The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: SamJ93 on April 01, 2012, 02:41:20 PM
-
There’s been plenty of discussion the past few weeks about hosts (OK, mostly John Davidson) who were just plain bad, but what about otherwise-competent emcees who just didn’t seem to be a good fit with a certain show or type of show?
My picks: Monty Hall on Split Second ’86. He was obviously rather uncomfortable handling a quiz show, especially compared to how Tom Kennedy hosted the same format. Second place might be Wally Bruner from syndicated “What’s My Line?”—he seemed rather dry and boring on that show (again, especially compared to Larry Blyden), but I later watched some of his non-GS work and he wasn’t too bad.
-
Even though I like watching him work, I thought that Marc Summers was "miscast" on shows such as History IQ and Wintuition--dry serious quizzes that don't leave much for humor or ad-libbing and byplay as opposed to Double Dare which could be paced by the host's whimsy.
I'll also plump for Tom Kennedy and Bert Convy being "miscast" for Body Language and Super Password. I think both shows would have been improved if each host was hosting the other. Body Language would still work fine with Bert (since you have the same amount of game play each day) and Tom was familiar with the Super Password format.
-
semiOT but not worth a new topic
i often wonder if chuck woolery wouldnt be great host of the new format of millionaire.
-
If we're gonna count "substitute hosts," my vote goes for Win Elliott when the subbed on Beat The Clock. He seemed too low-key for that kind of show.
For regular hosts, what was Jim Peck thinking when he agreed to the original Three's A Crowd? Then again, what was he thinking when (non-GS-wise) he did Divorce Court, for that matter?
Cordially,
Tammy
-
For regualar hosts, what was Jim Peck thinking when he agreed to the original Three's A Crowd?
. o O (I'm a game-show host for a living and I like being regularly employed.)
Then again, what was he thinking when (non-GS-wise) he did Divorce Court, for that matter?
. o O (Nobody wants to hire me to be a game-show host anymore, and I like being regularly employed.)
-
semiOT but not worth a new topic
i often wonder if chuck woolery wouldnt be great host of the new format of millionaire.
I can't see Chuck doing Millionaire. If you want to talk about miscasting, I thought he was wrong for Greed. He handled the show well overall, but the format left little chance for him to ad-lib or make any side commentary, both which I enjoyed on Wheel, Scrabble, Love Connection, and even Lingo.
How about this for miscasting... Blake Emmons on Chain Reaction. Blake was apparently a little known country singer, who previously had appeared as a contestant on TJW with Bill Cullen. Blake was DEFINITELY not game show host material. Granted Chain Reaction without celebs was quite dry, the set looked cheap, there was NO studio audience, and the stakes, don't get me started. Blake stumbled through a simple format, with a simpler scoring system than the original Chain Reaction (the only improvement to the game). He tried a little too hard to generate excitement, and came across as the stereotyped, plastic game show host.
Coming in at a close second, Dylan Lane on Chain Reaction. The original format, complete with "Go" bonus game, two teams of three, was very much intact. The only flaw, gameplay-wise was the final betting round. Geoff Edwards summarized Dylan best. Dylan was a stand up comic, yet he doesn't tell jokes! Dylan came across as just... blah. He wasn't TERRIBLE, he just wasn't interesting to watch. He could've used his comedy experience to at least make the game more fun to watch (and I've never seen Dylan's stand up) but instead he's just going through the motions of the game. However, I did find Dylan at least more TOLERABLE than Blake.
It also seems that replacement hosts for Nick shows don't fare very well either. Think Fast was entertaining enough to watch, but it did have some flaws. The Locker Room bonus game looked like chaos, and without a visible scoreboard, it was impossible to know how many matches the team got (this was fixed when Skip Lackey took over, one of the few things I LIKED about the Skip Lackey version). Michael Carrington had a very well trained voice for radio, but he did stumble quite a bit through the game. However, I did find him a couple notches better than Skip Lackey. Skip was just stereotypical game show host, and he was even more clueless about the gameplay than Carrington, constantly asking the judges who won, and didn't seem to connect too well with the contestants.
