Have Game Shows Jumped the Shark?

[beatlefreak84]

Wow; I've definitely seen some quite interesting comments!  

Just to give my opinion, I definitely agree with the end of the network game show (save for TPIR) that game shows seemed to "jump the shark."  When a network gives a show backing, it means that there is a lot of available money to put into the development of the set, the format, and, of course, getting a good host.  When a show is syndicated, however, people have to sell their show to a lot of stations, and, suddenly, people may find themselves skimping on some of the developmental issues in order to try and get an idea sold.

We have certainly seen our share of great shows and dismal failures, both on network and in syndication.  But, look at nowadays:  Almost EVERY new show has been syndicated, and they make sure to just take the game out of the show and just make it a bunch of celebrities making comments or contestants acting stupid.  There are obvious exceptions, but look at network shows in comparison:  When ABC did WWTBAM, NBC did 21, CBS did "Winning Lines," and FOX did "Greed," all were well-executed and had fantastic layouts; it's a shame that the latter three didn't last longer than they did.

I think the only drawback now with major networks is that they're looking for a quick fix in terms of ratings; if something doesn't take off immediately, it's gone.  Do you think CBS would've left IGAS on after its initial six weeks now?  Remember that it would've been canceled, but it was eventually left on and ran for almost 15 years!  Surely there have been many examples from the last few years that could've definitely prospered if they had more time to flourish!

In short, it seems that the change of focus from the network to syndication has not only robbed game shows of a sound base of financial help, but also a sense of even having a game since a syndicated show MUST be pitched time and time again; development seems to come later, in that respect.

"Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."

Anthony

[trainman]

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Oct 23 2003, 07:58 PM\'] So the question is, does anyone recall actually seeing CAESAR'S CHALLENGE in 1998 in this fashion (as opposed to a tape trade, etc.)?  Or was this a dubious listing? [/quote]
 Definitely a dubious listing...looks like TV Guide didn't delete it from their database when NBC returned the time slot to the affiliates.

From late 1997 to early 1999, I was working in a facility where the main NBC feed was being monitored from 5:00 A.M. to 2:05 A.M. (Eastern) each weekday.  I'm sure I would have noticed if I'd seen "Caesar's Challenge" show up on NBC at some point.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'trainman\' date=\'Oct 24 2003, 10:34 PM\'] [quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Oct 23 2003, 07:58 PM\'] So the question is, does anyone recall actually seeing CAESAR'S CHALLENGE in 1998 in this fashion (as opposed to a tape trade, etc.)?  Or was this a dubious listing? [/quote]
Definitely a dubious listing...looks like TV Guide didn't delete it from their database when NBC returned the time slot to the affiliates.

From late 1997 to early 1999, I was working in a facility where the main NBC feed was being monitored from 5:00 A.M. to 2:05 A.M. (Eastern) each weekday.  I'm sure I would have noticed if I'd seen "Caesar's Challenge" show up on NBC at some point. [/quote]
 Feeding old shows is not unprecedented for NBC though, up until the start of "Last Call," they were showing 15-20 year old reruns of SCTV. Remember "Jumping for Dollars"?

[geno57]

I haven't read all of the entries to this topic yet, so excuse me if someone's already made this point.

I find most of the question-and-answer quizzes totally boring. There's very little real "game" to them.

Gimme something with a twist, or at least a board to look at.

[chris319]

I find most of the question-and-answer quizzes totally boring. There's very little real "game" to them.

I find the quiz material of Millionaire compelling enough to make the show watchable. Weakest Link fell into the rut you described and Greed was a hopeless lost cause. Unrigged Twenty One was the same train wreck it was in 1956 sans the novelty of big-money winners, territory which Millionaire had staked out first. Weakest Link and Greed were alluded to in the initial post as gimmickry over game.

[The Ol' Guy]

I'm with you when it comes to the "man vs. machine" concept. A good game board of some sort just adds more attraction. And the less computer-generated, the better! (Classic Concentration = yecch!)

There are some wonderful, thought-provoking replies here. I'm not sure games have gone past their peak - but they have lost some of their charm. Right about the end of the era of NBC daytime shows (Caesar's Challenge) sounds like a good time marker. The overstimulation we get from today's packages is just symptomatic of everything else today. I don't like to be shouted at, but the so-called "experts" say you have to scream to be heard above the clutter...so we're getting either good formats with a little extra slickness, or weak formats that producers hope we won't discover are bad because they're awash in flash and dazzle. Goodson-Todman's shows may have been in a rut, but they had a quality - and that's what I miss. We were treated intelligently. Today's shows just don't feel the same -  but it's a new generation of producers who grew up in an era of sizzle vs. substance, unlike Mark, Jack, and Bob. Class and restraint is the key. When someone strikes the right balance of quality and dazzle (MILLIONAIRE), I'm all for it. Treat me as intelligent, show me some class, and I'll watch.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Oct 23 2003, 02:15 PM\'] Whammy! are fantastic shows, [/quote]
 Not really.....

