Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: Which host was better?  (Read 18952 times)

Neumms

  • Member
  • Posts: 2373
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #45 on: January 14, 2019, 08:28:28 PM »
I'd also reason that Pyramid is a "traffic cop" kind of show. The host does very little, his is not the dominant voice.

A Pyramid host doesn’t read questions and isn’t in every shot, but this short changes the job Dick did. He did such an amazing job of setting a suspenseful tone yet wasn’t manic. His love for the game—granted it’s one of the best pure games ever—made it so involving. The Dating Game was an easy gig. Put Jim Lange on Pyramid and it would fall woefully flat.

I defend Sajak, too. When something out of the ordinary happens or there’s an interesting contestant, he’s still quick on the draw. It’s just that the show has become rote. A new host would bring life to it, but that’s by novelty. Pat is one of very few to only host one show, so he’s hard to judge, but I’d love him on Jeopardy and, though it’s wildly different, even Let’s Make a Deal. He’s smooth enough for the dealing and he’d be great playing off wild contestants.

BrandonFG

  • Member
  • Posts: 18171
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #46 on: January 14, 2019, 08:46:04 PM »
I'd also reason that Pyramid is a "traffic cop" kind of show. The host does very little, his is not the dominant voice.

A Pyramid host doesn’t read questions and isn’t in every shot, but this short changes the job Dick did. He did such an amazing job of setting a suspenseful tone yet wasn’t manic. His love for the game—granted it’s one of the best pure games ever—made it so involving. The Dating Game was an easy gig. Put Jim Lange on Pyramid and it would fall woefully flat.
Agreed. Watch a Winner's Circle loss, and see how Dick walks up with the perfect clue that immediately sets off a light bulb. Another clip comes to mind where the contestant got the winning answer at the buzzer, but the judges needed the commercial break to confirm. Dick's delivering the news that the contestant indeed won 10K was beautiful. I don't see a traffic cop host, or even one like Davidson (way out of his element here) pulling that off.
"I just wanna give a shoutout to my homies in their late-30s who are watching this on Paramount+ right now, cause they couldn't stay up late enough to watch it live!"

Now celebrating his 21st season on GSF!

whewfan

  • Member
  • Posts: 2000
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #47 on: January 14, 2019, 09:04:53 PM »
Jim Lange barely had to host DG at all... he introduced the bachelor and bachelorettes (or vice versa) and stood at his podium for the rest of the segment, only been shown for facial reactions or laughter. Similar with Elaine Joyce, only difference was that she stood next to the contestant, which appeared awkward at times, never really saying anything. When Jeff MacGregor took over, he did contribute more with snappy comments during questioning. They also briefly had a Love Connection like segment where a DG couple talked about the date. For some reason, this did not carry over into the second season. When Chuck Woolery hosted the late 90s version, he reasoned that he couldn't just sit back and watch, whenever he had a snappy comment to make, he never hesitated to do that, and it was a perfect fit with his experience with Love Connection. As for the Brad Sherwood version... that was a different animal... he definitely had a larger role as host. If I recall correctly, one of the biggest differences was that the bachelor was allowed to SEE the bachelorettes (and vice versa) but I think they didn't necessarily sit in the same order as they were introduced, but I am going by fuzzy memory and don't feel like checking YouTube. They later did a "salute to the original DG" by having daisies on the set, and not being allowed to see each other... then later in the run that became permanent.

BrandonFG

  • Member
  • Posts: 18171
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #48 on: January 14, 2019, 09:11:09 PM »
If I recall correctly, one of the biggest differences was that the bachelor was allowed to SEE the bachelorettes (and vice versa) but I think they didn't necessarily sit in the same order as they were introduced
Correct. They mixed up the order so that the bachelor(ette) wouldn't automatically pick the person (s)he saw in the order in which they entered. So, it was Dating Game-esque in that it was still a blind pick.
"I just wanna give a shoutout to my homies in their late-30s who are watching this on Paramount+ right now, cause they couldn't stay up late enough to watch it live!"

Now celebrating his 21st season on GSF!

Fedya

  • Member
  • Posts: 2104
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #49 on: January 15, 2019, 05:15:50 AM »
Quote
Agreed. Watch a Winner's Circle loss, and see how Dick walks up with the perfect clue that immediately sets off a light bulb.

it might be even more fun when he comes up with a clue that backfires.  I'm reminded of one time Teresa Ganzel (I think) couldn't get the receiver to come up with THINGS AT A DISCOTHEQUE, so after the round Dick comes over with the "perfect" clue: a disc jockey.  Teresa responds, "You can say that?", and Dick suddenly realizes he's just given an illegal clue.
-- Ted Schuerzinger, now blogging at http://justacineast.blogspot.com/

No Fark slashes were harmed in the making of this post

KrisW73

  • Member
  • Posts: 260
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #50 on: January 15, 2019, 02:48:51 PM »
...Another clip comes to mind where the contestant got the winning answer at the buzzer, but the judges needed the commercial break to confirm. Dick's delivering the news that the contestant indeed won 10K was beautiful. I don't see a traffic cop host, or even one like Davidson (way out of his element here) pulling that off...

Agree 100% - and here's the clip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LAvUcPEwf8

jage

  • Member
  • Posts: 297
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #51 on: January 15, 2019, 05:01:24 PM »
TO my ear, flannel comes after the beginning of the buzzer. But hey, it helps the contestant so good for her.

rebelwrest

  • Member
  • Posts: 1102
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #52 on: January 15, 2019, 11:13:35 PM »
TO my ear, flannel comes after the beginning of the buzzer. But hey, it helps the contestant so good for her.

