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Author Topic: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)  (Read 32048 times)

Argo

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Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« on: June 01, 2015, 09:50:00 PM »
Hi All,

I have been watching a lot of classic TPIR on youtube and thought that I would ask a question about hosting styles. Throughout Bob's TPIR, I noticed at least 3 different styles, almost split directly by decade. The first style started from 1972 until about 1980 or so. He would usually have a fairly short generic speech at the beginning of an episode. Also, things seemed to be not as relaxed at times. From about 1980 to the early 1990s, he would usually wait for the applause to die down, then have bit of chat with the audience/staff or tell a joke, etc. From the mid 1990s - end, it would be the almost scripted "Thank you for that wonderful welcome. Here is the first item up for bids".  It seemed his and the show's most relaxed and best years were during the early 1980s - mid 1990s. He seemed to joke more and be more playful with contestants. Has anyone else noticed this? Could it have been just that the show was becoming more familiar and the pace of advertising allowed more playtime? Was age a factor in later years? (ex. chat with the models after pricing games, chat with contestants during the intro and after commercials, etc.)

I know it's probably easy to notice this with Barker since he hosted for so long, but anyone else notice any other differences in hosting styles? Any other hosts that seem to change their hosting style as well? I think maybe Dick Clark on pyramid, but the ABC / CBS episodes seemed to differ more. ABC shows seemed to have more spontaneous excitement, while CBS shows almost had a Jeopardy feel in comparison.

 

whewfan

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2015, 06:31:58 AM »
I can try to break it down further. Between 1972-1973 Bob was just getting the feel of the show. His interactions with contestants was brief and he would play through the at the time limited library of pricing games. By 1974, the audience had more freedom to shout out prices and the level of excitement was enhanced, which I think improved Barker's hosting, and he was more conversational with the contestants. However, the show also had a glaring problem that there was too much "show" for a half hour, so thankfully the show was expanded to an hour (which translates to maybe 50 minutes of airtime with commercials).

By the time the show went to a full hour, Bob had the show down, and having more time to play with the contestants made him more relaxed. When Dorothy Jo died in 1981, you could notice a slight difference in Bob's demeanor. The episode where he acknowledges Dorothy Jo's death, he's conducting the show as normal, but you can still see a dark cloud over his head. However, he eventually gets past the sad event and things seem normal.

One key ingredient that made the show work so well was Johnny Olson. His immense talents and williness to get into funny costumes and do various dialects, made him a perfect second banana. During the 1984-1985 season, it's noticeable that Johnny's announcing voice is starting to sound tired. It wasn't because of boredom, but because of old age, as he was in his 70s. As we all know Johnny died in 1985.

During the audition process, it was jarring to see TPIR without much interaction between Bob and the announcer, however they found as close to a perfect replacement as they could with Rod Roddy. Rod was funny, and also willing to get into funny costumes, and while it would be unfair to compare his onstage talent to Johnny's, I think Rod still did a splendid job. However, Rod's involvement with the showcases would decrease over time as well as his appearances on camera.

However, in the wake of the Dian Parkinson scandal, Bob's demeanor changed drastically. He became more impatient with the slower contestants, he stopped flirting with the female contestants, and also stopped interacting with the models (which was no surprise knowing what we know now) but he still had his good days.

By the show's 30th year, Bob skipped doing any opening monologue and went straight to "here's the first item up for bids". He also almost stopped talking to Rod Roddy altogether, and Rod's overall presence was limited to the show's closing credits, then he didn't appear on camera at all with the exception of the 32nd season premiere.

When Rich Fields came into the picture, Bob's interaction with him was limited, but it seemed to me that his demeanor was more positive. I would dare say that Bob's hosting was the best it could be during his last year as host. I think since he knew the end was coming, he had more fun, which is far better than pulling a Richard Dawson and having a dark cloud over his head.




Argo

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2015, 11:07:35 AM »
Sounds about right to me. By the mid 80s - early 90s, the show seemed to have that family feel. It didn't feel just like the Bob Barker show, it was the Bob, Beauties, Olson/Roddy, and even some of the staff would be introduced too.

Yes forgot about Dawson. His hosting style changed drastically too. I never really watched Family Feud all that much. Did his style change drastically or slowly over time? I know as the show got more popular the ego started showing, then things slowed down after the show was losing viewers.

Apologies for putting this post in the video section.

Argo

whewfan

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2015, 12:43:45 PM »
It goes without saying that Dawson on Match Game was quite different from Dawson on Family Feud. Richard was genuinely interested in people, and in the early Feud episodes, sometimes he'd take a full 10 minutes chatting it up with the families before starting the game. Then, ABC stepped in and said that Dawson was taking too long before actually starting the game, so GT responded by adding more rounds and making the game go to 300 points. However, that didn't necessarily stop Dawson from doing what he had been doing. So, much like Ste. ve Harvey does with Family Feud today, Richard would frequently go way past the time allotted and some editing would need to be done. By 1983 though, Richard started to tire of Family Feud and for the remaining two seasons, frankly, he's phoning it in, especially in the final season when the game went to 400 points.

There was some evidence of ego throughout the run... Richard's squabbles with Howard Felscher, and openly protesting when a mistake was made. (Granted he was doing what was right for the contestants, but he could've saved it for after the show) Reportedly Richard was given some pull to make judgment call on his own later in the run, telling losing families they're being brought back and such. Richard would also occasionally get on a soapbox and speak his mind on some issues, something you almost never see another host do. I've said before that with Richard, you KNEW what he was feeling and he didn't hide it.