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Oct 21 2003, 07:44 PM\'] I think gameshows "jumped the shark" after NBC cancelled their last daytime effort; I believe Caesar's Challenge.  Then we went through a dead period of gameshows, and when they resurfaced in about 1998; we were left with what we have now. [/quote]
If they've jumped the shark at all, I'd have to agree that the sharp decline of network game shows was its cause - and, in my opinion, this started when networks started to realize that "talk is king".  (Group W learned this almost 20 years ago when San Francisco's CBS affiliate had TPIR pre-empted for at least two years because the station, owned by Group W, had to show the "Group W talk show of the moment", and heaven forbid that any of its soap operas get pre-empted because of it.  Seen the network morning schedules lately?  (Then again, wasn't there a time in the mid-1970s when ABC's national schedule started at 11:30 AM with a Brady Bunch repeat?)

The main reason the loss of network game shows caused the problem: syndicated and cable shows had lower budgets and, as a result, lower prizes.  (Case in point: any Wink Martindale episode of High Rollers, with the "one prize per column" rule.  On the NBC Trebek version, there could be up to five prizes per column - and at least twice, somebody won 15 prizes in a single game.  Also, on the NBC version of JackPot!, jackpots grew a lot faster as all riddle amounts went into the jackpot, even if the riddle was missed.)  Sure, Jeopardy and Wheel pay off reasonably big money (how many other shows are there where there's a chance of somebody winning $100,000 on every show (without having to risk $10,000 first)?), but after that, what's left?

-- Don

[trainman]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Oct 24 2003, 10:18 PM\'] Feeding old shows is not unprecedented for NBC though, up until the start of "Last Call," they were showing 15-20 year old reruns of SCTV. [/quote]
 Yep, I closed-captioned some of those.  As far as NBC was concerned, they were new episodes, because they'd never run on NBC in that form; they were the 30-minute syndicated reruns, edited to the extent that the original opening was replaced by a new one, featuring the dulcet tones of Rita Sever: "Tonight, 'Later' presents 'SCTV,' starring..."

[starcade]

I think quiz shows have definitely jumped the shark.  I really think that we are in an era where you have to risk a lot to win a lot -- including life, limb, and maybe a lot more...

I mean, it's no longer sufficient to know everything the best -- now it's politics and voting people off and eating squid and drinking sea water, etc. etc. etc.

That's one of the reasons I want WWTBAM back on primetime, but only if it is with the phone game...

[Skynet74]

Game Shows jumped the shark in 1990 when NBC's morning lineup started to fall apart. Probably one reason why I disliked that decade so much. Ever since then things have never been the same. The 90's will forever be known as the decade that Game Shows were cursed!



John

[JMFabiano]

Indeed, I always call the '90s the decade when pop culture as a whole died.  Nothing fun or remotely good for the most part, just annoying and dumb.  Which is why I scoffed on the VH1.com boards about someone suggesting an I Love the '90s.  Sure, the early '90s were pretty good, but after that?  Ooooh, I SO want to see specials about the genius of the Spice Girls, and the debuts of those two new beacons of TV entertainment, UPN and the WB!  And the rise of Britina Spaguilera.....oh, give me more of that!!!!!!!

Anyway, I think the moment game shows JTS'ed for me was the Jonathan Goodson Two in 1994.  TPIR94 was actually the lesser of two evils for me...I never liked what they did to Family Feud, even then.  I can't fault Richard Dawson for getting to go out on a high note, but I missed Ray Combs, and HATED what they did to the set, format, etc.  And of course Goodson properties have never been the same since, from the rumors of Charlene Tilton "blanking" her way to the part of MG97 pilot host, all the way to the onslaught of Pearson/Fremantle disappointments.  Only now do they seem to have "got it" with their one remaining syndicated show, yet 100 Mexicanos Dijeron is still better ;-)  

The other things you named do not help by any means either...more commercial time, which has affected both classic and new shows; a tendency to appeal to the lowest common denominator (yeah, sometimes I worry too about when the Running Man will become a reality); and syndication not having the budget that networks did (Whammy! is decent, but will never be PYL: TOS due to, among other things, scaled back prizes and money).  Some of these things are ruining the rest of television too.

[Matt Ottinger]

Ooooh, I SO want to see specials about the genius of the Spice Girls, and the debuts of those two new beacons of TV entertainment, UPN and the WB! And the rise of Britina Spaguilera.....oh, give me more of that!

In ten years, people will be saying precisely that, and not in a sarcastic way.  Such is the nature of nostalgia.  Part of the fun of it -- as those of us who lived through the seventies and eighties already know -- is making fun of ourselves for the stupid things that we made popular at the time.  The nineties will be no different, there just hasn't been enough time passed yet.