The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: SamJ93 on September 04, 2025, 10:05:53 AM
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Who are some game show hosts & announcers who started out badly, but ended up being at least passable?
I thought of this because I seem to remember Mark L. Walberg getting a lot of flak when he first started out... although this may have just been because his early shows (Shop 'til You Drop, The Big Date) were themselves rather lacking in quality. On the announcer side, Jim Thornton was mediocre at best as a fill-in on TPiR, but definitely found his groove on Wheel.
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My initial reaction was Mark L. too, for the same reason. I think Mark L. started gaining legitimacy was with Russian Roulette.
Graham Elwood too. Strip Poker? Meh. Cram? Much better.
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I thought George Gray improved quite a bit going from Extreme Gong to the syndie Weakest Link.
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Mike O'Malley was so incredibly hyper hosting Get the Picture but improved tremendously hosting GUTS/Global GUTS.
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The TPIR staff was impressed by Mark L.'s emcee audition. They thought he was "the guy".
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I've always maintained that if some other guy with a very similar name didn't become famous at about the same time, Mark L. would be much better known than he is, and it's a shame that it never happened by no fault of his own.
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There is a TPIR demo with Bob Hilton announcing. I thought he was very good, better even than Rod Roddy.
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My initial reaction was Mark L. too, for the same reason. I think Mark L. started gaining legitimacy was with Russian Roulette.
Graham Elwood too. Strip Poker? Meh. Cram? Much better.
Same thought with George Gray but each of our cases had much better material to work with.
I would give high marks to Brooke Burns who went from being chained to the prompter on Dog Eat Dog to become king a reliable presence for GSN.
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I may have mentioned this before, but Pat Finn was "just getting his foot in the door" on the 1990 Joker's Wild; but Shop Til You Drop was a much better fit for him.
Cordially,
Tammy
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I thought George Gray improved quite a bit going from Extreme Gong to the syndie Weakest Link.
I think it was that George was able to adapt to the persona they wanted. He was obnoxious on Extreme Gong because it was what they wanted. When Weakest Link came along, I do think that gave him a better opportunity to put his spin on the show. Being an Anne Robinson clone isn't going to work. The format allowed him to adapt to a host that was playfully snarky when he needed to be. If you told me though while he was hosting Extreme Gong that he would later be the TPIR announcer, I would've NEVER believed you.
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I may have mentioned this before, but Pat Finn was "just getting his foot in the door" on the 1990 Joker's Wild; but Shop Til You Drop was a much better fit for him.
Cordially,
Tammy
Pat mentioned in a segment for the TJW 90 pilot that in the first pilot, he was more playful and funny with the contestants, but Kline didn't want that. Kline also wanted Pat to wear glasses, which he didn't need, to make him look more intellectual. I wonder what the show could've been if Kline left Pat alone, but I guess STYD would give you some idea how much looser Pat is when you just let him be.
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There is a TPIR demo with Bob Hilton announcing. I thought he was very good, better even than Rod Roddy.
Bob Hilton was okay on TPIR to me, but hearing him on the TPIR 94 pilot, seemed very out of place. Burton was a better fit for that IMO.
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My initial reaction was Mark L. too, for the same reason. I think Mark L. started gaining legitimacy was with Russian Roulette.
Graham Elwood too. Strip Poker? Meh. Cram? Much better.
I think it would be hard for just about anyone to make something palatable out of stripping and poker. I mean, who watched Strip Poker for the GAME?! (Considering it was short lived, a better question might be WHO was watching?!) Cram obviously had a LOT more going for it.
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Who are some game show hosts & announcers who started out badly, but ended up being at least passable?
I thought of this because I seem to remember Mark L. Walberg getting a lot of flak when he first started out... although this may have just been because his early shows (Shop 'til You Drop, The Big Date) were themselves rather lacking in quality.
Mark L Walberg feels like a talented guy who worked in an era with of a lot of crap TV and did what he could to put food on the table. Given good material, he rises to its level. He doesn't elevate a show, but he doesn't lower it either.
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Drew Carey on TPiR. Not that he was terrible in his first season but there were definitely growing pains where he stumbled a bit. Hell, I'd add Barker as well. He was very robotic and overexplained things a lot in the half-hour era. If the Internet were a mainstream thing in 1972, I have a feeling several of us would've said "He's no Bill Cullen, that's for sure."
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There is a TPIR demo with Bob Hilton announcing. I thought he was very good, better even than Rod Roddy.
He was, but in his recent game show interview, Bob Hilton said Barker was afraid he would be upstaged as both hosted Truth or Consequences by that time. So Barker himself gave Hilton the thumbs down.
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I’ll take announcers for my pick and go to Jim Thornton. I wasn’t entirely blown away by his performance on Price, but he fits Wheel nicely.
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Drew Carey on TPiR. Not that he was terrible in his first season but there were definitely growing pains where he stumbled a bit. Hell, I'd add Barker as well. He was very robotic and overexplained things a lot in the half-hour era. If the Internet were a mainstream thing in 1972, I have a feeling several of us would've said "He's no Bill Cullen, that's for sure."