Larry Tofler was okay on Finders Keepers, but he did convey a sense of not knowing how to handle himself during the house trashing segments, and even he admitted it when he was interviewed on Don't Just Sit There.
Robb Edward Morris on Make the Grade... talk about inept. He was nervous, terrible with the kids, and again, just acted like a game show host.
I am amongst the minority that liked Jason Harris on DD 2000. He's NOT Marc Summers, but I think he did okay. Slime Time Live segments cut into the gameplay, and it did seem that DD 2000 had a lot less content than the original.
-
How about this for miscasting... Blake Emmons on Chain Reaction.
What else did Blake (or for that matter, any of the other hosts you mention) host with any sort of competency, as asked in the original question?
-
I agree with Chuck on Greed. His style was a perfect fit for early Wheel, Scrabble and Lingo, but his reputation as being loose and casual made him a poor fit on the tight, srs bzns feel of Greed.
-
How about this for miscasting... Blake Emmons on Chain Reaction.
What else did Blake (or for that matter, any of the other hosts you mention) host with any sort of competency, as asked in the original question?
Good point. In that regard, I also shouldn't have included any of the Nick hosts I previously mentioned or Dylan Lane, since none of them had hosted game shows before. Sorry about that.
I know a lot has been said about Gene and BTB, but what about The Movie Masters? I don't remember much about that show, except it looked cheaply produced and featured classic panelists like Peggy Cass and Kitty Carlisle, and it had the feel of the original WML and other classic black and white game shows, but I think the youthful demographic would've turned it off quickly. Anyone remember the game itself and how Gene handled it?
-
I agree with Chuck on Greed. His style was a perfect fit for early Wheel, Scrabble and Lingo, but his reputation as being loose and casual made him a poor fit on the tight, srs bzns feel of Greed.
I disagree. I thought that Chuck was able to tailor his performance on Greed to whatever the moment was: fun and light during the early questions and introductions, and serious and down to business for the big money time.
-
I agree with Chuck on Greed. His style was a perfect fit for early Wheel, Scrabble and Lingo, but his reputation as being loose and casual made him a poor fit on the tight, srs bzns feel of Greed.
I disagree. I thought that Chuck was able to tailor his performance on Greed to whatever the moment was: fun and light during the early questions and introductions, and serious and down to business for the big money time.
Agreed. Chuck injected the appropriate level of humor during the early questions. Once they got past the Terminator and got into the bigger money, he made things a little more serious.
I've said it before, but there were some pretty decent shows from the 1999-2000 class, better than the overblown tripe we got 5-10 years later. It's too bad they were all canceled early for not pulling Millionaire numbers.
-
I've said it before, but there were some pretty decent shows from the 1999-2000 class, better than the overblown tripe we got 5-10 years later. It's too bad they were all canceled early for not pulling Millionaire numbers.
And Greed was certainly not one of them, simply because Pick The Four Top Entries In This Poll You've Never Heard Of Until Now does not good material make when you are playing for One Million Damn Dollars.
-
And Greed was certainly not one of them, simply because Pick The Four Top Entries In This Poll You've Never Heard Of Until Now does not good material make when you are playing for One Million Damn Dollars.
This I agree with.
-
Ricki Lake for Game Show Marathon...
-
I've said it before, but there were some pretty decent shows from the 1999-2000 class, better than the overblown tripe we got 5-10 years later. It's too bad they were all canceled early for not pulling Millionaire numbers.
And Greed was certainly not one of them, simply because Pick The Four Top Entries In This Poll You've Never Heard Of Until Now does not good material make when you are playing for One Million Damn Dollars.
Wholly disagree. The whole point of Greed to me was that okay, we'll give away a top prize of $2M, but you're gonna have to earn your way to it. I thought they succeeded in doing that by making those questions as random as they did. How is it any different, then, from Millionaire asking questions like "Who was Uncle Sam modeled after" or "Who did Grant Wood base the farmer off of" or any of those questions that people normally would not have heard of unless they either a) knew the answer off the top of their head or b) had experience in something related to the question's subject matter? Other than the question formatting being different, which doesn't really matter, nothing.
