5 Comments

Dr. Oz was terrible. The worst by far. It was like he was the ticket taker at a bus station.

Ken Jennings was OK, but he's a bit eager beaver and he's also trying to hustle everybody through, and he kind of obviously thinks of himself as a contestant. Generally the host in this kind of situation is, in a sense, supposed to be part of the wallpaper - a presence, but not a participant in the game like a contestant. He was definitely part of the game.

Bill Whittaker was fine, but he was a little dull.

Anderson Cooper was fine, and I like the man, but I think he's the wrong fit here. This is a quiz show, and on the one side, you can fall into dull hyper-nerdism and that small stakes/bitter argument energy. On the other side, everyone gets anxious to get it right, including the audience which can make it a lot less fun. Trebek had that Canadian mellow energy going, and that's what Cooper (and Jennings are missing).

Buzzy Cohen is fun, or whatever, but this is a pretty baseball-type game. Buzzy would be a good color man, but the host energy is strictly long-time play-by-play. (Think Gary Thorne.)

Aaron Rodgers was excellent, but he needs polish to smooth out.

Bill Richards was excellent, but he'd be moving into the big man's chair, and he knows it, so he'd need to grow into the job a bit.

Mayim Baylik was head-and-shoulders above everybody else. She's smart, so she's got the questions down, she's not anxious, but very smooth, and she can tell people they're wrong without being grating at all about it, which is what you need.

Lavar Burton is interesting, and he's a good guy, but he still has a hill to climb to beat out Baylik.

If I had been making the call, I would have been 'stop the competition, we have a winner here' when Baylik was on, so...

elm

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It's LeVar Burton. Looking forward to seeing him. Mike Richards was really good. Mayim Bialik also. Ok, I'll stop at two cents worth.

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I said Mayim Bialik before Alex was even sick. I remember him once saying that he would like his successor to be a woman. She's brilliant, hard working, funny, and once she got over her nerves, was outstanding! But she was just renewed for a second season of her sitcom. Not sure how that factors in to all this.

I thought ARog was horrible - boring, unengaging, too serious. It didn't look like he was having any fun. Same with Whitaker - total snooze fest.

Lavar wants the job. It would be a beautiful diversity move. Could inspire millions of black children to stay in school. It would warm my heart to see him get it. :)

Cooper was utterly fantastic. Didn't miss a beat, completely at ease, a natural. But I totally agree, he's got a pretty sweet gig. But he did just adopt a child and maybe is looking for something a little less demanding of his time?

I will always love Buzzy. My all-time favorite contestant.

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