The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: MitchJoseph2004 on July 04, 2003, 11:06:51 AM
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What was Bill's style as a host?
I've never seen any of the shows he hosted.......
Also, what is he up to now? Dead? Alive? Retired? ----- you get the point
Thanks fellas
Mitch
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Bill is still alive, and last I saw him was in 1997 hosting a computer information show on Knowledge TV.
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[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 10:13 AM\'] Bill is still alive, and last I saw him was in 1997 hosting a computer information show on Knowledge TV. [/quote]
I could've sworn I saw recently on CBS commentating on some type of basketball game.
Brandon Brooks
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I could've sworn I saw recently on CBS commentating on some type of basketball game
That would be Bill *Raftery*, NJ Nets television analyst and former coach at Seton Hall University, during my years there.
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[quote name=\'bricon\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 11:31 AM\']
I could've sworn I saw recently on CBS commentating on some type of basketball game
That would be Bill *Raftery*, NJ Nets television analyst and former coach at Seton Hall University, during my years there. [/quote]
No, no, no. That's not him. I specifically remember Rafferty's face... or I could just be insane. Can anyone confirm this?
Brandon Brooks
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Today is July 4th, not April 1.
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 12:10 PM\'] Today is July 4th, not April 1. [/quote]
Yeah, I'm glad you told me that because I don't know how to read a calendar. Thanks!
And since you want to be such a smart aleck, this is the stuff I've found to confirm my assertion:
Random Site (http://\"http://www.kstatecollegian.com/issues/v104/sp/n121/sports/spt.ncaacolumn.balmer.html\")
March Madness (http://\"http://www.easports.ea.com/community/insideeasports/interviews/verne_lundquist.html\")
I knew I saw him comment on a college basketball game or two. It doesn't make my assertion a slam dunk, but I'm convinced he was on CBS.
EDIT: here's one more (http://\"http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/special_packages/marchmania/5522138.htm\").
Brandon Brooks
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Bill Rafferty is indeed alive and doing stand up! Here's the link to a news story I found while doing a search:
http://www.examiner.com/ex_files/default.j...ry=X0411COMEDYw (http://\"http://www.examiner.com/ex_files/default.jsp?story=X0411COMEDYw\")
I wouldn't mind seeing him back hosting again!
David
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[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 10:42 AM\'] And since you want to be such a smart aleck, this is the stuff I've found to confirm my assertion:
[/quote]
All this proves is that major (and minor) websites are as prone to screwing up Raftery's name as everyone else is. Whoever wrote that article for EA should be shot, tho. Screwing up the name of one of the guys your company hired is simply inexcusable.
Rest assured, and I speak from more than a little authority (working for a CBS station for a number of years and seeing the list of annouincing teams prior to the tournament), that Bill Rafferty has never worked an NCAA Tournament game.
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[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 12:42 PM\'][quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 12:10 PM\'] Today is July 4th, not April 1. [/quote]
Yeah, I'm glad you told me that because I don't know how to read a calendar. Thanks!
And since you want to be such a smart aleck, this is the stuff I've found to confirm my assertion:
Random Site (http://\"http://www.kstatecollegian.com/issues/v104/sp/n121/sports/spt.ncaacolumn.balmer.html\")
March Madness (http://\"http://www.easports.ea.com/community/insideeasports/interviews/verne_lundquist.html\")
I knew I saw him comment on a college basketball game or two. It doesn't make my assertion a slam dunk, but I'm convinced he was on CBS.
EDIT: here's one more (http://\"http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/special_packages/marchmania/5522138.htm\").
Brandon Brooks[/quote]
EDIT: Chris L. beat me to the punch (guess he's a much faster typist). :)
It is indeed silver-haired CBS/ESPN analyst Bill Raftery that Marquette coach Crean was talking to (Raftery worked the NCAA regionals in Minneapolis for CBS with Verne Lundquist). Raftery is the one known for such pet phrases as:
\"Send it in!\" (for a slam dunk)
\"Onions\" (for a dagger shot)
\"The kii..sss\" (for using some part of the backboard or rim for the shot to go in)
Here's a link to his bio page on CBS Sportsline:
Bill Raftery Bio (http://\"http://www.sportsline.com/u/cbs/braftery.html\")
Doug
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 01:30 PM\'] It is indeed silver-haired CBS/ESPN analyst Bill Raftery that Marquette coach Crean was talking to (Raftery worked the NCAA regionals in Minneapolis for CBS with Verne Lundquist). Raftery is the one known for such pet phrases as:
[/quote]
¡No más, no más! I'm wrong as hell.
