What is your favorite opening, i.e. the combination of theme music, announcer, host enterance etc?
I would have to default to "The Price Is Right".
After that I would go with the great music, opening montage, camera work and all around pizazz of the last two seasons of "Hollywood Squares." The openings for both the 12/02 and 12/03 Game Show Weeks were esp. good.
After that I'm a sucker for the combination of music, lights, swinging board and Gene Wood on the Dawson and Combs 'Feud'. Today I like Richard's K's hearty greeting for both families.
I also always like hearing the theme music and seeing breifly the lighted pyramid in the othewise dark studio for the opening to the in Seventies 'Pyramid.'
For the Eighties I loved either Jack Clark, Charlie O'Donnel, Dean Goss or Bob Hilton (but sorry, not Johny Gilbert) declare 'From Televison City in Hollywood, Its the xxxxPyramid!'
More recently I grew to like 'And now here's the host of 'Pyramid,' Donny Osmond!'
Other notables are any of Jack Clark's 'Look at this studio filled with' openings on Eighties 'Wheel of Fortune' and Shadoe Steven's line 'they are the new Hollywood Squares!' followed by that versions theme.
Finally I have to metion the combination of the funny blue cards with notes & hearing the laugh track, bass line and Johnny O. on the Seventies 'Match Game.'
[Finally for non-game shows the combination announcer Bill Wendell, studio camera shots and finally Paul Shaffer's low and funky theme to "Late Night w/ David Letterman" will always take me back to when I was in high school and college]