Golden-Road.net
Studio 33 - Price is Right Discussion => The TALK Is Right => Topic started by: tpirsuperfan99 on June 28, 2017, 10:51:07 PM
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It has been almost 7 years since Rich Fields was let go from Price when Mike Richards fired him, but does anyone still miss him? I do sort of miss him, he was a great announcer and I don't think he deserved to be fired because Mike wanted to hire a comedian, but it is what it is and George has done a fine job announcing.
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I thought he was a good choice mainly because most of the others who auditioned weren't that great (except for Randy West and Burton Richardson) when he was hired in season 32 but I don't really miss him. He was too over the top at times and while he did have some chemistry with Bob I didn't think he had much with Drew.
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I don't think he deserved to be fired because Mike wanted to hire a comedian
Don't worry -- he wasn't.
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Rich wasn't the best choice anyways.
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I watched one of Rich's earliest fill-in episodes on YouTube not too long ago, and had to double-check the credits to make sure it was actually him. His style was much closer to that of Johnny Olsen--conversational, yet authoritative, and a much more reasonant tone. If he had kept this style, I'd miss him a lot more.
But something happened to him in the next three years he announced with Barker, and by Bob's final ep. he just came off as annoying--his nasal, bombastic inflection threatened to ruin the show at times. I remember reading that Roger was coaching him and giving him pointers on how to improve during this time, which is great, but it seems like he took said advice the wrong way.
As Steve alluded to, Rich was apparently let go due to pissing off Mike and/or the other senior staff--a situation he knows more about than I do. While I don't doubt his story, I do think the show unfairly tried to turn him into a comic foil with the "Drewcases" and he just wasn't cut out for it at all--he's a TV weatherman, not a comedian.
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IMHO, he was even worse on Wheel of Fortune. While Pat is in the same category as Bob (a traditional game show host), and a former weatherman to boot, they did not mesh at all, as Rich's announcing was even phonier than it was on TPIR. FWIW, Jim Thornton is a much better fit for that show.
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To be honest, I'm not sure why they didn't just hire Burton Richardson or Randy West back in '03.
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I think most of us on this site thought for sure Randy West would be hired, but were kind of shocked when rich got the nod.
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IMHO, he was even worse on Wheel of Fortune. While Pat is in the same category as Bob (a traditional game show host), and a former weatherman to boot, they did not mesh at all, as Rich's announcing was even phonier than it was on TPIR. FWIW, Jim Thornton is a much better fit for that show.
I agree, I was rooting for him to get the gig but his voice and style just didn't fit when he auditioned for Wheel. Jim Thorton has been great since he began, and he was excellent with the crowd warming up and answering questions before the show started when I went to see Wheel in NYC in 2013.
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Here's the thing: We got two different Richs over the course of his run on the show.
The first Rich was more subdued and was more in line with Rod. He was pleasant to listen to.
The second Rich was over-the-top (think "A neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH") and was becoming more and more annoying.
I miss the first Rich (and the previous announcers who did it the right way).
I don't miss the second Rich at all.
Unfortunately, George, who has a great voice, is so annoyingly over-the-top that he's become almost more of a reason I've stopped watching than Drew's hosting. George has a personality that could make him a good host. But he's overdoing it bigtime at the mic. That makes me miss the first version of Rich even more.
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I deeply wish for Rich to come back, as he is probably the closest we are going to get to a Johnny Olsen or Rod Roddy.
George is way, way, way over the top in a Jonathan Mangum way, but with little charm and too much schlock. He's annoying when it comes to pure announcing. However, he is good when it comes to interaction with Drew and participating in showcases/prizes/etc in a way that hasn't been done since Rod was feeling well. That's cool.
One way or the other, I think Rich is a much better fit. He held the position with much more honor and respect than I feel George does. Either way, he got to live share in a dream that only ~15-20 men have actually gotten to live.
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Unfortunately, George, who has a great voice, is so annoyingly over-the-top that he's become almost more of a reason I've stopped watching than Drew's hosting. George has a personality that could make him a good host. But he's overdoing it bigtime at the mic.
George is way, way, way over the top in a Jonathan Mangum way, but with little charm and too much schlock. He's annoying when it comes to pure announcing. However, he is good when it comes to interaction with Drew and participating in showcases/prizes/etc in a way that hasn't been done since Rod was feeling well. That's cool.
Just to play Devil's Advocate here, I have to wonder how much of this over-the-top delivery is a stylistic choice by George, and how much is on Mike Richards' orders. We know that Rich was forced into a ridiculous delivery style by Mike, so it seems plausible that the same thing may be at work with George.
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I still prefer Rich over George, and thinking about the expectations of Mike Richards only makes me miss Rich even more.
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I don't have anything against George as announcer by any means, but I'd kind of rather hear Rich announcing on the show. I didn't mind him in Drew's first year even if he was a little over-the-top at times (especially with "a new CAAAAR!"), but he started to become a bit awkward after Mike came in. The Drewcases are probably funny, but Rich wasn't meant to be comic relief, and we've seen it plenty of times with George in this era.
So yes, I do kinda miss Rich.
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Just to play Devil's Advocate here, I have to wonder how much of this over-the-top delivery is a stylistic choice by George, and how much is on Mike Richards' orders. We know that Rich was forced into a ridiculous delivery style by Mike, so it seems plausible that the same thing may be at work with George.
You may well be absolutely right here...but, no matter who is to "blame" for the "style," the various style changes have added up to a presentation I no longer enjoy. In this specific case, since we have to hear the announcer for SO MUCH of the show, a problematic announcing style has a huge impact for me.