You know, I haven't seen TJW90 for a long time. I think I spend Independence Day doing that.
Brandon Brooks
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I have another question about Rafferty. Why is it, on some sites, that he's refered to as \"Ahmed\" ?
My memories of Rafferty \"CS\" are very poor. What exactly made it diffrent from Eubank's version ?
-Joe R.
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The biggest difference was the presence of Prize Cards in the front game. If you picked one up and won the game, you won the prize also.
If you wanna nitpick, I don't think Rafferty carried a microphone like Eubanks did.
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[quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 03:16 PM\'] If you wanna nitpick, I don't think Rafferty carried a microphone like Eubanks did.
[/quote]
Rafferty did in fact wear a lav mike on Card Sharks in lieu of using a handheld.
[quote name=\'JRaygor\' date=\'Jul 4 2003,03:06 PM\']I have another question about Rafferty. Why is it, on some sites, that he's refered to as \"Ahmed\" ?[/quote]
After some research on Google Groups, it appears that the \"Ahmed\" moniker was coined by fellow board member and wrestling fan Jeremy Soria who claimed his accent was comparable to wrestler Ahmed Johnson.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 07:17 PM\'] [quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 03:16 PM\'] If you wanna nitpick, I don't think Rafferty carried a microphone like Eubanks did.
[/quote]
Rafferty did in fact wear a lav mike on Card Sharks in lieu of using a handheld.
[quote name=\'JRaygor\' date=\'Jul 4 2003,03:06 PM\']I have another question about Rafferty. Why is it, on some sites, that he's refered to as "Ahmed" ?[/quote]
After some research on Google Groups, it appears that the "Ahmed" moniker was coined by fellow board member and wrestling fan Jeremy Soria who claimed his accent was comparable to wrestler Ahmed Johnson. [/quote]
I read somewhere, I think this was in Google Groups, that both had a tendency to sound mushmouthed. Johnson was noted for his poor mic skills, so I can't fathom an emcee who was just as inarticulate as he.
I only heard one sound clip of Rafferty talking and he doesn't sound that bad.
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[quote name=\'jalman\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 05:20 PM\'] Johnson was noted for his poor mic skills, so I can't fathom an emcee who was just as inarticulate as he.
I only heard one sound clip of Rafferty talking and he doesn't sound that bad. [/quote]
I don't get it either, so let's just say it wouldn't be the first instance of an ATGSer being obscure for the sake of obscurity and leave it at that.
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I only heard one sound clip of Rafferty talking and he doesn't sound that bad.
However, his nasal NY accent really sticks out, IMO.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")
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[quote name=\'MitchJoseph2004\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 08:06 AM\'] What was Bill's style as a host?
I've never seen any of the shows he hosted.......
[/quote]
And this is why I don't understand everyone is so keen to see his versions of Card Sharks and Blockbusters...he didn't really HAVE a style. Both formats were vastly inferior to the originals (particularly in the case of Blockbusters, whose original concept was totally thrown out the window), and there was nothing whatsoever that made Rafferty stand out as a host.
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Rafferty's version of Blockbusters was the first show to do something that is now common practice on game shows. What was it?
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[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Jul 5 2003, 12:07 PM\'] Rafferty's version of Blockbusters was the first show to do something that is now common practice on game shows. What was it? [/quote]
Suck? ;)
But seriously, folks.
The other answer that comes to mind is \"use a computer-generated gameboard\", but that would be incorrect, as the David Sparks Crosswits did that as well.
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QUOTE (SplitSecond @ Jul 5 2003, 12:07 PM)
Rafferty's version of Blockbusters was the first show to do something that is now common practice on game shows. What was it?
Suck? ;)
But seriously, folks.
The other answer that comes to mind is \"use a computer-generated gameboard\", but that would be incorrect, as the David Sparks Crosswits did that as well.
Touché.
Your guess is, as you have said, not correct, but you're on the right track.
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IIRC, it was the first show to air contestant calls for a different show, in this case \"Classic Concentraton.\"
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jul 5 2003, 03:36 PM\'] IIRC, it was the first show to air contestant calls for a different show, in this case "Classic Concentraton." [/quote]
If that's right, then I cry foul, because that can't exactly be considered to be \"commonplace\". As far as we know, only the GSN originals have done that recently, and even then not all the time.
At the same time, that wouldn't mean I was \"on the right track\" with my guess. Hmm...
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Bill Rafferty's Blockbusters was the first American show where the host read his questions off a monitor in his podium.
