One of my very first recollections of Tic Tac Dough was Wink's reruns on USA (I think). Being able to read the local (Chicago Tribune) television guide at seven years old, I noticed that TTD was coming on (around) 1:00 in the morning, I wanted to try to stay up and watch the game. One night I was very sick and didn't take my medicine. Because of my mouth's refusal, a parent turned off the television at the intro of an episode. That was the only time I ever saw this version when it originally aired. I may have saw one episode as well, but I don't think I did.
When TTD '90 reran on USA (around 1993ish), I was able to understand the version with its Mancini theme and how it was so different than Wink's version. For instance, I knew about the Dragon when watching Wink's version, but was suprised to notice a Dragonslayer in the bonus round. In short, this version was different, but not bad.
Thanks to (negative) reviews and whatnot about TTD '90, I wanted to feel the same way too. I finally saw an episode from a trade and heard the "In a moment... the game that intrigued a nation. ..." intro and was wondering what was wrong with this version. In my opinion, "the game that intrigued a nation" made me think about how the game was popular in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1980s. While watching the rest of the episode, I now understood Patrick Wayne's loud win and block calls and what the people were panning about.
So basically, I guess TTD's intro was just an attempt to say they are back and better than ever. Unfortunately, a number of game show revivals have tried that (Temptation, Whammy!, Card Sharks '01, etc.) same appeal, but that didn't work out that great.