$otc question

[danderson]

Did Jay Stewart or Don Morrow pretape most of their materal on $otc? I'm sure that Jay or Don did the "So far (contestant) has won X..." live, then they played the intro tape, then continued live to tape with Jim's entrance, and so on. What about the Instant Bargains, were those done during taping?

[whewfan]

I believe Jay pre-taped the intro and possibly the prize descriptions for the end round. For Jay, it became more of a necessity as his overall health and his voice struggling made announcing more difficult.

[WarioBarker]

For Jay, it became more of a necessity as his overall health and his voice struggling made announcing more difficult.

And his health issues were sometimes noticeable on-air. Not when he appeared on-camera (as far as I know), but there's at least a few episodes out there where Jay sounds like he really shouldn't have come in to work...though given the circumstances surrounding his death, it's entirely possible that not going to work would've caused it even sooner.

[Bryce L.]

Whatever pre-taping there was, did that continue at all once Don took over at the mic?

[Chief-O]

I believe Jay pre-taped the intro and possibly the prize descriptions for the end round.

This sounds quite plausible. I think I've noticed that the intro prize rattle and the shopping/Winners Board round prize descriptions were reused throughout the week (and in the case of the prize descriptions, reused in later weeks if they offered those prizes again). It just seemed to make sense to have Jay lay down a perfect VO once on tape, then roll it in as many times as they'd need to. (Likewise, having the models do the prize skit just once)

Can't speak for Don's live/taped material; I'd have to scan through an ep. to refresh my memory.....

[PYLdude]

Whatever pre-taping there was, did that continue at all once Don took over at the mic?

It's noticeable. Don's pitch changes.

[Win a Pile]

I went to taping late in the run and most of Don’s v/o was pre-recorded.

The opening went like this:
(Live): Intro returning champion.
(Pre-Tape): Intro including “Sale of the Century” with the reverb
(Live): Intro Jim Perry

You can tell the tone change most of the time between the tape and the Perry intro.

[TimK2003]

I went to taping late in the run and most of Don’s v/o was pre-recorded.

The opening went like this:
(Live): Intro returning champion.
(Pre-Tape): Intro including “Sale of the Century” with the reverb
(Live): Intro Jim Perry

You can tell the tone change most of the time between the tape and the Perry intro.

I take it Jay and Don's v/os during the closing credits were also pre-taped?

[JasonA1]

Scrabble was also pre-taped. Perhaps not the entire run, but it continued, even with Charlie Tuna. The only live part of his intros was the clue itself - "it's a X-letter word and the clue is..." was on tape.

-Jason

[whewfan]

For Jay, it became more of a necessity as his overall health and his voice struggling made announcing more difficult.

And his health issues were sometimes noticeable on-air. Not when he appeared on-camera (as far as I know), but there's at least a few episodes out there where Jay sounds like he really shouldn't have come in to work...though given the circumstances surrounding his death, it's entirely possible that not going to work would've caused it even sooner.

Jay rarely if ever appeared on camera. He would be onhand to "model" a prize from time to time in the show's earlier days. In any case, to me he looked just fine when he did, if anything he appeared quite happy. He relished being on LMAD and being able to dress up in silly costumes and such, and Monty said that Jay would sometimes have a fit if he wasn't needed to dress up for a zonk prize. I'm not sure why he wasn't on camera more often on Sale... maybe they thought that the audience would associate the prize as a "bad prize" if Jay was there because he didn't model the good prizes on LMAD.

[danderson]

Jay was one of the best announcers ever, but in watching reruns of the syndicated $ale on USA during my younger days, he wasn't like he was on Let's Make a Deal. Maybe i remember a few eps where Jay sounded like he really shouldn't had come in to work, but i'm sure i've heard him sounding like that.

[BrandonFG]

I remember reading that Jay's daughter committed suicide a couple years before $ale premiered, which led to him suffering from depression. I imagine that took its toll on his announcing.