Mount Rushmore of game show hosts

[Hag]

I'd have to go with Barker, Rayburn, Trebek and Perry.

[Alfonzo]

My pics:

Tom Kennedy
Bill Cullen
Alex Trebek
Geoff Edwards

Reason? These four hosts were completely unflappable no matter what type of format their game show was. Versatility, to me, is a very important key to being a game show host. Wink Martindale and Jim Perry BARELY missed my cut because neither of them did any notable audience participation shows although I suspect that they both would have excelled in them. Jack Barry was another honorable mention for me.

As an added bonus, these are my picks for the four greatest creative/producing minds in game show history:

Mark Goodson
Jack Barry
Bob Stewart
Merv Griffin

[gamesurf]

1. Bob Barker
2. Alex Trebek
3. Tom Kennedy
4. Bill Cullen

Really can't disagree with any of these four.

• A list that doesn't have Bill Cullen isn't a list worth making. He could host a show about people reading the phone book and make it must-watch TV.
• There's not one single show I can point to to say "look at how great Tom Kennedy is", but he could do anything. Name That Tune, hard quizzer, word game, celebrity panel show,  Price, you name it, he could host it. Huge points for diversity and stretching himself. It's not his fault that his best-known show can't be rerun because music licensing hell, he deserves to be better-known.
• Bob may only known for only one show he stuck with for 35 years, but what a show!
• Trebek is a combination of #2 and #3. Obviously he's most associated with Jeopardy! and other hard quizzers, but he's also able to carry a celebrity panel show, a goofy show about rolling dice, a goofy show about elevators, a goofy show about talking cartoon characters...

As an added bonus, these are my picks for the four greatest creative/producing minds in game show history:

Mark Goodson
Jack Barry
Bob Stewart
Merv Griffin

Can't argue with any of these four either.

[pricefan18]

• Bob may only known for only one show he stuck with for 35 years, but what a show!

Technically 2 if you go back to his Truth or Consequences days.

[left4thehouse]

1. Barker
2. Cullen
3. Trebek
4. Allen Ludden.

[Disneyfreak]

Hi..Bob Barker
     Bob Eubanks
     Alex Trebek
     Bill Cullen           
 Hard to pick though! 

[Flerbert419]

I found this question really interesting but wanted to make sure I had a proper list to evaluate. Given that I knew nobody introduced in the last 20 years was going to cut it, I pulled out Appendix K: Index of Game Show Personalities from my copy of EoTVGS and started to work through each person.

Bob Barker and Bill Cullen were my automatic locks. There's not much to say about these titans that hasn't been mentioned before but I suspect Barker gets more nods based on this message board. Those that don't have Cullen on their list might be younger and should really take a look at how much he contributed near the start of the medium.

I started my research with the intent to prove that Alex Trebek was only on so many lists due to recency bias. What I found instead was that he is a necessary addition. 31 nominations and 7 wins for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host. The length of time that he hosted Jeopardy! - but he also had a wealth of experience with other shows. Add in the fact that he's foreign-born to have some diversity and I think he's a must.

While I feel confident about the 3 people above I think there are a handful to choose for the final spot. You could make an argument for Dick Clark, Pat Sajak, Peter Marshall - or my final pick, Wink Martindale. He had had a long standing recognizable role on Tic-Tac-Dough and remained in the industry for a long time, hosting over 17 shows. But he also in ways became the archetype for the Game Show Host, and many of the mannerisms that have been studied and parodied since that point were based on Wink. For that reason, he gets the final spot on my list.

[pricefan18]

While I feel confident about the 3 people above I think there are a handful to choose for the final spot. You could make an argument for Dick Clark, Pat Sajak, Peter Marshall - or my final pick, Wink Martindale. He had had a long standing recognizable role on Tic-Tac-Dough and remained in the industry for a long time, hosting over 17 shows. But he also in ways became the archetype for the Game Show Host, and many of the mannerisms that have been studied and parodied since that point were based on Wink. For that reason, he gets the final spot on my list.

It's funny you say this cause I was watching a clip from Wink's Academy of TV interview last night.....where he spoke of meeting Johnny Carson and how Johnny parodied him on every game show skit they'd do on the Tonight Show back then, seeing him as the atypical host, name and all. Take a look if you like, interesting little anecdote.

