June 11, 2009
Whether you know Fred Roggin from NBC sports or GSN Live, you know that he's an outgoing and friendly sort, who truly enjoys his chosen career. Roggin is the host of GSN's new game show, The Money List, which premieres on the new "Big Saturday Night" programming block on June 13, 2009. Specifically, The Money List airs Saturday nights at 9:30pm Eastern, with repeats at 12:30am and 5pm on Sundays.
Interviews with TV personalities generally go one of two ways: either the celeb in question is happy to answer questions and will elaborate when prompted, or it's like pulling teeth to get more than a couple of words out at a time. Speaking with Fred Roggin, however, was more like a conversation. My prepared questions went out the window as Roggin enthusiastically spoke about The Money List, Big Saturday Night, and more. Rest assured that the man loves game shows, loves his job(s), and is absolutely invested in making The Money List a success.
About.com: Fred, I have to start out by telling you that The Money List is excellent.
Fred Roggin: Thank you! It really means a lot to hear you say that. Let me tell you, my objective when I first came to GSN, I asked them to please give me the opportunity to host. Then, when they came along with The Money List, I had one objective: not to screw it up!
About.com: It's based on Who Dares Wins, which is a great British game show.
Roggin: Right, it's a proven format. And we asked how to make it our own. Everyone told me to just enjoy it, and "do it how YOU would do it," rather than trying to emulate someone else.
Sometimes the simplest things are best, and this show is an example of that. It has drama, suspense, you become invested in the contestants and you're rooting for them. You can play along at home – as host, I was playing along on the set. I'd read a category and then think to myself, "Do I have it? Could I get this?" With the answers, you have to be really precise. There were a few times when the contestants would name something, and I thought it would be right, but it was just slightly off. One word off, and you don't get it.
About.com: Tell me about the taping – you went all the way to England for this.
Roggin: Yes, we taped the show in London, in their facility with their set, but it was all American contestants. I had just finished covering Olympic boxing in Beijing at the time, and flew straight from there to London.
About.com: You must have been exhausted!
Roggin: Well you know, I'm so blessed. I'm so lucky. I've always wanted to host a game show. Why? Because it's fun! So mentally I was so excited, even though physically I might have been tired. And then I got to go out there and host this great show.
About.com: So if the show is picked up for another season, will you return to London?
Roggin: We really haven't made any decisions on anything like that yet. We'll have to wait and see how it all goes.
About.com: One thing that I noticed about you on The Money List was that there was a definite difference between your GSN Live presence and your presence here. The shows are very different of course, but with the game show – if I had to make a comparison, I'd say you brought shades of a young Regis Philbin to it (without the shtick).
Roggin: Thank you! Thank you for saying that! You know, you just made my day. If I were going to be compared to anyone, well, he just embodies the spirit of a successful host, doesn't he? And you said young!
Really though, to do this well, you have to love people, which I do. And you have to be a kid inside. I'm a huge kid inside! I found that I really got caught up in the moment on this show, and I hope that comes through. There's a lot of excitement and suspense. I loved it.
About.com: The Money List is part of GSN's new Big Saturday Night, along with another new show, live entertainment, and in-house games that viewers can play along with and win stuff. Once Big Saturday Night winds down, do you think The Money List will stand alone as a scheduled program on GSN?
Roggin: Big Saturday Night – GSN has made this their number one priority, to schedule planned programming for Saturday nights, because no one else does this.
About.com: Right, and it's almost like a throwback to the old variety shows and stuff from "back in the day." Which could be really great.
Roggin: Right. GSN has invested a lot of time and money into this, and you know, even if it falls flat, it's a very good try. And I say this as they're rehearsing for this week's show right down the hall. So much work is going into this. I'm happy that The Money List is going to be a part of that, but I also hope it's a success as a standalone show.
Can I tell you something else?
About.com: Of course!
Roggin: As a bit of an experiment, I brought the episodes of The Money List home. I said to my wife and my kids, "Can you do me a favor? Can you just watch the first five minutes of this with me? This is Daddy's dream, and I'd really like you to see it." So I popped the first episode in, and after five minutes I turned it off and thanked them for humoring me. And you know what? They asked me to put it back on, and they watched all nine episodes!
