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Author Topic: The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years  (Read 40753 times)

PYLdude

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #30 on: April 07, 2013, 02:41:02 AM »
I\'m just glad someone finally stepped up and called out NBN for being the complete and utter waste of a timeslot it was.
I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

“We’re game show fans. ‘Weird’ comes with the territory.” - Matt Ottinger, 2022

Loogaroo

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #31 on: April 07, 2013, 02:41:20 AM »

I think it was the execution that really made it seem jerkish, if not unfair. Contestant completes their goal, music and fanfare, everyone is excited - and now here comes the buzzkill, because an audience player completed their line. Womp womp.


 


See, if everyone gets disappointed because someone in the audience has just won $5000, you\'re doing it wrong.


You're in a room. You're wearing a silly hat.
There are letters on the floor. They spell "NOPE".

PYLdude

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #32 on: April 07, 2013, 04:37:42 AM »

I find that a show that places too much emphasis on audience play-along is usually not worth the effort.


 


That\'s why I wasn\'t fully sold on Bingo America. While the show wasn\'t THAT bad (even with monotone Patrick Duffy as the host- there\'s some things he just wasn\'t meant to do, and that plus narrating documentaries is another), and Richard Karn was actually decent as an emcee (although that\'s not saying much), I just felt the audience part felt tacked on. That plus the bonus rounds, even if you could win $100,000.


I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

“We’re game show fans. ‘Weird’ comes with the territory.” - Matt Ottinger, 2022

Steve Gavazzi

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #33 on: April 07, 2013, 07:40:13 PM »

Did anyone ever hear an explanation of just how NBN\'s \"Big-Ass Number Jumbler\" worked?


 


I should know -- I taped the premiere, and that was the outcome of the first game.



For future reference (not that I think you\'ll listen to me), when you use the phrase \"I should know,\" you want to be using it in conjunction with something that happened specifically to you -- not with something that probably more than half the people here also watched and you just happened to record.


« Last Edit: April 07, 2013, 09:57:12 PM by Steve Gavazzi »

Jeremy Nelson

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #34 on: April 07, 2013, 09:18:25 PM »

It still irks me a little bit that Deal had so many different executions of the format that they could have copied and been better off- England was tense, Australia didn\'t take itself seriously, and the Netherlands was a periodic high stakes lottery game. Even worse, they should have learned from Millionaire\'s death by overexposure not even five years prior.


Fun Fact To Make You Feel Old: Syndicated Jeopeardy has allowed champs to play until they lose longer than they've retired them after five days.

WilliamPorygon

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #35 on: April 07, 2013, 10:56:43 PM »

Set for Life was the first show that came to mind when I first saw this topic title a couple weeks ago. (The Chamber was the second, probably because in the back of my mind I was unsure if it was over 10 years ago or not and a quick Google check confirmed it is.) I generally like game shows enough that I\'ll give anything at least a few episodes, but between not showing or explaining the first half of the game, showing the second half of the game twice, the whole game being nothing but picking up glowsticks, the stupid guardian angel mechanic, Jimmy Kimmel barely being able to stay awake... the whole thing was so bad I didn\'t even bother to tune in after the first episode.


 


One thing I\'ve noticed a number of times over the years is that I tend to be far too lenient in judging hosts, especially mediocre ones like Ty and Dylan. I do prefer hosts who do the job well, because good hosts can make a bad show decent or a good show great (heck, even the lousiest formats the 70s could come up with were watchable thanks to Bill Cullen), but unless a host is obnoxious or out of it to the point that he\'s actively making the show worse, I usually don\'t think they\'re doing the job as poorly as they actually are.



PYLdude

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #36 on: April 08, 2013, 12:25:59 AM »

I must be in the minority on Dylan Lane because I didn\'t think he was as bad as everyone made him out to be. The production of Chain Reaction was the problem- disorganized and haphazard from the beginning (when I went to try out they screwed up our audition sheet), and no attention paid to any sort of detail regarding proper contestant selection. Dylan Lane was the absolute LEAST of Chain Reaction\'s problems.


I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

“We’re game show fans. ‘Weird’ comes with the territory.” - Matt Ottinger, 2022

Twentington

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #37 on: April 08, 2013, 04:41:42 PM »

^ Of course, saying that Dylan Lane is the least of your problems is like saying that the salad was the part of your meal that had the least amount of the chef\'s armpit hair in it.


Bobby Peacock

PYLdude

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #38 on: April 08, 2013, 11:06:34 PM »
Bobby, I was a witness to the disorganization firsthand. So I\'ll thank you not to crack jokes at my expense. I know what I speak of. Unlike you.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2013, 11:07:14 PM by PYLdude »
I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

“We’re game show fans. ‘Weird’ comes with the territory.” - Matt Ottinger, 2022

TLEberle

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #39 on: April 08, 2013, 11:09:00 PM »
I must be in the minority on Dylan Lane because I didn\'t think he was as bad as everyone made him out to be. The production of Chain Reaction was the problem- disorganized and haphazard from the beginning (when I went to try out they screwed up our audition sheet), and no attention paid to any sort of detail regarding proper contestant selection. Dylan Lane was the absolute LEAST of Chain Reaction\'s problems.
I\'ll ask this: what did they get right?
If you didn’t create it, it isn’t your content.

PYLdude

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #40 on: April 08, 2013, 11:16:32 PM »
Very little. I think the bonus round in year 2 was better and the speed chains were okay. And the gameplay outside of the betting round was good despite the dimbulbs they got to play. Other than that?  ...
I suppose you can still learn stuff on TLC, though it would be more in the Goofus & Gallant sense, that is (don't do what these parents did)"- Travis Eberle, 2012

“We’re game show fans. ‘Weird’ comes with the territory.” - Matt Ottinger, 2022

BrandonFG

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #41 on: April 08, 2013, 11:20:36 PM »

Wasn\'t there an episode where one of the contestants in the bonus round got so fed up that he was ready to quit, mid-round? Could\'ve sworn I read an account of that happening.


"It wasn't like this on Tic Tac Dough...Wink never gave a damn!"

TLEberle

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #42 on: April 08, 2013, 11:23:28 PM »
There is an account of someone saying \"Can\'t we just quit\"? as well as a team that did so poorly in giving so many wrong answers that there was a stopdown while more material was written and put into the Chyron.

Watching people who are good at Instant Reaction is a sight to behold. Watching people who are bad at it bumbling and stumbling through their round is 100% awkward.
If you didn’t create it, it isn’t your content.

Loogaroo

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #43 on: April 13, 2013, 06:07:12 PM »

Part 4 is now published, and includes a firsthand account by Adam Nedeff on his time as a \"stranger\" on Who\'s Still Standing?. That alone is worth reading.


You're in a room. You're wearing a silly hat.
There are letters on the floor. They spell "NOPE".

DoItRockapella

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The 20 Worst Game Shows of the Past 10 Years
« Reply #44 on: April 13, 2013, 09:17:48 PM »

I\'m really enjoying these, but Part 4 does leave me with three questions:


  1. Why are you biased about Catch 21? Were you involved with its production somehow?

  2.    
  3. What NBC show is \"the single biggest bomb in television history\"? My first thought was Jay Leno at 10PM...

  4.    
  5. My biggest question: in your discussion of It\'s Worth What, no mention of \"The Entertainer\" being named the new host of WWTBAM?

Looking forward to the last installment. I know one of the four shows is The Moment Of Truth, but honestly can\'t figure out the other three...