Author Topic: 10 Greatest Originals of GSN's time (Read 13249 times)

SRIV94 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 26, 2006, 12:12:11 PM »

I disqualified the card-playing shows (the Blackjacks and Pokers of the world) because I don't consider them game shows.

1. LINGO
2. RR
3. INQUIZITION
4. W!
5. HoSho
6. CRAM
7. IGAS
8. WINTUITION
9. FoF
10. PLAYMANIA

Doug -- and the countdown to 2100 continues

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #16 on:** July 26, 2006, 03:52:40 PM »

For me (out of the one's I've actually seen):

1. Lingo - simply the best of GSN
2. Hollywood Showdown - a close second
3. Russian Roulette - should have had a longer run
4. Jep - decent kid's version
5. Inquizition - basically because of the good one-liners by the Inquizitor

6. Mall Masters - not half-bad
7. I've Got a Secret - decent revival
8. Whammy - liked it in the beginning, grew tired of it by the end
9. Burt Luddin's Love Buffet - it was cute in the beginning
10. All-New Three's a Crowd - bit better than the original IMHO

SRIV94 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 26, 2006, 04:01:47 PM »

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'125260\' date=\'Jul 26 2006, 02:52 PM\']
10. All-New Three's a Crowd - bit better than the original IMHO
[/quote]
Yeah, I know, I didn't include it. I still maintain though that you couldn't go wrong with the announcer.

Doug -- and the countdown to 2100 continues

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #18 on:** July 26, 2006, 04:04:34 PM »

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'125263\' date=\'Jul 26 2006, 04:01 PM\']
[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'125260\' date=\'Jul 26 2006, 02:52 PM\']
10. All-New Three's a Crowd - bit better than the original IMHO
[/quote]
Yeah, I know, I didn't include it. I still maintain though that you couldn't go wrong with the announcer.

[/quote]

I was tempted to include Decades, mainly because of the Tomarken factor. I enjoyed watching him on Prime Games back in the day.

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #19 on:** July 26, 2006, 06:17:40 PM »

I'm just glad someone finally mentioned Decades. I wasn't contributing to the thread because of my lack of knowledge of many GSN originals, but some of the stuff that was ranked higher . . .

Joe Mello · « **Reply #20 on:** July 26, 2006, 11:25:03 PM »

Awwww. This is SUPPOSED to encourage discussion because you know what I say is terribly wrong.

Quote

I disqualified the card-playing shows (the Blackjacks and Pokers of the world) because I don't consider them game shows.

Then you missed what I said at the start. This is the Top 10 Originals. I purposely allowed the list to include card games because (slightly off-topic) you can't ignore their impact, especially to GSN. I wanted to exclude Anything to Win and such because they weren't games.

I would like someone to try and defend the early shows. I never saw them and just thought that they were all crap as per popular opinion.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #21 on:** July 27, 2006, 10:41:29 AM »

The impact of the casino shows for me is to turn off GSN. Trading a loyal audience for a fickle one is short-term thinking in my view.

As far as the early call-in shows, they were okay. I got the channel when Marianne Curan was doing most of them, and they were sorta like today's "Playmania" in that the personality of the host determines the watchability. If you like the host, you'd like the show.

Two of the original shows that I would actually sit down and watch were "Russian Roulette" and "Lingo," the others were just background noise to me. Looking forward to CR and Star Face.

clemon79 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 27, 2006, 10:48:58 AM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'125336\' date=\'Jul 27 2006, 07:41 AM\']
The impact of the casino shows for me is to turn off GSN. Trading a loyal audience for a fickle one is short-term thinking in my view.
[/quote]
Yeah, but the entire television industry is based around short-term thinking. That's not going to change.

SRIV94 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 27, 2006, 11:00:22 AM »

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'125302\' date=\'Jul 26 2006, 10:25 PM\']
Then you missed what I said at the start. This is the Top 10 Originals. I purposely allowed the list to include card games because (slightly off-topic) you can't ignore their impact, especially to GSN. I wanted to exclude Anything to Win and such because they weren't games.
[/quote]
I didn't miss what you said. You opted to exclude non-games, I opted to exclude non-game shows. Blackjack and Poker-type shows to me are not game shows and thus don't belong on GSN, but rather on the ESPNs, FSNs and weekend network packages of the world. Same goes for BALLBREAKERS--competitive pool is not a game show. Impact doesn't matter to me (and actually, judging by GSN's ratings, their impact on GSN has been minimal at best). As far as I'm concerned, GSN's top originals are shows that are actually, well, game shows. And I did struggle to put the list together, as there are flaws with a lot of the shows I included.

Disclaimer--I didn't get GSN until 1998, so I missed Tomarken's run on DECADES (by the time I got there Marianne Curan had taken over and the show was retitled SUPER DECADES). And I never saw CLUB A.M., but I'd imagine there were game elements there, yes?

