Author Topic: Only second-best (Read 2849 times)

Jay Temple · « **on:** March 31, 2012, 05:58:23 PM »

Inspired by the discussion that accompanied a Davidson Pyramid video ...

Either Dick Clark or Bill Cullen is only the second-best host that Pyramid had. Which show's second-best host do you think was the best? TPIR and Jeopardy! are two obvious candidates.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #1 on:** March 31, 2012, 06:15:14 PM »

Hollywood Squares comes to mind. It's almost hard for me to compare Bergeron to Marshall because the latter became so identified with the show. However, Bergeron was an awesome host IMO.

Perhaps Combs on Feud as well. He knew he had big shoes to fill, went about it in his own way, and made it work.

TLEberle · « **Reply #2 on:** March 31, 2012, 06:24:37 PM »

Quote from: Jay Temple on March 31, 2012, 05:58:23 PM

Either Dick Clark or Bill Cullen is only the second-best host that Pyramid had.

You say that as if that's a slight.

Twentington · « **Reply #3 on:** March 31, 2012, 07:59:25 PM »

Pat Sajak?

parliboy · « **Reply #4 on:** March 31, 2012, 11:01:17 PM »

The conceit of this so far seems to indicate long-lived shows, with a lot of years for both hosts to build a familiarity and association.
That said, I will take a slight detour and suggest Wayne Brady.
Here's the thing: Feud has had so many successful hosts over the years that it is hard to associate the format with a particular person. And Uncle Bill, while always competent in everything he did, took a show that always had a measure of drama to it and lowered that drama a bit by his manner and hosting style. I really think the survival of that series was about the format, not him. And in both cases, the formats themselves are actually quite strong.
Waye Brady, on the other hand, is in charge of a show that was associated with one man, and only one man, for so long, because Deal as a format is incredibly weak and dependent on the host to carry it. In just a couple of years, Brady (along with the rest of the personalities on the show) has actually made that dog of a format watchable again. That by itself makes him arguably the best second-best host ever.

TLEberle · « **Reply #5 on:** April 01, 2012, 03:13:00 AM »

Quote from: parliboy on March 31, 2012, 11:01:17 PM

In just a couple of years, Brady (along with the rest of the personalities on the show) has actually made that dog of a format watchable again. That by itself makes him arguably the best second-best host ever.

Interestingly, I've found the opposite is true: that I'm watching the show in spite of the host and the way he carries the show.(whether this means that Tiffany and Jonathan are doing all the legwork for Wayne, I don't know.) For what you said about Bill and $25,000 Pyramid, I find true about Wayne and Deal: that he takes away from the drama that is inherent in "you can either have something for sure or you can have this thing you don't know about" by being so slow and deliberate about things. The Super Deal, which by all rights should be a huge and exciting ending to the show is turned into an asthmatic bloated sea lion because Wayne has to grab the envelope, vamp for a while, fumble with his microphone while he finds the tab on it and then to open it, and I've stopped caring what's inside.

whewfan · « **Reply #6 on:** April 01, 2012, 05:48:39 AM »

Tom Kennedy and TPIR. Yes, it was only a half hour show, but I felt, despite Tom's take that he felt he didn't do too well with the show, that he did a very good job. Tom did Price his own way, but at the same time, didn't alienate fans of the daytime show. I'd ALMOST put Dennis James in the same category, except I haven't seen him do TPIR as much as Tom. Dennis did a fine job too, IMO, but with Dennis, you had a sense that he was in such a rush to get through a half hour show... not necessarily because he wasn't enjoying it, he was. He just had the same problem that Bob had, and that was that a half hour of TPIR became quite restricting for him. I honestly think both Tom and Dennis could've handled an hourlong version very well, and in the case of Dennis, give him some breathing room.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #7 on:** April 01, 2012, 06:39:58 AM »

When daytime Pyramid started Bill was committed to another show. When it went to prime access, Bill hosted it. That pretty much says it all.

parliboy · « **Reply #8 on:** April 01, 2012, 11:46:11 AM »

What it says is that Bill was no longer committed to another show.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #9 on:** April 01, 2012, 12:17:13 PM »

Quote from: parliboy on April 01, 2012, 11:46:11 AM

What it says is that Bill was no longer committed to another show.

Well, actually he was during the 73-74 daytime Pyramid. When it came to selecting a host of the prime-access version of Pyramid, Bob Stewart and Viacom went with Bill Cullen rather than Dick Clark.

Jay Temple · « **Reply #10 on:** April 01, 2012, 12:56:30 PM »

Quote from: whewfan on April 01, 2012, 05:48:39 AM

Tom Kennedy and TPIR. Yes, it was only a half hour show, but I felt, despite Tom's take that he felt he didn't do too well with the show, that he did a very good job. Tom did Price his own way, but at the same time, didn't alienate fans of the daytime show. I'd ALMOST put Dennis James in the same category, except I haven't seen him do TPIR as much as Tom. Dennis did a fine job too, IMO, but with Dennis, you had a sense that he was in such a rush to get through a half hour show... not necessarily because he wasn't enjoying it, he was. He just had the same problem that Bob had, and that was that a half hour of TPIR became quite restricting for him. I honestly think both Tom and Dennis could've handled an hourlong version very well, and in the case of Dennis, give him some breathing room.

Tom Kennedy made a career of being the second-best host. That is not a dig. I can't think of any show where I've seen him and another host and thought he was the better of the two, but he's done a solid job on every show I've seen. (Caveat: I haven't seen any prior version of Name That Tune.)

clemon79 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 01, 2012, 01:22:42 PM »

Quote from: Jimmy Owen on April 01, 2012, 12:17:13 PM

Bob Stewart and Viacom went with Bill Cullen rather than Dick Clark.

Someone sure took his troll pills this morning. When you're talking about Dick Clark, you do not get to state definitively that someone was chosen over him without some kind of proof of that statement, considering the 47 other gigs he had going on at any given time. It's really very possible he simply didn't want the job.

clemon79 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 01, 2012, 01:25:01 PM »

Quote from: Jay Temple on April 01, 2012, 12:56:30 PM

(Caveat: I haven't seen any prior version of Name That Tune.)

Or You Don't Say! or Split Second, apparently. And those are very very arguably the three shows he's best known for, which ran for a combined eighteen years.

I think I'd be fine being second-rate a few times if I was top banana on three bona-fide hits for eighteen years. We're talking about a man who almost made 50 Grand Slam tolerable.