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Me and another member always think that Mike does tell george in his earpiece to be over the top, just to provide comedy. it is just sad that this day in age, it seems that MR seems to care more about the comedy aspect versus actual gameplay. That is just my opinion.
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Yes, I still miss Rich. I felt his voice was much better suited for the show and had a more fun feel to it than George. Yes, he did go a little overboard sometimes, but it was in no way a deal-breaker for me.
I've tried warming up to George for a long time, but I just can't do it. He's a square peg in a round hole sitting in that announcer's chair, and I'm not a fan of his voice either.
I think that Rich got hosed by Mike (especially with those drewcases,) and that's a damn shame.
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Do I miss Rich? Not in the slightest. Aside from a couple of seasons in which he was actually competent and serviceable, he was pretty awful for the most part.
Not that George is any better!
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Me and another member always think that Mike does tell george in his earpiece to be over the top, just to provide comedy. it is just sad that this day in age, it seems that MR seems to care more about the comedy aspect versus actual gameplay. That is just my opinion.
So your opinion has no basis in fact - just what you and someone else think happens, and then you form a conclusion based upon nothing on what you think Mike's motivation is. It's an interesting way to reach a conclusion.
I must watch a very different version of TPIR from the rest of you apparently, because aside from a few quips that George makes when throwing to a prize description because Drew isn't particular adept at that, I don't see him doing a whole lot different than other announcers have done.
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So your opinion has no basis in fact - just what you and someone else think happens, and then you form a conclusion based upon nothing on what you think Mike's motivation is. It's an interesting way to reach a conclusion.
I must watch a very different version of TPIR from the rest of you apparently, because aside from a few quips that George makes when throwing to a prize description because Drew isn't particular adept at that, I don't see him doing a whole lot different than other announcers have done.
Agreed--George sounds just fine to me. Granted, he's no Johnny Olsen or Rod Roddy. But he does his job fine.
And as an addendum, I've gone back on YouTube and watched some old episodes with Rich, and my God, he was terrible. He never had the voice for an announcer, had issues with enunciation, and was terribly over-enthusiastic. And this is coming from someone who was horribly disappointed when he was let go.
Makes me wonder if some of the sentimentality with Rich stems from him being part of the old guard.
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Agreed--George sounds just fine to me. Granted, he's no Johnny Olsen or Rod Roddy. But he does his job fine.
And as an addendum, I've gone back on YouTube and watched some old episodes with Rich, and my God, he was terrible. He never had the voice for an announcer, had issues with enunciation, and was terribly over-enthusiastic. And this is coming from someone who was horribly disappointed when he was let go.
Makes me wonder if some of the sentimentality with Rich stems from him being part of the old guard.
I really hate saying something along the lines of a simple 'I agree!' but this post shares my thoughts REALLY darn well. It's to the point where I genuinely prefer George to a material degree of an average sample of Rich's work and have done so for some time. If I'm watching an old show where Rich is announcing with some of the folks on here, then the first thing we do is to see just how out of control he screams "HERE IT COMES!" because of just how cringeworthy his call of that line got, far too often.
Although, I guess we slightly differ in our reaction to Rich's firing. My thoughts were back then a case of curiosity, rather than being disappointed since I saw him as pretty replacable given his degree of skill in his position.
The old guard is something interesting, honestly, became a fan back then, can still enjoy the old show just to see times gone by for a fascinating compare/contrast, but I really enjoy the current direction and the way it's been done these days too. Perhaps this explains our opinion on George on our ends for a similar, yet different (perhaps opposite?) reason?
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Me and another member always think that Mike does tell george in his earpiece to be over the top, just to provide comedy. it is just sad that this day in age, it seems that MR seems to care more about the comedy aspect versus actual gameplay. That is just my opinion.
So your opinion has no basis in fact - just what you and someone else think happens, and then you form a conclusion based upon nothing on what you think Mike's motivation is. It's an interesting way to reach a conclusion.
Based solely on my observations while watching the show since Rich was terminated, it did seem for a while that they were going out of their way to try to force more comedy into the show. They seemed to realize pretty quickly that it wasn't working, and that they'd be far better off just letting it happen as opposed to try to force it, especially since most of their attempts to force it just came off as cringe-worthy.
For what it's worth, I think George does a far better job calling contestants down than Rich ever did!
Also:
I deeply wish for Randy West to come back, as he is probably the closest we are going to get to a Johnny Olsen or Rod Roddy.
FTFY :lol:
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Rich... never had the voice for an announcer, had issues with enunciation, and was terribly over-enthusiastic. And this is coming from someone who was horribly disappointed when he was let go.
Fair comment, but to give Rich some credit, he is a trained broadcaster, which George is not. I say the following as one who worked for about a decade in small-market radio: There's a proper way to read copy. Rich could read copy in a fairly competent manner. He unfortunately allowed too much enthusiasm to slip in much of the time. George cannot read copy. He follows a very "stereotypical game show announcer" pattern and spins all kinds of emphasis on unimportant words and phrases (Granted, he reads a lot of badly-written generic copy handed down from the higher-ups, but a good announcer can keep you from focusing on how badly bad copy is written).
Makes me wonder if some of the sentimentality with Rich stems from him being part of the old guard.
I'd say that's part of it, and part of it that, while he never posted here, he was a proclaimed fan of this site. He also showed, in his early days with a show, quite a bit of respect for those who preceded him. Of course, given how things turned, it makes one wonder how legitimate his respect was; or if there was still too much child in fulfilling a "childhood dream."