Hosts who got worse over time

[Twentington]

Are there any hosts that you feel actually got worse at their job over time?

Looking back at some of Bob Barker's later episodes, there was always something that never sat right with me. He just seemed more curmudgeonly and distant. It seemed like even a little screw-up would get his dander up; he was having increasingly large numbers of senior moments; and he didn't joke around nearly as often. Granted, a lot of this is justified by a.) drooling fanb0i contesti b.) Bob being in his 80s and c.) the show having to run at Mach 3 to make room for all of those diabeetus commercials. (And while not related to the above, d.) the pink and purple set that looked like the Care Bears puked all over it didn't help, either.) But still, I just feel he was really slipping in his last few years. To a lesser extent, I tend to get a "cranky old man" vibe from Ludden on P+ as well.

And finally, there's Richard Karn. Once he got over his new-host jitters, I actually thought he was decent. There were many episodes in which he showed some competence at ad-libbing (e.g. "You know, most people aren't married in the third grade" when someone said that kickball was a sport that husband and wife could play together). But somewhere along the way, the best he could do was awkwardly repeat a contestant's answer a couple times, nod and then ask if it was up there. And then he got so entrenched in his catch phrases that it often felt like I was watching the same episode every time I managed to tune in.

[wheelloon]

Amen about Barker. And, while not necessarily bad, Rayburn's hosting over time on Match Game went downhill a bit, IMHO. Granted, the nature of the questions had changed a little bit closer to the end, which might not have fit Gene's humor as well, but I did also detect a slight bit of that same curmudgeon-ness Barker acquired over the years with Rayburn on MGHSH. Again, hosting overall was still well above par, but definitely not at his peak (yes, there were other factors to blame there too, I freely concur).

[Eric Paddon]

I have to say sadly that I don't think Tom Kennedy was as good at the end of his hosting days.   I was struck when watching the first couple weeks of "Body Language" recently how he was always asking the contestants their last names indicating he hadn't been preparing ahead of time to know the names of the contestants.    And on the last episode he had a total memory failure and forgot about having to play the Bonus Game.

The thing that's most sad about Tom's work is that while we have a lot of his work preserved it isn't what I would consider his *best* work which was on You Don't Say, Split Second and Name That Tune.

[CJBojangles]

Two Feud hosts immediately come to mind. At the beginning of Richard Dawson's run he was booming, playing up the excitement and shouting those answers with authority. By the end of his run (and again on his '94 return) he was barely speaking loud enough for a mic to pick him up. He also seemed rather bored at times, and during many games was just going through the motions.

And of course, Louie Anderson. In his final year there were times he came off as wanting to be anywhere but on that set.

[Twentington]

Two Feud hosts immediately come to mind. At the beginning of Richard Dawson's run he was booming, playing up the excitement and shouting those answers with authority. By the end of his run (and again on his '94 return) he was barely speaking loud enough for a mic to pick him up. He also seemed rather bored at times, and during many games was just going through the motions.

Agreed. Even in the earliest episodes he'd jump from yell to whisper at the drop of a hat, but in the later episodes it's darn near impossible to hear him at times.

[Johnissoevil]

Some of the staff who worked on WOF while Sajak was also hosting his talk show said that Pat's attention seemed to be away from the game during that time, but once his talk show was cancelled, he had bounced back and started concentrating on the show again.  I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't notice any deviations in his hosting during that time.

[whewfan]

The only thing I noticed about Pat Sajak was his obvious dislike for the Megaword category. He would feign enthusiasm as he introduced it, and he especially threw away the $500 bonus because the producers accepted pretty much ANY sentence.

I think Allen Ludden should get a free pass due to increasing illness. I saw an episode from his final week (his ACTUAL last show, not the one that was THOUGHT to be the last) and he seemed a bit more lost.

Drew Carey, unfortunately, gets my vote, due to a LOT of inconsistencies. Some shows he's good, some not so good, and sometimes his hosting fluctuates depending on the games played and the number of wins or losses. He STILL fumbles over rule explanations and there's NO excuse for that.

Bill Cullen wasn't TERRIBLE on TJW but if you compare TJW to his past shows, he's slower, and not as quick witted as he was in the past.

Gene Rayburn was subpar on BTB, but we all know he was woefully miscast and that he was led to believe that he would be allowed to do spontaneous, goofy things as he did on MG.

