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Best Game Show Host

While what you're saying is true (and Betty White even won an Emmy for her work on "Just Men!"), there have been more women hosting game shows in the last decade or so. Fred mentioned Stephanie Miller; there's also Brooke Burns ("The Chase") and Sherri Shepard (GSN's version of "The Newlywed Game") who immediately come to mind. The hosts you mention were scattered chronologically:

Arlene Francis (Blind Date, radio beginning in 1943, television 1949-52)
Betty White (Just Men!, 1983)
Vicki Lawrence (Win, Lose Or Draw, 1987-90, NBC version only, Bert Convy and then Robb Weller hosted the nighttime syndicated version)
Elaine Joyce (The Dating Game, 1986, and then for only a year, before Jeff MacGregor replaced her)
Sarah Purcell (The Better Sex, 1977, and she co-hosted that with Bill Anderson)

A note about Bill Cullen: he emceed two other games which had respectable runs: "Eye Guess" (1966-69) and "Three On A Match" (1971-74), the only show that was able to compete successfully with "As The World Turns" and "Let's Make A Deal" at 1:30 PM (ET) before NBC expanded "Days Of Our Lives" to an hour in 1975.
 
bpatrick said:
While what you're saying is true (and Betty White even won an Emmy for her work on "Just Men!"), there have been more women hosting game shows in the last decade or so. Fred mentioned Stephanie Miller; there's also Brooke Burns ("The Chase") and Sherri Shepard (GSN's version of "The Newlywed Game") who immediately come to mind.
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I mentioned Betty White and the others because they definitely preceded Anne Robinson; some of the others may not have. It's strictly a matter of chronological order.
 
"Eye Guess" and "You Don't Say!" are shows I vaguely remember. Very vaguely. But they're the first times I heard of Cullen and Kennedy respectively.

Woolery's discussions with the couples on "LC", well, it was a relief when Chuck said, "Let's see how the audience voted". "Blind Date" with Roger Lodge was much more lively, for obvious reasons. So was "A Dating Story" on TLC, although it wouldn't qualify as a "game" show, idt.

Who else remembers the "Flintstones" ep in which Barney wins a pleasure boat (with a bid of 2 cents - literally) on "The Prize is Priced" with Smiling Will Cullson?

ixnay
(who's vacationed quite a few times in Dewey Beach, DE, which has a Cullen Street)
 
True; my point is that producers have seemed more willing to hire female hosts since Anne Robinson; I left out Meredith Vieira on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," who's about 200% better than Cedric the Entertainer.

I want to clear up a couple of points about "You Bet Your Life": my statement that the early shows (1947) were live comes from John Dunning's "Encyclopedia Of Old-Time Radio," and even he is quick to point out that Groucho and John Guedel quickly found out it was better to record the show and edit it to its best moments. Also, my statements regarding Groucho and off-color remarks come from two sources, interviews with former staff members in Groucho's memoir "The Secret Word Is Groucho," and from Steve Allen's chapter on Groucho in "Funny People." That's not to say he never made a suggestive remark to a contestant; in fact, Bob Foreman, who worked for Chrysler-Plymouth's ad agency when DeSoto was Groucho's sponsor, said in a 1972 TV Guide article that a whole reel of outtakes from the show (mostly off-color remarks by 1950s standards) was once shown at a party for Chrysler-Plymouth executives and was a big hit (of course). But it doesn't appear to have been Groucho's true nature, at least not on the air, although he was known to make leering remarks about certain parts of the female anatomy off-camera, even in public places.

And no, the Charlotte Story incident is not true; you know the one where he's supposed to have asked a woman contestant why she had so many children. "Because I love my husband," she supposedly replied, and Groucho shot back, "I love my cigar but I take it out of my mouth once in a while." No one connected with the show could ever remember that exchange.
 
I remember that "Flintstones" episode; the boat was "tailored for the sailor by Shaler" and was powered by two horsepower: two live sea horses.

Wasn't Hal Smith the voice of Smiling Will Cullson?
 
bpatrick said:
And no, the Charlotte Story incident is not true; you know the one where he's supposed to have asked a woman contestant why she had so many children. "Because I love my husband," she supposedly replied, and Groucho shot back, "I love my cigar but I take it out of my mouth once in a while." No one connected with the show could ever remember that exchange.
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“The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.”
- Carl Sagan
 
Then why didn't anyone connected with the show remember it? And even Groucho contradicted himself; for years even he claimed it didn't happen, yet in "The Secret Word Is Groucho," written when he was 85 and with his memory failing, he said it did. One thing is certain: if it did happen, it happened on radio, and those people who say they saw it on television are mistaken. Charlotte Story was a contestant around 1948, two years before "YBYL" moved to television.
 
"Urban legend" bloopers like this are always hard to disprove (Uncle Don, "Hoobert Heaver," Johnny Carson and Zsa Zsa, "Sonny Tufts??") The water has only been muddied by Kermit Schafer's party records which mix definitely authentic recordings like Lowell Thomas's breakups and Bing Crosby's fluffed lyrics with obvious fakes that sound like they were performed by fourth-rate Borscht Belt comics.

