You know, I'm not sure how anyone else felt about this but...
I was watching an old Johnny O ep of PIR. And it's certainly not under debate that he was THE best. There was something about his voice and personality that just made you feel like he was talking JUST TO YOU.
About Rod, I'll be honest with you. I always just thought he was OK. He was from the "old school" announcers, he did a good job and was a nice man when I met him. HOWEVER, after seeing the line up of HACKS on pir, with one person left off that list and we all know who that is, it really makes me wonder that maybe not anyone can do it.
Much good luck to Rich, as he wouldn't have been my choice...I do wish him well in the gig. The sad part is the way the show is produced now, I doubt the regular audience will make a connection with him and the "rotating" models as the show doesn't seem to want us to latch on to anyone too closely. That's a shame! As I still watch and love PIR, the spark is lost. Gone are the days that Bob would joke with the girls, or you'd see Bob have a moment with the announcer. In some ways the show is now very steril. However it's the last throw back to the days of the classic game show so I wish it and its cast well!
I'll end with my glass rasied to RW, who got to live out a dream even for a little while. It may have just been a game show announcer job, but he had big shoes to fill and not only did he fill them extremely well, he did it with class! Bottom line, he did an AWESOME job!
As for Johnny O and Rod, maybe the biggest compliment we can give them is, they made it look easy. It's always the case, you never know what youre missing until it's gone!
John
JRJ GAMES
