(Other Host) Was Right There!

[Jeremy Nelson]

What shows/iterations have you watched where you believe that a better option was realistically available to do a better job? Not necessarily because the current host is so bad, but because it seemed like such an obvious overlook to not pick (insert person here)?

For me, it was Todd Newton on Game Show Marathon. While I understand wanting to hire a name people knew as host, it seemed like a waste to assign the guy tailor made for that job to the prize van instead.

[Dbacksfan12]

After Barker left Price, I thought Mark L. Walberg should have gotten the job over Drew.

Going back to the 80s, I think Tom Kennedy would have been better on the Tune revival.  But IIRC, they couldn't come to terms (Sandy Frank being too cheap?), so Lange got the nod instead.
ETA:  When was syndie Price sold and had Kennedy already been selected prior to going to NATPE?

[BrandonFG]

With no shade intended towards Bowser, I wonder if Peter Marshall can make chicken salad out of the MGHSHr?

[Chief-O]

I've probably felt at times that Rafferty should've gotten the CBS daytime run of "Card Sharks" instead of Eubanks.

After Barker left Price, I thought Mark L. Walberg should have gotten the job over Drew.

I seem to recall bouncing Marc Summers' name at the time (either here or golden-road.net), most likely in that he'd have probably been a bit of a name among the show's audience. Yes, Walberg seemed another good candidate to me as well, but I'm sure I had thought that "Antiques Roadshow" was keeping him busy at that time.

[chrisholland03]

With no shade intended towards Bowser, I wonder if Peter Marshall can make chicken salad out of the MGHSHr?

Not as long as Goodson is hamstringing the content.  I don't think he every really accepted what made Match Game work, nor did he appreciate what made Hollywood Squares work.

[aaron sica]

I won't make a suggestion, but rather leave the door open for more suggestions. Once again, no disrespect meant, but surely MG90 could have done better than Ross Shafer.

[PYLclark86]

I won't make a suggestion, but rather leave the door open for more suggestions. Once again, no disrespect meant, but surely MG90 could have done better than Ross Shafer.

Bob Sarlatte this is your time to shine!

He wasn't on camera for this gig, but Art James would've handled TTD '90 a lot better.

[Mr. Matté]

I won't make a suggestion, but rather leave the door open for more suggestions. Once again, no disrespect meant, but surely MG90 could have done better than Ross Shafer.

Bob Sarlatte this is your time to shine!

In keeping with the thread topic, he was replaced announcing on Letterman's morning show pretty quickly - "Hey, Bill Wendell already works for the network!"

On-topic example, I remember from the fan sites that described all the game rules, odds/ends, etc., there was a show from the late 80s/early 90s that had an awful host and Jim McKrell announcing (can't remember the exact show). The person describing the show did in fact write "Why didn't the producer just swap Jim and this guy?"

[Mike Tennant]

Swap announcer Jack Narz for host Monty Hall on All-New Beat the Clock. Monty was only doing it to fulfill his contract with CBS and didn't like it. Meanwhile, David Narz told our own Adam Nedeff (yes, I'm getting a lot of use out of Adam's books today):

As the show really struggled in the ratings, I remember my dad being really frustrated and saying, "Let ME host it!" Because my dad had already hosted it for three years and he just loved it. He was so into it. But CBS had this contract with Monty, and Monty was pretty much bound to be the host of the show.

[TimK2003]

I know that when LMAD went to Florida for the NBC reboot, Marc Summers was busy on the Nickelodeon side with Double Dare.  But I think he could have lasted longer than Bob Hilton had Marc hosted the show.

[Stackertosh]

Roger Dobkowitz has mentioned that Mark L. Walberg did an office run for The Price Is Right and completely blew everyone away, to the point where the staff strongly supported him, but the higher-ups ultimately said no. He also said that Marc Summers was suggested as another option and was turned down as well. No disrespect to Drew Carey at all—he’s been professional and clearly took the role seriously—but I’ve always felt there were stronger, more natural game show choices available at the time.

Bill Rafferty daytime Card Sharks

Tom Bergeron—Tic Tac Dough: I thought the pilot was a lot better than the GSN version, and Brooke Burns's hosting has been too robotic. 

David Faber on Jeopardy

I thought there were better choices for Family Feud instead of Louie Anderson and Richard Karn.

Gs Vault had a short clip of Michael Burger "Guest" hosting an unaired corporate Family Feud on the Karn set. I thought Burger would make a better host than Richard Karn.

[gamed121683]

I thought there were better choices for Family Feud instead of Louie Anderson and Richard Karn.

Funny you mentioned that, I remember reading somewhere that around the time they were replacing Louie Anderson for Feud, Ryan Seacrest was offered the gig. However, he turned it down because he had an audition for a little show called American Idol.

[Matt Ottinger]

Any show Bill Cullen didn't host.

[calliaume]

Any show Bill Cullen didn't host.

My never-written game show novel for National Novel Writing Month (R.I.P.) has a show's executive producer telling their somewhat-of-a-slacker host, "I can have Bill Cullen replace you tomorrow." (He gets better.)

Garry Moore would have been a much better host for the syndicated What's My Line? than Wally Bruner.

Peter Tomarken over Rolf Benirschke for Wheel of Fortune in 1989.

Geoff Edwards over Kevin O'Connell for Go!

[DoItRockapella]

Any show Bill Cullen didn't host.

Decades ago I remember a thread popping up on this Forum - "Imagine if Bill Cullen were still alive and willing to host a new show. Can you see him hosting WWTBAM? Deal Or No Deal?"

I personally have a hard time imagining either, but maybe that's just me.

On-topic example, I remember from the fan sites that described all the game rules, odds/ends, etc., there was a show from the late 80s/early 90s that had an awful host and Jim McKrell announcing (can't remember the exact show). The person describing the show did in fact write "Why didn't the producer just swap Jim and this guy?"

Again decades ago, the old Loogaroo's Game Show Lair website had a rulesheet/review for "I Can't Believe You Said That", a show that came and went in 1998 that I myself never saw, hosted by former NBA basketball player John Salley...with Marc Summers as announcer. Loogaroo had the obvious reaction.

Hi Tim if you're reading this. Used to really like your site - I even read some of your political columns and "Dreamless Sleep" werewolf stories.

To give my own answer, again involving Marc Summers - when the 2018 Beat The Clock on Universal Kids was in the works, Mr. Summers posted on his Instagram page a casting notice he had somehow found for it, starting that they wanted a "Marc Summers type" as host.

Yes, I realize that in 2018 Marc (A) would likely have been seen as too old and (B) had he been hired to host the IMO awful Universal Kids Beat The Clock, he would likely been unavailable for the IMO note-perfect Double Dare revival on Nickelodeon later that year.