Game Show Host: Difference between revisions
m
clean up
m (update links) |
m (clean up) |
||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
Line 7:
The visible front end of any [[Game Show]]. This is the person who moderates the show and actually runs the game; s/he also enforces the rules (though s/he usually has to defer to off-screen officials for any close judgment calls), engages in small talk with the guests, and keeps the mood light and fun.
Game Show Hosts are [[Acceptable Targets|popular butts of jokes]] in fiction. This may have something to do with their need to maintain a jovial atmosphere as previously stated, even when contestants are losing, which might make them seem aloof; or maybe they just come across as slimy and slick, like common depictions of a [[Honest John's Dealership|used car salesman]]. For whatever reason, fictional game show hosts are often presented as smarmy, obnoxious, untrustworthy opportunists who seem to revel in the misfortune of contestants (a [[Dead Unicorn Trope]] of course). Also, since quiz show hosts know, by necessity, the answer to each question, they tend to come off as condescending — perhaps unintentionally, but nonetheless. They also tend to be almost [[Always Male|exclusively male]]; women on a game show's staff are more likely to be [[Lovely Assistant
There has been a recent (not new) trend, at least for high-profile American programs, to cast has-been D-listers as Game Show Hosts.
----
* [[Bill Cullen]], the original host of ''[[The Price Is Right]]'', ''[[Blockbusters]]'', and many other shows.
* Bob Barker of ''[[Truth or Consequences]]'' and ''The Price Is Right'', probably the most famous game show host in history.
Line 61:
* Bill Rafferty of the late-1980s editions of ''Card Sharks'' and ''Blockbusters''.
* Guy Smiley, a [[Muppet]] performed by [[Jim Henson]] on ''[[Sesame Street]]''.
* Damon Killian, host of ''[[The Running Man (film)|The Running Man]]'' in the 1987 film, played by Richard Dawson! (In the [[The Running Man (novel)|original Stephen King book]], his name is Dan Killian and he's the producer rather than the host. In the movie, he's the show's host and creator.)
| |||