-
I thought they succeeded in doing that by making those questions as random as they did.
As usual, I couldn't be happier to disagree with you.
How is it any different, then, from Millionaire asking questions like "Who was Uncle Sam modeled after" or "Who did Grant Wood base the farmer off of" or any of those questions that people normally would not have heard of unless they either a) knew the answer off the top of their head or b) had experience in something related to the question's subject matter?
Because there are multiple places you can pick things like that up over the course of time, as opposed to the single article (IF that) written in some magazine or another about whatever obscure-assed poll this is. Your examples are also questions with concrete, vetted answers from multiple sources, as opposed to "if you haven't seen this one specific poll's results (and really, why would you have), you are guessing."
Really, that you are even suggesting that the two are remotely equivalent shows that we have absolutely no common ground to come to any sort of conclusion on.
-
Wholly disagree. The whole point of Greed to me was that okay, we'll give away a top prize of $2M, but you're gonna have to earn your way to it. I thought they succeeded in doing that by making those questions as random as they did.
Nah, Chris is right here. When you get "questions" like "Name the top four best selling tampon brands of 1992", it makes the game way too hard and too random.
-
Wholly disagree. The whole point of Greed to me was that okay, we'll give away a top prize of $2M, but you're gonna have to earn your way to it. I thought they succeeded in doing that by making those questions as random as they did.
Nah, Chris is right here. When you get "questions" like "Name the top four best selling tampon brands of 1992", it makes the game way too hard and too random.
That wasn't a real question, was it? Because if it was, it wouldn't be hard to figure out. Kotex and Tampax come immediately to mind.
-
Nah, Chris is right here.
Admittedly, by definition. a Chris is right here. :)
-
That wasn't a real question, was it? Because if it was, it wouldn't be hard to figure out. Kotex and Tampax come immediately to mind.
Great, that's two. Now, two more. And oh, by the way, out of the six given answers, one of the "wrong" ones...was the fifth-best-selling. And you're not in tampon sales and so would have no occasion to see industry sales figures.
Good luck with that.
(And your example is even based on concrete data as opposed to a poll result, and it's STILL insanely hard. Now pick the top five most popular flavors of Kool-Aid out of this list of the top seven, as determined by a poll commissioned by the Norwegian edition of Cigar Aficionado.)
-
Wholly disagree. The whole point of Greed to me was that okay, we'll give away a top prize of $2M, but you're gonna have to earn your way to it. I thought they succeeded in doing that by making those questions as random as they did.
Nah, Chris is right here. When you get "questions" like "Name the top four best selling tampon brands of 1992", it makes the game way too hard and too random.
Again, I ask how is that different from the two million dollar questions I cited? Or for instance, Joe Trela's (computer bug) or Ken Basin's (well...you know)?
Don't deny the point, don't agree with it either. My philosophy in this case.
-
Admittedly, by definition. a Chris is right here. :)
I meant you, for the record. :)
/Disturbed by Owen's knowledge of tampons.
-
I liked a lot of the "alternate" hosts if you will...Kennedy was great on TPiR85, Jim Peck when subbing for Jack Barry was good, Bill Cullen was of course Bill Cullen on $25K pyramid....
However, my vote for miscast host goes to Louie Anderson. When I can't watch a game show because the host's voice annoys the piss out of me, that's *bad*. And just his delivery..."Show me restaurant, is it up 'dere?"
-
However, my vote for miscast host goes to Louie Anderson. When I can't watch a game show because the announcer's voice annoys the piss out of me, that's *bad*. And just his delivery..."Show me restaurant, is it up 'dere?"
I'm sure you meant "host" there but I just had a strange thought of Louie Anderson as a game show announcer...shudder.
-
Nah, Chris is right here.
Admittedly, by definition. a Chris is right here. :)
...and we all know that The Joker's Wild is a game of definitions.
