The host didn't help.
Honestly, for me anyhow, the host didn't matter. You could have reanimated Bill Cullen and it still would have blown. The format of we're-gonna-play-X-puzzles-high-score-wins was just uninteresting and the bonus game was totally uninspired.
Which is not to say that the
Shoot For The Stars format was perfect - certainly the random elements don't help from a game-fairness standpoint, but at least it's more engaging to watch than
Double Talk.