How does one parlay a game show appearance into a hosting gig?

[DoorNumberFour]

I've been thinking about this recently:

How did Mike Reilly go from Jeopardy contestant to Monopoly host? Or how did Mark DeCarlo get the job hosting Studs after his appearance on $ale of the Century?

How does a contestant turn his appearance into a full-time gig? More importantly, how can I do it? Is this thinking unrealistically?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'234934\' date=\'Jan 25 2010, 09:22 AM\']How did Mike Reilly go from Jeopardy contestant to Monopoly host?[/quote]
It was closer to "Monopoly run-through contestant to Monopoly host." And the official answer is: incredible dumb luck.

(But he sure was a fine-looking strapping young man, wasn't he?)

Or how did Mark DeCarlo get the job hosting Studs after his appearance on $ale of the Century?

Again, you are assuming the two events are related. It's very very likely they weren't, aside from possibly getting his resume kicked out from a pile.

How does a contestant turn his appearance into a full-time gig? More importantly, how can I do it? Is this thinking unrealistically?

Very.

[Matt Ottinger]

Way, way unrealistic.   Merv Griffin was pretty much the only producer willing to go with his gut on choosing an unknown or untested host, and honestly, he was wrong a lot more often than he was right.  Nobody's going to pluck you out of a contestant pool and just say, "come host a show for me."

Theoretically, becoming famous because of your game show appearance might work.  Though she never hosted a game show, Dr. Joyce Brothers got her career started with high-profile game show appearances.  But let's face it, not even Ken Jennings ended up with a show of his own, and he tried as hard as anybody.

[chris319]

You don't want to be a game show emcee, you just don't, unless it's a sideline for you as it is for Matt. There are so many reasons not to aspire to be a career game show emcee such as Barker, Tom Kennedy or Bill Cullen. Even guys such as Wink, Geoff Edwards, Bob Eubanks, Jim Lange etc. had much more durable careers as radio personalities than game show emcees.

[WarioBarker]

Merv Griffin was pretty much the only producer willing to go with his gut on choosing an unknown or untested host, and honestly, he was wrong a lot more often than he was right.

* Edd Byrnes, Rolf Benirschke, and David Sidoni (Wheel of Fortune)
* Mike Reilly (Monopoly, over Marc Summers and Peter Tomarken; fine, Summers was busy with Double Dare, but why pass over Tomarken?)
* Jonathan Szeles (Ruckus)
* The Treadway 5000dollarsandatriptowhereedd Ty Treadway (Crosswords)

Ryan Seacrest (Click) and Bob Bergen (Jep!) are debatable; I can't vouch for Danny O'Neil (One In A Million), Bill Mazer (Reach For The Stars), or Eric Nies (Dance Fever 2003), though.

Though she never hosted a game show, Dr. Joyce Brothers got her career started with high-profile game show appearances.

See The $64,000 Question, where she infamously beat the system through her subject of Boxing.

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'234934\' date=\'Jan 25 2010, 09:22 AM\']How did Mike Reilly go from Jeopardy contestant to Monopoly host? Or how did Mark DeCarlo get the job hosting Studs after his appearance on $ale of the Century?[/quote] Mike Reilly may have been in the wrong place at the right time, but Mark DeCarlo was a student when he won the Lot. From what I recall, he used the money he won on the show (at least $63,000 of his call was cash) to continue his studies.

Game show hosts do not spring fully armed from the head of Zeus with their microphone in one hand and answer cards in the other. They're newscasters, weathermen, actors, sportscasters, stand-up comedians, you name it, they did something before being a game show host. (For the most part.)

How does a contestant turn his appearance into a full-time gig? More importantly, how can I do it? Is this thinking unrealistically?

What are your qualifications? What makes you a better host than the other 99 people that a producer will look at. Or that guy who lost Half-Off, yet one of his friends thought that an appearance on TPIR was enough for him to secure a hosting gig on a talk show?

I enjoy game shows. I would host them in school as unit review projects. Most of the people who played enjoyed them, but maybe that's because it was more fun to play a game than to just recite facts. I might be a better host than your Chris Wylde, Ty Treadway, or Phil Moore, but I doubt that I could just walk onto a hot set ready to go.