Wait, what?
Speaking of TJW, I don't remember watching many episodes with him at the helm, but Uncle Bill didn't exactly seem like he'd be the right fit for that show.
-
However, my vote for miscast host goes to Louie Anderson. When I can't watch a game show because the announcer's voice annoys the piss out of me, that's *bad*. And just his delivery..."Show me restaurant, is it up 'dere?"
I'm sure you meant "host" there but I just had a strange thought of Louie Anderson as a game show announcer...shudder.
I did, thanks. Fixing now. :)
-
With "Greed", I agree the top-4 types of survey questions or sales didn't work. There were other elements I enjoyed, but the random questions like that which relied on blind guessing didn't work, not with that kind of money on the line.
Doing something closer to what "The Rich/Money List" may have worked better, i.e. Of these 7 movies released in the 1960s, which 4 won Best Picture?
-
Drew Carey. He's not the right guy to be hosting TPIR.
If I've offended any of Drew's fans, so be it.
Bill Cullen on P+. He had the format down slick but was just too slow. Apologies to fans of Bill Cullen.
-
Doing something closer to what "The Rich/Money List" may have worked better, i.e. Of these 7 movies released in the 1960s, which 4 won Best Picture?
Believe it or not, there was a Greed question requiring the team to pick out the four Best Pictures from the six choices.
One question I really liked from the original run was the one that gave statements about the game Monopoly and required the team to pick out the four true statements.
I know there was a Geocities site with all of the episode recaps, but I don't have it offhand. It would be very interesting to see just how prevalent survey/poll-style questions were, and whether the proportion of such questions changed during Greed's run.
-
I think the flaw in the questions is not necessarily a knock on the Greed format itself. If it knocked it off with the survey questions and actually asked questions of substance, the format would have shined a lot more.
-
8Doing something closer to what "The Rich/Money List" may have worked better, i.e. Of these 7 movies released in the 1960s, which 4 won Best Picture?
To their (eventual) credit, later in the run Greed did do "Which 4 of these X things fall under category Y?" and the upper shelf questions became playable and enjoyable. You still have the problems of one person dictating terms for everyone else and forcing players to play the game blind, which means teams quit out before the money reaches those last two levels.
-
Ricki Lake for Game Show Marathon...
She might have been alright on a relationship show, but she did not host any of the GSM episodes past competence. I don't know if CBS was going after a "name", but to have her as host and stick Todd Newton in the prize van was a bit baffling.
Bill Cullen on P+. He had the format down slick but was just too slow. Apologies to fans of Bill Cullen.
Same could be said for him on a few other shows. I, for the most part, like Bill, but he could bring shows to a halt.
-
Drew Carey. He's not the right guy to be hosting TPIR.
If I've offended any of Drew's fans, so be it.
Not me, I agree with you. I enjoyed his sitcom, and I enjoyed him on "Whose Line?". But do I enjoy him on TPiR? Umm, no is an understatement.
-
Admittedly, by definition. a Chris is right here. :)
I meant you, for the record. :)
/Disturbed by Owen's knowledge of tampons.
Well, when you have women in your life, it's something that goes with the territory. :)
-
Agreed. Chuck injected the appropriate level of humor during the early questions. Once they got past the Terminator and got into the bigger money, he made things a little more serious.
Even if Chuck did tone himself down a bit for Greed, I'm used to him being the more off-the-cuff, informal type. So seeing him play Greed more seriously was just jarring to me. A formal hosting style makes sense Greed, but IMO it doesn't fit Chuck.
-
Bill Cullen on P+. He had the format down slick but was just too slow. Apologies to fans of Bill Cullen.
I remember reading the same criticism of him with regards to "Joker". It was years ago, and I don't remember who said it/where it was, but I believe it mentioned that Bill was just better suited to slower formats.
-
Doing something closer to what "The Rich/Money List" may have worked better, i.e. Of these 7 movies released in the 1960s, which 4 won Best Picture?
