Easiest/hardest announcing jobs

[The Ol' Guy]

I'd appreciate the help on a couple of shows that stick in my mind from way back - IIRC, Arte Johnson opened Knockout with a "hello", a short, flip comment to the audience and viewers, then proceeded to start the game. No announcer open -
Then with Missing Links, the three celebs introduced themselves over the opening theme (perhaps the host as well), and the announcer's one line was "and the name of the game is Missing Links", or something to that effect. I seem to remember the host introducing and welcoming each contestant, and not hearing any announcer until a couple of credits at the end.

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' post=\'155913\' date=\'Jun 23 2007, 10:19 PM\']
Then with Missing Links, the three celebs introduced themselves over the opening theme (perhaps the host as well), and the announcer's one line was "and the name of the game is Missing Links", or something to that effect. I seem to remember the host introducing and welcoming each contestant, and not hearing any announcer until a couple of credits at the end.
[/quote]
Actually, that was the way that "You Don't Say" opened for its original NBC run as well. We didn't actually hear from Jay Stewart or John Harlan until they started whispering the names or there was a Bonus Board home viewer submission to start the show.

Since this has actually become an open topic again (and please, new folks, be careful about bumping up very old stuff), the hardest announce job had to have been the original "Wheel of Fortune" with shopping rounds. Charlie O'Donnell or Jack Clark had to have all the prizes for each shopping round laid out in front of them and they pulled the index cards of the prize copy they needed to read as the contestants were doing their shopping. Plus, they had to do them all in ascending dollar amount order. Very tough, but both of them managed to pull it off. (It must have been a bear for the director and camera crew too.)

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' post=\'155913\' date=\'Jun 23 2007, 09:19 PM\']
I'd appreciate the help on a couple of shows that stick in my mind from way back - IIRC, Arte Johnson opened Knockout with a "hello", a short, flip comment to the audience and viewers, then proceeded to start the game. No announcer open -
[/quote]
Arte did start KNOCKOUT that way, but threw it to whoever was announcing (Jay Stewart and John Harlan were among those who handled those chores, IIRC) to intro the contestants and reintroduce Arte.  As to whether Johnson interviewed the contestants briefly before launching into the game, I don't recall.

[Casey Buck]

What about the Big Sweep play-by-play from Supermarket Sweep? Granted, it was done in post-production with help from the staff's writers, but it was still a 2-4 minute marathon voiceover (depending on how much sweep time was earned).

Of course, Randy and Johnny just made it look easy.

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'155915\' date=\'Jun 23 2007, 10:32 PM\']Since this has actually become an open topic again (and please, new folks, be careful about bumping up very old stuff), the hardest announce job had to have been the original "Wheel of Fortune" with shopping rounds.[/quote]
In addition to what you mentioned, you could always tell that there was pressure whenever the contestant bought about a dozen prizes. Read this quickly, because it's eating up show time and boring the viewers--but stay completely "up" the whole way through, too.

[narzo]

[quote name=\'cyhh2002\' post=\'155850\' date=\'Jun 22 2007, 03:35 PM\']
[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'60190\' date=\'Oct 9 2004, 08:17 AM\']
"Match Game" is pretty easy as well.  Intro, ticket plug, fee plugs, and exit - that's about it.
[/quote]
 
        Actually, announcing on the Match Game was easy, except during the ticket plug where Johnny Olson  would occasionally chuckle while looking at those funny faces.
[/quote]

Congrats on bringing back a two and a half year old discussion.

[catkins522]

[quote name=\'FeudDude\' post=\'60188\' date=\'Oct 9 2004, 11:54 AM\']
Easiest: Current-day Family Feud.  All Burton does is say the intro and sometimes a ticket plug.  He doesn't even do warmup, from what I've read.
[/quote]

I'm wondering if he stills sings during breaks.  He sings wonderfully on Sunday at church.


Charles

[Jimmy Owen]

One difficult show to do was Monty's BTC, if only for the ending when Jack Narz had to say "Stay tuned for Celebrity Pew next over most of these CBS stations!"

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'narzo\' post=\'155923\' date=\'Jun 24 2007, 02:42 AM\']
Congrats on bringing back a two and a half year old discussion.
[/quote]
Hey, this is the right way to do it. Better to add to a thread that already exists than to start a new one, right?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' post=\'155938\' date=\'Jun 24 2007, 11:23 AM\']
[quote name=\'narzo\' post=\'155923\' date=\'Jun 24 2007, 02:42 AM\']
Congrats on bringing back a two and a half year old discussion.
[/quote]
Hey, this is the right way to do it. Better to add to a thread that already exists than to start a new one, right?
[/quote]
Well said.

That also said, for him to claim that announcing on MG was easy, based on absolutely no personal experience. was um, well, wow.

[chris319]

Announcing MG easy? Johnny O. used to run around the stage doing a Kabuki-like pantomime, reacting to the questions and any funny answers that might come up. On CS, Gene Wood ran up and down the aisles giving the audience applause cues. He once counted the actual number of applause cues he had to give during a single show.

I suppose the easiest game shows to announce are ones where the announcer is pre-recorded and doesn't even have to show up at the studio to do warm-up.

[cmjb13]

[quote name=\'catkins522\' post=\'155926\' date=\'Jun 24 2007, 08:37 AM\']
[quote name=\'FeudDude\' post=\'60188\' date=\'Oct 9 2004, 11:54 AM\']
Easiest: Current-day Family Feud.  All Burton does is say the intro and sometimes a ticket plug.  He doesn't even do warmup, from what I've read.
[/quote]

I'm wondering if he stills sings during breaks.  He sings wonderfully on Sunday at church.


Charles
[/quote]
He still sings during breaks. I know the warmup was quite interesting.

He runs through several instances where the audience has to repeat answers on the board. For example, if the last unrevealed answers was cars/trucks. He would tell people to say cars, then pause, say trucks, then applause. And when I was there last year, he scolded someone who was sitting to the right of the display board who just sat there instead of participating in the warmup.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'davemackey\' post=\'155915\' date=\'Jun 23 2007, 10:32 PM\']
Charlie O'Donnell or Jack Clark had to have all the prizes for each shopping round laid out in front of them and they pulled the index cards of the prize copy they needed to read as the contestants were doing their shopping. Plus, they had to do them all in ascending dollar amount order.[/quote]
I could only imagine what may have been going through their minds if someone solved, for example, a puzzle for $4000 and there was a fantazmo prize available for just under $4K. Would the V.O. fellow possibly have that card already pulled only to see the player go on a mondo shopping trip of eight or ten items and be thinking, "You %&#@! What the *&%$@ are you doing?"
My thinking, though, would be, "Righteous! More air time for me".
While watching at home, in the Alan Thicke music era, if I liked the prize description music, a minute or so of the descriptions didn't bother me. But when those Griffin themes took over, Yuck! Boring! Don't care!

[tpirfan28]

From Brad Francini's WoF timeline...

Perhaps the most unpleasant moment for Pat during his first show was the second shopping round, in which a contestant with $3,000 opted to not pick the expensive hot tub in the showcase and instead purchased the other 14 prizes in the showcase, which led to a 2 1/2 minute marathon voice over for announcer Jack Clark.

That had to be nothing short of amazing.  And for Mr. Howard...it was all over some Thicke cues.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'155992\' date=\'Jun 25 2007, 10:08 AM\']
...it was all over some Thicke cues.
[/quote]
They'd have to be to run two and a half minutes, wouldn't they?

/all week, veal