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.