And that's completely reasonable, because it is hard knowledge which you can reasonably expect a trivia buff to have come across at some point in their life, because it is available through a number of varied and discrete sources. Eamonn Holmes' Unfinished Business sucked for a lot of other reasons, but the material was at least fair.
As opposed to the poll questions, where we have no proof in a lot of cases if the poll results were even published in a format visible to the typical American, ever. (I'm guessing Gallup had or has a publication of some kind beyond their website. but how many people know that, much less subscribed to it?) And even if they were, it is unfair to ask a question based on an infographic that was only ever publicly published in the June 2, 1998 issue of the McPaper. Hot Potato got away with it because it was Hot Potato, didn't try to be anything else, and wasn't being played for Two Million Damn Dollars.
-
She might have been alright on a relationship show, but she did not host any of the GSM episodes past competence. I don't know if CBS was going after a "name", but to have her as host and stick Todd Newton in the prize van was a bit baffling.
That whole thing was a misfire. Seemed they wanted to take a snarky/sarcastic approach to the whole genre, turning it into some sort of parody vehicle.
Not saying the shows had to be straight tributes or revered like something religious, but the whole "LOL Aren't old game shows really cheesy?!" tone wasn't the best approach.
Shame, really. Great concept though.
-
How about Paul Reubens on You Don't Know Jack? Most people were so used to seeing him as Pee-Wee, that they just couldn't imagine him as someone else. Doesn't help that it the same year he was charged for a crime he didn't even think about committing (but that's for another time).
-
Doesn't help that it the same year he was charged for a crime he didn't even think about committing.
So you know what Paul thinks about?
-
How about Paul Reubens on You Don't Know Jack? Most people were so used to seeing him as Pee-Wee, that they just couldn't imagine him as someone else. Doesn't help that it the same year he was charged for a crime he didn't even think about committing (but that's for another time).
I'm playing the Proof or Not Real card on the second sentence. That sentence has zero merit. YDKJ happened a decade after his arrest and Pee Wee's Playhouse was pulled (excuse the punnage) off the air. And the last sentence... You Don't Know Jack was recorded in 2000/2001, and aired in the summer of 2001. If you're referring to his pornography arrest, Wiki says it happened in 2002.
No balls, two strikes.
-
And actually, I don't think Paul was miscast on YDKJ anyhow. He played the part of Douche Host Nonpareil to the hilt, and it worked. Which was about the only thing that worked.
-
How about Paul Reubens on You Don't Know Jack? Most people were so used to seeing him as Pee-Wee, that they just couldn't imagine him as someone else. Doesn't help that it the same year he was charged for a crime he didn't even think about committing (but that's for another time).
I'm playing the Proof or Not Real card on the second sentence. That sentence has zero merit. YDKJ happened a decade after his arrest and Pee Wee's Playhouse was pulled (excuse the punnage) off the air. And the last sentence... You Don't Know Jack was recorded in 2000/2001, and aired in the summer of 2001. If you're referring to his pornography arrest, Wiki says it happened in 2002.
No balls, two strikes.
But I thought his home was raided in 2001. And I know about his 1991 arrest. You don't have to remind me of that.
-
Bill Cullen on P+. He had the format down slick but was just too slow. Apologies to fans of Bill Cullen.
Bill was brought in on PP to fill in for Allen Ludden who had surgery. I believe I read that Ludden requested him. Because he walked with a limp from childhood Polio, they had work around him there, going to commercials when they otherwise would not, etc. Clearly the PP set was not built with Cullen in mind, but he and everyone else knew it was only a temporary thing.
Now to address the original question. I've got quite a few names here. We've already mentioned Davidson and Anderson. Here's a few others - remember these guys?:
Mike Darrow - The $128,000 Question and Jackpot (revival) - replaced on both shows by Alex Trebek and Geoff Edwards, respectively
Dick Martin - Mindreaders - great on "the Cheap Show" - a bit awkward on this GT show
Jon Bauman - Hollywood Squares portion of MGHS Hour - the less said the better
Bill Cullen - The Love Experts - a Bob Stewart show and it was a paycheck for him
Rolf Benershke (sp?) - Wheel of Fortune - what did Merv see in this guy?
