J! Guest Hosts - Your Rankings (so far)?

[beatlefreak84]

So, with LeVar Burton almost done with his week of guest hosting, it appears a host announcement is imminent.  Thus, I was curious about your rankings of the hosts that you've seen thus far.

I found it hard to rank the hosts in numerical order, so I instead sorted them into three categories, much like I do when I'm on a search committee for a new hire:

STRONG (these are the best candidates)
OK (these are not my personal preferences, but I wouldn't object to them becoming host)
WEAK (these are the candidates that should not be considered)

Here is what I had thus far (no explanations on each):

STRONG:

Ken Jennings, Mayim Bialik, Anderson Cooper, Mike Richards

OK:

LeVar Burton, Sanjay Gupta, George Stephanopoulos, Buzzy Cohen, Robin Roberts

WEAK:

Aaron Rodgers, Katie Couric, Dr. Oz, Savannah Guthrie, Bill Whitaker

My gut says David Faber and Joe Buck would make the OK or WEAK categories, but I'll wait to see them to pass judgment.  Likewise, if LeVar Burton improves a bit more with the remaining episodes, I might be convinced to go to STRONG with him.

(EDIT:  LeVar Burton improved a little bit this week, but not enough, IMO, to warrant a STRONG rating)

What would be your rankings so far?

Anthony

[Jimmy Owen]

Mike Richards is the only strong choice.  He wants to do it, has sex appeal and is the person making the decision.

[BrandonFG]

You seem to wanna make the host’s sex appeal a thing. If that were the case, Aaron Rodgers would be the front runner.

[Jimmy Owen]

You seem to wanna make the host’s sex appeal a thing. If that were the case, Aaron Rodgers would be the front runner.

He was, but his reupping with Green Bay signals he didn't get the Jeopardy job. Lin Bolen hired Alex because of his appeal to women, strange as that may seem today.  He was one of her "studs" along with Chuck Woolery, Geoff Edwards and Jim McKrell that changed the face of daytime game shows.

[SuperMatch93]

He was, but his reupping with Green Bay signals he didn't get the Jeopardy job. Lin Bolen hired Alex because of his appeal to women, strange as that may seem today.  He was one of her "studs" along with Chuck Woolery, Geoff Edwards and Jim McKrell that changed the face of daytime game shows.

Sure, but that was in the 70s when the primary viewer base was housewives. If sex appeal was a serious consideration, why would they have picked someone like Bill Whittaker as a guest host?

[Jeremy Nelson]

You seem to wanna make the host’s sex appeal a thing. If that were the case, Aaron Rodgers would be the front runner.

He was, but his reupping with Green Bay signals he didn't get the Jeopardy job. Lin Bolen hired Alex because of his appeal to women, strange as that may seem today.  He was one of her "studs" along with Chuck Woolery, Geoff Edwards and Jim McKrell that changed the face of daytime game shows.

Yeah, and that was also during a time when women and black people weren't hosting high visibility game shows.

Society changes. Tastes change. Applying 1975 hiring logic to a high profile hosting search in 2021 is questionable at best.

IMO, only four guest hosts have a plausible chance of getting the gig, and I still haven't ruled out the possiblity of them going off the board and choosing someone who didn't guest host at all.

[BrandonFG]

I'm breaking my "good/great" rankings into a) people who have a legit shot and b) people who did well, but probably aren't leaving their current post anytime soon. They could surprise everyone and take the job, I just don't see it happening.

GOOD-a: Anderson Cooper, Ken Jennings, Mike Richards, Buzzy Cohen
GOOD-b: Mayim Bialik (here only because Fox renewed Call Me Kat), Robin Roberts, George Stephanopolous, Savannah Guthrie, Sanjay Gupta

OKAY: Aaron Rodgers (showed up to Green Bay's training camp, so moot point), LeVar Burton

MEH: Bill Whitaker, Katie Couric, anyone else I'm forgetting

HELL NO: Dr. Oz

Buzzy and LeVar have a ton of potential if they get the excitement levels right. There's times where they come across as a stereotypically-hyper host from the mid-70s. I thought LeVar deserved a tryout long before the social media push, but I do feel his hosting style is a bit disappointing after all the petitioning. That said, I also feel he deserves a second week.

[BillCullen1]

HELL NO: Dr. Oz

Made me LOL, but I agree with you. He would probably drive viewers away.

[Jimmy Owen]

Whatever happens, Dan Patrick will say Sony begged him him to host, but he turned them down.

[TonicBH]

Strong choices: Buzzy Cohen, Mayim Bialik, Anderson Cooper
Have no strong feelings for but did enjoy when I did watch: Sanjay Gupta, Savannah Guthrie, George Stephanopolous
Would be okay with but be disappointed in the obvious pick: Ken Jennings, Aaron Rodgers

Everyone else is in the "oh hell no" category or already said they don't want the gig, so.

[jbrocato]

I think I would be fine with any of the guest hosts except Cohen.  He just seemed cold.

Bialik was especially impressive.  Richards was good, but I really think if he was interested in the hosting job, we wouldn't have gone through the guest hosts.

[ChrisLambert!]

Richards was good, but I really think if he was interested in the hosting job, we wouldn't have gone through the guest hosts.

What is plausible deniability?

[Kevin Prather]

Richards was good, but I really think if he was interested in the hosting job, we wouldn't have gone through the guest hosts.

I feel like even if the replacement had been chosen before Alex's death, we still would have had at least one guest host, for the same reason that churches often have an interim pastor after the previous one retires. The new pastor is more likely to be accepted if they are more than once removed from the old one that everybody loved.

[Stackertosh]

AMAZING! Anderson Cooper, Ken Jennings, Mike Richards, Robin Roberts


GOOD: Mayim Bialik  George Stephanopolous, Savannah Guthrie, Sanjay Gupta

OKAY: Dr. Oz Bill Whitaker, Katie Couric

Crappy:Aaron Rodgers (He was boring), LeVar Burton (YES!), Buzzy Cohen( Gave me annoying youtuber vibes)

[bscripps]

HEAD OF THE CLASS: Buzzy Cohen, Ken Jennings, Mayim Bialik
SALUTATORIANS: Anderson Cooper, Robin Roberts, Savannah Guthrie
A FOR EFFORT: George Stephanopoulos, Bill Whitaker, Mike Richards, Aaron Rodgers
SEE ME AFTER CLASS: LeVar Burton, Katie Couric
REMANDED TO REFORM SCHOOL: Dr. Oz

Ken is the natural choice, but the announcement of Buzzy's hosting piqued my curiosity and I found myself very pleased with his performance.  Of the three on the top of my list, Mayim is the weakest, but not by much.

Anderson, Robin and Savannah didn't really click for me, but neither did they annoy me the way the others did.  Mike is way too stereotypically game show host-y for this program, and Aaron never rose above the level of "6th grader reading his book report in front of the class", but he deserves credit for trying.

LeVar and Katie especially had that annoying manner of sounding surprised and amazed whenever one of these incredibly smart people could correctly identify the capital of Canada.  Either could be broken of that habit, but Katie will, for me at least, never be able to shed the mantle of "morning show perky".

And the less said about Dr. Oz, the better.