TVSquad

Last week, dear brother Joel (really, he's my brother, except I'm prettier) asked you, the beautiful TV Squad readers, if Meredith Vieira could be taken seriously as both the host of both Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Today. Some of you said there was no problem with Vieira's credibility; others said it should be one or the other.

Well, folks, lovely Meredith is not the first person to do double-duty as both a game show host and a news personality. As Joel stated in his post, Joe Garagiola hosted and was a panelist on a number of game shows while on Today. However, he is a recent example. Truth be known, during the early days of television news people regularly double-dipped between one format and another without a complaint.

For instance, in the early 1960's former 20/20 co-host Hugh Downs was host of Today, hosted the very popular game show Concentration, and was Jack Paar's sidekick on The Tonight Show. John Daly, who hosted What's My Line for 17 years during the 1950's and 60's, also held the position of Vice-President in charge of News, Special Events and Public Affairs for ABC.

Then there are CBS's Mike Wallace and Walter Cronkite. Before they became the iconic news personalities we know today they, hosted or were a part of a number of quiz shows for the network. In 1951, Wallace hosted a panel game show titled Guess Again and replaced host Jack Barry (The Joker's Wild) as host of The Big Surprise in 1956. As for Cronkite, he was a Quiz Authority for the game show Two For the Money for the 1955-56 season.

So, Meredith, you go girl! There have been others before you who have gone the same path as you and there will be others after you.