Patrick Wayne - Tic Tac Dough '90 - weeee looooooose
Pat Finn - Jokers Wild - better on Shop Till You Drop
Lynn Swann - TTTT '90 - brought in to replace Gordon Elliott, who had his own contractual problems
Chris Wylde - Taboo - I still have nightmares from what I saw on YouTube
-
Doesn't help that it the same year he was charged for a crime he didn't even think about committing.
So you know what Paul thinks about?
In his defense, it was You Don't Know Jack, not You Don't Know Paul.
-
And the last sentence... You Don't Know Jack was recorded in 2000/2001, and aired in the summer of 2001. If you're referring to his pornography arrest, Wiki says it happened in 2002.
No balls, two strikes.
I'm certain GS87 is referring to the 2002 pornography arrest, which was contested -- both legally and in the court of public opinion -- and eventually dismissed. Still, while it was close enough to almost clear the "in the same year" bar, the fact that it happened after YDKJ means of course that it had absolutely no bearing on what people thought of his performance as Troy Stevens.
So yes, strike two.
-
Rolf Benershke (sp?) - Wheel of Fortune - what did Merv see in this guy?
The same thing Merv probably saw in Mike Reilly and Ty Treadway. I'll keep that open to your own interpretation.
-
And actually, I don't think Paul was miscast on YDKJ anyhow. He played the part of Douche Host Nonpareil to the hilt, and it worked. Which was about the only thing that worked.
I thought he was miscast, only because I found his character completely obnoxious. Cookie from the first PC game added the perfect amount of sarcasm to the game IMO.
-
Mike Darrow - The $128,000 Question and Jackpot (revival) - replaced on both shows by Alex Trebek and Geoff Edwards, respectively
How is it miscasting in either one of those cases? Maybe you could say it about Trebek's replacing him but his Jackpot! ran for three frigging years while Geoff's, although through no fault of his own the second time, went off the air at midseason. I thought that Mike Dar(r)ow was a fairly decent host on both series.
Patrick Wayne - Tic Tac Dough '90 - weeee looooooose
You know, there's a lot of other things Patrick Wayne did wrong as a host- the "YOU WIN" thing really isn't cutting it for me anymore as the primary reason.
Lynn Swann - TTTT '90 - brought in to replace Gordon Elliott, who had his own contractual problems
How was that miscasting? If anything, the Gordon Elliott thing was a miscast because NBC and Goodson really didn't do their due diligence in regards to his contractual situation.
I think your inquiries here are more along the lines of "I didn't like this host so it was a miscast job" rather than being on the topic discussed.
-
"I didn't like this host so it was a miscast job" .
But if you liked a guy's performance, you're not going to say he was miscast, are you?
-
"I didn't like this host so it was a miscast job" .
But if you liked a guy's performance, you're not going to say he was miscast, are you?
I could say I liked Bill Cullen's attempt to hold the fort on TJW, but I could also say that his hosting style didn't help matters for an already dying show.
Which I do. While I don't give Bill as much crap as some have done for his work on Joker and think he made the best out of a bad situation (jumping in after Barry's death like he did), I also think they could've done better in picking a replacement.
-
Bill was brought in on PP to fill in for Allen Ludden who had surgery. I believe I read that Ludden requested him.
I'm afraid not. Bill was the producers' choice because he could pick up the format quickly.
-
I think Paul Reubens as Troy Stevens was bad because it was evident that he was a character. I can't think of any game show where the host is clearly portraying a character worked. It was almost like watching a bad SNL skit instead of a real game show.
I disagree with whomever said Bill was miscast for PW+. I thought he did very well. It was also nice to see Bill's unique style blend in quite nicely with the format. As for TJW, he was a bit slow. Jack Barry ran the show at a brisk pace, even in the show's later years, so for the fans to suddenly see the pacing change might've been a turn off. Some of us know the story of when Jim Peck filled in for Bill Cullen. Jim ran the show as fast as Jack Barry used to, and they had to stop tape because they ran out of questions! The producers were used to Bill's pacing at that point.