If you want to host a show, see if you can do one for your local school or employer. It isn't just hold cards, read, tell joke, assign points and smile. When I was hosting Family Feud for a game night, I had to remember lots of things: who was up next, when to remind the opposing team that they should be ready to steal, if the bank is big enough for one of the teams to win...all those little things that the great hosts make so easy because they practiced at it. My performance was serviceable, but not polished at all.

Do some small scale shows to see if you'd be any good at it, and go from there.

[Robair]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'234938\' date=\'Jan 25 2010, 01:07 PM\']Merv Griffin was pretty much the only producer willing to go with his gut on choosing an unknown or untested host, and honestly, he was wrong a lot more often than he was right.[/quote]
It was said that Merv picked Chuck Woolery for "Wheel of Fortune" for the size of his head. In Mike Reilly's case, given his hosting prowess, that may be partially true.

[Joe Mello]

[quote name=\'Robair\' post=\'234971\' date=\'Jan 26 2010, 07:05 AM\']It was said that Merv picked Chuck Woolery for "Wheel of Fortune" for the size of his head.[/quote]
That's what she said?

[mmb5]

Also, Mike Reilly was a run-through contestant, so he was at least familiar to Merv than more as a one-shot sight on an episode.  Whenever I get to reviewing the Tomarken Monopoly, he is one of the contestants.

And you just know the one (DeCarlo really doesn't count) person who pulled it off.  There are probably hundreds of people who thought that a general entertainment career or even specifically a game show career was possible because of a fleeting moment of fame.  You just don't know about them.  I believe the closest we've gotten except for Reilly was with a Weakest Link contestant getting a chance to host the syndicated version.  She was at least auditioned.

We've seen this a little more with reality contestants, partially because these are usually more bred to be TV friendly, and also they tend to be on a multi-episode arc which can breed some familiarity with audiences.  However, I can't really think of anyone who has made a sustainable career out of it short of Kimberly Caldwell, and that's not much to speak of.  Mostly you see either one shots that prove they don't have hosting chops (Evan Mariott, Rudy Boesch) or people who are making a career being contestants on other reality shows.

Chris is right, most every game show host had other employment that kept them steady and fell into game shows as a result of their career as a broadcasting, comedian or actor.  We are truly leaving an era of broadcasters, people who are specifically trained to be versatile to be a host of a wide variety of programming, including game shows.  Bill Cullen and Tom Snyder were broadcasters.  David Letterman and Ryan Seacrest are broadcasters.  Jay Leno is not a broadcaster.  Howie Mandel and Jeff Foxworthy are not broadcasters, but they are decent enough actors that were given games that are not difficult to host if you can play the role of game show host.


--Mike

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'mmb5\' post=\'234987\' date=\'Jan 26 2010, 11:24 AM\']There are probably hundreds of people who thought that a general entertainment career or even specifically a game show career was possible because of a fleeting moment of fame. You just don't know about them.[/quote]
The eye-opening experience for me was back when I was a contestant on Sale of the Century.  A significant number of contestants were actor wanabes (I'm sure that's as true today as it ever was), and a surprising number of them truly thought that appearing on a game show was going to provide them all-important "exposure" so that they'd be noticed by the industry.  The most surprising thing to me was that some of them had never actually seen the game and didn't have a clue how it was played, they just wanted to have face time on TV and didn't really care how it happened.

So let's be clear to DoorNumberFour, our OP, about something.  Yes, as we're all telling you, it's a wildly unrealistic game plan with statistically zero percent chance of success.  Rest assured, though, you are not nearly the only person who's ever thought of it.

[quote name=\'mmb5\' post=\'234987\' date=\'Jan 26 2010, 11:24 AM\']Bill Cullen and Tom Snyder were broadcasters.  David Letterman and Ryan Seacrest are broadcasters.  Jay Leno is not a broadcaster.  Howie Mandel and Jeff Foxworthy are not broadcasters, but they are decent enough actors that were given games that are not difficult to host if you can play the role of game show host.[/quote]
Well put.  I've always liked the British term of "presenter", though I think it's silly that it's become the Wikipedia standard to use even for American shows.  And yes, Leno is a performer, not a broadcaster.  Nowhere has that been more evident than during the latest NBC brouhaha.  When Dave or even Conan just sat and talked about it more or less seriously (often less), they were great.  The one time Jay just sat and talked about it, he was awkward, defensive and clearly on edge.  

