Any J! Archivists here?

[dhkendall]

I fail to see how I whooshed. Legend took the joke about Johnny being a Barker's Beuaty seriously and then spouted off Zach Horan-esque facts about TPIR announcers.

Looks like you were just whooshed again on a different front. (Hint, there's only one person in the world who has a Zach Horan-esque level of game show minutae knowledge.)

[Robert K S]

It's unclear what the Golden Road timeline is based on. Do tapes exist of all these shows, between Olson's death and Roddy's permanent appointment? If not, were watchers taking notes? Who are the watchers and where are their original notes? I don't think Steve Gavazzi, for one, is old enough to have been watching in 1985. Unclear about the others. But naked assertions, especially made by those who weren't first-hand observers and don't have personal knowledge, can't hold up as evidence. I suspect Johnny Gilbert would reply if written, and I wish you good luck in clearing this up.

[bpmod]

... and then spouted off Zach Horan-esque facts ...

Careful. He might take offense to that.

Brian

[Budphrey]

Oy.

TPH, I appreciate your willingness to get at the truth, but the evidence presented in this thread falls short of meriting an erratum. Here's why:

First and foremost, the central thing the J! Archive is concerned with is accurate representation of the content and game-play of each episode of Jeopardy! that it records. And you're not disputing that the wording of the clue in question is accurately recorded in the Archive. So that's established, apparently.

Second, the wording of the clue is pretty open-ended, saying broadly that Johnny Gilbert "lent his skills" to both versions of TPiR. That does not confine the clue to his announcing work. Thus, even lack of reliable evidence that Johnny ever was an on-air announcer still doesn't definitively contradict the clue. What skills might he have lent? Could he have spent a fun busman's holiday volunteering on the set crew? Could he have worked for a little while behind the scenes as a consultant? Did he maybe do some music arranging? Too many possibilities. Without a definitive, authoritative statement that he had nothing at all to do with the Barker version of the show, you're trying to prove a negative, which is one of those classical philosophical impossibilities. For sure, you've raised a legitimate red flag, but I vote against an erratum.

[legendneverdies]

It's unclear what the Golden Road timeline is based on. Do tapes exist of all these shows, between Olson's death and Roddy's permanent appointment? If not, were watchers taking notes? Who are the watchers and where are their original notes? I don't think Steve Gavazzi, for one, is old enough to have been watching in 1985. Unclear about the others. But naked assertions, especially made by those who weren't first-hand observers and don't have personal knowledge, can't hold up as evidence. I suspect Johnny Gilbert would reply if written, and I wish you good luck in clearing this up.

Most or all of the Barker TPIR episodes exist, however GSN only ran the show for about three years from late 1996-early 2000. They ran the 1985-86 nighttime Tom Kennedy version in its entirety, however, and Johnny Gilbert didn't announce on any of those. JOhnny Olson died after taping about half the episodes of the nighttime version's one season run, and Gene Wood and Rod Roddy announced the rest of the episodes. I don't think they reran many if any episodes from the daytime version from that season, however(as said before, Gene, Bob Hilton, Rich Jeffries, and Rod were the only announcers trying out on air). thatCLockgamejohn(JOhn Sly), Marc Green, and a couple others went to TPIR tapings from about 2000-2008, and they became quite friendly with longtime TPIR showrunner Roger Dobkowitz, who let them backstage and gave them a lot of facts about the show, plus let them take a lot of pictures that are now on Golden-road.net, etc. John was on the show as a contestant around 2003 and played and won CLock Game perfectly, hence his screenname. If Johnny Gilbert had worked on the Barker TPIR in any capacity, the people who run Golden-road.net would have known about it, having gotten a lot of inside info about Roger. Roger got downsized from the show at the end of the 2007-08(Drew Carey's first season), and MIke Richards and the new production team at TPIR won't let those people backstage as Roger did.

[Robert K S]

as said before, Gene, Bob Hilton, Rich Jeffries, and Rod were the only announcers trying out on air

As said before, several times, but not as substantiated by any first-hand source.

I don't see how the fact that a few fans went backstage more than 15 years after the fact is supposed to give us definitive knowledge about the substitute announcers. Did they emerge with dated production log photocopies in hand?

Let's see some videorecordings, or press releases, or original watchers' notebooks. Not naked assertions.

We know Jeopardy! is not infallible. But where controversy exists, it will not be settled by those with third-hand facts being more insistent.

BTW, "showrunner" isn't a downsizable position.

[bpmod]

If Johnny Gilbert had worked on the Barker TPIR in any capacity, the people who run Golden-road.net would have known about it, having gotten a lot of inside info about Roger.

Now, there's a HUGE leap in logic. As Bud intimated, 'any capacity' is quite a far-reaching concept. I'm pretty sure that there is no way that "the people" can possibly know what Johnny Gilbert did every moment of every day of his life (so far). This Roger must be a god of some sort if he knows that better than Johnny himself.