Lynn Swann was fine on TTTT. I think he was only meant as a temporary replacement until another host could be found. Lynn was on the panel from time to time in the 1990 run, so he already knew the game.
Also, while I agree that Rolf and Michael Reilly were not the best choices to host their shows, I didn't have any problem with Ty Treadway on Merv Griffin's Crosswords. Was Merv really THAT involved with the show? His health was quite poor then, and I think he died before the show premiered on TV.
I think Ty was one of those hosts that just played the game, but added little to nothing personality-wise. I think Crossword's major problem was with the spoilers. It just seemed unfair that the two front players could accumulate all the money solving many words, then one of the spoilers takes all that money by only solving ONE word.
-
No balls, two strikes.
If there were no balls, why'd he get arrested in the first place?
-
Trebek and Classic Concentration: He was so bored with the show that the producer took away the role of explaining the rebus from him and gave it to the winning contestant.
-
Trebek and Classic Concentration: He was so bored with the show that the producer took away the role of explaining the rebus from him and gave it to the winner contestant.
I disagree, I thought Trebek was rather enthusiastic and lively on CC. It's possible they let the contestants explain the rebuses to give them more interactivity?
Is it true Trebek lobbied to NBC for another season after they switched to full-time reruns?
-
Trebek and Classic Concentration: He was so bored with the show that the producer took away the role of explaining the rebus from him and gave it to the winner contestant.
1/10. Not very believable at all.
-
Trebek and Classic Concentration: He was so bored with the show that the producer took away the role of explaining the rebus from him and gave it to the winner contestant.
I'm afraid I'm going to need a source before I do anything but dismiss this accusation as yet another example of complete and total Alfonzo hogwash.
-
Alfonzo hogwash.
Didn't he play Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
-
Alfonzo hogwash.
Didn't he play Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
ObGameShows: Alfonzo Hogwash hosts Catch 21 on GSN.
-
ObGameShows: Alfonzo Hogwash hosts Catch 21 on GSN.
Actually, Alfonzo Hogwash is my Gnarls Barkley cover band.
-
Trebek and Classic Concentration: He was so bored with the show that the producer took away the role of explaining the rebus from him and gave it to the winner contestant.
1/10. Not very believable at all.
While I can't vouch for him being bored, speaking with someone who worked on the show stated that he did keep to himself in his dressing room most of the time.
-
Alfonzo hogwash.
Didn't he play Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
ObGameShows: Alfonzo Hogwash hosts Catch 21 on GSN.
No, no. It's the show that's hogwash. Alfonzo Hogwash founded the school Harry Potter attends.
-
Wholly disagree. The whole point of Greed to me was that okay, we'll give away a top prize of $2M, but you're gonna have to earn your way to it.
From what I read in an interview with His Dickness, earning the money didn't enter into it any more than any other game show that came before or after Greed. The idea was to give away more money than Millionaire, and to make the game accessible as possible to as many people as possible, because though anybody can take a guess at the $250k or $500k questions, most often you didn't have the knowledge base to do so with any more certainty than a Holstein dropping a gutload.
So yes, they asked you questions about things that you normally interact with, like cheese or Jell-O or cars, but they asked the questions in such a way that you couldn't possibly have previous knowledge of the answers other than vague notions. The only difference between what Greed did at the beginning and saying "Pick the four hieroglyphics out of six shown that are in this sealed envelope and you win $200,000" is that you've heard of Compaq, Lucky Charms and Buddy Holly. It works on Pointless, Hot Potato, and even Rich List/Who Dares Wins, but it didn't on Greed.
-
Rich List/Who Dares Wins
Wait a second, though. This and Pointless quite specifically use material with a finite number of tangible answers, and in the case of Pointless, the poll is quite specifically the point (as it were); it's just that the poll question is "Which tangible answer is least likely to be given while still *being* given?" On this, there was still a finite list of definitely correct answers. Those questions are fine. It's when Greed asks those Gallup Poll questions that most people couldn't even pause tape and look up on Teh Intarwabs that I have a huge problem.
