Greatest Hosts of All Time - Results Thread

[chris319]

[quote name=\'Monarx\' post=\'135897\' date=\'Oct 28 2006, 12:59 AM\']
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'135892\' date=\'Oct 28 2006, 02:14 AM\']

I am not adverse to him being at #3 overall.

averse[/b]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/averse
[/quote]

Adverse seems to work just as well, unless I'm missing something.
[/quote]

The adjectives adverse and averse are related both etymologically and semantically, each having “opposition” as a central sense. Adverse is seldom used of people but rather of effects or events, and it usually conveys a sense of hostility or harmfulness: adverse reviews; adverse winds; adverse trends in the economy. Related nouns are adversity and adversary: Adversities breed bitterness. His adversaries countered his every move. Averse is used of persons and means “feeling opposed or disinclined”; it often occurs idiomatically with a preceding negative to convey the opposite meaning “willing or agreeable,” and is not interchangeable with adverse in these contexts: We are not averse to holding another meeting. The related noun is aversion: She has a strong aversion to violence. Averse is usually followed by to, in older use occasionally by from.

[SRIV94]

Oh, come now, Chris C.  Next you'll be telling me there ain't no such word as "ain't."  

Doug -- and the countdown to 2400 continues

[johnnya2k3]

Well, I can settle with Bob Barker being #2. Aren't we forgetting he did "Truth or Consequences" prior to TPIR?

I guess we now know who the top spot belongs to.

Jonathan Allen

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' post=\'135933\' date=\'Oct 28 2006, 11:29 AM\']
Well, I can settle with Bob Barker being #2. Aren't we forgetting he did "Truth or Consequences" prior to TPIR?
[/quote]
No, the voters just didn't think he deserved to be #1. Period.

Why is this such a difficult thing for you to come to terms with?

(Frankly, I'm most amused that five voters didn't include His Royal Bobness AT ALL. I wouldn't have done that myself, but it's amusing.)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'135910\' date=\'Oct 28 2006, 08:05 AM\']
but I expect some mea culpas to start flying over whether it was ridiculous for me to predict he'd be in the top two.
[/quote]
Expect to be waiting a while, then. 'Cuz I just don't see it.

/Bo Snerdly, who's our next caller? Where's my Oxycontin?
//this place creates drama just fine without some people making it up out of whole cloth, thanks

[Monarx]

Thanks, Chris! :-)

[The Ol' Guy]

Add to Barker's resume the early local radio shows, one that Ralph Edwards caught and started him in tv, plus the pageants, bake-offs and things he hosted other than game shows, you can see why some put him so high on the list as a legendary host. But a lot of people kept it television game shows only, and #2 is very appropriate in a historical sense - considering the #1 choice has brought more personality, goodwill, wit and warmth to the table than Bob has ever manage to scrape up. And most have agreed.

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'135923\' date=\'Oct 28 2006, 11:52 AM\']
Anyway, hardly an uproar, and not a personal attack among them.  No one called you or your prediction "ridiculous" and most were simply giving their opinions about why they thought Barker didn't deserve to be ranked so high.  Those opinions are every bit as valid today as they were last month, they just don't happen to match the poll results.[/quote]

OK first of all, mea culpa on the mea culpas.

Secondly I never meant to imply or say anyone responded especially nastily or personally attacked me, they certainly never did.  In fact their responses--and this whole process--has been rather fun and I took none of this personally, I was talking smack (and apologies for going over the line if I did).  

These people did disagree, yes, and some aired some strong opinions concerning a "sinking ship" and using words like "insufferable."  (That's what I meant by "vehement noise," but evidently I used the term "caught hell" rather loosely.)  And it was my indicating Bob Barker at #2 that seemed to set some of them off.  In fact here's what JasonA1 said:

For me anyway, it was your saying Barker had a lock on number two that got me to respond. If you had said top 10, you'd have no issue with me. But with Tom Kennedy, Dick Clark and hosts (har har) of others out there, saying he had number 2 was a bit of stretch IMO.

