Fred Roggin Leaving GSN Live
Fred Roggin announced on GSN Live yesterday that he’s leaving the show. So The Money List is your only option to see him on the network for now. Here’s his statement from the GSN boards:
From the begining of GSN Live we invited you into our family and you invited us into yours. That’s why I’m sharing this with you now. My time at GSN Live has come to an end. I’ve been in broadcasting a long time and nothing has been more enjoyable than the time I was honored to spend with you on a daily basis. I’ve learned that game show fans are perhaps the most passionate people. I’ve felt your passion. (luckily more good than bad).
The network allowed me to pursue a dream and for that I am thankful. The dream continues and that was the plan from day one. Hosting a prime time game show (Money List) was part of it. The third part was producing a game show and I’m thrilled to say we’re at the run thru stage of a game we developed. As you can imagine the production of that show requires my focus now. Thank you from making The Money List a success. (you better keep watching and tell everyone you know to watch). Thank you for making GSN Live a success. You are the reason it works and will be the reason it continues to work.. I’m not doing GSN Live but I’m still on GSN and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.Thanks
Fred
Fred is the reason I started watching the show. He's got loads of energy, and he feeds off the other hosts and the callers so well. It's sad to see him leave GSN Live, but as he said, he'l still be seen on The Money List, and is working on a new project. So, he's on GSN to stay. I'm just curious as to who they'll choose to replace him. With the frequency that Todd Newton shows up as a guest host, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the position. I think this is a format in which he'd excel.
While I was looking for this post on the GSN boards, I noticed a few others from Fred, and one that mentions just how much he loves you, Alex, and thinks you're awesome, which you are. So, at least someone over at GSN likes you. ;-)
I LOL’ed at this part:
“I’ve learned that game show fans are perhaps the most passionate people. I’ve felt your passion. (luckily more good than bad).”
(sigh) If only GSN still had the rights to reruns of The Price is Right. That would put the comment in a whole new context! xD
Let's not forget that Fred is the Sports Director at NBC 4 Los Angeles, and he's also going to concentrate on that too.
Fred Roggin has never needed to prove how much a of class act he is. I'm only sorry that he never had the chance (unlike his KNBC colleague Chuck Henry) to host a game show from Mark Goodson. One can only imagine how he much could've grown under the guiding hands of Mr. Goodson.
I think his hosting skills are growing quite nicely as it is, Goodson help or not. If someone has hosting talent, no matter how much help you give him/her, they'll be good. You either have it or you don't, IMO. Fred has it, and just needs to let it flourish. He's doing that now, and while I'm sad to see him leave GSN Live, I'm sure that he'll be going to bigger and better pastures.
Heidi, on the other hand, I don't see making it in game shows at all. She's more of a talk show type, and has done that in the past. She also did a few infomercials. So, I don't forsee her leaving anytime soon.
to juliaz: about Roggin; granted, you have to have the talent to begin with. However, Goodson reputedly claimed that he could turn the likes of a Dan Rather into a game show host. A producer/packager who really knows his beans, knows how to take good talent, and make (them) that much better. Goodson had not only that kind of ability, but he also had a knack for truly evaluating the right host to fit a given show. You don't really have anybody who has that kind of "eye" anymore. No guarantees here, but, if Mark Goodson were alive today, it's just possible that Drew Carey might not have been the final choice as host of TPIR. It needs to be mentioned, that Goodson and Merv Griffin were two game show producers in particular, whom (especially) the networks took very seriously, more times than not.
I feel the same way. I think he would be thankful for hosting a G-T game show. Chuck Henry, on the other hand, was embarassed for hosting Now You See It, even though (from what I saw on YouTube since the show never aired here) he did a good job hosting it.
I agree with that. Mark Goodson is like the Bobby Knight (minus the temper tandrum) of game show producing. He has produced talented game show hosts (Bob Barker, Richard Dawson, the Narz brothers, Allen Ludden, Bill Cullen, etc) and talented producers (Bob Stewart, Jay Wolpert just to name a couple) who went on to start their own production companies. So if he could turn the likes of Dan Rather into a game show host, imagine what he would do with Fred Roggin.
Of course, Mark Goodson, great as he was, could not turn Jon "Bowzer" Bauman into a passable game show host. LOL.
Does this mean Roggin is developing his own game show?
"The third part was producing a game show and I’m thrilled to say we’re at the run thru stage of a game we developed."
I'd say that's a "yes".
To Brian in CT: from one (former) Nutmeg State native to another, Jon (Bowzer) Bauman was a "work in progress," who never really "rogressed." On the other hand, if it weren't for Merv Griffin, we wouldn't have Ryan Seacrest, whose first gig was host of an early GSN original "CLICK!." So depending on your point of view, you can either give Griffin credit, or lay blame (LOL)!
To MrQuiz: Click was not a GSN original. It was actually a syndicated show from 1997-1998. And BTW, Merv groomed Pat Sajak and Chuck Woolery to be well-known GS hosts on WOF. But Back to Fred though, I am looking forward to seeing him produce a game show. I am going to miss him on GSN Live but I know that there is going to be greener pastures for him. I often speculated and wondered if he will retire from KNBC and join GSN full time. But with the economy the way it is and because of his tenure with NBC, and the fact that he has a family to raise. He is keeping that job because of his tenure.
Does it ever occur to you that Fred Roggin joined the Sportscasters turned Game show hosts club (e.g Bob Goen Dick Enberg, Fred Roggin.) Yes, Bob Goen was a sportscaster in Palm Springs before becoming a game show host. And when you are a sportscaster you have to adlib and think on your feet. But anyway, Fred is a talented person and I am looking forward to his next project
To James Greek: I used to work with someone who used to work with Goen may years ago, when he was coming up in radio. Even back then (and we're talking well over 25 years, here), he had aspirations of wanting to be a game show host.
I also stand corrected on CLICK! And, yes, Griffin did groom Woollery and Sajak.
As for sportscasters-who-either-turned-into-or-doubled-as-game show hosts, you're either too young to remember, or overlooked Vin Scully, who hosted "It Takes Two" on NBC from 1969-70; Jack Whittaker, who hosted "The Face Is Familiar" on CBS, in 1966; Jack Lescoulie, who was the original sportscaster on TODAY, and co-hosted a short-lived NBC game called "Brawns & Brain" in 1958 (I've seen it on TV4U); and of course, Joe Garagiola, who became the second host of the original "Sale of the Century" on NBC in 1973, as well as other shows, including succeeding Garry Moore on the '70s version of "To Tell the Truth."
you are right MrQuiz! I am too young to remember all of those! And I have never seen Joe host $trike It Rich! (I was born in 1986) and I was listening to Steve Beverly's interview with Bob Goen and he wanted to be a game show host since he was 13 years old. Let me tell you that Bob Goen never got to host a game show for Mark Goodson either. However, he hosted CBS Daytime Wheel which was between two Goodson game shows, Family Feud and TPIR. But still, I wish he would have gotten to host a show for Goodson.
You WERE GSN Live. I'm gonna miss you on weekday afternoons.
Your cameo at the 2009 KCA's made my night during the award night.
Money List is great; except for the excess fake drama and aired a year after taping. You really taught America to pay attention to certain groups of hoopla and I will never forget that. Trust me.
Mr. Roggin, you will not just be missed by me for your great broadcasting skills, but for taking time out to talk to our fans, including the few times you replied to comments I wrote at the GSN message boards. It was a great 17 months.
I wish you luck with your new show of which you are producer.