Which host was better?

[danderson]

i'll start wih a few

Hollywood Squares- Peter Marshall and Tom Bergeron both were good. I'd go with Tom Bergeron.

Price is Right- Bill Cullen or Bob Barker- Bob Barker, but Cullen was great in the 50s and 60s.

Tic Tac Dough- Wink Martindale was better than Patrick Wayne.

Jokers Wild- i'll go with Jack Barry.

[BrandonFG]

I’m picking Cullen for best TJW host. Although the game was slower, I felt he brought a sense of warmth to the show. Jack was too smarmy for me at times, and the way he tried to build tension was just goofy at times. The amount of tension needed on 21 wasn’t very necessary when a Chevrolet Chevette was on the line on TJW.

[TLEberle]

I’m picking Cullen for best TJW host. Although the game was slower, I felt he brought a sense of warmth to the show. Jack was too smarmy for me at times, and the way he tried to build tension was just goofy at times. The amount of tension needed on 21 wasn’t very necessary when a Chevrolet Chevette was on the line on TJW.

I would say that either Bill or Jim Peck would win that in a walk-over. I prefer Bill's laid back approach to Jack's caricatured-touching-on-phony level of excitement, though the "Joker-Joker...." moment is one that Jack sold very well.

I can see some people picking Peter over Tom (I think both have their strengths, and Peter on All-Star Blitz is fantastic) but the other three don't even go to the judges for a decision--they're all TKOs.

[Stackertosh]

Card Sharks BIll Rafferty or Bob Eubanks

I prefer Bill over Bob. Both was good but there was things about Bob that annoyed me. I thought Bill had more fun with the show i wish he hosted the day time version.

Family Feud Ray Combs or Richard Dawson

I prefer Ray Combs

Price is Right- Bob Barker - Dennis James

If it wasn't for Bill Cullen condition i would love to see how he would handled the 70s Price is right.

[Winkfan]

Hollywood Squares- Peter Marshall and Tom Bergeron both were good. I'd go with Tom Bergeron.

The "Boy Singer," hands down!

Price is Right- Bill Cullen or Bob Barker- Bob Barker, but Cullen was great in the 50s and 60s.

I prefer Cullen.

Tic Tac Dough- Wink Martindale was better.....

Hear! Hear!

Jokers Wild- I'll go with Jack Barry.

While this show put JB back on track; I'm going "off the board" and will vouch for Jim Peck.

Cordially,
Tammy

[Chief-O]

I see a lot of love here for Jim Peck on TJW; I really haven't seen any episodes with him, but I guess I have to. As a biased Wisconsinite, my curiosity has been piqued.

"Card Sharks": Rafferty. Sounds like a hot take, but I loved .

[bossjock967]

I’m picking Cullen for best TJW host. Although the game was slower, I felt he brought a sense of warmth to the show. Jack was too smarmy for me at times, and the way he tried to build tension was just goofy at times. The amount of tension needed on 21 wasn’t very necessary when a Chevrolet Chevette was on the line on TJW.

Dennis James.  Change my mind.

[jjman920]

Price is Right- Bill Cullen or Bob Barker- Bob Barker, but Cullen was great in the 50s and 60s.

Whenever this has come up with friends, I always bring up that this is not a fair comparison. Cullen only hosted the one bid round over and over with bonuses attached and not all of them games. The Price is Right that Bob et. al have helmed since 1972 is simply far too different to compare him to Cullen.

If you must find someone to compare Cullen to, my suggestion is ranking the performances of the substitute hosts who took over in his stead and if they came close to matching his hosting.

When it comes to Price and picking between the seven(?)* hosts of the current format, I'd probably still let Bob have it. The period of the 1980's was when he was at his best. Yeah, that time pumped his ego to the max, but the consistency was there and he was still very sharp.

*I'm counting Ricki Lake and Craig Ferguson. I believe they're the only two others to host some form of current Price and who knows, all it takes is one performance to show out.

[TLEberle]

I think Tom Kennedy held his own. Dennis James has a manic carriage that undermines the show a little, but it is still a fun watch. A person who watches from 1984 to 1989 or so would see a fun show hosted expertly—thoughts about his personal character aside.

