Author Topic: Another question about Rod Roddy (Read 7332 times)

Steve_Bier · « **on:** October 29, 2003, 01:18:42 PM »

From posts that I have read, Rod was the voice on a number of unsold pilots. Does anyone here know which ones? Was WHEW! his first game show ever, or had he taped game show pilots previously? Also...was PiR his first-ever gig for G-T?

J.R. · « **Reply #1 on:** October 29, 2003, 04:35:42 PM »

He was the announcer for the 1984 Scrabble Pilot and Whew! was his first gameshow.

Hope that helps !
-Joe R.

zachhoran · « **Reply #2 on:** October 29, 2003, 06:48:08 PM »

[quote name=\'JRaygor\' date=\'Oct 29 2003, 04:35 PM\'] He was the announcer for the 1984 Scrabble Pilot and Whew! was his first gameshow.

Hope that helps !
-Joe R. [/quote]
Rod did one of the 80s Scrabble pilots, while Phil Hartman(yes, the SNL and Newsradio star) did one of them. Phil also announced the Pop and Rocker Game.

Rod also announced for the Dream House pilot, one of the Trebek J! pilots, and(I remember hearing about this anyway) the Wordplay pilot(which Peter T. reportedly hosted in 1986)

bricon · « **Reply #3 on:** October 29, 2003, 06:50:30 PM »

Rod announced a pilot called Star Play, hosted by Tom Kennedy, and produced by Tom and Carol Burnett. Sort of a cross between charades and You Don't Say. Circa October 1988.

Steve_Bier · « **Reply #4 on:** October 29, 2003, 10:13:23 PM »

By any chance, was Rod the original choice to announce "WHEW", or was anyone else tapped for the pilot episodes?

Thanks for everyone's help!

SplitSecond · « **Reply #5 on:** October 30, 2003, 02:22:02 AM »

Rod did indeed announce the "Whew!" pilots.

TimK2003 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 30, 2003, 07:43:59 PM »

IIRC, Rod also did the pilot episodes for Bruce Forsythe's Hot Streak, which are on the trading circuit. A little odd that Gene Wood would wind up with that gig -- his only Grundy appearance.

And if you wish to split hairs, that one week ABC daytime Newlywed Game special hosted by Jim Lange was kinda/sorta a pilot for what would become the syndicated nighttime version, and Rod was the voice on that as well.

Steve_Bier · « **Reply #7 on:** October 30, 2003, 09:54:07 PM »

I seem to remember a clip of that Hot Streak pilot!! He sounded great on it, too.

Didn't he announce one of the Jeopardy pilots as well?

And also---was PiR the first Goodson-Todman gig he ever had? How about some of G-T's unsold pilots? Did he announce any of them?

To SplitSecond: How many pilots for "WHEW!" were shot, and when were they done? I'm thinking 1978, but I could be wrong.....

Skynet74 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 30, 2003, 09:58:18 PM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Oct 30 2003, 07:43 PM\']
And if you wish to split hairs, that one week ABC daytime Newlywed Game special hosted by Jim Lange was kinda/sorta a pilot for what would become the syndicated nighttime version, and Rod was the voice on that as well. [/quote]

Wow... I forgot about that. I'm going to have to pull those tapes one day and post the audio here. I know I have them.

John

zachhoran · « **Reply #9 on:** October 30, 2003, 10:09:33 PM »

[quote name=\'Steve_Bier\' date=\'Oct 30 2003, 09:54 PM\'] I seem to remember a clip of that Hot Streak pilot!! He sounded great on it, too.

Didn't he announce one of the Jeopardy pilots as well?

And also---was PiR the first Goodson-Todman gig he ever had? How about some of G-T's unsold pilots? Did he announce any of them?

To SplitSecond: How many pilots for "WHEW!" were shot, and when were they done? I'm thinking 1978, but I could be wrong..... [/quote]
He did announce one of the two Trebek J! pilots in 1983.

TPIR was Rod's only Goodson show, though he subbed for a couple weeks on Combs Feud in 1993-94.

No one has mentioned his stint as fill-in announcer on $25K Pyramid in 1983 or 1984.

Steve_Bier · « **Reply #10 on:** October 31, 2003, 09:44:35 AM »

How was he discovered for "WHEW!"? Was he the original choice for that show? I'm assuming that since it was shot in Studio 33 for CBS, that maybe Johnny O was also considered?

zachhoran · « **Reply #11 on:** October 31, 2003, 09:51:13 AM »

[quote name=\'Steve_Bier\' date=\'Oct 31 2003, 09:44 AM\'] How was he discovered for "WHEW!"? Was he the original choice for that show? I'm assuming that since it was shot in Studio 33 for CBS, that maybe Johnny O was also considered? [/quote]
Johnny O was pretty much tied to Goodson-Todman by the late 70s(the only non-GT game show he announced in his GT tenure I believe was Joe Garagiola's Memory Game for Merv Griffin in 1971 on NBC), it isn't likely he would have done a non-GT show. It was reported a while back that Bud Austin, co-packager of Whew!, did have some stake in GT.

chris319 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 31, 2003, 12:12:25 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 31 2003, 06:51 AM\']It was reported a while back that Bud Austin, co-packager of Whew!, did have some stake in GT.[/quote]
No one other than MG and BT ever had a stake in the company.

zachhoran · « **Reply #13 on:** October 31, 2003, 12:14:55 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Oct 31 2003, 12:12 PM\'] [quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 31 2003, 06:51 AM\']It was reported a while back that Bud Austin, co-packager of Whew!, did have some stake in GT.[/quote]
No one other than MG and BT ever had a stake in the company. [/quote]
I thought Austin was at least an exec at GT for a while.

chris319 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 31, 2003, 12:17:36 PM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 31 2003, 09:14 AM\'] [quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Oct 31 2003, 12:12 PM\'] [quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 31 2003, 06:51 AM\']It was reported a while back that Bud Austin, co-packager of Whew!, did have some stake in GT.[/quote]
No one other than MG and BT ever had a stake in the company. [/quote]
I thought Austin was at least an exec at GT for a while. [/quote]
He was a VP but did not have an ownership stake.

Author Topic: Another question about Rod Roddy (Read 7332 times)

SplitSecond

Skynet74