Tom Kennedy - My Thoughts on Him if You Care

[Lingofan97]

Are the 2012 PDFs archived anywhere? I'm missing quite a few.

Buzzerblog only has up to the end of January 2011, but in the web address you could just type the date in (the Monday that the pdf's were published)

[starwheel]

Tom Kennedy is a class act, and I think he and his brother Jack Narz are the two most underrated hosts, period. They were both so good, but so much of their work was either wiped, buried in a vault, or short-lived. Tom has always struck me as being such a friendly, fun person who really respected the people on his shows, and I agree that he could make any show his own. And always with that happy grin!

[espnews26]

Tom Kennedy was a better Password host than Bert Convy.

[Lingofan97]

Tom Kennedy was a better Password host than Bert Convy.

Many things went wrong with Bert Convy I heard in later episodes too

[BillCullen1]

Many things went wrong with Bert Convy I heard in later episodes too

Bert liked to goof around, but Kennedy was hosting Body Language when SP came on, so he wasn't available, Convy didn't have a show at the time so he got the gig. As for TPIR, I thought Tom handled that well, given all the pricing games he had to learn. Here in NYC, his version of TPIR aired at 2:30 am on NBC (Channel 4). I've always thought of Tom as one of three emcess you could give any format for a game show to and he would go out and execute it practically flawlessly. The other two are Bill Cullen and Wink Martindale.

[Lingofan97]

Bert liked to goof around, but Kennedy was hosting Body Language when SP came on, so he wasn't available, Convy didn't have a show at the time so he got the gig. As for TPIR, I thought Tom handled that well, given all the pricing games he had to learn. Here in NYC, his version of TPIR aired at 2:30 am on NBC (Channel 4). I've always thought of Tom as one of three emcess you could give any format for a game show to and he would go out and execute it practically flawlessly. The other two are Bill Cullen and Wink Martindale.

Both hosts of Password on GSN right now often goofed around (Alan Ludden and Bert Convy). But at times by mistake I believe Bert Convy shouted answers out. I think Alan Ludden goofed around more than Bert Convy did

[starwheel]

Both hosts of Password on GSN right now often goofed around (Alan Ludden and Bert Convy). But at times by mistake I believe Bert Convy shouted answers out. I think Alan Ludden goofed around more than Bert Convy did

They were both seasoned performers (lots of singing and acting and live theater), but had different ways of covering themselves when things got crazy...Bert would play out the joke, and Allen would try to laugh it off and divert. Completely different than a Kennedy or Cullen approach, but that's what makes it interesting! I always wondered how SP might have been different had Tom Kennedy hosted it. When he took over Password Plus, he really stayed true to the legacy of Allen Ludden, but added his own touch, and really kept the show alive, when it easily could have come to an end with Allen's passing. That couldn't have been an easy position to assume, but he did it graciously, and I think it speaks volumes about him.

[Xavier1989]

I think Alan Ludden goofed around more than Bert Convy did

You are wrong on many levels there. And it's Allen, not Alan.

[matchgame74fan]

They were both seasoned performers (lots of singing and acting and live theater), but had different ways of covering themselves when things got crazy...Bert would play out the joke, and Allen would try to laugh it off and divert. Completely different than a Kennedy or Cullen approach, but that's what makes it interesting! I always wondered how SP might have been different had Tom Kennedy hosted it. When he took over Password Plus, he really stayed true to the legacy of Allen Ludden, but added his own touch, and really kept the show alive, when it easily could have come to an end with Allen's passing. That couldn't have been an easy position to assume, but he did it graciously, and I think it speaks volumes about him.

This. All of this. Agreed wholeheartedly.

This post reminds me of something else: Allen Ludden blew puzzles too on occasion (you hear himself point that out on later episodes in his run sometimes), but his mistakes of that caliber were edited out. He was way more reserved about these kind of things compared to all the other hosts, especially Bert.

[Lingofan97]

This post reminds me of something else: Allen Ludden blew puzzles too on occasion (you hear himself point that out on later episodes in his run sometimes), but his mistakes of that caliber were edited out. He was way more reserved about these kind of things compared to all the other hosts, especially Bert.

Bert Convy blew a couple puzzles too. It has happened on many of these game shows (except Pyramid, usually)

[AddEmUp]

Great thread, Tom Kennedy has always been my favorite host. My two favorite shows of his were Whew! and Wordplay, both of which have unfortunately slipped into oblivion except for a few episodes on Youtube.

[Lingofan97]

Tom Kennedy was a better Password host than Bert Convy.

They should get Tom Kennedy's seasons of Password Plus eventually, if they continue to cycle through the current season and beyond.

[JMFabianoRPL]

Tom Kennedy was a better Password host than Bert Convy.

Funny you should say that, as I always felt as if Tom's run on PW+ was kind of the next step in the evolution of what would become SP. Allen was more laid back though humorous at times, but when Tom started hosting, that's when the humor really became prevalent on the show. And that carried over to SP and Bert's run of course.

[Lingofan97]

Funny you should say that, as I always felt as if Tom's run on PW+ was kind of the next step in the evolution of what would become SP.

That's where I have to say "Out with the old, in with the new", and that's what happened in the 1980's with "Password"