Yea, I didn't want to go there, but...I'm going there. I can't imagine what it must have been like having the pressure on you of following in Bob's shoes, knowing the rules for over 60-some games, the different marks he had to make, etc. But, he definitely seemed a bit awkward. But, clearly, since around 2010 (I may be off), he has made that show his own, while paying homage to Bob at the same time.
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I admit I'm biased, but you look at Chuckie Baby his first week of hosting GONG and his last week of hosting GONG, and the difference is stark.
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Drew Carey improved a lot once Roger and co. left and he found his groove in 2010. His first few seasons were awkward because it still felt like Bob's show and he was filling in.
I still wish Art Sanders or Burton Richardson had gotten the announcer job; i still don't know how Rich got the job.
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Mike O'Malley was so incredibly hyper hosting Get the Picture but improved tremendously hosting GUTS/Global GUTS.
I'd argue that the jump from GTP to Guts was just the same guy in a much better vessel for his energy.
I'd give a nod to Ken Jennings, who has really grown into the role.
I've always maintained that if some other guy with a very similar name didn't become famous at about the same time, Mark L. would be much better known than he is, and it's a shame that it never happened by no fault of his own.
I dunno- it's not like Marky Mark was siphoning work away from Mark L; if anything, people saying his name likely piqued more interest in Mark L, as he jokes on Price Live.
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Drew Carey improved a lot once Roger and co. left and he found his groove in 2010. His first few seasons were awkward because it still felt like Bob's show and he was filling in.
I think it’s a cross between needing to carve out his own lane but also getting away from the monotony of the past 36 years. The perfect bid was probably the best thing that could’ve happened, as it forced the show to add a better variety of prizes. Could Drew have handled it better on air? Yes, but I understand his concern over a potential scandal one year into the job.
Getting away from the “Fried Chicken!”-style Showcases was a good move too. I’d argue he found his stride around 2011-12.
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I'd give a nod to Ken Jennings, who has really grown into the role.
It's pretty amazing how much he's improved from the first guest hosting stint, but he talked about how it took a lot of personal work and training to get even to that point. Ken has gotten really good at the off-the-cuff comments from the contestant interviews during the game, adding his own comments/details, and other quips. He recently mentioned in an interview he writes all of his own intros as well. Extremely natural, and I think that it ended up being the best for Jeopardy! from a legacy perspective, as someone directly connected to the game - but he did the work to become a solid host. More enjoyable for me from a game perspective than the final few Alex years.
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My primary takeaway from this thread is that if somebody works for years at a job, they get better at the job, which is fairly intuitive -- even Barker credits his experience hosting a local radio audience participation show for honing his skills prior to Truth or Consequences. Even the hosts that often get derided around here for their poor hosting abilities probably would have improved if their shows had lasted five years or so.
The only way a host gets worse at their job is if they've been doing it for so long, they've mentally checked out. Were there any hosts who got years and years of experience but didn't show improvement?
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Were there any hosts who got years and years of experience but didn't show improvement?
Besides David Sparks? :)
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Drew Carey improved a lot once Roger and co. left and he found his groove in 2010. His first few seasons were awkward because it still felt like Bob's show and he was filling in.
He has. But I still wish he wouldn't be so predictable during the SCSD. The obligatory "Who do you wanna say hi to?" line for every contestant still sounds like he's not that interested or comfortable in emceeing the show.
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The only way a host gets worse at their job is if they've been doing it for so long, they've mentally checked out. Were there any hosts who got years and years of experience but didn't show improvement?
The ones who pop in my mind are Louie Anderson and Richard Karn.
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The only way a host gets worse at their job is if they've been doing it for so long, they've mentally checked out. Were there any hosts who got years and years of experience but didn't show improvement?
The ones who pop in my mind are Louie Anderson and Richard Karn.
Louie, absolutely. I thought Karn was just fine on Bingo America.
Been watching quite a bit of 3rd Degree lately and as someone who’s been a Bert Convy apologist to certain degrees over the years, this was not the way he should’ve gone out. His style works for Tattletales, people’s mileage varies on Super Password, and he doesn’t have to be anything more than a traffic cop on WLOD so he’s fine. But his limitations shine through on a panel show like 3rd Degree and I can’t help but wonder if Peter Marshall might’ve done better. (I still don’t think the show makes it beyond a year; I mean, yeah, you got the revival of To Tell the Truth the next season, but I don’t think panel games were something a 1990 television audience would be clamoring to watch on a regular basis even if everything worked out right.)
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Drew Carey on TPiR. Not that he was terrible in his first season but there were definitely growing pains where he stumbled a bit.
One of the reruns this week had a playing of Switcheroo where the contestant got two right and proceeded to make changes. One person in the crowd started to groan and Drew says "Good morning, Judge Mental!" It's a great bit that deserved a laugh and did not need to be dwelt upon or to have it become a historic moment and the annals of the show. It was a comedian doing comedy and it landed. For me stuff like that is worth the price of admission.