This makes me wonder, how many former hosts have actually "passed the baton"?
We didn't see Chuck introduce Pat Sajak, even though Pat does acknowledge Chuck on his first show. Richard Dawson wasn't present when any of his successors hosted Feud. (of course, there was a 3 year gap between Dawson and Combs and a 5 year gap between Dawson's return and Louie Anderson)
The only sort of "baton passing" I can think of is when Pat Sajak walked on to Bob Goen's premiere of Wheel. At that time, daytime Wheel was on CBS, so it seemed appropriate since his talk show was also on CBS. I was never a big fan of Bob on Wheel. I suppose he did a decent job considering the circumstances, but for me, he didn't make me forget Sajak. Dick Clark made a videotaped "good luck" to John Davidson for Pyramid... too bad it didn't do much good.
If Bob's going to make ANY appearance at all, it might be via videotape. I also like Drew using Bob's spay and neuter plea, but only if Drew is genuinely as considered about the pet population and the way strays are treated as Bob, not for the sake of keeping the memory of his predecessor alive.
When LMAD made an attempted comeback a few years ago, Monty knew that ANY host wouldn't make fans forget the glory days of Monty and Jay. He learned that lesson when he hired Bob Hilton to host in the 90s. I liked that Monty's name and presence were still very much alive for the 2002 revival, and that Monty intended on making occasional appearances. Unfortunately, when he made an appearance on what turned out to be the last show, he completely blew Billy Bush away. He proved that at 80, he was still the powerful presence he was then.
