Hosts and Announcers
Bob Eubanks is the host that is most often associated with The Newlywed Game. Just 28 years old at the time the show debuted in 1966, he was the youngest emcee to host a game show. Eubanks hosted the ABC and first syndicated series, then returned to host The New Newlywed Game from September 1985 until December 1988. Jim Lange hosted the aforementioned week of specials in 1984 and comedian Paul Rodriguez took over for Eubanks on the 1980s series, which was simply retitled The Newlywed Game Starring Paul Rodriguez upon his takeover, and remained with the show until its cancellation in September 1989.
Gary Kroeger hosted the first season of the revival of The Newlywed Game in 1996, which was conducted under a much different format than the previous series. After a year of struggling ratings Eubanks returned to host and the format was changed back to the classic Newlywed Game format. He has also hosted several special episodes of the current Newlywed Game, which has made Eubanks the only host to preside over an episode of the same series in six different decades.
The current GSN edition was hosted by Carnie Wilson from its debut on April 6, 2009 until the end of its third season on July 16, 2010 when Wilson elected not to return. As noted above, Eubanks hosted two special episodes of this version – one featured Wilson and her husband as well as her sister Wendy, her mother Marilyn, and their husbands; the second featured game show hosts Monty Hall, Peter Marshall, and Wink Martindale and their wives. On August 18, 2010, it was announced that The View co-host Sherri Shepherd would take over as host for the fourth season of the show which premiered November 1, 2010. The fifth season premiered on April 18, 2011 with a new current logo and with the host of Sherri Shepherd also as a narrator. Shepherd continued taking on the role of host and narrator for the sixth season which premiered on October 25, 2012.
Scott Beach, who was Barris' first choice for host, was the announcer in the very early episodes of The Newlywed Game. After that Barris staff announcer Johnny Jacobs took over and remained announcer for the series until the first syndicated version was canceled in 1980. Tony McClay, who was a frequent Jacobs substitute, took over from time to time on the syndicated Newlywed Game. Rod Roddy was the announcer for the ABC specials. When The New Newlywed Game premiered in 1985, Bob Hilton was its announcer. He was replaced by Charlie O'Donnell, who Barris had signed away from Barry & Enright Productions, in 1986. O'Donnell continued to announce through the end of the Paul Rodriguez-hosted season, then left Barris to return to his position at Wheel of Fortune.
Los Angeles radio DJ Ellen K provided the announcing for the first season of the 1996 revival, with John Cramer taking over upon Eubanks' return. For the first season of the 2009 revival Brad Aldous served as the announcer. Randy West took over for the next two seasons, and former host Gary Kroeger took over for West for the fourth season. As of the fifth season, host Shepherd doubles as announcer for the couple introductions and the voice-overs for the prize descriptions.
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