Hugh Downs didn't stay a game show host long, but he was very good on "Concentration." My personal favorites are Cullen and Rayburn, so my only disappointment is that neither was rated No. 1.
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Best Game Show Host
- Thread starter tlyle
- Start date
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FredLeonard
Guest
Not long? Hugh Downs hosted "Concentration" for 11 years. During most of that time he was also announcer/sidekick on "The Tonight Show" or host of "The Today Show."
I liked Groucho, but you could see he was past his prime when he hosted You Bet Your Life. I wouldn't eliminate him from the Top 15, because he was funny, but he wasn't as funny as he might have been. I agree with his placement in the TV Guide list.
So is this what great magazines have become? Sources for lists?
So is this what great magazines have become? Sources for lists?
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FredLeonard
Guest
Originally, websites tried to imitate magazines. Now magazines are imitating websites.
Groucho past his prime was still better than most people's prime. Unfortunately, the contestants were pre-interviewed and Groucho was fed questions (using the kind of overhead display screen found in bowling alleys - you can often see him look up as he is about to ask a question). Groucho could ad lib but often his ad libs were considered too racy for 50s television and had to be edited out. (It would be great if the unedited shows had been saved allowing them to be reedited for cable today.)
Johnny Carson did well with same format. But hosts as talented as Buddy Hackett, Richard Dawson and Bill Cosby couldn't even come close when they tried to duplicate it.
Cullen and Rayburn were my two favorites, and I think Ludden should have been in Time's list. I was never a big TPIR or Barker fan, but I do respect him being in the list for the show's longevity.
But it's odd to me that Tom Kennedy isn't in either list. He never had a major long lasting hit game show with the possible exception of his hosting Password Plus after Allen Ludden had to leave because of his health, but he hosted so many shows that he was almost always on somewhere in the 70's and 80's. Cullen was the same way. His only big hits were the original TPIR and possibly the nighttime Pyramid, and as a panelist on I've Got a Secret and the late 60's/70's version of To Tell the Truth, but he was almost always on somewhere.
Dick Clark's only big hit as a game show host was Pyramid, but the show was on for most of the 70's an 80's with him as the host in most versions. so I think he deserves to be in the list. I'm a major Marx Brothers fan, and while I liked Groucho best in their movies, he was still funny on YBYL.
But it's odd to me that Tom Kennedy isn't in either list. He never had a major long lasting hit game show with the possible exception of his hosting Password Plus after Allen Ludden had to leave because of his health, but he hosted so many shows that he was almost always on somewhere in the 70's and 80's. Cullen was the same way. His only big hits were the original TPIR and possibly the nighttime Pyramid, and as a panelist on I've Got a Secret and the late 60's/70's version of To Tell the Truth, but he was almost always on somewhere.
Dick Clark's only big hit as a game show host was Pyramid, but the show was on for most of the 70's an 80's with him as the host in most versions. so I think he deserves to be in the list. I'm a major Marx Brothers fan, and while I liked Groucho best in their movies, he was still funny on YBYL.
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Yep, that's kind of what I was talking about...I felt he relied too much on those questions, but then again he may have been required to do it.
My view is if you're going to work with a creative artist, allow him to be creative. Otherwise just get a script reader. They read better.
Duplicate post. Sorry.
You're right on Wink as well, and I don't know why missed his not being in the lists. And he's from Jackson, TN, so I should have noticed that. Sorry Wink!
Never saw any of the original Price is Right with Bill Cullen till the YouTube era, but he was really in his prime with that. I always liked him as a kid seeing on other game shows. Bill Cullen would be on top of any list I'd make.
I can't think of many that shouldn't be in that list.
Wink Martindale, Tom Kennedy, Jack Narz, Hugh Downs, Art Fleming, Pat Sajak, Chuck Woolery all would make that list...OK so it's a top 20+ now.
Alex Trebek...I've grown accustomed to him but he seemed a bit full of himself. Same with Bob Barker.
I can't think of many that shouldn't be in that list.
Wink Martindale, Tom Kennedy, Jack Narz, Hugh Downs, Art Fleming, Pat Sajak, Chuck Woolery all would make that list...OK so it's a top 20+ now.
Alex Trebek...I've grown accustomed to him but he seemed a bit full of himself. Same with Bob Barker.
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FredLeonard
Guest
You know, it probably doesn't qualify him to get on these lists but Ralph Edwards deserves credit for hiring Bob Barker to host "Truth or Consequences." Not everybody would be willing to hire his replacement who is better at the job than himself - and publicly to acknowledge that.
For the record, Lawrence Welk also acknowledged that Myron Floren was the better accordionist.
