[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'164162\' date=\'Sep 18 2007, 11:48 AM\']
As I said the other day, there's really no one after Goodson-Todman who was able to come up with a long series of shows that were successful over several decades and have become part of the common TV culture. Merv and Chuck Barris have come the closest, but each only came up with two shows that meet the criteria (you know Merv's, Barris would "Dating" and "Newlywed"--"Gong" was more a shooting star than an enduring part of the culture).
I may get pilloried for saying this, but whether or not we like their formats, Endemol has a presence overseas rivalling G-T purely on volume (including non-game show formats, of course). Whether this will continue is hard to say (not to mention whether "DOND" will have the staying power of the older formats), but right now they seem to have the hot hand. Whether their overseas success can overcome two of their formats tanking in the U.S. and a third one getting Third World status at its own U.S. network ("1v100"), we shall see.
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I find myself reluctantly agreeing about Endemol. However, I'd upgrade The Gong Show. It's enough a part of the culture that my wife understood me when I said that the judges at the American Idol auditions should be given gongs.