In 2006, TV Guide published a list of what they considered to be the fifty best game shows. Shortly thereafter, GSN aired a countdown of their own fifty greatest game shows of all time.
Here on the Game Show Forum, we felt that both lists were various degrees of... let's say "misinformed." So in August 2006, Matt Ottinger conducted the Game Show Fans 50 Greatest poll, in which the members of this forum voted and determined what we felt were the actual greatest game shows of all time.
It's now been a decade since we established those rankings. And since Matt has given me his blessing, I am here to conduct the ten-year anniversary of the Game Show Fans 50 Greatest poll! Quite a few things have changed in our genre over the past ten years, even among the long-standing shows. Have our opinions changed?
The rules are the same as they were in 2006:
• Compile your list of what you believe to be the 50 greatest game shows of all time. If you can't come up with 50, then please come up with at least 25 (although, of course, 50 is preferred).
• Rank them in order, with number one being the greatest. No ties.
• E-mail your list to gsf50greatest2016@gmail.com. I will only accept lists which wind up in that e-mail inbox. To prevent influencing others, do NOT post your list here. After I post the final tally, then everyone will be welcome to share how they voted if they so choose.
• When you e-mail your list, please include either your name or online handle so I know who you are. All lists and e-mails will be kept confidential. If I discover any attempts to stuff the ballot box, then none of the offending ballots will count.
• Scoring: Your #1 show will receive 50 points. Your #2 show will receive 49 points, and so on. When the voting is finished, the points will be tallied, and the show with the most points wins. In the event of a tie in total points, then the show which received the greater number of individual votes will get the higher final ranking. If the shows are still tied after that, then they will simply remain tied.
• Criteria: The subject is "the 50 greatest game shows of all time." What does "greatest" mean? That's entirely up to you when you compile your list. Is [name of show] considered a game show? That's also entirely up to you. The only constraint we had last time was that because the majority of users on this board are from the United States (and because the TV Guide and GSN lists focused on the U.S.A.), you are encouraged to stick to U.S. formats. If you really really want to include a format from outside the U.S., I won't stop you, but know that it probably won't make the final top fifty.
• Variations of the same show: Some game shows have been remade over the years with slightly (or wildly) different titles. All variations of a given format are considered one "show" on this list. For example, if you vote for Pyramid, that covers all of the versions of Pyramid which have aired throughout the decades. A vote for Password covers all of its various revivals, including Plus and Super. The Price Is Right covers the Cullen version, the current CBS daytime version, and all of the syndicated versions in between. So that we may directly compare these results to the first poll, all of Matt's rulings from 2006 about what is and isn't the same show will stand. If there's a duplication on your list, I'll let you know so you can make revisions. If you don't make revisions, then I'll just delete the lower-scoring duplicate and move everything else up accordingly.
• Same title, different shows: Conversely, there are a handful of titles which have been given to very different, unrelated shows. I don't want to influence the voting, so I won't list those titles here, but if you select one of those titles (and don't specify which show you're referring to), then I may e-mail you back and ask for clarification. Otherwise, I reserve the right to guess at what I think you mean.
Please submit your ballot by the end of the day (Pacific time) August 22. I will calculate the winners and post the results a week later, where much discussion and grousing will commence.
Have at it!