If Greed stuck more to the type of stuff like the question they asked to Curtis Warren about movies being made from TV shows (which is funny in hindsight because looking at it, six of the eight answers are now correct), or something like "Of these eight flavors, which five are found in a Five Flavors roll of Life Savers candy?" I'd have a far more favorable opinion of it.
-
someone who worked on the show stated that he did keep to himself in his dressing room most of the time.
I tend to have a rather dim view of humanity so I tend to not go out and interact with people at large if I can help it. One does not necessarily follow from the other.
-
While I can't vouch for him being bored, speaking with someone who worked on the show stated that he did keep to himself in his dressing room most of the time.
As do most other game show emcees (and celebrity guests).
-
Rolf Benershke (sp?) - Wheel of Fortune - what did Merv see in this guy?
The same thing Merv probably saw in Mike Reilly and Ty Treadway. I'll keep that open to your own interpretation.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH...beefcake! (SCTV-ish Merv-ish reference)
JakeT
-
Jack Barry on "Break the Bank" 1976. He seemed much better suited to interact with civilians and children than with celebrities.
Gene Rayburn on "Break the Bank" 1985. I know he has been mentioned previously.
Jim Caldwell on "Tic Tac Dough" 1985-86. I often wonder how much longer the show might have lasted had Wink remained host and had they not "Easter"ized the set in pastels....
Patrick Duffy on "Bingo America".
Pat Bullard on "Card Sharks" 2001.
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman for "Hollywood Squares".
Monty Hall "Beat the Clock" 1979
Bob Hastings "Dealer's Choice" 1974 (He also portrayed "Mr. Kelsey" of Kelsey's Bar on "All in the Family")
-
Jim Caldwell on "Tic Tac Dough" 1985-86. I often wonder how much longer the show might have lasted had Wink remained host and had they not "Easter"ized the set in pastels....
I thought the set updates were a welcome change. That set looked badly out of date by 1985.
Wasn't the show losing steam at that point anyhow to WoF and J? Exposing how weak the show actually was?
-
Jim Caldwell on "Tic Tac Dough" 1985-86. I often wonder how much longer the show might have lasted had Wink remained host and had they not "Easter"ized the set in pastels....
I thought the set updates were a welcome change. That set looked badly out of date by 1985.
Wasn't the show losing steam at that point anyhow to WoF and J? Exposing how weak the show actually was?
I agree on the wood grain being woefully outdated, but "Wheel" even steamrolled "Feud". I don't think it was the format as much as it was "Wheel" just storming out the gate that first season.
-
I thought the set updates were a welcome change. That set looked badly out of date by 1985.
100% agreed about the set.
Watching the Caldwell TTD ep. Jamie posted on his site yesterday, another thing which was dated by that time was the computer system used to run the board and the computer graphics. The electronics and graphics between the end of the Caldwell run and the start of Patrick Wayne's show four years later are like night and day. A fairer comparison would probably be 12 years, since I would guess the computers and electronics associated with running the game board was the same from the start of the CBS run through the end of the syndie version 8 years later.
-
I agree on the wood grain being woefully outdated, but "Wheel" even steamrolled "Feud". I don't think it was the format as much as it was "Wheel" just storming out the gate that first season.
And, to think, some TV experts thought Syndie WOF was going to be a bust when it first debued.
-
I agree on the wood grain being woefully outdated, but "Wheel" even steamrolled "Feud". I don't think it was the format as much as it was "Wheel" just storming out the gate that first season.
And, to think, some TV experts thought Syndie WOF was going to be a bust when it first debued.
Which amazes me even more, considering how close it was to cancellation in the early-80s. I think the ratings picked up a bit around the time Pat took over on NBC. IIRC, it was the #2 daytime game that season (anyone got an EOTVGS handy?), but considering how few games there were between late-1981 and fall '82, I don't think that's saying much.