GSN's Top Ten Game Show Hosts/Marathon

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Sonic Whammy\' post=\'142563\' date=\'Jan 9 2007, 04:10 AM\']
Disappointments aside, I'm hoping the choices weren't as easy for them as a couple of them sounded.
[/quote]
I will point out, again, that the chances are about 95% that this list was wholly compiled over an hour's time and a couple of greasy pizzas.

The sooner you understand and accept this, the easier it will be to take these lists with the appropriate salt.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'142576\' date=\'Jan 9 2007, 08:18 AM\']I will point out, again, that the chances are about 95% that this list was wholly compiled over an hour's time and a couple of greasy pizzas.

The sooner you understand and accept this, the easier it will be to take these lists with the appropriate salt.[/quote]If we assume that some people actually had some sort of powwow about this, and didn't just pull bingo balls to determine the "winners" instead...

The thing is, GSN's goal isn't to cater to game show geeks. Their mandate isn't to consider every angle and to evaluate each host's ability, popularity and quantify that to two decimal places. Their goal is to pick names that the casual viewer will recognize. That said, everyone on that list is instantly memorable to someone who is 1) young and 2) not a game show geek--with the sad exception of Bill Cullen, who has not had a hosting role since 1986. Each of the hosts on that list meets those criteria.

A better way to look at this would be to imagine this in the context of a Family Feud question. "We asked 100 shmoes to name a game show host." All ten of those names would make sense on that survey.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'142578\' date=\'Jan 9 2007, 10:45 AM\']
The thing is, GSN's goal isn't to cater to game show geeks. Their mandate isn't to consider every angle and to evaluate each host's ability, popularity and quantify that to two decimal places. Their goal is to pick names that the casual viewer will recognize. That said, everyone on that list is instantly memorable to someone who is 1) young and 2) not a game show geek--with the sad exception of Bill Cullen, who has not had a hosting role since 1986. Each of the hosts on that list meets those criteria.
[/quote]
Point taken, but I'm not sure how Rayburn meets that criteria along with Cullen.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'142579\' date=\'Jan 9 2007, 08:51 AM\']
Point taken, but I'm not sure how Rayburn meets that criteria along with Cullen.[/quote]Gene has had far more GSN exposure than Bill.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'142581\' date=\'Jan 9 2007, 10:54 AM\']
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'142579\' date=\'Jan 9 2007, 08:51 AM\']
Point taken, but I'm not sure how Rayburn meets that criteria along with Cullen.[/quote]Gene has had far more GSN exposure than Bill.
[/quote]
Excellent point.  GSN's influence never even occurred to me.

That's -5 points for me.

[davemackey]

The most telling comment in the special was that of Alex Trebek, when he said words to the effect of, "If you are associated with a long-running show, then you are perceived as being a great host."

That would explain a lot of the choices.

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'142578\' date=\'Jan 9 2007, 12:45 PM\']
Their goal is to pick names that the casual viewer will recognize.
[/quote]

You mean the casual GSN viewer, not just any casual viewer.  Nearly all of their choices were tied to something carried on GSN.  They weren't about to play up someone like Peter Marshall, whose show was dropped years ago and GSN wouldn't bring it back if you held them at gunpoint.  I'm not convinced that makes him less of a host.

I've never bought the "if you don't remember him/it, he/it was no good" mentality and I haven't been converted.  TV Guide and TV Land don't pander to that mentality in their various countdowns, sometimes even VH-1 doesn't either.

[ChuckNet]

There's also a long-lost episode of Cross-Wits from the late '70s that had four game show hosts as panelists. I recall seeing the listings in old TVGuides - I think they were Allen Ludden, Peter Marshall, Art James and Tom Kennedy.

Would love to see that...hell, I'd love to just see another ep of the original C-W on the trading circuit, period!

Incidentally, the Wikipedia page for said series mentions a wk of the 70s version w/Allen Ludden, Betty White, and Bill & Ann Cullen...first 3 I could see, but unless it was a show like Tattletales, a non-celeb wife?? Thought in order to book a celeb's spouse, s/he had to be a celeb him/herself (Stiller/Meara, Duke/Astin, Joyce/Van, etc.)...but then, this same info appears on the "Crosswits Fan Page" run by liar/deadbeat trader Danny Voisine, so I'm highly skeptical. Anyone care to confirm/deny?

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[mmb5]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' post=\'142794\' date=\'Jan 10 2007, 09:14 PM\']
Would love to see that...hell, I'd love to just see another ep of the original C-W on the trading circuit, period!