Doug -- and the countdown to 2100 continues

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #24 on:** July 27, 2006, 11:21:37 AM »

The casino shows on GSN are like having a motorcycle building show on H&G. Yeah, you'd hope to capture the success of "American Chopper", and it revolves around the do-it-yourselfer, but would the woman who just watched a show on redecorating her home stick around? Would those who like the show find it on H&G?

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #25 on:** July 27, 2006, 11:44:18 AM »

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'125302\' date=\'Jul 26 2006, 10:25 PM\']
I would like someone to try and defend the early shows. I never saw them and just thought that they were all crap as per popular opinion.
[/quote]
So you've never seen them, but dump on them just the same?

How fair.

FeudDude · « **Reply #26 on:** July 27, 2006, 12:07:53 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'125336\' date=\'Jul 27 2006, 10:41 AM\']
The impact of the casino shows for me is to turn off GSN. Trading a loyal audience for a fickle one is short-term thinking in my view. [/quote]

The casino shows have proven to be a consistent success for GSN since they first started airing them (albeit not enough to get the network in the black), and I don't think the casino craze as a whole is going anywhere anytime soon. I don't watch the casino shows much, but at least they're a heck of a lot better than crap like Fake-a-Date and Vegas Weddings Unveiled.

FOXSportsFan · « **Reply #27 on:** July 27, 2006, 12:26:49 PM »

Here's my top 10 along with comments. Of course all of these are within the last few years because I've had GSN for...sheesh, just shy of 5 years now.

1) Russian Roulette - Best and well oiled machine GSN has ever created. Great game, set, host, announcer, music, drama, EVERYTHING!
2) Hollywood Showdown - Great Jackpot!-esque elements with Hollywood trivia and Todd Newton...should have lasted longer.
3) Lingo - Longest running original...what are we at over 200 some odd episodes in the can? Nothing like Chuck and his red balls, wait a minute...
4) World Series of Blackjack (The Vasgersian/Rubin seasons) - I'm a Vasgersian mark, sue me. I thought he and Max Rubin made a great hosting duo and made the action come alive, unlike John "just call me Ted McGinley" Fugelsang.
5) Whammy! - Season 2 was fine...Todd on Jolt cola we could have done without.
6) High Stakes Poker - AJ and Gabe get to me, but hey poker legends in one room betting their own bucks, not bad.
7) I've Got a Secret - Would have ranked higher except for the fact that Bil Dwyer, as much as I like him, still comes off like he's acting in the role of "stereotypical game show host" as opposed to actually being himself.

Ballbreakers - Underrated in my view. Fairly entertaining.
9) Cram - A bit cheesy, but Graham Elwood wasn't bad at all...and Icey, wherefore art thou Icey?!?
10) WinTuition - Not Marc Summers' best adult oriented game show. Decent enough idea, but some execution flaws were present.

Joe Mello · « **Reply #28 on:** July 27, 2006, 12:58:21 PM »

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'125341\' date=\'Jul 27 2006, 11:44 AM\']
[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'125302\' date=\'Jul 26 2006, 10:25 PM\']
I would like someone to try and defend the early shows. I never saw them and just thought that they were all crap as per popular opinion.
[/quote]
So you've never seen them, but dump on them just the same?

How fair.
[/quote]

I fail to see the part of that where you prove me wrong. Since I haven't seen any of the old originals, I have to go on other people's opinions. The consensus is that they're pretty bad and so they are off the list. There's plenty of other originals out that didn't make it, too.

Considering casino games shouldn't even "belong" on the sports networks, people really don't have an arguement there other than for being purists. Expanding a network's programming is almost always a good thing. However, the main fault of the new GSN early on was that the scale was too far towards their new acquisitions. Now that a better balance has been maintained, with a renewed focus on developing traditional game shows, there's not much of a reason to complain.

If you want to blame someone, blame Madison Avenue for continuing to perpetuate the myth that Men 18-34 are the most important demographic.

tvwxman · « **Reply #29 on:** July 27, 2006, 01:45:38 PM »

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'125355\' date=\'Jul 27 2006, 12:58 PM\']
[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'125341\' date=\'Jul 27 2006, 11:44 AM\']
[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'125302\' date=\'Jul 26 2006, 10:25 PM\']
I would like someone to try and defend the early shows. I never saw them and just thought that they were all crap as per popular opinion.
[/quote]
So you've never seen them, but dump on them just the same?

How fair.
[/quote]

I fail to see the part of that where you prove me wrong. Since I haven't seen any of the old originals, I have to go on other people's opinions. The consensus is that they're pretty bad and so they are off the list. There's plenty of other originals out that didn't make it, too.
[/quote]

Well, you've certainly proven to be a lemming who trusts what other people think , believing it to be fact..l.

Maybe you should just continue that theory by posting less and reading more.