Bad traits of good hosts

[Twentington]

I was digging through some old posts from 2004 on here — amazing how many more shows there were to talk about back then! — and after seeing a couple Balderdash recaps among other things, that got me thinking. Has there ever been an otherwise-decent host that had just one or two minor traits that rubbed you the wrong way?

For instance, I thought that Elayne Boosler was a solid host on Balderdash, but it annoyed me how every freaking time she would say the name of the show "BALLLLLderdash." Nothing major, but it did kinda grate after a while.

Also, how many times did we see exchanges like this on Lingo?

[color=\"#FF0000\"][J]

• [K][E][/color]R
  
  Contestant: Joust. J-O-U-S-T.
  Chuck: Could be!
  
  [color=\"#FF0000\"][J]
• [/color]U[color=\"#FFFF00\"](S)[/color]T
  
  Contestant: Joked. J-O-K-E-D.
  Chuck: Is that it?
  
  [color=\"#FF0000\"][J]
• [K][E][/color]D
  
  (desending scale, control passes to other team)
  
  The first couple episodes, I could understand, but he was still doing this well into the show's nineteenth fifth "season." The man hosted two shows in which letters play a major role.

[Chief-O]

The first thing I came up with was Bob Barker during Dice Game plays: When a contestant rolled a 1 or 6, he'd make the contestant say "higher" or "lower", even though we all knew what it was. I like how Drew just says "A 6! Is that right? [buzz] No, but we know it's lower!"

[DoorNumberFour]

I was never a fan of Allen Ludden's way in which he interviewed contestants. He'd ask them where they were from and what they did, but never acknowledge their response--he'd just say "Okay" and move on. Maybe some people are into that kind of thing, but I prefer a little more warmth and interaction in contestant interviews.

[Twentington]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'229456\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 01:04 AM\']I was never a fan of Allen Ludden's way in which he interviewed contestants. He'd ask them where they were from and what they did, but never acknowledge their response--he'd just say "Okay" and move on. Maybe some people are into that kind of thing, but I prefer a little more warmth and interaction in contestant interviews.[/quote]

Trebek does that sometimes too. I know I've seen this kind of exchange many times:

Contestant: I'm a Trinidadian amateur ichthyologist.
Alex: And what does that mean?
Contestant: It means I'm from Trinidad and I study fish, but I haven't been doing it very long.
Alex: (beat) I see. (beat) Our next contestant is Conker T. Squirrel blah blah blah.

[Neumms]

It always bugged me when Peter Marshall would rush everyone at the end of a nighttime show, taking time to remind the stars not to take so much time because the contestants were playing for money. Hey, if it's that much of a problem, don't have the celebrities crack jokes at all. Or pay the contestants $60 a square at the end. Geez.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'229456\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 12:04 AM\']I was never a fan of Allen Ludden's way in which he interviewed contestants. He'd ask them where they were from and what they did, but never acknowledge their response--he'd just say "Okay" and move on. Maybe some people are into that kind of thing, but I prefer a little more warmth and interaction in contestant interviews.[/quote]

Ludden wasn't exactly Groucho, but he didn't seem disinterested. I do chortle when he asks women nothing but "what does your husband do?" My beef with him was that he'd roll his eyes at or outright mock lousy clues or guesses from civilians but look the other way if they were from Joan Fontaine or Doug Fairbanks.

[Jimmy Owen]

I've noticed Wayne Brady will sometimes will address women as "Miss First Name" as in "Okay Miss Evelyn, let's hope the big deal is not behind door number 1..."  I guess it's out of respect, but I find it annoying.

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'Neumms\' post=\'229461\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 01:02 AM\'][quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'229456\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 12:04 AM\']I was never a fan of Allen Ludden's way in which he interviewed contestants. He'd ask them where they were from and what they did, but never acknowledge their response--he'd just say "Okay" and move on. Maybe some people are into that kind of thing, but I prefer a little more warmth and interaction in contestant interviews.[/quote]

Ludden wasn't exactly Groucho, but he didn't seem disinterested. I do chortle when he asks women nothing but "what does your husband do?" My beef with him was that he'd roll his eyes at or outright mock lousy clues or guesses from civilians but look the other way if they were from Joan Fontaine or Doug Fairbanks.
[/quote]

Of course, it WAS 1965 or thereabouts; enlightenment hadn't descended upon us all at that point. Notice if you watch a few shows it's either that  or "your're a working girl?"

       

I've noticed Wayne Brady will sometimes will address women as "Miss First Name" as in "Okay Miss Evelyn, let's hope the big deal is not behind door number 1..." I guess it's out of respect, but I find it annoying.

It's a Southern thing - my wife, who is from Georgia, does it all the time.

[mcsittel]

Currently, it's Alfonso and his responses to contestant answers on Catch 21: "...and that IS right!"  Oh wait, you said 'good hosts'... never mind.  But it feels better having complained about him in a public forum.  Thank you for that.

[TheLastResort]

Cullen had an annoying habit of scratching his nose or the inside of his ear on camera.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'TheLastResort\' post=\'229466\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 07:44 AM\']Cullen had an annoying habit of scratching his nose or the inside of his ear on camera.[/quote]
The latter irks the hell out of me when anyone does it on camera. I remember seeing him do that on a TJW ep. and slightly cringed.

This one has been mocked before, but Jack Barry's (and to a lesser extent, Wink) very irritating habit of drawing out the questions, to build up drama, and for what? A Chevette hatchback and $700 in cash? Oh wait, the opportunity to play for a trip to Rio in a completely random bonus game! I know that was B&E more than anything, but it still irks me.

Not that he was a good host, but I must add that I hated how Ty Treadway would always elaborate on an answer on Crosswords. When Trebek does it, it's in a very conversational tone, which makes it sound like he knows what the hell he's talking about. When Treadway did it, he sounded like he was reading the info straight from the teleprompter.

[Mr. Armadillo]

[quote name=\'Twentington\' post=\'229452\' date=\'Oct 29 2009, 10:58 PM\']The man hosted two shows in which letters play a major role.[/quote]
Two?  You mean that Woolery left Wheel?

/Heh, this is fun

[Loogaroo]

I always felt a little irked at how Wink Martindale morphed into Stereotypical Cheesy Game Show Host when he hosted Debt.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'Loogaroo\' post=\'229473\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 08:32 AM\']I always felt a little irked at how Wink Martindale morphed into Stereotypical Cheesy Game Show Host when he hosted Debt.[/quote]
Eh? You mean he wasn't when he did TTD?

As for the Ludden/Trebek discussion earlier in the thread, my ComStudies 102 class taught us to avoid just that when doing an interview.

[xavier45]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'229468\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 09:08 AM\'][quote name=\'TheLastResort\' post=\'229466\' date=\'Oct 30 2009, 07:44 AM\']Cullen had an annoying habit of scratching his nose or the inside of his ear on camera.[/quote]
Not that he was a good host, but I must add that I hated how Ty Treadway would always elaborate on an answer on Crosswords. When Trebek does it, it's in a very conversational tone, which makes it sound like he knows what the hell he's talking about. When Treadway did it, he sounded like he was reading the info straight from the teleprompter.
[/quote]
Roger Lodge did the same thing on Camouflage. It gets annoying when he does it after Every single answer.