BrandonFG

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2015, 12:50:31 PM »
I always chalked Bob's reduced interaction to the increased amount of commercial time. I don't even think TPiR was running 40 minutes by the time Bob retired. They prolly lost a good five to seven minutes of content from when the show first went to an hour.

Pat's humor on Wheel has become drier over the years it seems. He's always been laidback, but was more......"loose" in the 80s. It's hard to explain.
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narzo

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2015, 05:44:58 PM »
MODS- perhaps a move is in order here, to the "big board"

knagl

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2015, 12:59:01 AM »
MODS- perhaps a move is in order here, to the "big board"

Done.

danderson

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2015, 09:24:13 AM »
was there any difference between Bob Barker and Jim Perry? granted their styles were different but Jim seemed to be more suited for a show like $ale or Card Sharks where as Bob seemed more suited to a show like TPIR

clemon79

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #8 on: June 14, 2015, 01:17:02 PM »
was there any difference between Bob Barker and Jim Perry? granted their styles were different but Jim seemed to be more suited for a show like $ale or Card Sharks where as Bob seemed more suited to a show like TPIR

Um, then it's probably a good thing they were hired for those respective jobs?
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danderson

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2015, 01:24:02 PM »
i have to agree with you on that i think Jim was more suited to a faster pace of a show like SOTC or CS while Barker also was suited to that type of show in TPIR

Jimmy Owen

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2015, 02:58:44 PM »
A professional host is a professional host.  Jim Perry used to MC the Miss Canada Pageant just as well as Bob Barker did the various pageants he did.  A good host should be able to host any show well.
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parliboy

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2015, 03:01:50 PM »
A professional host is a professional host.  Jim Perry used to MC the Miss Canada Pageant just as well as Bob Barker did the various pageants he did.  A good host should be able to host any show well.

Perhaps... but the personal hosting style can have a profound effects on the trappings.  Consider the three hosts of The Joker's Wild (Peck, not Finn), and what their various games felt like.  I mean, having Bill Cullen run that show made it feel like a different animal altogether.
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PYLdude

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2015, 11:45:31 PM »
A professional host is a professional host.  Jim Perry used to MC the Miss Canada Pageant just as well as Bob Barker did the various pageants he did.  A good host should be able to host any show well.

Perhaps... but the personal hosting style can have a profound effects on the trappings.  Consider the three hosts of The Joker's Wild (Peck, not Finn), and what their various games felt like.  I mean, having Bill Cullen run that show made it feel like a different animal altogether.

Another example I'll call upon is Dick Clark, re: his hosting styles.

Pyramid? Good. Challengers? Didn't seem to fit.

Some guys just work better with less to do.
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danderson

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #13 on: June 15, 2015, 01:01:02 PM »
Hi All,

I have been watching a lot of classic TPIR on youtube and thought that I would ask a question about hosting styles. Throughout Bob's TPIR, I noticed at least 3 different styles, almost split directly by decade. The first style started from 1972 until about 1980 or so. He would usually have a fairly short generic speech at the beginning of an episode. Also, things seemed to be not as relaxed at times. From about 1980 to the early 1990s, he would usually wait for the applause to die down, then have bit of chat with the audience/staff or tell a joke, etc. From the mid 1990s - end, it would be the almost scripted "Thank you for that wonderful welcome. Here is the first item up for bids".  It seemed his and the show's most relaxed and best years were during the early 1980s - mid 1990s. He seemed to joke more and be more playful with contestants. Has anyone else noticed this? Could it have been just that the show was becoming more familiar and the pace of advertising allowed more playtime? Was age a factor in later years? (ex. chat with the models after pricing games, chat with contestants during the intro and after commercials, etc.)

I know it's probably easy to notice this with Barker since he hosted for so long, but anyone else notice any other differences in hosting styles? Any other hosts that seem to change their hosting style as well? I think maybe Dick Clark on pyramid, but the ABC / CBS episodes seemed to differ more. ABC shows seemed to have more spontaneous excitement, while CBS shows almost had a Jeopardy feel in comparison.
i have to say that what made me  like  Dick Clark was that he was very formal like telling the  audience to be quiet that only added to the tension when someone was going for $100,000 id also add Mike Adamle on AG when a Grand Championship was on the line like in the 1991-92 finale that finale was very exciting and Adamle and Csonka only added to the excitement in my opinion i saw that finale at least 3 times once on my ABC station WLOS in orginal broadcast and 2 times on USA Network in reruns

whewfan

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Re: Host styles - (Barker TPIR)
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2015, 07:32:39 PM »
A professional host is a professional host.  Jim Perry used to MC the Miss Canada Pageant just as well as Bob Barker did the various pageants he did.  A good host should be able to host any show well.

Perhaps... but the personal hosting style can have a profound effects on the trappings.  Consider the three hosts of The Joker's Wild (Peck, not Finn), and what their various games felt like.  I mean, having Bill Cullen run that show made it feel like a different animal altogether.

Another example I'll call upon is Dick Clark, re: his hosting styles.

Pyramid? Good. Challengers? Didn't seem to fit.

Some guys just work better with less to do.

I think The Challengers was more entertaining when they brought the judge on camera. Seemed Dick Clark needed someone to bounce off of, and it gave the show more distinction from Jeopardy!