Stewart's Second

[The Pyramids]

I think we can all agree on what was Bob Stewart's best format when he was off on his own, but what would be second best? Some of the choices would be 'Chain Reaction', 'Jackpot' and 'Eye Guess'. I go with "Chain Reaction'.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

My choice, believe it, or not, is Double Talk. It used gameplay aspects from three different Stewart shows. It had phrases written in different style like on Shoot for the Stars, had two contestants, each partnered with a celebrity for the entire show compete (if both contestants won the same amount of money, they came back) like on Pyramid, and its endgame was loosely based on $50,000 a Minute (unsold pilot).

[BrandonFG]

I've actually never seen "Eye Guess" enough to judge. My vote is "Chain Reaction", closely followed by "Go". Both have great playalong value, and could make for a great party game.

[Jimmy Owen]

"Three on a Match" was my favorite.

[clemon79]

"Three on a Match" was my favorite.

Jimmy wins, and pretty easily.

[TLEberle]

I've actually never seen "Eye Guess" enough to judge. My vote is "Chain Reaction", closely followed by "Go". Both have great playalong value, and could make for a great party game.

You really only need the one episode. Fun, cerebral and with a dash or six of humor, play-along up the wazoo, and a terrific host/announcer pairing. Great stuff.

/Double Talk?
/Rly?

[whewfan]

I've actually never seen "Eye Guess" enough to judge. My vote is "Chain Reaction", closely followed by "Go". Both have great playalong value, and could make for a great party game.

Chain Reaction was a good format, and despite it having a longer run WITHOUT celebs, I still found non-celeb Chain Reaction quite dull, despite Geoff Edwards' attempts. Edwards' version also had a better scoring system. However, Cullen's version definitely had a more compelling bonus round (despite many changes in the payoffs and time allotted).

Go was, at times, fun to watch, but not everyday for a full half hour. I mean, "How...long...can...you...watch...people...talk...one...word...at...a...time...before...you...go...insane?" Playalong? Well, if you're watching with a couple of people, one not looking at the screen, that could work, but it would be hard to play along watching alone. I give Kevin O'Connell props for being a very competent host for his first and only hosting job, but this was not really amongst Bob Stewart's best shows.

I would agree with you on Eye Guess. Bill Cullen was the perfect host and I wish there were more Eye Guess shows out there. I also believe Eye Guess could've worked with other established hosts because its format was very solid and simple. Dick Clark, Geoff Edwards, Art James (he hosted a very similar game called Matches and Mates)and maybe Richard Dawson could've handled Eye Guess if Cullen wasn't available.

Jackpot!, IMO, could've had potential for a longer run if NBC hadn't decided to tinker with it by dropping the riddles in favor of trivia questions. When you have a game show with 16 contestants, how can you make each one stand out and not make them seem like people just getting face time? How well did we really know the contestants in 1 vs. 100 or Winning Lines? Not very well, because they didn't play for 5 days. Geoff was very good at keeping tabs on all 16 players and giving the viewing audience a reason to root for them. Jackpot's format was perfect for a game of riddles, and Bob Stewart should've NEVER tinkered with it by doing a celebs vs. civilians format called The Riddlers... David Letterman did a fantastic job with a very weak format, but when you have celebs that don't seem to care much for the game (Michael Mc.Kean saying "let's get this overwith" didn't help much) you're in trouble.

[J.R.]

/Double Talk?
/Rly?

I think Mr. lover87 was trying to show-off his obscure game show knowledge again.

/Got "Three on a Match" from Matt a while back. Loved it.

[Winkfan]

If you ask me, it's a dead heat between Jackpot and Chain Reaction. (the 1980's versions, that is.....)

Cordially,
Tammy

[mystery7]

My vote goes to the one-word-at-a-time format. Yes, I actually enjoy it. Mainly for its comic potential when things got off-track, but yes, I unabashedly enjoyed it. Pyramid, of course, is best, but I like to think of shows like Go as an expansion of the main concept. The flaws in the one-at-a-time format were in its various executions: the Get Rich Quick pilot had good potential, but was stymied mainly by Steve Edwards's uncomfortable hosting. Go was clunky with one player bouncing from one end of the table to the other. As the bonus round to Chain Reaction, you almost needed a schedule to keep up with the changes in payouts. I thought Chain's main game could get dull with lower-key players.

If it were me (and it were about 25 years earlier), I'd bring the concept back to its roots as Quick and add a couple touches from Pyramid.

Double Talk? Not with Henry Polic II as host, and probably not even as a game of synonyms. Next time I get enough of the right people together (GSC, anyone?), I'd like to see if it works as a game of opposites instead.

[Bill Neuweiler]

"Three on a Match" was my favorite.

Jimmy wins, and pretty easily.

Yes I definitely agree here, but I was considering the list and I have little knowledge of Winning Streak, aside from the one episode floating around. Does anyone recall the game getting really exciting at any point?

[Matt Ottinger]

Does anyone recall the game getting really exciting at any point?

I don't think it ever did, but it was still one of my favorites growing up.

Nevertheless, the existence of Three on a Match makes this conversation moot.  As far as I'm concerned you can now discuss Stewart's Third.

/Actually, that's Go.  So Stewart's Fourth, please.

[Strikerz04]

"Three on a Match" was my favorite.

Jimmy wins, and pretty easily.

Between this and "Eye Guess," 3oaM was pretty solid to say the least.

[TLEberle]

I don't think it ever did, but it was still one of my favorites growing up.

I adore the money round format, and as a way to help out a friend with spelling and word-building, I cobbled together a set and spruced it up, and I found that it is regularly exciting. That's probably because I refused to wuss out before I have five letters face up and we're not actually playing for money, but it has morphed into something decent nearly forty years later.

[The Ol' Guy]

Depends on what you want. Watchability? Three On A Match had it - somewhat- but mostly thanks to Bill. Okay game, but, IMO, not great. In some ways, my choice, Chain Reaction, wasn't a great game as far as the history of game shows goes, but it has great playability. I just had my daughter, son in law and four grandkids down to see us. Kids ages range from 8 to 15. Tried to think of a game we could all play, and I broke out Chain Reaction. Everybody loved it! And the younger kids even surprised me with how they came up with the answers. They have demanded I make them a copy. CR is the most playable, cleverest Password spin-off (I tend to call it vertical Password). CR has also been popular in other countries, where I'm not aware of a UK Jackpot or Three On A Match. Other Stewart games have done better, but I'll put Chain as among my top 3 ever. Pyramid, Chain, Eye Guess.