Incidentally, the Wikipedia page for said series mentions a wk of the 70s version w/Allen Ludden, Betty White, and Bill & Ann Cullen...first 3 I could see, but unless it was a show like Tattletales, a non-celeb wife?? Thought in order to book a celeb's spouse, s/he had to be a celeb him/herself (Stiller/Meara, Duke/Astin, Joyce/Van, etc.)...but then, this same info appears on the "Crosswits Fan Page" run by liar/deadbeat trader Danny Voisine, so I'm highly skeptical. Anyone care to confirm/deny?

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
[/quote]
Based on a very quick check of NewspaperArchive.com, I couldn't find it.  I found these three with Allen Ludden:

1/77 (in Syracuse, NY): Alice Ghostley, Alan Sues, JaNet DuBois, Allen Ludden
4/77 (in Syracuse, NY): Jo Anne Worley, Allen Ludden, Robert Clary, Abby Dalton
3/81 (in Syracuse, NY): Chuck Woolery, Allen Ludden, Dennis James, Geoff Edwards

Matt O. has Bill Cullen on 8 times on Cross-Wits, none with Cullen.

However, if anybody has it, I would like to see the 10/23/76 episode of Dinah! with the following guests:
Vincent Price
Susan Clark
Allen Ludden
Don Cornelius
The Whispers
A Mary McFadden Fashion Show
Jay Leno

Now there's 90 minutes of quality television.


--Mike

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' post=\'142794\' date=\'Jan 10 2007, 09:14 PM\']but then, this same info appears on the "Crosswits Fan Page" run by liar/deadbeat trader Danny Voisine, so I'm highly skeptical. Anyone care to confirm/deny?[/quote]
Since that ridiculous page is identified under External Links (and its text is still sitting out there in cyberspace), I think it's safe to say that was the source of the incorrect information.  

For those new to our party (or those who've forgotten), Danny was a real piece of work.  He pretended to have a bunch of Cross-Wits episodes, even going so far as to create elaborate (and fictional) guest lists and guides, in order to get collectors to send him rare stuff in hopes of trades that, naturally, never materialized.  Couldn't immediately turn up our conversations about him, but they were fun.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'142814\' date=\'Jan 10 2007, 07:55 PM\']Couldn't immediately turn up our conversations about him, but they were fun.[/quote]Colonoscopy fun? Watching another guy getting hit in the nuts on America's Funniest Videos fun? I just can't fathom how watching a guy squirm while his lies are under the microscope is anything close to fun, but I'm a killjoy, I guess. Or I came to ATGS far too late.

[JasonA1]

With all due respect to anybody who tried to trade with him, some of his episode "descriptions" apparently took a moment of haphazard ATGS cross referencing and EOTVGS page flipping to compile. There's a picture in one of the Encycs. of Tom Kennedy and a cake on "Split Second," so he reported he had an episode where the crew presented him with a cake. He'd also do stuff like saying he had the "$10,000 fish bowl episode" of "High Rollers," yet it was listed separately from the finale. John Ricci put up clips from the last Wink "High Rollers" rehearsal in which Dean Goss introduced the show as "Hair Rollers" - and Danny claimed to have the quote "hair rollers ep." on tape.

-Jason

[ChuckNet]

He also had audio clips of intros to certain eps that he tried to use as proof of his legitimacy (The Big Showdown premiere, 2 eps of Celebrity Sweepstakes)...too bad these same audio clips were on TVParty.com, where he more than likely got them. Not to mention some of the 70s CW eps listed had panels that appeared to be cribbed from other celeb games of the era (I recall one listing for an ep where 3 of the celebs were Bob Barker, Jack Narz, and Richard Dawson...who did a week of Tattletales together in 76...coincidence??)

And when those who attempted to trade w/him started complaining, he invented two fictitious traders ("Phil Newport" and "Alice Foster") to "defend" him...funny how none of us had even heard of them before, let alone traded w/them...

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[cweaver]

I come home every night, make something in the microwave, veg out on the couch in front of the TV and just go to bed.  So I've never really pretended to have a life.  But then again, I have two great teenage children who love me, I get with women from time to time, I have a job where I could be staring a three-alarm fire in the face one day and shaking hands with Dale Earnhardt Jr. the next.  Meanwhile, some goofball goes around making up guestlists from a 30 year old game show and inventing friends to back him up.  I'm starting to think I might actually have a life.

Phil Newport?  Is he on the same bowling team as Tom Winston, Tim Marlboro and Don Doral?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'cweaver\' post=\'143252\' date=\'Jan 14 2007, 04:20 PM\']
Phil Newport?  Is he on the same bowling team as Tom Winston, Tim Marlboro and Don Doral?
[/quote]
I hear they smoke the competition. They call themselves "High Rollers".

/Bad. I know.