If I had my pick of these three, I would have to say Todd would be my favorite. Only because he's been around the genre for the last 5 or so years, and from first hand accounts from people here who've seen him in action as audience memebers, to colleagues such as Randy West who've on numerous occasions in this forum gave Todd a glowing review...it shows me that Todd has the respect for the past and the drive for the future that could make him a revered emcee many years from now. All George Hamilton has going for him is his endless tan and a lifetime supply of Ritz Chips, and for Mark Steines...who the hell is he again?
As far as the Barker Replacement Sweepstakes goes:
You know...I really don't mean to be sour, but I really could give a s*** who succeeds Bob anymore.
I've been watching this whole thing unfold for how many years now between here and "the board that shall not be named" , and I've come to this simple conclusion....
For those of us fans who are "Old School" emcee lovers, no matter who CBS/Fremantle picks, we're still going to whine, bitch, and complain about who would have been better suited for the job and how TPIR is going to be a funeral waiting to happen.
For those of us fans who are "New School" emcee groupees, who have only limited knowledge about the "golden era" of game shows, and outside of Bob have no idea of who Kennedy, Narz, Lange, Martindale, and a host of others are, but may have grew up on the likes of Marc Summers and J.D. Roth. We'll always remember Bob, and hope that the newer, younger host can in time grow into his position and succeed as well as Bob has for the past 35 years on the show.
Bottom line here is that we are ALL still going to watch because TPIR is not really about the host anymore, it's about the games that are played, and the people that play them. I've watched the show over the last 20+ years go from a pretty much Geritol and Centrum Stresstabs geared audience to an audience comprised of people of all ages, races, religions, etc. These people today all come together in hopes of a thrill, a dream, a memory, and so on. No matter who walks out of those big doors come September, we will all still be watching.
I am now done with the 20 Mule Team Borax soap box now....I'll leave it here on the side in case someone wants to launder their Grrranimals.