Brian

[MinnesotaMyron]

It's also entirely possible that Gilbert substituted for Olson (or even Roddy) at some other point in the show's run. Especially during those early years.

[Tehshigelisok]

It's also entirely possible that Gilbert substituted for Olson (or even Roddy) at some other point in the show's run. Especially during those early years.

LA Times says Johnny O. never missed a taping.

Anyone got an Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows handy?

[MarkBarrett]

It's also entirely possible that Gilbert substituted for Olson (or even Roddy) at some other point in the show's run. Especially during those early years.

LA Times says Johnny O. never missed a taping.

Anyone got an Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows handy?

I have the 3rd edition of The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows. by David Schwartz, Steve Ryan & Fred Wostbrock Page 177:

The Price is Right
1956 - 1965 version

substitute hosts: Jack Clark, Bob Kennedy, Johnny Gilbert, Sonny Fox, Sam Levenson, Merv Griffin, Robert Q. Lewis, Jack Narz, Arlene Francis, Don Pardo.

announcers: Don Pardo, Johnny Gilbert

substitute announcers: Roger Tuttle, Dick Dudley, Ed Jordan, Jack Clark, Vic Roby, Edward Haeffor

1972 - version

announcers: Johnny Olsen, Gene Wood, Bob Hilton, Rod Roddy
...
Each show began with four contestants being seleced from the studio audience with the announcer (Johnny Olsen from 1972 to 1985 and Rod Roddy after 1985) reading their names and giving the now famous cry, "Come on down!"
....
page 179
Johnny Olson, who had been the announcer on numerous Goodson-Todman game shows since 1958, was the original announcer on "The New Price is Right." He died on October 6, 1985 and other people, including Charlie O. Donnell, Gene Wood, Johnny Gilbert, and Bob Hilton filled in until Rod Roddy was selected as the new announcer.

***********
I'm just the messenger and I don't want to get caught in any friendly fire over this one.

[Vanya]

My intents here are not rude, nor are they one-upsmanship. My only intent is to get to the bottom of this and find out whether the clue is indeed inaccurate or not. Robert K S has a valid suggestion, which I think I'll take up.

With all there is going on in the world, this is what you're concerned about. Srsly? However, you seem to have pulled a few other people into your web of psychosis, so I'll leave it at that.

[legendneverdies]

Johnny Olson, who had been the announcer on numerous Goodson-Todman game shows since 1958, was the original announcer on "The New Price is Right." He died on October 6, 1985 and other people, including Charlie O. Donnell, Gene Wood, Johnny Gilbert, and Bob Hilton filled in until Rod Roddy was selected as the new announcer.

As per the pretty reliable TPIR TImeline on GOlden-road.net, only Wood, Roddy, Hilton, and Rich Jeffries did on-air announcing after Johnny died and before Roddy was selected as the permanent replacement. Charlie O and Johnny G are not mentioned as announcing during the season 14(1985-86) timeline.

[Robert K S]

Somebody call Guinness, because there's a broken record here.

[Volante]

Somebody call Guinness, because there's a broken record here.

Hey, Guinness! We need more booze to deal with this!

[bpmod]

Reminds me of "Weird Al"'s Six Words Long...

over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again... (I think I got the lyrics exactly; correct me if I'm wrong)

Brian

[dhkendall]

Reminds me of "Weird Al"'s Six Words Long...

over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again... (I think I got the lyrics exactly; correct me if I'm wrong)

Brian

Nope, just listened to my copy, missing 3 "and over"s.

(Hey, you asked ... )

[bpmod]

Reminds me of "Weird Al"'s Six Words Long...

over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again... (I think I got the lyrics exactly; correct me if I'm wrong)

Brian

Nope, just listened to my copy, missing 3 "and over"s.

(Hey, you asked ... )

Thanks for the correction. I was going completely by memory (and not having listened to it for several years now) and realized that I wasn't sure exactly how it went.

and over and over and over

There you go.

Brian

ETA: But your copy is in Manitoba, so who knows if it's correct?

[Robert K S]

Golden-road.net is quite authoritative, with many "ins" with the show. If anyone would know who filled in as announcer, they would

Golden-road.net is a message board. Your position is taken from three posters there, Chief-O, RatGnawedCheez, and SteveGavazzi, and their timeline. You might have mentioned these facts when submitting your correction suggestion, rather than expecting the Archive to be amended based on an unbolstered anonymous demand. In any case, there is at least some semblance of legitimate controversy, if not verifiable evidence that Jeopardy! got this wrong. Fortunately, Johnny Gilbert is living and will be able to say if the Jeopardy! writers goofed. You may write him at the 10202 West Washington Boulevard address and you may get a reply. Scan it in, and we'll add your erratum. Deal?

To the OP: since you have submitted your erratum again, I trust you have followed through on our deal. Please provide scan of response from Johnny Gilbert.