While we perhaps often disagree on many things here, it is evident that we all have a very deep appreciation and passion for television game shows, especially those of us who are old enough to recall the terrific daytime shows that aired during the 1970s and 1980s.
I realize shows get canceled because of low ratings. What I am wondering is why did certain daytime game shows suffer from low ratings?
I realize the primary demographic during the 1970s and 80s were housewives. I realize too that all people, perhaps moreso those of the female gland, tend to be fickle from time to time.
It seems a vast majority of us who post here are male however, so I'm interested to find out from those of you who post on here your feelings and opinions.
The Price is Right is still going strong after 44 remarkable seasons on CBS daytime. That continues to thrive in my opinion because of two very key and vitally important and necessary ingredients. One being the show provides a tremendous play along factor for audience members and television viewing audience members alike. Two is the show has tremendous variety. There's a wide array of prizes, a wide array of contestants, and a wide array of pricing games that are constantly being rotated in and out again.
Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy have been on for decades due primarily to the play along factor as well. Both shows have a variety of contestants, especially Wheel of Fortune, and there is some variety with respect to categories on Jeopardy.
Family Feud continues on strong, although I have no idea why. Once in a very great while I will tune in but it's not "must see TV" for me anymore, especially due to the raunchy factor the show uses for some of their question material.
I am curious about shows such as Scrabble, Blockbusters, High Rollers, Card Sharks, Three on a Match, and Gambit. If you can think of other shows to include, please do.
Scrabble was a sensational game and fun to play along with. The only thing that got boring to me was $500 for a win, $500 and $1,000 for pink and blue squares and $1,000 for winning the Sprint Round. I realize that for fairness purposes they played the same 4 words in the Sprint Round during the later part of Scrabble's initial run on NBC as well as the 1993 dreadful remake. I think because there was a lack of money amounts able to be won it made the game a little more boring. Like if I tuned in and Charlie Tuna said "So and so is our current champion with $1,500 and will try to make it again to the Bonus Sprint." you knew they won a crossword round and a sprint round and that was it. I actually preferred when they had that pot to start things off, then playing for 3 times the pot, but I suppose that became too involved or complicated for the show.
Blockbusters had a good play along factor, and Bill was terrific as always. He had a nice leisurely pace during the main games but kept it moving for the Gold Run. Seems that show got kind of "tired" though as it was win a match, play bonus game, shampoo, rinse and repeat. Seems after 2 years of that it got tired or boring for people to watch.
High Rollers seemed to also have that "shampoo, rinse, repeat" thing happening with it, which may have led to it being canceled after 2 years twice, first in '76 and again in '80. Very little play along factor too for the home audience. I think this may have been a big issue for Press Your Luck too. It was mostly watching players pressing their button at the big board, and all we could do is watch. Very little play along interaction which is why I guess it only lasted 3 seasons on CBS.
Card Sharks had a great play along factor to it, with the survey questions and the high low card calling. CBS made some terrific improvements with the Jokers in the Money Cards for the car game, the 10 people surveys (although they dragged out a bit too much at times for my taste), and I especially loved the educated guess questions. They enhanced the game and yet it only lasted 3 years and change on CBS, as it did on NBC. Did it too suffer too much from the "Shampoo, rinse, repeat" problem?
Three on a Match was a game I was obsessed with as a child. I loved the big colorful board and the different pictures they used. That being said, it had very little play-along ability to it, other than the True/False questions. Kind of like a pre-cursor to Press Your Luck, players answer questions then go to the big board, and we just sit there and watch them doing what they will at said board.
Gambit I loved, moreso the CBS version. The unpredictability of what card would come up next was great, especially if it ended up making a 21. Loved the Gambit Board too, nice variety of prizes. Sadly a lack of play-along ability with this game too, so after a little over 4 seasons it went bye bye.
What other shows or examples can you think of? What other thoughts can you offer about the shows I mentioned above? I really would love to get all of your takes on this subject.
Of all the above mentioned shows, Card Sharks and Scrabble are the 2 I would want to see come back the most.