It's Jay's nature to tell jokes.  It's Dave's nature to be entertaining.  They're both very good at what they do, it's just that what they do is surprisingly different for two people with the same job description.

[Otm Shank]

As others have hit upon, your use to the producers ends when your show does; you get your prize/parting gift and the relationship to the producers is severed.

Let's step back and think about all of the contestants who went on to television careers (much less game show host). There are a few, but they would have probably made it without their game show appearance (although David Graff said that he used his $10,000 Pyramid grand prize to jump start his career). A fleeting appearance on a game show is not on the talent scout's radar.

I thought that I would forge a career by starting at a local TV station as weathercaster, much like Pat Sajak's path to Wheel of Fortune. It really did not pan out from there, because moving to multiple television markets with the goal to "be found" is not conducive to raising a family.

Now, I host trivia games at local bars to satisfy that performance itch. I also am developing a few game shows myself, which I intend to shoot a couple of spec shows with me as host to perhaps get interest from a production company for a pilot. That is my 0.0001% plan. I don't intend it to go anywhere, but I am doing it to avoid regret in not at least pursuing it.

One other thing to keep in mind for a game-show host career. Many programs, even some very good ones, only run for a season or less. Bill Cullen is the dean of game shows because he picked up many short-run shows in his career. That inventory of game shows does not exist anymore, so it is an impractical career path. Therefore, as previously posted, the successful game show host is best suited to diversifying to other disciplines (acting, stand-up, radio) to avoid fading into obscurity like, well, Mike Reilly. (Much like a game show contestant, he was not sought after his run on Monopoly.)

The contestant-to-host parlay is not the way to go. Pursue your dreams to become a host. Have a backup plan.

That said, while I type this, my 2 1/2 year old son is holding a toy microphone, imitating Sajak: "K? There's no K." Maybe there is hope for the next generation.

[tvrandywest]

I'm happy to see that sanity has prevailed in this thread!

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[chris319]

Having experience, i.e. emceeing trivia contests at the local pub, could be considered necessary but not sufficient grounding as an emcee. You may do it but do it poorly.

Casting decisions (assuming they are made by competent producers and not incompetent executives) are often based on whether a personality is "right for the part". Just look at how many career performers auditioned to replace Barker and were turned down. One, whose name I won't mention, had the format down slick having done the show in Las Vegas but the competent producer at the time felt he wasn't right for the part. Ultimately they wound up with a guy picked by the executive suite without an audition. I'll leave it to you to decide whether he's "right for the part".

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'234990\' date=\'Jan 26 2010, 12:42 PM\']The eye-opening experience for me was back when I was a contestant on Sale of the Century.  A significant number of contestants were actor wanabes (I'm sure that's as true today as it ever was), and a surprising number of them truly thought that appearing on a game show was going to provide them all-important "exposure" so that they'd be noticed by the industry.  The most surprising thing to me was that some of them had never actually seen the game and didn't have a clue how it was played, they just wanted to have face time on TV and didn't really care how it happened.[/quote]
Especially nowadays IMO...I think with the "casting" that producers love doing, coordinators don't even seem to mind and go clearly for the look, and not competence with gameplay.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'mmb5\' post=\'234987\' date=\'Jan 26 2010, 11:24 AM\']We've seen this a little more with reality contestants, partially because these are usually more bred to be TV friendly, and also they tend to be on a multi-episode arc which can breed some familiarity with audiences.  However, I can't really think of anyone who has made a sustainable career out of it short of Kimberly Caldwell, and that's not much to speak of.[/quote]

She may be the exception that proves the rule, but Elizabeth What's-Her-Face went from "Survivor" to "The View."

There's Jesse Palmer, who went from "The Bachelor" to ESPN college football. Granted, he played for the Giants, but not noticeably enough to get him the TV gig.

And Anderson Cooper went from "The Mole" to the Cable News Network.