Greatest Hosts of All Time - Results Thread

[Eric Paddon]

I'd sure like to know what "holier-than-thou" means in that context.  

If anyone came off as having a higher opinion of themselves on TTTT in the Collyer era IMO, it was Kitty Carlisle who always struck me as being overly snobbish and elitist in her demeanor.     Only in the 70s did she come off as less haughty and more friendly.

[Matt Ottinger]

[color=\"#CC33CC\"]25 Tom Bergeron[/color]
Hollywood Squares, Dancing With the Stars, Granite State Challenge
(177 23/68)

[color=\"#CC33CC\"]24 Jack Barry[/color]
Twenty-One, The Joker's Wild, Winky Dink and You
(184 23/68)

[color=\"#CC33CC\"]23 Marc Summers[/color]
Double Dare, History IQ, WinTuition
(187 23/68)

[color=\"#CC33CC\"]22 Bert Convy[/color]
Tattletales, Super Password
(213 31/68)

[color=\"#CC33CC\"]21 Art Fleming[/color]
Jeopardy!
(226 29/68)

[chad1m]

Bert Convy higher than Jack Barry? Very interesting, indeed.

[Neumms]

On the Collyer thing, I wish I'd been clearer that I don't mind the blessing of the contestants (I believe there's a Lutheran church on Fairfax that still does that the first Sunday of each month) but his self-absorption and pomposity in general I don't like.

Some might find it unsavory that on TTTT he offered blessings while doling out cartons of Salems, but I'll let it go. I also find it warm and gracious that Red Skelton offered a "God bless" when he signed off. And frankly, if Sajak or Barker wanted to do it, I don't think anyone would stop him.

But boy does it cheese me off that that blood-sucking Presbyterian Marc Summers finished 23rd.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'chad1m\' post=\'134604\' date=\'Oct 15 2006, 09:50 PM\']
Bert Convy higher than Jack Barry? Very interesting, indeed.
[/quote]

While Jack Barry was certainly a famous emcee, he's not considered a particularly talented one. There's his terribly forced suspense building, for one thing.

And, for heavens' sakes, the night on "Twenty-One" when the guy who was supposed to take a dive didn't, Barry screwed up, helping prove the game was rigged. Not even Jim Caldwell screwed up in such a way that killed the whole quiz show genre.

[chris319]

on "Twenty-One" when the guy who was supposed to take a dive didn't, Barry screwed up, helping prove the game was rigged.

I am not familiar with this incident. Would you care to elaborate?

I would have placed Bert Convy ahead of Jack Barry.

[Blanquepage]

I am not familiar with this incident. Would you care to elaborate?

Contestant James Snodgrass, who mailed the answers to himself, was instructed to give the answer Ralph Waldo Emerson to a question with the correct answer of Emily Dickinson.

Jack, expecting to hear "Ralph Waldo Emerson," immediately called the answer incorrect after Snodgrass responded, but reversed himself after realizing a few seconds later that Snodgrass said "Emily Dickinson."

--Jamie

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'134621\' date=\'Oct 15 2006, 10:00 PM\']

on "Twenty-One" when the guy who was supposed to take a dive didn't, Barry screwed up, helping prove the game was rigged.

I am not familiar with this incident. Would you care to elaborate?

I would have placed Bert Convy ahead of Jack Barry.[/quote]I would have put one of my father's dogs ahead of Bert Convy, but that's just me after watching a 'highlight reel' of Bert's goofs on Super Password. Yeah, he was good on low-stakes games where there was more goofing around than serious games, but there was no excuse for the sheer volume of mistakes that he would make time and again on Super Password.

[Adam Nedeff]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Fiono Coyne\' post=\'134625\' date=\'Oct 16 2006, 01:15 AM\']

I am not familiar with this incident. Would you care to elaborate?

Contestant James Snodgrass, who mailed the answers to himself, was instructed to give the answer Ralph Waldo Emerson to a question with the correct answer of Emily Dickinson.

