The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: TimK2003 on April 15, 2019, 10:24:37 PM
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Many happy wishes to George Gray and his better half, who were married over the weekend.
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/the-price-is-right-announcer-george-gray-marries-brittney-green-photo/amp/
Likely Mama May was in attendance.
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George Gray, the longtime announcer for The Price Is Right,
I did not realize how long I've been not watching The Price is Right until this exact moment.
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George Gray, the longtime announcer for The Price Is Right,
I did not realize how long I've been not watching The Price is Right until this exact moment.
Was there any real reason to make that comment?
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I don't think it was an unworthy comment...it's just another way of saying "wow, time flies." I read the article and imagined the same thing - George has probably been at it longer than I realize. And in fact, tomorrow it will be 8 years since George was named the new, permanent announcer.
-Jason
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For comparison's sake, George has surpassed/will surpass Rich Fields this year, and is halfway to Johnny Olson and Rod Roddy's tenures. It's certainly a long way from Extreme Gong and Weakest Link.
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I didn't even realize George was just barely over a half century.
Man, he was practically a kid when he started out. 17 years since his Weakest Link launched.
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Didn't realize he'd been on the show that long...it hit me the other day that Drew enters his 13th season that fall. I seem to remember there being a bit of an uproar on the board when he implied he doesn't see himself doing this beyond five or 10 years.
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Drew has found his footing over the last few years. It seem like when Roger and Co left Drew found his groove.
George said him and Drew are close friends. Congrats to him getting married and many more years on TPIR.
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I don't think it was an unworthy comment...it's just another way of saying "wow, time flies." I read the article and imagined the same thing - George has probably been at it longer than I realize.
Yeah, that's where I was going with it. I realize it didn't quite come off that way, though.
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Drew has found his footing over the last few years. It seem like when Roger and Co left Drew found his groove.
He has? Last time I watched, he still struggles to explain the rules to the pricing games. I was willing to give him a pass the first couple years because his demeanor was a marked improvement from Barker. I acknowledge that being an emcee is somewhat different these days, but when you garble the verbage to Switcheroo, its annoying.
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Drew has found his footing over the last few years. It seem like when Roger and Co left Drew found his groove.
He has? Last time I watched, he still struggles to explain the rules to the pricing games. I was willing to give him a pass the first couple years because his demeanor was a marked improvement from Barker. I acknowledge that being an emcee is somewhat different these days, but when you garble the verbage to Switcheroo, its annoying.
To his credit, he's far more interested in the show now. He just oozed his disinterest in the job the first two seasons. Something that, for me, contributed heavily to not completely enjoying his performance when he started. He really cares for the show now and actually looks like he has fun. Honestly, I'd chalk up the verbiage stuff to Drew being Drew, because he definitely knows the games and hidden tricks of the show. That's not supposed to be an excuse, that's just the way he is and people don't like his act in general because of it which is fine. But he's definitely far better than he was 10 years ago. Night and day, honestly.
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To his credit, he's far more interested in the show now. He just oozed his disinterest in the job the first two seasons
I find "disinterest" to be a weird word to use. Drew's natural personality is to be curious, IMO. They had some behind the scenes videos on the website of Drew rehearsing that year...and for instance, he was resetting the prop for That's Too Much himself, asking how the individual reveals worked. If you watch these videos below, I think you seeing anything but disinterest. In the first one, it's his first at bat hosting Buy or Sell, and he's making fun jokes the whole way through. The second video is his 4th & final time hosting the game, and despite how infrequently it's played on the show, he's still very comfortable with it, despite the fact the electronics are broken.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb47GD80dhs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B3UN0qASOQ
-Jason
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I could also find videos of him being the opposite or not paying attention (always astounding to see someone mess up Double Prices). There are some games that can be easy to explain and some that are easy to trip over if you don't practice at it. And I believe he's stated in more than a few interviews that he wasn't exactly a fan of the homework he was given in memorizing and rehearsing the games (more like he wasn't a fan of Roger). He's also gone over how he didn't want the job at first (though I feel like that's a story a lot of people tell about a famous role they ended up taking). He had good days back then but, to me, it was far less consistent than it is now. He might've been good during Buy or Sell, but did he keep that up in the next game or showcases? There are times when he really wasn't on the ball and I'd say that was more often than these playings of Buy or Sell.
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I'll merely point out that I didn't have these videos in my quiver as shining examples...I decided to search YouTube for Buy or Sell because it's a game Drew didn't host beyond his first year, and I was curious to see it. The glimpse these clips give us into his performance is a mere coincidence, and in this case, it was a good one. Seemingly every time I watch the show now, I don't see him joking like that...but that may be more a symptom of the show's editing, I'll admit, because you see it in person, or on the show's Facebook page.
I remember when Drew had the model remove the wrong tag in Double Prices, but we've also seen all the classic hosts make mistakes - Barker gave away an answer in Pick a Pair in the '80s, revealed the price in Cover Up too early when he was in his 80s...
I guess if there's something we could possibly agree on, it's that Drew is far more consistent these days than he was in his first season. Back then, I felt like he taped more episodes where you could tell he was tired, etc. But I'll always take a step back to assess when the notion is that a host is disinterested or "only there for the paycheck" - aren't we all essentially at our jobs for the paycheck?
-Jason
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I've gone back and forth myself on Drew. I wouldn't say he's uninterested, just very...dry. That's just his sense of humor, dating back to his standup career and sitcom. That observational wit that was big in the 90s, and that's fine. But, he's genuinely happy when a contestant wins, and I like the quirky variety he incorporates into the show and how he distances himself from Bob. For as much grief as people give Drew, Barker and the show ran on autopilot for the last five or so years of his tenure.