Agreed on Richard Karn... I think he pretty much just "ran on automatic" and did each show EXACTLY the same way. He missed a LOT of opportunities for snappy comments to bad answers. I think Karn got the nod because he's a genuinely likeable guy and completely different from Louie, but Feud needs great ad-libbers like John O'Hurley and Steve Harvey, both very competent Feud hosts in the recent years.

I think Jack Barry became worse too on TJW. It was pretty obvious the last couple seasons that he was getting bored, and he had "senior moments" in the bonus game, forgetting about natural triples. One of the late '84 episodes, he had time to fill after the audience game and had a lot of difficulty thinking of things to say... he was just rambling on.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

What about Marc Summers? Some people say that everything he hosted after his signature show, Double Dare, was mediocre at best, because of him (including History IQ and WinTuition), and that he no longer had the same level of energy he had over 20 years ago.

[Twentington]

Agreed on Richard Karn... I think he pretty much just "ran on automatic" and did each show EXACTLY the same way. He missed a LOT of opportunities for snappy comments to bad answers.

But as I said, he at least showed that he could come up with decent retorts (such as the "kickball" quote, or an "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!" snark to the lady who rang in before he read the question). I wonder what made him stop? Laziness?

What about Marc Summers? Some people say that everything he hosted after his signature show, Double Dare, was mediocre at best, because of him (including History IQ and WinTuition), and that he no longer had the same level of energy he had over 20 years ago.

I would think, at least in the case of WinTuition, that the cut-and-dried nature of the game was more to blame. It's not like he could be the same dynamic guy he was on DD.

[TLEberle]

I'd say that you wouldn't want the same kind of hosting job for Double Dare than you would for History IQ. Wintuition didn't really allow much chance for anything other than reading the questions.

[Brian44]

Looking back at some of Bob Barker's later episodes, there was always something that never sat right with me. He just seemed more curmudgeonly and distant.

About a year after Bob let his hair go gray until late 1990 or so, Bob appeared to have gained a little weight and did a good deal of scowling as observed in .  He didn't seem to act any more short-tempered, although when I went to a TPIR taping in June 1990 he really acted like he was "phoning it in."  By 1991 you could tell he had had some nipping and tucking done (not sure if this had anything to do with the stroke he suffered that year).

[TimK2003]

Speaking of Bobs...

I never really cared too much for Bob Eubanks' last regular gig on Sony's remake of The Newlywed Game.  He had some moments, but most of the time he sounded like he was "phoning it in" as well.  He always seemed to have much more spark on the Barris incarnations of TNG, and he did pretty good on his other non-Newlywed endeavors (Card Sharks, Trivia Trap, All Star Secrets,...), but when he did the last batch of Newlyweds, he just seemed too robotic and mellow.

[whewfan]

I think this was more deliberate than anything else, but I think Chuck Barris' hosting never got any better than it did when he started. In the beginning, it was VERY obvious he was reading cue cards and looked ill at ease, and although he loosened up, he wasn't necessarily BETTER. Of course, Chuck was tiring of Gong Show and tried to have it pulled off the air early. He tried booking acts that were just plain HORRIBLE and borderline appropriate for TV. (The OOPS graphic got a good workout) Jaye P Morgan joined in by exposing herself and saying the most caustic things to those that got gonged... she was the Simon Cowell of the 70s. Add to that, booking celebs that were WAY past their prime (or never were at their prime) and you've got a trainwreck. Barris only briefly appears in the final show at the beginning, middle (singing his own version of Take this Job and Shove It, with some lyrics censored) and end. Another GS regular hosted instead. The rest of the finale was a very odd "Chuck's Fable", so for that show there was only ONE judged act and the rest of the show was filled with GS regulars.

[Ian Wallis]

The thing that's most sad about Tom's work is that while we have a lot of his work preserved it isn't what I would consider his *best* work which was on You Don't Say, Split Second and Name That Tune

One thing I noticed about Tom was that he frequently misread a contestant's winnings - but that could have been due to hard-to-read cue cards off-stage.  I think he was still at the top of his game on Whew!  He did a great job of reading those bloopers quickly so not to disadvantage any contestant.  The shows he did after that didn't require as intense reading as Whew! did.

[SRIV94]

I think Allen Ludden should get a free pass due to increasing illness. I saw an episode from his final week (his ACTUAL last show, not the one that was THOUGHT to be the last) and he seemed a bit more lost.

Explain please?