For what it's worth, here's a link to Snopes, who have a pretty good track record on this sort of thing:

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/grouchocigar.asp
 
After reading the Snopes article, I stand convinced that Groucho never made the remark to Mrs. Story; as I've pointed out, those people who worked on "YBYL," such as George Fenneman, Bob Dwan, and Bernie Smith, would, if they were still with us, no doubt deny that that was Groucho's on-air style, although he was known to make a few suggestive remarks to women in other venues. That's all I have to say on the subject.
 
Not sure, they both deserve to be on this list. Jim Lange did the Dating Game, $100,000 Name That Tune from the mid-80s and $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, which was historic because they had 8 or 9 million-dollar winners, and other than "The Big Spin", (CA only), no one had won $1,000,000 or more in a national game show yet. Chuck Woolery did Love Connection and Lingo, the former was on for MANY years in syndication. And speaking of the Big Spin, there's a clip on YouTube when Chuck hosted around 1985. There was not one, two, three, but 4 $2 million winners! $8 million in 30 minutes - and this was 29 years ago!

I think my favorites would have to be Bob Barker, followed by Pat Sajak, Gene Rayburn, Richard Dawson, Regis Philbin, (GUILTY PLEASURE) Steve Harvey - YES I KNOW Family Feud has gotten raunchy in the past few years but he is HILARIOUS! and Alex Trebek. Ray Combs would be on this list but I almost never watch those Feud reruns.
 
crainbebo said:
Chuck Woolery did ... Lingo,
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Next time you come east through Ellendale, DE on DE 16, look for the billboard for Jack Lingo Realty. He's a major real estate agent at the Delaware beaches. And no, I've never worked for a real estate agent. :)

ixnay
 
i know this is a old thread here are my favorites based on the stations in my market
7: Jim Lange Bob Barker Ray Combs Richard Dawson and Tom Kennedy
4: Jim Perry Chuck Woolery Bob Hilton Dennis James Peter Marshall and Bill Cullen
13: Pat Sajak Alex Trebek Monty Hall Jimmy Cefalo Ed McMahon and Mike Adamle
 
My vote goes to Chuck Woolery - especially on Scrabble. I know it wasn't a huge hit, but he was clever, and extremely funny in an acerbic way on that show. Before that I had found him kind of smarmy, but really learned to like the guy.
 
A significant number of game show hosts were Los Angeles disc-jockeys in the 50s and 60s, so I kind of judge them by that. One of the funniest of all time on the radio, was (and is) Gary Owens, who I believe hosted a couple of game shows, including the original night-time Gong Show for a short while. Baby boomers remember Gary from Laugh-In of course. Others included Wink Martindale (better host than DJ), andGeoff Edwards - funny on the radio, but not a great host, IMO. Bob Eubanks was a Top 40 DJ before the Newlywed Game, but in this case - better as a game show host. Charlie O'Donnell - primarily an announcer (Wheel of Fortune) and news anchor, was also a Top 40 LA DJ.

Jim Lange was also an LA DJ, though he finished out his career in San Francisco before he retired, then passed away a couple of years ago. He also did local Bay Area morning talk shows in the 70s and 80s with his wife - Nancy Fleming (former Miss America).

One of the oddest game show hosts in the mid 60s was Joe Pyne, who hosted Showdown following Art Fleming's Jeopardy on NBC for awhile - he was an LA talk-radio host who also had a syndicated TV talk show. He was an unpleasant and stiff guy - as a talk host he was vicious - likely the role model for Morton Downey Jr and Wally George. As a game show host, he was...strange.
 
LKellerIII said:
My vote goes to Chuck Woolery - especially on Scrabble. I know it wasn't a huge hit, but he was clever, and extremely funny in an acerbic way on that show. Before that I had found him kind of smarmy, but really learned to like the guy.
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always liked chuck on scrabble and on greed
 
Bob Barker, hands down!! I think he should have stayed with TPIR longer...til 2022 for it's 50th anniversary! (If he lives that long). Much better than Drew.

Dick Clark on the Pyramid shows. He would yell NEXT, when the pyramid box would not move fast enough.

Richard Dawson on the Family Fued...Kissing the girls and yelling "Survey Says" and BAM for the winning #1 answer on fast money.

Pat Sajak on Wheel of Fortune.

You can obviously watch them on You Tube
 
LKellerIII said:
Geoff Edwards - funny on the radio, but not a great host, IMO.
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Agreed, with one BIG exception: Treasure Hunt. There, he was diabolical - the perfect host for what that game entailed. He was all but sadistic in the way he took those contestants on mental roller coasters!

--Russell
 
Hugh Downs did a dandy job for years hosting CONCENTRATION before handing off the baton to Bob Clayton, also very good; and Ed McMahon hosted at least a couple games over the years; I think one was SNAP JUDGMENT. The late Ray Combs was good on the morning FAMILY FEUD for several years as well. These guys were maybe not as prolific as a Bill Cullen (the all time champ) or Gene Rayburn, but they were real pros, and I'm a little surprised none of them have been mentioned yet.
 
i thought bob hilton was ok on lets make a deal but he was no monty i had him and patrick wayne back to back in 1990
 
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