This was my response to a similar comment on that video:

Quote
She may have started after the buzzer, but go back to after getting the $50 box. Notice the small gap between the turning the $50 box and the turning of the $100 box. With a call that close, you have to think the contestant would have gotten Flannel out before the buzzer if that gap didn't exist.
My favorite Win Ben Stein's Money Category:

Where Am I Doc? Urinalysis Restaurant.

jage

  • Member
  • Posts: 297
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #53 on: January 16, 2019, 12:02:26 AM »
Yup very fair point. Who knows if that was considered in the original airing, but it worked out for the best.

rebelwrest

  • Member
  • Posts: 1102
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #54 on: January 16, 2019, 06:05:48 PM »
I'd also reason that Pyramid is a "traffic cop" kind of show. The host does very little, his is not the dominant voice.

A Pyramid host doesn’t read questions and isn’t in every shot, but this short changes the job Dick did. He did such an amazing job of setting a suspenseful tone yet wasn’t manic. His love for the game—granted it’s one of the best pure games ever—made it so involving.

Dick Clark's hosting of Pyramid also got him what may be the best written tribute to game show host ever.  This was written just after he passed away back in April of 2012.

http://gameological.com/2012/04/a-game-of-sounds/index.html
My favorite Win Ben Stein's Money Category:

Where Am I Doc? Urinalysis Restaurant.

PYLdude

  • Member
  • Posts: 8224
  • Still crazy after all these years.
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #55 on: January 16, 2019, 09:46:27 PM »
If I recall correctly, one of the biggest differences was that the bachelor was allowed to SEE the bachelorettes (and vice versa) but I think they didn't necessarily sit in the same order as they were introduced
Correct. They mixed up the order so that the bachelor(ette) wouldn't automatically pick the person (s)he saw in the order in which they entered. So, it was Dating Game-esque in that it was still a blind pick.

This was only for certain episodes though. I believe the majority of them consisted of the prospective dates all knowing each other's names, if nothing else.

(At least I think those were the majority. The ones described here, the "Looks/Personality" phase of the show as I've called it, didn't seem like they were the norm.)
I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

“We’re game show fans. ‘Weird’ comes with the territory.” - Matt Ottinger, 2022

Sonic Whammy

  • Member
  • Posts: 337
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #56 on: January 19, 2019, 07:48:19 PM »
Years ago, when I was at a coworker's party, a former Feud producer, upon learning I was a game show fan, asked me who my favorite Family Feud host was. I realized that I don't really have an answer to that question. I don't know exactly what the perfect Feud host should be, but in my opinion, both Dawson and Combs had their weaknesses that prevent them from being the ideal by which all other hosts should be judged. (To build on Tim's observation, to the extent that Dawson focused too much on the contestants over the experience of the at-home audience, Combs played too much to the audience at the expense of the contestants.)
Truly, I have to agree to the point that THIS may be the definitive answer to the "best host" question for Feud. I said before that every host, even Louie and Steve (don't care what anyone thinks), was and to this day is very serviceable in their role as host to the show. All comedians with their strengths and their flaws. Even after I said what I did several days ago about Dawson probably not being number one because of his transgressions, I can't say that Ray is #1 either. His walkout on the last show and subsequent downward spiral, while not totally tied to the show, still sticks with me. It can really just be that telling that the game is so "solid", as Louie put it, that it transcends who the comedian reading the question is.

And I'm gonna stick with that.
Brian Sapinski

Just Brian Sapinski... for now

whewfan

  • Member
  • Posts: 2000
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #57 on: January 21, 2019, 08:06:12 AM »
I'm sure people behind the scenes have their own opinion on the better host. I know someone that saw a taping with Louie Anderson hosting and he told me "he made a LOT of mistakes", so chances are a fair amount of editing was done to make Louie look better. I also know that Steve Harvey never tapes to time... similar to how Groucho would do a full hour show and it was edited down to a half hour. In the case of Steve, there's a lot of funny material to choose from, whereas with Louie, he tended to stumble a fair amount, and he was quite inconsistent. Some shows, he was quite funny and on a roll, and other shows, he looks very tired and wants to go home. One good thing I can say about Ray is that he was very consistent. You'd never know his struggles because when he did every show he was upbeat, happy, and enthusiastic. I also think Richard Karn was consistent, but not to his advantage. I can see why he was chosen... Richard Karn is a likeable guy and in terms of the game's mechanics, he knew it well, but he missed many opportunities to joke around when a bad answer was given. I also think that over time, he sort of became a caricature. His enthusiasm became more forced, and also, the set went from being a "Dawson inspired" earth tone set with browns, blues and yellow to a flashy discotheque. One thing about Dawson is that he never hid how he was feeling. We saw him upset, angry, frustrated, bored. I actually liked John O'Hurley. He brought charm to the show that it really needed, and he was quite funny. It also helped that they brought back the familiar Family Feud set and updated it for that time. For the first time I felt like I was watching a Feud that I grew up with.

cmjb13

  • Member
  • Posts: 2621
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #58 on: January 21, 2019, 09:59:08 AM »
Some shows, he was quite funny and on a roll, and other shows, he looks very tired and wants to go home.

I'd be curious to know if those shows were he looked tired were the last one or two episodes of the taping day.
Enjoy lots and lots of backstage TPIR photos and other fun stuff here. And yes, I did park in Syd Vinnedge's parking spot at CBS

DjohnsonCB

  • Member
  • Posts: 829
Re: Which host was better?
« Reply #59 on: January 22, 2019, 09:10:23 PM »
On It Takes Two, given the choice between Vin Scully and Dick Clark, I'd have to go Scully all the way, although Dick was just fine on Pyramid.
"Disconnect her buzzer...disconnect EVERYONE'S buzzer!"

--Alex Trebel