Bill Rafferty

[clemon79]

[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.

[ChuckNet]

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\")

[clemon79]

[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.

[SplitSecond]

Rafferty's version of Blockbusters was the first show to do something that is now common practice on game shows.  What was it?

[clemon79]

[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.

[SplitSecond]

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.

[Jimmy Owen]

IIRC, it was the first show to air contestant calls for a different show, in this case \"Classic Concentraton.\"

[clemon79]

[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...

[SplitSecond]

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.

[PeterMarshallFan]

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.

[Matt Ottinger]

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.

[clemon79]

[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?

[SplitSecond]

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.

[uncamark]

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.\"

[clemon79]

[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?