[quote name=\'FOXSportsFan\' date=\'Jul 16 2005, 10:01 PM\']The way I see it is Bob sorta is a character host. There are character actors in Hollywood, those who can portray certain roles (i.e. the Christopher Walkens of the world.). Bob is most associated with his smarmy "you devil you" demeanor as evident on The Newlywed Game (not so much in the late 90s revival though) and Card Sharks. I think he probably would have wanted to be smarmy on Trivia Trap but there was one thing that the other two formats had that Trivia Trap lacked...time. Newlywed Game and Card Sharks are more/can be laid back formats, while Trivia Trap is bam bam bam comparably in pace. That said I like Bob's work, but suddenly I'm becoming a member of Bill Rafferty's Church of Parting Gifts on the corner of Dual Street and Implication Drive in terms of Card Sharks viewing (although Jim Perry still bests em all).
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That could also be said about "The Diamond Head Game" and "Dream House"--both were shows with dense formats (dense in more than one way for "Diamond Head") that didn't really call for Bob being a [Chuckie Baby] ras-CULE [CB] (although he could on "Diamond Head" in doing the whole tease thing with the bag in the end game).
In addition, "All-Star Secrets" and "Rhyme and Reason," being both celeb shows, called on Bob to be the straight man without the leering that he could do on "TNG." Even in "Secrets"' semi-interview format, he couldn't really pull the celebs' chain, because they were being paid to be on and didn't want to say anything that they wouldn't have approved (and you know that in the pre-interviews, if they said "DON'T USE THAT!" the producers wouldn't have).
And on the not-really-a-game-show-but... "Infatuation," Bob was supposed to be the good guy for once in bringing these people together. He couldn't be the happy homewrecker here. So he was a little more versatile than "TNG" would show, but that smarm factor does stick with him no matter what he does.