Anthony Anderson ( To Tell the Truth)Īnthony Anderson - the Emmy-nominated star of Black-ish, and another key member of ABC's talent bench - gets the benefit of a celebrity panel on his show. But what she does effectively is a credit to her: she keeps the acerbic qualities of Robinson's hosting without replicating them, artfully pitting contestants against each other as the game goes on. As I've written before, much of what works about the new show stems from its casting, while Lynch takes a bit of a step back. As the original host of the show for both its US and UK incarnations, Robinson was essential to the Weakest Link brand, making Lynch's role in the show's revival that much more challenging. Like another higher up on this list, Jane Lynch has the long shadow of a beloved host hanging over her on Weakest Link, although Anne Robinson is (thankfully) still with us. As a work of performance art, it almost works. You get the sense that he doesn't understand the show's rules any better than the rest of us, and he's OK with that. He's so lackadaisical, so low-key in comparison to the chaos that surrounds him. There's something almost surreal about his hosting style. I won't argue that Joel McHale is particularly great at hosting the reboot of Card Sharks, a needlessly complicated show that I've watched many times and still don't fully underrstand, but I do put him above folks like Strahan and Haines because he's more interesting to watch. She's toward bottom of this pack, but more because of the constraints of the show than any failing of her own.
It's kind of a thankless gig that Haines handles as best as she can. Haines has to shuttle the show from section to section without losing the audience, while leaving most of the banter to the three Jeopardy! champions - Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer - whoserve as opponents for the contestants. I do think that her task is slightly more difficult, owing to The Chase's other talents and the somewhat convoluted format. And, like Strahan, she's perfectly able as a host - she just doesn't bring a lot of flair to her role. Like her former co-host Strahan, The View's Haines is another member of ABC's talent reserves who's been brought in to fill a primetime game show-hosting slot. As a morning talk show host, he's aces, but his Pyramid performance proves that not all hosting gigs use the same skills. It's not that Strahan is bad on the show, but Pyramid in particular is a format that benefits from great host-and-contestant banter, and Strahan doesn't quite hit that note. And there's his spot hosting The $100,000 Pyramid. There was Strahan, Sara & Keke, the short-lived GMA spinoff co-hosted by Sara Haines and Keke Palmer. After pulling the former New York Giants defensive end from Live! With Kelly to co-host Good Morning America - a scandalous move that infuriated Kelly Ripa at the time - the network has given Strahan further opportunities to flex his muscles as on-camera talent.
There's no question that ABC is deeply invested in Michael Strahan. Put another way: it seems like she's playing the role of a game show host, not actually being a game show host. She doesn't seem particularly invested in the contestants, and tends to perform her parts of the show as if she were playing Elizabeth Banks. But what makes Banks great as an actress doesn't always translate to her work as a host. Elizabeth Banks ( Press Your Luck)Įlizabeth Banks is a gifted comic actress, a producer, a director - and yes, she's also the host of Press Your Luck.
From Match Game, to The Weakest Link, to Supermarket Sweep, you can make a meal out of the many game shows on the Big Four networks each week, and helming those shows is a fleet of celebrity hosts.īut what makes a great primetime game show host? How well-equipped are some of these big names to lead their series? We've taken a dozen of our favorites and ranked them to figure out who is the best of the best.
Network TV is currently flooded with game shows in primetime.