Jack, expecting to hear "Ralph Waldo Emerson," immediately called the answer incorrect after Snodgrass responded, but reversed himself after realizing a few seconds later that Snodgrass said "Emily Dickinson."

--Jamie
[/quote]

Just wondering if you have a source for this. My understanding was that Quiz Show completely made that up.

[chris319]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' post=\'134629\' date=\'Oct 16 2006, 12:10 AM\']
[quote name=\'Jimmy Fiono Coyne\' post=\'134625\' date=\'Oct 16 2006, 01:15 AM\']

I am not familiar with this incident. Would you care to elaborate?

Contestant James Snodgrass, who mailed the answers to himself, was instructed to give the answer Ralph Waldo Emerson to a question with the correct answer of Emily Dickinson.

Jack, expecting to hear "Ralph Waldo Emerson," immediately called the answer incorrect after Snodgrass responded, but reversed himself after realizing a few seconds later that Snodgrass said "Emily Dickinson."

--Jamie
[/quote]

Just wondering if you have a source for this. My understanding was that Quiz Show completely made that up.
[/quote]
It doesn't jibe with the fact that Enright was the mastermind of the rigging and Barry merely continued to play the role of emcee. If that were the case, Barry wouldn't have known what Snodgrass had been instructed to say and would likely have called "Emily Dickinson" correct.

[chris319]

I would have put one of my father's dogs ahead of Bert Convy, but that's just me after watching a 'highlight reel' of Bert's goofs on Super Password.

Clearly I haven't watched enough episodes of Super Password. Perhaps his goofs were early symptoms of his illness?

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Fiono Coyne\' post=\'134625\' date=\'Oct 15 2006, 10:15 PM\']
Contestant James Snodgrass, who mailed the answers to himself, was instructed to give the answer Ralph Waldo Emerson to a question with the correct answer of Emily Dickinson.

Jack, expecting to hear "Ralph Waldo Emerson," immediately called the answer incorrect after Snodgrass responded, but reversed himself after realizing a few seconds later that Snodgrass said "Emily Dickinson."
[/quote]
Just one of many flights of fancy invented for the movie "Quiz Show". The movie was NOT a documentary.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'134627\' date=\'Oct 16 2006, 12:18 AM\']
I would have put one of my father's dogs ahead of Bert Convy, but that's just me after watching a 'highlight reel' of Bert's goofs on Super Password. [/quote]

Unless the audience saw that reel every single day they tuned into Super Password--and the GSN reruns prove otherwise, from what I've seen--a blooper reel is probably not the fairest way to judge a host overall.

I don't think Bert made my list at all, I'm just sayin'...

[Ian Wallis]

Bert Convy higher than Jack Barry? Very interesting, indeed.

Neither made my list.  Not that I didn't like them, it's just that I found 20 others I thought were better.  While I liked Jack's shows, he didn't seem to be that good at ad-libbing.  One incident that comes to mind is when he was promoting the new CBS shows in March 1973 - Hollywood's Talking and $10,000 Pyramid - his explanations of the new shows just looked awkward.

I did have Tom Bergeron and Art Fleming in the lower part of my Top 20.  Marc Summers I didn't think of at all - and I think its because his best-known show is a kids' show, and I was never really into those.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' post=\'134629\' date=\'Oct 16 2006, 12:10 AM\']
[quote name=\'Jimmy Fiono Coyne\' post=\'134625\' date=\'Oct 16 2006, 01:15 AM\']
Jack, expecting to hear "Ralph Waldo Emerson," immediately called the answer incorrect after Snodgrass responded, but reversed himself after realizing a few seconds later that Snodgrass said "Emily Dickinson."
[/quote]
Just wondering if you have a source for this. My understanding was that Quiz Show completely made that up.
[/quote]
Yeah, I was gonna say, if he was citing that from Quiz Show and Quiz Show alone, we've already had that discussion some time ago, and repeatedly.