Polls may be funny things, but obviously it wasn't that much of a stretch.  I know there are some around here who just don't like Bob Barker (or like him but not that much) and even figure he may have squandered his place in television history (not a bad point, actually) but I think the poll shook out just like it should.

[HairMetalLives]

[quote name=\'johnnya2k3\' post=\'135933\' date=\'Oct 28 2006, 11:29 AM\']I guess we now know who the top spot belongs to.[/quote]
Yes, and I think many congratulations are in order for our #1 host: Michael Carrington!

[DrBear]

Actually, I was surprised Bob Saget got so many votes so quickly.

[Matt Ottinger]

[color=\"#009900\"]1 Bill Cullen[/color] (1240,  66/68, including 43 first-place votes)
Winner Take All, Hot Potato, several in between

Not even close.  Besides the 43 first-place votes, there were ten second-place votes and ten more that had him in the top five.  In other words, only five out of 68 had him lower than fifth place, and that includes the two people who inexplicably left him off their lists completely.  Not bad for a guy who hasn't been with us for sixteen years.

[cweaver]

I recently received an old time radio cassette of Cullen hosting a 1954 Stop the Music.  I was very surprised at how funny he was--not pleasant-host funny but actually laugh-out-loud funny--interacting with the contestants.  (I don't remember if it's the same one Matt has on his site, in a clip.) Bert Parks gets all the attention on that show but Cullen was a considerably better host IMHO.

[Robair]

This will be a lovely series of posts to file away and present to the powers that be at GSN when they decide to do their own Top 20 Hosts marathon and arbitrarily put someone like Graham Elwood first.

You want to know how to become a master communicator, interviewer, panel moderator, announcer, or raconteur? Study the great Bill Cullen.

[chad1m]

And once again, here we go. I compiled the complete list of our top votes so everyone doesn't have to go through every single page to find them again. (Keep in mind two votes were needed to make the list.)

59. Guy Smiley
58. Anne Robinson
57. Joe Garagiola
53. Bob Goen
53. Steve Allen
53. Robert Q. Lewis
53. Betty White
52. Jack Clark
51. Chuck Barris
50. George Gray
49. Art Linkletter
48. Jan Murray
47. Ben Stein
46. Bil Dwyer
45. Bert Parks
44. Kevin O'Connell
42. Mark L. Walberg
42. Larry Blyden
41. Hal March
40. Jeff Probst
39. Howie Mandel
38. Hugh Downs
37. Todd Newton
36. John O' Hurley
35. Bill Rafferty
34. Meredith Vieira
33. Dennis James
32. Jim Peck
31. Jim Lange
30. Groucho Marx
29. Ray Combs
28. Art James
27. Regis Philbin
26. Bud Collyer
25. Tom Bergeron
24. Jack Barry
23. Marc Summers
22. Bert Convy
21. Art Fleming
20. Jack Narz
19. John Charles Daly
18. Garry Moore
17. Richard Dawson
16. Pat Sajak
15. Peter Tomarken
14. Bob Eubanks
13. Geoff Edwards
12. Peter Marshall
11. Wink Martindale
10. Chuck Woolery
9. Monty Hall
8. Jim Perry
7. Allen Ludden
6. Dick Clark
5. Alex Trebek
4. Gene Rayburn
3. Tom Kennedy
2. Bob Barker
1. Bill Cullen

[Monarx]

Here's my list, board's rank in parentheses.

1) Bill Cullen (1)

Not surprising.

2) Tom Kennedy (3)

I'm glad he got up to #3.

3) Geoff Edwards (13)

Surprised he was this low.

4) Bob Barker (2)
5) Jim Perry (
6) Dick Clark (6)
7) Allen Ludden (7)
Marc Summers (23)
9) Gene Rayburn (4)
10) Monty Hall (9)
11) Jeff Probst (40)
12) Wink Martindale (11)
13) Alex Trebek (5)
14) Peter Tomarken (15)
15) Bert Convy (22)
16) Richard Dawson (17)
17) Chuck Woolery (10)
18) Peter Marshall (12)
19) Art Fleming (21)
20) Chuck Barris (51)