[chrisholland03]

Agreed on Cullen vs Barker.  It's barely a fruit to fruit comparison.  Two very different shows that called for very different styles.  Cullen was top-notch.  I felt like Barker was at his peak from 77 - 93, started phoning it in when his legal issues started to distract.  I honestly liked Tom Kennedy better than Dennis James - Dennis just didn't have any warmth, was all business.

Hollywood Squares is interesting.  Marshall did a great job on his run, Bergeron did just as well on his run.  They had very different styles that were very much their own, and it worked.  Davidson came across as an actor emulating a host on every show he was on. 

Cullen was noticeably declining by Hot Potato.  I felt like he was lost for most of his 2 seasons of Joker's Wild.  Even as a kid, I wanted him to get on with the game. Peck did a better job than Barry in my opinion.

Rafferty was ok at Card Sharks.  I thought Eubanks did a better job of drawing interest out of the contestants, but he also came across as an ass regularly.  Rafferty was the better traffic cop. 

[TimK2003]

• Trebek over Wink on High Rollers.
• Meredith Viera over the other guys on syndicated Millionaire (although Regis outranks Meredith overall).
• Kennedy over Barry on Break The Bank.

/Jack looked creepier with the dark glasses than did Tom.

[SuperMatch93]

GE College Bowl: I prefer Robert Earle to Allen Ludden because his style seemed more energetic while still not going over the top. On that type of show Ludden seemed a bit too laid-back from what I've seen.

[Neumms]

"Card Sharks": Rafferty. Sounds like a hot take, but I loved .

I saw most of my Rafferty on Blockbusters, but am not a fan. Did you hear him after the car winner left? He tells us that her car was stolen, so a nice story, but ends by wagging his finger and saying, “good things come to those—“ and stopping. Huh? Those who wait? Wait to steal a car? He was neither smooth nor likeable. Give me Jim Perry any day.

Another to consider: To Tell the Truth. Lots to pick from. Collyer, Moore, Uncle Bill filling in or Garagiola? Robin Ward, eh? The NBC options? O’Hurley or the present Anthony Anderson?

Me, I never cared for Bud Collyer. Too pious. I liked Garry Moore and loved Gordon Elliott in his short time. I remember him kneeling to ask Kitty Carlisle to annoint him as host, and his humor made up for some dull panels.

[BillCullen1]

• Trebek over Wink on High Rollers.
• Meredith Viera over the other guys on syndicated Millionaire (although Regis outranks Meredith overall).
• Kennedy over Barry on Break The Bank.

/Jack looked creepier with the dark glasses than did Tom.

Agree with all of the above. Barry looked like a 50-year-old teenager on BTB with the glasses and hair dye job. I remember when he held up the sample board and was explaining the rules, you heard some of the celebs chuckling in the background on some shows.

Other shows

Card Sharks - Perry 1st, Rafferty 2nd, Eubanks 3rd
Name That Tune - Kennedy 1st, Lange 2nd, James 3rd. Never saw the 50s version
Tic Tac Dough - Martindale 1st, Caldwell 2nd, Wayne a distant 3rd
Password - Ludden 1st, Kennedy 2nd, Philbin 3rd, Convy 4th
Pyramid - Clark, Cullen, Strahan, Osmond, Richards and Davidson
Match Game - Rayburn 1st, Shafer 2nd, Baldwin 3rd
Hollywood Squares - Marshall 1st, Bergeron 2nd, Davidson 3rd
Family Feud - Dawson, Combs, O'Hurley, Harvey, Karn, Anderson
BTC - Collyer, Narz, Hall, Wood, Kroeger
TNTS - R Q Lewis, D James, C Fadiman, Bob and Ray
TPIR current version - Barker, Kennedy, James, Doug Davidson, Carey
TTTT - I grew up with the Garry Moore version. Too many other hosts to place.

[BillCullen1]

A few more:

WML - Daly, Blyden, Bruner
Chain Reaction - Cullen, Edwards, Catherwood, Lane
Jackpot - Edwards over Darrow any day
$128,000 Question - Trebek over Darrow, hands down
Shoot For The Stars/Double Talk - Edwards over Polic II
NYSI - Narz was a better host. C Henry's version had a better format.
Blockbusters - Cullen was better, Rafferty was funnier