Combine this with the fact that Rafferty is, in fact, dyslexic, as well as the fact that the premiere week of the series was taped just the Friday beforehand, and you undoubtedly had a lot of people on a white-knuckle ride.
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I liked Rafferty. He was no Cullen or Eubanks, but he did OK. I felt he yelled too much though. Maybe that's just me.
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I never found Rafferty to be inarticulate, I actually thought that was one of his few strengths. Unfortunately, like so many other game show hosts who envision themselves as something else (stand up comic or broadcaster, both of which he's done), he simply had no hosting style.
He did happen to be the host of a game I think was very underrated: Every Second Counts. Fun front game, exciting end game, play-along factor, everything we say we want.
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[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Jul 5 2003, 05:30 PM\'] Bill Rafferty's Blockbusters was the first American show where the host read his questions off a monitor in his podium.
[/quote]
I was gonna guess at that, but I coulda sworn he had question cards. How did he handle the Gold Run, then, which was no longer played at the podium, but instead at that silly handlebar downstage of the contestant desk?
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When he was walking out of frame as they were putting the board and clock up, he was walking back to his podium. As soon as the time was up, he left the podium to return to the contestant's side. Surely it wasn't that many steps.
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He did happen to be the host of a game I think was very underrated: Every Second Counts. Fun front game, exciting end game, play-along factor, everything we say we want.
Amen, Brother Ottinger. Not to mention clever material, Debbie Bartlett and the last stock music \"perfect game show music\" theme. It just had the problem of being a new format in a market (syndication) that's generally more friendly to established formats.
And now, unless Action Time or some other foreign company bought all rights to the format, it's stuck in the bowels of the Viacom format library, unlikely to be revived except as a Spike TV/TNN game with idiot frat brothers as couples and categories like \"Name That Cup--we'll give you the name of a female celebrity, you tell us if her breasts are over or under 36 inches in size.\"
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[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Jul 6 2003, 02:02 AM\'] As soon as the time was up, he left the podium to return to the contestant's side. Surely it wasn't that many steps. [/quote]
Well, based on my remembrance of the set, I'd say it was a solid five or six steps at least..he'd have to hustle. This also begs the question of the post-mortem when they didn't win...if he left the podium when the clock hit :00, how did he review the incorrect answers?
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[quote name=\'MitchJoseph2004\' post=\'2362\' date=\'Jul 4 2003, 11:06 AM\']
What was Bill's style as a host?
I've never seen any of the shows he hosted.......
Also, what is he up to now? Dead? Alive? Retired? ----- you get the point
Thanks fellas
Mitch
[/quote]
Bill who is now 63 years old and will celebrate his 64th birthday on June 17 is now the host of Retired and Wired on Retirement Living TV. On Friday, May 2 he was in the GSN studios for GSN Live.
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I also liked Rafferty's - for lack of a better term - smart-ass style. Like a Dennis Miller, he'd pop in some odd references or tv insider lines now and then. I don't think he thought game shows were below him, but he certainly didn't treat them with any phony pomp. He was the main reason I watched the Blockbusters re-do, as the game changes were lousy.
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Happy birthday this Tuesday, Bill Rafferty!
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Am I the only one concerned that a 5-year old thread has been resurrected here?
Greg
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[quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'188268\' date=\'Jun 15 2008, 09:23 AM\']
Am I the only one concerned that a 5-year old thread has been resurrected here?
Greg
[/quote]
No, there are others. Then there's the faction that would have been upset that a new thread was started for a topic that already existed and a third faction that thinks all birthday wishes should go into the birthday section. :)
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'188269\' date=\'Jun 15 2008, 09:44 AM\']
[quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'188268\' date=\'Jun 15 2008, 09:23 AM\']
Am I the only one concerned that a 5-year old thread has been resurrected here?[/quote]
No, there are others. Then there's the faction that would have been upset that a new thread was started for a topic that already existed and a third faction that thinks all birthday wishes should go into the birthday section. :)[/quote]
Precisely.
/Is 'concerned' really the right word?
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May I have your attention please.
That is all.
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My concern with reviving threads from 5 years ago is that their formatting is screwed up, at least in my browser.
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[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'188278\' date=\'Jun 15 2008, 12:54 PM\']
My concern with reviving threads from 5 years ago is that their formatting is screwed up, at least in my browser.[/quote]
That's an Invision / Firefox thing, at least with posts numbered #15,000 or so or less. I've found if you open those pages in IE (and I recommend a plugin like IEView (http://\"http://ieview.mozdev.org/\") to simplify that), you can view those posts correctly.