No, they weren't going to get an "old school" host. I thought they might get Todd Newton since he was probably available.
Two of the last national gigs Todd Newton had, he was relegated to "sidekick" roles between commercials: delivering contest prizes on
Gameshow Marathon and hosting mini-games on
Monopoly Millionaires Club. I say this as a fan who believes he deserved the main and other hosting roles: they're going for name recognition, which has unfortunately eluded Todd. Not too many people outside of this forum remember a third-tier cable revival from nearly 20 years ago.
I believe it's also the reason he didn't get the
TPiR job.