Game Show Hosts

[beatlefreak84]

Hello all,

An interesting question has occured to me over the past few days and I think I'd like to ask all of you for your opinion:

There have been many great game show hosts over time, especially Bob Barker, Alex Trebek, etc.  However, these hosts are just as remembered for their hit shows as they are for their hosting abilities.

My question is:  Were/are there any game show hosts that you think would've never gotten to the point of being so well-remembered without a specific show that they hosted?  This may be true for every game show host, but there are some that stick out as \"wouldn't have been anything without such-and-such show!\"

I'll start off the list with a few that immediately come to me:

Peter Tomarken (Can you find anybody outside of this newsgroup that can name another show he did besides PYL?)

Pat Sajak (He doesn't have success with anything else, it seems, besides WOF!)

Tom Bergeron (Face it, without H2, what would this guy really have?  Now he has AFV along with other gigs!)

Jimmy Kimmel (He would be a nobody without WBSM's success!)

Anymore come to mind?

Anthony

P.S.  The topic line doesn't fit, I know.  Anybody know how to change it?

[inturnaround]

First, I'd argue that Tomarken isn't really well-remembered. You'd be hard pressed, I believe, to find many people who remember who he is even as the host of PYL.

I'll agree with you on Pat Sajak. He'd never have gotten the CBS late night show without WOF, and I'd argue that'd be a good thing.

As for Tom Bergeron and Jimmy Kimmel...well, they haven't really gone anywhere so that they'd be \"well-remembered\". Bergeron got his start on fX and was hot for a time. He's proven himself as a good host on AFV and is regarded well by the people at Good Morning America. I'd say this has little or nothing to do with his hosting gig on H2.

Jimmy Kimmel? WBSM was a fairly successful show for cable, but I don't think he's really remembered for that. More people know him as \"that jerk from 'The Man Show' who got an ABC show because ABC couldn't get Letterman\" if they know him at all. I'd say Bergeron is more well known than Kimmel because Bergeron has a prime time show.

[J.R.]

[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' date=\'Aug 19 2003, 09:20 PM\'] Peter Tomarken (Can you find anybody outside of this newsgroup that can name another show he did besides PYL?)
 [/quote]
 Lets see...

Hit Man
Bargain Hunters
Wipeout
Monopoly Pilot
Paranoia
Super Decades
Whammy Pilot and Series Q Round

All of which I have on tape (Except Monopoly Pilot, and W! Pilot)
-Joe R.

[inturnaround]

Yes, but you're disqualified because you're part of this forum.

We're not a newsgroup...maybe we need a catchy name \"The Game Show Forum\" is generic. Anyone have a better idea for a name? Maybe something like \"The Magnificent Message Board Machine\" or \"Contestants Not Appearing On Stage\".

Well, I'm sure someone out there might have a better idea.

[Jimmy Owen]

The Snarky Forum?

[Robert Hutchinson]

While this is all very speculative, as Pat Sajak and Peter Tomarken could be in their eighteenth year of co-hosting The Who, What, or Where Hour in a universe without WoF and PYL, I'll throw out Gene Rayburn's name. It isn't so much Match Game that \"made\" him, though, as it is an extended opportunity to be loose and funny and snarky on television, an opportunity he might've found elsewhere.

(Or maybe he'd've won a few dozen Tonys instead.)

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Aug 19 2003, 10:31 PM\']Jimmy Kimmel? WBSM was a fairly successful show for cable, but I don't think he's really remembered for that. More people know him as \"that jerk from 'The Man Show' who got an ABC show because ABC couldn't get Letterman\" if they know him at all. I'd say Bergeron is more well known than Kimmel because Bergeron has a prime time show.[/quote]
Or \"that jerk who does the predictions on the Fox NFL pre-game show.\"

That's to distinguish him from those other jerks Terry and Howie.  

And, of course, the loud-mouthed weather girl.