For the record, Lawrence Welk also acknowledged that Myron Floren was the better accordionist.
Anne Robinson hardly "broke the glass ceiling" for female game show hosts. Arlene Francis, though better known as a panelist on other shows, hosted "Blind Date" for three years beginning in 1949, TV's real pioneer days. It's true that there have been few women hosting game shows, probably because hosts tend to come from the ranks of announcers and disc jockeys, where women are equally rare. Others who hosted shows long before Ms. Robinson would include Betty White, Vicki Lawrence, Elaine Joyce, and Sarah Purcell. There are more if you include game-show mutations like "American Gladiators." (Lisa Malosky of AG, the daughter of a college hockey coach, started out as a weekend and fill-in sportscaster on KDLH-TV in Duluth,MN.)
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FredLeonard
Guest
Also Stephanie Miller - I've Got A Secret.
Groucho's son, Arthur Marx, wrote about "You Bet Your Life," in his book, "Life with Groucho." He said some contestants were picked from the audience and the audience would choose which contestant would wind up on the show. Arthur stated that his father was disappinoted sometimes when the prettier of two female contestants wasn't chosen.
And remember, before "Who Do You Trust?" was this version in prime time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl5PavA4nOw
Mike
And remember, before "Who Do You Trust?" was this version in prime time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl5PavA4nOw
Mike
Zoglin didn't pick John Daly or Bud Collyer because he felt Daly was too stuffy and Collyer not much fun. But Collyer did show his versatility by successfully hosting both the frenetic "Beat The Clock" and the more subdued "To Tell The Truth."
Tom Kennedy did have two long-running hits before "Password Plus": "You Don't Say!" (NBC, 1963-69; ABC, briefly in 1975), and I suppose its similarity to "Password" made him a natural to replace Allen Ludden on "Password Plus"; also, Kennedy hosted the '70s version of "Name That Tune" in syndication from 1974-81, as well as a short-lived daytime version in 1977.
Wink Martindale had a long run as host of "Gambit" (CBS, 1972-76; as "Las Vegas Gambit" on NBC, 1980-81) and "Tic Tac Dough" (1978-85) and was one of the hottest hosts of the '70s and '80s.
How could they leave out Chuck Woolery, first host of "Wheel Of Fortune" (1975-81), and later, "Scrabble" (1984-89 and again in 1993) and "Love Connection" (1983-95)?
As for Groucho, I can actually see him losing interest in "You Bet Your Life" from the last two years of "Best Of Groucho" reruns; his retorts just aren't as sharp as they were in earlier years. The reason for the writers' giving him prepared jokes and interview questions goes back to the beginning of the show on radio in 1947: the early shows were live, and Groucho seemed hesitant at times as to what to ask or whether he should say what he was thinking, since he might get run off the air. A combination of audiotape and (on television) film solved that problem; Groucho was more relaxed, knowing that anything risque or just simply unfunny need never be aired. But he liked to say in private that he was known for his lightning wit, and it didn't look good for him to sit up there for 20 or 30 seconds trying to think of something to say--or to say what he was thinking--and those were the times he was most likely to depend on prepared material. Some of the people who worked on the show said he was rarely off-color, however; Groucho did come out of vaudeville, where even mild profanity was forbidden, and that's something that stayed with him at least when he was on-stage. But whether or not "You Bet Your Life" was ad-libbed or even partially scripted, no one could deliver the lines as well as he did. And as for the quiz, it was completely honest (although there were some accusations that William Peter Blatty was given particularly easy questions, given that he once worked as a page at NBC, "YBYL"'s network).
Roy Kammerman, head writer on "Who Do You Trust?", often said that Johnny Carson did everything off the cue cards (that would make sense, given that the show was a live half-hour with three pairs of contestants to be interviewed and quizzed, an end game, whatever interaction Carson had with Ed McMahon, and the all-important commercials), but Kammerman said there were times when Johnny could come up with something even better than Kammerman had written for him.
I'd also vote for the first successful game show host on television, Dennis James, who started with a show on DuMont called "Cash And Carry" in 1946 (still the prehistoric era, which I would argue ended in 1948) and hosted shows at least through the syndicated "Price Is Right" in the '70s. I personally eliminated Bert Parks, although he hosted two of radio and early television's hottest games, "Break The Bank" and "Stop The Music," simply because of his unparalleled ability to grate on viewers and because he was more closely associated with the Miss America pageant.
Tom Kennedy did have two long-running hits before "Password Plus": "You Don't Say!" (NBC, 1963-69; ABC, briefly in 1975), and I suppose its similarity to "Password" made him a natural to replace Allen Ludden on "Password Plus"; also, Kennedy hosted the '70s version of "Name That Tune" in syndication from 1974-81, as well as a short-lived daytime version in 1977.