[Alfonzo]

I started my research with the intent to prove that Alex Trebek was only on so many lists due to recency bias. What I found instead was that he is a necessary addition. 31 nominations and 7 wins for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host. The length of time that he hosted Jeopardy! - but he also had a wealth of experience with other shows. Add in the fact that he's foreign-born to have some diversity and I think he's a must.

My Mount Rushmore was actually made up in my mind a couple of years ago, so recent sentiment does not apply to me. I was an Alex Trebek fan since I was a kid watching the late 70s High Rollers after morning kindergarten. Alex was an easy pick for me because he was able to change his hosting style according the levity of the game. What proof? Notice how different he hosts Double Dare compared to High Rollers, keeping in mind he hosted Double Dare in between both of his High Rollers stints.

I don't think my picks of Tom Kennedy and Bill Cullen needs explaining, but I consider my fourth pick, Geoff Edward's, to be one of, if not THE most underrated game show host in history! Not only could Geoff host pretty much ANY style of game show, he had a quick wit, great sense of humor and self-deprecatiion and an excellent ad-libber. He also did a great job in replacing hosts to games that were not suited for them as well as fill in for other hosting legends without losing a step.Yes, his best known games were short-lived but it certainly wasn't  his fault.

There was only one main reason I didn't put Bob Barker in my four, but it's through no blame of his own: Bob achieved most of his success hosting only one style of game show, audience participation. Of course Bob was the greatest audience participation host of all time by a country mile (Only Monty Hall, Geoff Edwards and Tom Kennedy come close), but I can't see Bob's hosting style work for a fast paced quiz show or a children's game show. I can see Alex Trebek hosting The Price is Right. I could never see Bob hosting Jeopardy!

Allen Ludden, another one of my all-time favorites, had the opposite effect on me. Allen would have been an excellent host of Jeopardy! and other intellectual style quizzes, but he would have been a poor choice to host The Price is Right or other more light-hearted fun fare. His hosting style just didn't fit that type of game.

[pricefan18]

My Mount Rushmore was actually made up in my mind a couple of years ago, so recent sentiment does not apply to me. I was an Alex Trebek fan since I was a kid watching the late 70s High Rollers after morning kindergarten. Alex was an easy pick for me because he was able to change his hosting style according the levity of the game. What proof? Notice how different he hosts Double Dare compared to High Rollers, keeping in mind he hosted Double Dare in between both of his High Rollers stints.

Or for that matter, how he hosted Classic Concentration whilst simultaneously hosting Jeopardy. That'd be an even better example of this.

Allen Ludden, another one of my all-time favorites, had the opposite effect on me. Allen would have been an excellent host of Jeopardy! and other intellectual style quizzes, but he would have been a poor choice to host The Price is Right or other more light-hearted fun fare. His hosting style just didn't fit that type of game.

You know this begs to mind a question. If say Allen didn't get cancer and die in 1981 like he did....could it have been possible with his aforementioned hosting style and College Bowl background in particular, that when Jeopardy came back 3 years later, he mighta been in the running to get the gig? He'd have been about 67 by then, but I could see him being a possibility even with that factor, given his credentials.

[Alfonzo]

You know this begs to mind a question. If say Allen didn't get cancer and die in 1981 like he did....could it have been possible with his aforementioned hosting style and College Bowl background in particular, that when Jeopardy came back 3 years later, he mighta been in the running to get the gig? He'd have been about 67 by then, but I could see him being a possibility even with that factor, given his credentials.

If he was up to the task, absolutely. There were some critics in the 1960s that thought Allen was too smart to host Password! If Allen's health was up to it I could certainly see him being a candidate because he was a familiar name that could bring in viewers and his style would have meshed perfectly with the show.

[howierules86]

1. Alex Trebek
2. Bob Barker
3. Steve Harvey
4. Pat Sajak

[bossman71_ky]

To me there is no equal to these four…two of them basically developed game show MC’ing for television, and all were so adept at multiple formats there is no comparison:

1) Bob Barker
2) Dennis James
3) Bill Cullen
4) Alex Trebek

[Superballer]

It's a tough call for sure, as each of those we consider legends brought a special something to their shows, but for me, it would probably be Bob, Cullen, Wink, and Alex as the very best. 

[priceguy]

A 3+ year bump to this thread, but since no one's complaining, I'll chip in my two cents. I did a little research and my picks represent how the Rushmore Presidents were chosen.

1. Ralph Edwards
2. Bill Cullen
3. Bob Barker
4. Alex Trebek

They represent the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the game show genre.