My ballot: 1. Bill Cullen. Did it all, did it well and did it for a long time. (1 in final rankings)
2. Allen Ludden. Excellent combination of intelligence and enthusiasm - he loved
doing both “College Bowl” and “Password” and it showed. (7)
3. Tom Kennedy. Another great generalist, handled the easygoing “You Don’t
Say!” and the speedy “Split Second” with equal success. (3)
4. Gene Rayburn. He did other shows but was perfect for “Match Game.” (4)
5. Bob Barker. Just two shows, but both lasted forever. Might have been higher had
he not stayed so long as to be phoning it in.(2)
6. Garry Moore. The best host of two of the big three panel shows.(18)
7. Alex Trebek. J has overshadowed his past work.(5)
8. Tom Bergeron. Love to see this guy do more shows; he was perfect for “Squares”
and AFV. Which in its own way is a game show. (25)
9. Jack Barry. Can’t stand the guy but his longevity and comeback ability is
astounding.(24)
10. Art Linkletter. Bob Barker’s predecessor in so many ways. (49)
11. Richard Dawson. Hey, if we didn’t include hosts with egos this would be
a short list. Made the most of his big chance. (17)
12. Bud Collyer - not a personal favorite but two huge successes which he ran well.(26)
13. Dick Clark - for “The Object Is” of course...not that Pyramid show. (6)
14. Peter Marshall - for all those years on Squares; he never had another show that
good. (12)
15. Monty Hall - He did do something other than LMAD, didn’t he? (9)
16. Bill Leyden - my token forgotten choice, did a lot of 60s shows and even filled
in for Monty Hall on LMAD a couple of times. One of the first GS hosts I remember.(a one vote wonder)
17. Groucho Marx - consider this; the show didn’t work without him. (30)
18. Art Fleming. If John Daly had ever had to leave WML? he would have been a wonderful
stand in. (21)
19. Chuck Woolery - helped usher in the new era with his aw-shucks style.(10)
20. John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly. Sure, a one-show wonder...but for 17 years. (19)
NOT LISTED in TOP 30
Jim Perry (
- This goes to "voting for hosts in shows we didn't like." Perry did a good job on two shows - "Sale" and "Sharks" that I never really liked.
Wink Martindale (11) - Too much of a cliche for me...I think his best work is the Orbitz ads.
Geoff Edwards (13) - I know he's a favorite here and from what I hear a nice guy, but his style isn't one that appeals to me.
Bob Eubanks (14) Never saw him in anything good - I never saw him host "Dream House" on a regular basis, and I hated CS and TNG.
Peter Tomarken (15) - Other than PYL, nothing that appealed to me - and there were a lot of hosts who could have succeeded there.
Pat Sajak (16) - Somewhere in the 20-25 range, strictly on longevity.
Jack Narz (20) - Another veteran who never really had the big show that would have moved him up.
Bert Convy (22) - OK on Tattletales, not on SP.
Marc Summers (23)-probably ignorance of Nick shows on my part.
Regis Phiubububinnn (27)-It would be interesting to see what a "real" host would have done with Millionaire. I do respect Regis for managing not to strangle Kathie Lee during all those years.
Art James (28) - Rather like Narz, although I did like the three Ws
Ray Combs (29) - Deserves credit for taking over a show that was so host dominated and doing a good job.
