The original B737 landing checklist was well thought out. Abeam the touch-down point on the runway the scan followed by the reading of the checklist went something like this: Landing Checks to Flaps
Ignition Switches..Cont.
Speed Brake... armed -green light.
Gear ....down, Three Greens.
Holding at Flaps.
Then on final or where appropriate, the PF would command (say) "Flaps 30 (or 40 as needed) Complete the landing check list."
And all the PNF had to read was the single word "Flaps" and await the reply to his challenge which was "30 Green light."
The important point to note was some of the landing checklist items were completed well before landing leaving the final check of Flaps to be done when the final flap was set.
Then Boeing for some crazy reason associated with either legal issues or standardisation with all the other Boeing types, decided it would be better to run the full before landing checklist when the final flap went down. And so just as the PF was concentrating on final approach stabilisation he would call for final landing flap and then say go ahead with the complete before landing checklist.
So the PF would start with placing the start switches On, arming the speed brake, confirming the landing gear was down, confirming the flaps were set and then pull out the landing checklist and challenge the PF. Of course, the PF by now was heavily involved on instruments if IMC short final and would have to not only double check by looking at each scanned item but also respond to the challenge. All this often below 1000 ft when he was already busy.
The original Boeing SOP of asking the PNF at the appropriate position downwind on mid or long final for "Gear Down, Flap 15 and Landing checklist to Flaps" was designed to avoid a rushed landing check list that is now the characteristic of the "new" landing checklist policy.
For 30 years or more the original 737 before landing checklist design policy had been tried and tested. Then all of a sudden, someone in Boeing says lets change things so all Boeings are standardised with each other. A retrograde step indeed.