GSN's Top Ten Game Show Hosts/Marathon

[Jay Temple]

7?
They put Bill Cullen at SEVEN ?
About the only complaints I have are that, and I thought Regis was too high on the list.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'142440\' date=\'Jan 7 2007, 11:41 PM\']
7?
They put Bill Cullen at SEVEN ?
[/quote]
Quite frankly, I'm happily surprised he made the list at all.

[Adam Nedeff]

GOOD: Seemed like they got all the right names, for the most part. Woulda been nice to see Tom Kennedy, but I guess then we wouldn't have had room for the Lingo-plugging.

Also, nice to see GSN really put forth some effort on the clips. I guess "fair use" entered into a lot of what we saw, but I was still startled to see Liar's Club, Bill & Bob's TPIRs, Bill's Pyramid, and Chuck hosting WOF in those montages. And did I catch a photo of "Malcolm" in Alex Trebek's montage???

BAD: ONLY #7??? Really, my only complaints about the show fall into the same "order of ranking and who's there" complaints that everybody will have.

PUZZLING: Uh, Howie Mandel is the greatest comedian-turned-game show host of all time? Man...Suck on that, Groucho.

Also, Michael Davies, Laura Chambers, Fred Wostbrock, Wink Martindale, Bill Dwyer, Louie Anderson, Travis Schario...One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong...Who's rolodex did he get on, and how do I get a spot in there?

[Joe Mello]

Travis is gainfully employed with CBS.  Admittedly, that's one hell of a gain.  Of course, there were some other former contestants on there, too.

I'm sure the Internet is about explode about #7, but to be honest it was presented properly.  A bevy of clips from crevices I didn't know GSN had, several handfuls of interviews and interviewees (although a couple came from other docs), and a hard-to-counter top choice.

And the reason 50 Greatest Game Shows wasn't like this is.......

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'142444\' date=\'Jan 7 2007, 09:08 PM\'] and a hard-to-counter top choice.[/quote]I hought Bill Cullen was at number seven?

[The Great EZE]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'142440\' date=\'Jan 7 2007, 10:41 PM\']
7?
They put Bill Cullen at SEVEN ?
About the only complaints I have are that, and I thought Regis was too high on the list.
[/quote]

Not bad, not bad.  Great improvement over the 50 game shows countdown (in that this list did not look like it was just pulled out of a hat).  Only big complaint is the very popular "Number SEVEN!?!?!?!?!"  But hey, it's been well covered that GSN doesn't cater to the game show "historians," so I guess it's only fair.

One thing that struck me as disappointing (unless this was covered in the first 15 minutes) was something I didn't even notice until I caught him doing interview clips halfway through: Where was Wink?  I mean, as a kid, I recognized him as a game show host even before Alex Trebek.  Who doesn't recognize the name Wink?  He's your prototypical game show host.  The only reason I could see him being left out of the list was the fact that for a "classic" game show host, he never really did anything to stand out.  He wasn't particularly wacky, didn't have an incredibly bold personality, and didn't really host anything that stood the test of time.  He was just a professional.  And even if he did make it, where would he be put?  I could only think about switching out Regis for him but even that would be a little dicey.  Sorry, Winker: I guess you're the consummate 11th Man :-(

Oh yeah, and how's this for short memory: Viera "wins" best female game show host about 15 minutes before it was mentioned that Betty FREAKING White was the only woman to win an Emmy for Best Game Show Host and 25 minutes before White became half of the "First Couple of Game Shows."  I guess there's something to be said about playing to the contemporary casual audience but come on!  Betty White was even a hit at the William Shatner roast.  Think, guys!

[Blanquepage]

Also, nice to see GSN really put forth some effort on the clips. I guess "fair use" entered into a lot of what we saw, but I was still startled to see Liar's Club, Bill & Bob's TPIRs, Bill's Pyramid, and Chuck hosting WOF in those montages

I haven't seen the special yet, but I can attest to the fact that the folks at Asylum tapped the shoulders of game show video collectors to obtain stuff for these specials.

--Jamie

[Allstar87]

[quote name=\'The Great EZE\' post=\'142446\' date=\'Jan 8 2007, 12:20 AM\']
One thing that struck me as disappointing (unless this was covered in the first 15 minutes) was something I didn't even notice until I caught him doing interview clips halfway through: Where was Wink?[/quote]

He did get mentioned about ten minutes into it. They gave him a special title; I believe it was "Most Versatile".

[TLEberle]

Would someone please post a list of the 'winners,' for those of us that don't have GSN?

[Allstar87]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'142453\' date=\'Jan 8 2007, 01:04 AM\']
Would someone please post a list of the 'winners,' for those of us that don't have GSN?
[/quote]
Gladly. ^^

10. Bob Eubanks
9. Pat Sajak
8. Chuck Woolery
7. Bill Cullen
6. Regis Philbin
5. Richard Dawson
4. Monty Hall
3. Alex Trebek
2. Gene Rayburn
1. Bob Barker

There were other awards, too. Zaniest Host went to Chuck Barris, and Best Reality Show Host went to Jeff Probst.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Allstar87\' post=\'142456\' date=\'Jan 7 2007, 10:23 PM\']
10. Bob Eubanks
[/quote]
Thoughtful of them to put Eubanks 10th. That way, if I were watching, I could immediately turn the channel to something I was more likely to take seriously.

[The Great EZE]

[quote name=\'Allstar87\' post=\'142452\' date=\'Jan 8 2007, 12:00 AM\']
[quote name=\'The Great EZE\' post=\'142446\' date=\'Jan 8 2007, 12:20 AM\']
One thing that struck me as disappointing (unless this was covered in the first 15 minutes) was something I didn't even notice until I caught him doing interview clips halfway through: Where was Wink?[/quote]

He did get mentioned about ten minutes into it. They gave him a special title; I believe it was "Most Versatile".
[/quote]

Well I obviously didn't catch the explanation for that, but that sounds like the perfect title for Regis.  Give that to him, put Winker in the real list, everybody's happy!

/assuming everybody = me.

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'The Great EZE\' post=\'142446\' date=\'Jan 8 2007, 12:20 AM\']Oh yeah, and how's this for short memory: Viera "wins" best female game show host about 15 minutes before it was mentioned that Betty FREAKING White was the only woman to win an Emmy for Best Game Show Host and 25 minutes before White became half of the "First Couple of Game Shows."  I guess there's something to be said about playing to the contemporary casual audience but come on!  Betty White was even a hit at the William Shatner roast.  Think, guys![/quote]
Maybe they, I dunno, actually went with the best female game show host there? I don't care how good you are--13 weeks with a crappy format does not qualify anyone for a "best ever host" title.

[tyshaun1]

I think Trebek said it best when he said (paraphrasing) that "the more popular the show is, the better a host you are perceived to be", which came to fruition on this list, especially with their descriptions of why Regis (old curmudgeon) and Dawson (he kisses the ladies!) were on there, especially over Bill Cullen.

Tyshaun

[Ian Wallis]

I think Trebek said it best when he said (paraphrasing) that "the more popular the show is, the better a host you are perceived to be", which came to fruition on this list, especially with their descriptions of why Regis (old curmudgeon) and Dawson (he kisses the ladies!) were on there, especially over Bill Cullen.

Understood.  But Regis only had one mega-popular show, and a couple of other lesser shows.  While I liked the job he did on Millionaire, to put him ahead of Bill...that takes any credibility out of this list.