Wink Martindale had a long run as host of "Gambit" (CBS, 1972-76; as "Las Vegas Gambit" on NBC, 1980-81) and "Tic Tac Dough" (1978-85) and was one of the hottest hosts of the '70s and '80s.
How could they leave out Chuck Woolery, first host of "Wheel Of Fortune" (1975-81), and later, "Scrabble" (1984-89 and again in 1993) and "Love Connection" (1983-95)?
As for Groucho, I can actually see him losing interest in "You Bet Your Life" from the last two years of "Best Of Groucho" reruns; his retorts just aren't as sharp as they were in earlier years. The reason for the writers' giving him prepared jokes and interview questions goes back to the beginning of the show on radio in 1947: the early shows were live, and Groucho seemed hesitant at times as to what to ask or whether he should say what he was thinking, since he might get run off the air. A combination of audiotape and (on television) film solved that problem; Groucho was more relaxed, knowing that anything risque or just simply unfunny need never be aired. But he liked to say in private that he was known for his lightning wit, and it didn't look good for him to sit up there for 20 or 30 seconds trying to think of something to say--or to say what he was thinking--and those were the times he was most likely to depend on prepared material. Some of the people who worked on the show said he was rarely off-color, however; Groucho did come out of vaudeville, where even mild profanity was forbidden, and that's something that stayed with him at least when he was on-stage. But whether or not "You Bet Your Life" was ad-libbed or even partially scripted, no one could deliver the lines as well as he did. And as for the quiz, it was completely honest (although there were some accusations that William Peter Blatty was given particularly easy questions, given that he once worked as a page at NBC, "YBYL"'s network).
Roy Kammerman, head writer on "Who Do You Trust?", often said that Johnny Carson did everything off the cue cards (that would make sense, given that the show was a live half-hour with three pairs of contestants to be interviewed and quizzed, an end game, whatever interaction Carson had with Ed McMahon, and the all-important commercials), but Kammerman said there were times when Johnny could come up with something even better than Kammerman had written for him.
I'd also vote for the first successful game show host on television, Dennis James, who started with a show on DuMont called "Cash And Carry" in 1946 (still the prehistoric era, which I would argue ended in 1948) and hosted shows at least through the syndicated "Price Is Right" in the '70s. I personally eliminated Bert Parks, although he hosted two of radio and early television's hottest games, "Break The Bank" and "Stop The Music," simply because of his unparalleled ability to grate on viewers and because he was more closely associated with the Miss America pageant.
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FredLeonard
Guest
"You Bet Your Life" was never aired live - on radio or television. It was always (audio) taped, later filmed, before a studio audience and then edited down to a half hour. Some out-takes were considered too risque for broadcast at the time (even vaudeville allowed more leeway) but others were just not funny. In interviews, lines of questioning often don't go anywhere.
While the Marx Brothers did play tank town vaudeville, at the height of their careers, they played on Broadway in the 20s to a very sophisticated, urbane audience and some of their ad-libs (they frequently went off script) were suggestive - especially by the standards of 50s television.
While the Marx Brothers did play tank town vaudeville, at the height of their careers, they played on Broadway in the 20s to a very sophisticated, urbane audience and some of their ad-libs (they frequently went off script) were suggestive - especially by the standards of 50s television.
I agree with Fred - any list that has neither John Daly nor Art Flemming, not to mention Hugh Downs, is automatically without credibility. Not a slam on those mentioned, but, really, what good is it?
I stand corrected on Tom Kennedy. I forgot about You Don't Say, since I didn't see it as a kid very often.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Let's face it, anybody who hosts a national game show - especially a network game show - successful enough to stay on for (let's say) five years or more, and who gets hired to do it again has to be pretty ~!@# good at his job.
However, a few were exceptional. It seems like the list of "best game show hosts" is get over-populated. All were good, one way or another. Not all were among the best.
The real tragedy is nobody lately qualifies as even "good." Whatever it took to make a good game show host, they aren't making them any more. Here again we see the result of broadcasting killing its own farm system.
However, a few were exceptional. It seems like the list of "best game show hosts" is get over-populated. All were good, one way or another. Not all were among the best.
The real tragedy is nobody lately qualifies as even "good." Whatever it took to make a good game show host, they aren't making them any more. Here again we see the result of broadcasting killing its own farm system.
Not to overlook that Tom Kennedy's real name was Jim Narz; and his older brother (since deceased) Jack Narz was no slouch as an old-school quiz show host himself. (To complicate matters further, Jack Narz's and Bill Cullen's wives were sisters, making the three of them brothers-in-law!)
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