to see get the job (Rod).
Fast forward to 2001-2002, when Rod's illness started to set in: Burton was pressed into service initially because he had experience with TPIR (TNPIR '94), and then Randy followed along with his Sweep experience.
I do note it was 7 months after Rod's passing (almost to the day) that Rich was announced as the permanent announcer for TPIR.
The announcer search didn't start in earnest until January when they started the rotation they ended up using. I do think it was great we heard a variety of announcers, and we all have our own favourite. The selection of announcers today is far far different than it was in 1985, there were 4 major announcers in the business and different ones, Burton Richardson, Randy West, Johnny Gilbert, and Charlie O'Donnell. We needed some new announcing talent, although what we have is good, getting new blood in is important to say the least.
We now need to welcome Rich into TPIR and wish him long term success. And I hope Johnny and Rod are watching Rich's work and giuiding him in spirit (which I am sure they are) to see the TPIR legacy continue.
I still ask the question though: Is it possible Rich is being groomed to take over TPIR when Bob does leave the show? That is one theory I have on the succession path. (I'd think the audience that TPIR has would much prefer it if they put someone who's a known quantity to them in when Bob does hang it up, although we all know TPIR won't be the same show without him)
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[quote name=\'Terry K\' date=\'May 1 2004, 09:29 PM\']Fast forward to 2004: Burton was pressed into service initially because he had experience with TPIR (TNPIR '94)[/quote]
That wasn't the reason in 2001 and I don't think that's the reason now. In 2001, they probably went with Burton because he already announced for the company, was available, and was interested in doing the gig.
I still ask the question though: Is it possible Rich is being groomed to take over TPIR when Bob does leave the show?
I don't think they would groom Rich unless he had experience and he's not going to get it announcing. Plus then they would have to find another announcer to replace him.
I don't know why this keeps coming up.
Is it because he looks good for Television? Has a good voice?
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'May 1 2004, 06:37 PM\']
I still ask the question though: Is it possible Rich is being groomed to take over TPIR when Bob does leave the show?
I don't think they would groom Rich unless he had experience and he's not going to get it announcing. Plus then they would have to find another announcer to replace him.
I don't know why this keeps coming up.
Is it because he looks good for Television? Has a good voice? [/quote]
I wouldn't rule anything out.
We cast Pat Sajak, the KNBC weatherman at the time, for Puzzlers without any emcee experience. Too bad his career didn't take off after that.
They may have hired Rich on the theory that he might be trainable as an emcee and if he doesn't work out they can keep him as the announcer. If he does work out as emcee, they now have a Rolodex full of people who can announce the show and there is no need to go through the audition process all over again.
By seeing his demo tape they can tell how well he connects with a TV audience and how he performs live. If you can explain the weather in Palm Springs (where a cold snap is defined as temperatures below 104 degrees) then certainly you can explain the Range Game. What they can't tell is how well he connects with contestants, but where are you going to get that kind of experience these days? It frankly wouldn't surprise me if they did an actual pilot with him emceeing some day, nor would it surprise me if Rich emceed one show per week at some point, enabling Barker to lay out for that taping day.
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Well whaddya know -- Rich used to be the "back-up show host" for MGP's own Flamingo Fortune, so he is not an unknown quantity as an emcee.
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[quote name=\'Terry K\' date=\'May 1 2004, 05:29 PM\'] The more I think about it (and Randy, do not take this in a bad sense), I think they were trying to pick someone who wasn't a direct Rod or Johnny O protege. [/quote]
Terry, thanks for the compliments in your post. The conjecture from several members here (both posted and e-mailed to me) make for interesting reading.
As much as I'd like to shed some more light on the thinking at Price, I'm really not in a position to comment. But in what I imagine will be my last post on the subject I will endorse something Chris posted on the matter in which he stated that there are unseen/unheard factors that often carry weight in casting decisions. I'm confident from what I was told that the decision makers at Price were thoroughly delighted with my performance over the 11 months that I rotated on the show. That's the highest compliment I could receive.
Conjecture is natural but fruitless; some of what I've read is starting to sound like the JFK, Dorothy Kilgallen, FBI, Dealy Plaza theories (which are true! ;-)
I'm glad the show has finally settled in for some consistency after all the rotation; as a viewer I always enjoyed the "family" feel of regular cast members. I wish Rich success at a job that can be tough both on and off the mike.
Personally, I am so enriched by the experience. I'm proud of the work, and enjoyed sharing the stage with the WGMC. I learned a lot that I have already seen has taken my work to the next level. I made a bunch of new friends with some really wonderful people, some I'd never met, and others who were merely aquaintances before. Strangely, I feel closer to Rod now than I did at any other time in the 27 years we knew each other. I think I honored the hours of Johnny O's generous mentoring of that starstruck fan he met in 1971, and I like to think that Penny Olson and her nephew Bob Carpenter rest even easier now with the knowledge that, in me, they found the right respectful caretaker for the boxes of personal memorabilia John collected through his career.
And let me not forget to again express my thanks to the friends and fans, many from this board, who reached out with support and kind words during the past year. I am blown away by how many people took the time to send an e-mail or two; some have become e-friends.
It was a wonderful chapter, and I'm already on to the next work. Some of it is with Freemantle; becoming part of that extended family is another way that the experience has been valuable.
So thanks, and let's all enjoy the show ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com