Game Show Fans 50 Greatest - 2016

[Joe Mello]

Just submitted mine. Unfortunately, life circumstances doused any passion I had for this, but I tried my best.

These days I'm not that good at making subjectively ordered lists, but I think I got it to the point where I wouldn't make drastic changes to the order a day or two from now.

[TLEberle]

One of the things that makes it easier for me is that within a quintile the points don't matter as much: a vote in the top bracket will be worth 30 to 40 points more than one at the bottom, so I don't worry about placement other than is it in the right range of the list.

[Jimmy Owen]

Is it too early to predict TPIR, J!, FF and WOF will be the top vote getters?

[Matt Ottinger]

Is it too early to predict TPIR, J!, FF and WOF will be the top vote getters?

It's hardly a spoiler to assume they'll be comfortably in the top ten, but they weren't the top four the first time around, and I see no compelling reason to assume they'll be THE top four this time.

Still, let's save this kind of speculation for a couple more days.  Even something this innocuous has the possibility of affecting last-minute entries.

[TLEberle]

I didn't think it would be this hard. There's at least five shows that got bumped off because something better came along.

[MSTieScott]

I'm happy to see a small deluge of votes entering my inbox today.

If you feel left out, don't worry: As of the time of this posting, you still have about 23 hours to submit a ballot. When the American Film Institute compiled their list of the 100 greatest movies, they based their rankings on the votes of more than 1,500 people. This poll won't receive nearly that kind of response, but the more votes, the better the results!

[JasonA1]

Finally submitted mine. I initially tried sticking to a ballot that was only based on my personal preferences, but when it came to filling in the bottom of the list, there were some shows that just didn't feel like they should be among the 50 greatest. But for the most part, the shows I chose were those I enjoyed, as opposed to games that had a pedigree or place in history.

-Jason

[PYLdude]

Is it too early to predict TPIR, J!, FF and WOF will be the top vote getters?

It's hardly a spoiler to assume they'll be comfortably in the top ten, but they weren't the top four the first time around, and I see no compelling reason to assume they'll be THE top four this time.

And really, out of those four, to me maybe two of the four are worthy (I chose two of those for my top 4 and Wheel doesn't even crack my top 10).

While I understand Matt's point about potentially affecting the outcome, I think at this point that, unless we have ballot stuffing, the stragglers aren't going to have that much of an effect on the final tally.

Then again, I've been wrong before...

[clemon79]

Then again, I've been wrong before...

"...but I'll potentially taint it anyhow."

While I understand Matt's point about potentially affecting the outcome, I think at this point that, unless we have ballot stuffing, the stragglers aren't going to have that much of an effect on the final tally.

First, I think you greatly overestimate the size of the voting pool.

Second, ballot stuffing? On an emailed ballot? Jeez, if someone cares enough to submit their list multiple times under multiple different email addresses, maybe they deserve to get away with it.

[JasonA1]

Then again, I've been wrong before...

"...but I'll potentially taint it anyhow."

Agreed.

-Jason

[TLEberle]

I will admit that I did discuss this with another fan of the genre, and our mutual revelations each revealed items on the list that the other had either discounted or forgotten, and in my case helped me to flesh out the last ten of my list.

Finally submitted mine. I initially tried sticking to a ballot that was only based on my personal preferences, but when it came to filling in the bottom of the list, there were some shows that just didn't feel like they should be among the 50 greatest. But for the most part, the shows I chose were those I enjoyed, as opposed to games that had a pedigree or place in history.

I don't think anyone would begrudge you your opinion of what's greatest. If the list was based solely on longevity then there'd be no reason to vote. For me I look forward to seeing the shows that just snuck onto people's lists because I think that's where the most variation will be, and lots of instances of "Dang! I forgot all about that."

[PYLdude]

I will admit that I did discuss this with another fan of the genre, and our mutual revelations each revealed items on the list that the other had either discounted or forgotten, and in my case helped me to flesh out the last ten of my list.

Finally submitted mine. I initially tried sticking to a ballot that was only based on my personal preferences, but when it came to filling in the bottom of the list, there were some shows that just didn't feel like they should be among the 50 greatest. But for the most part, the shows I chose were those I enjoyed, as opposed to games that had a pedigree or place in history.

I don't think anyone would begrudge you your opinion of what's greatest. If the list was based solely on longevity then there'd be no reason to vote. For me I look forward to seeing the shows that just snuck onto people's lists because I think that's where the most variation will be, and lots of instances of "Dang! I forgot all about that."

One thing I'm curious to see is how many shows got votes, but didn't get enough to rank in the overall tally.

[TLEberle]

I recall last time we got things like "list of shows that got a single point for being #50" and the like. I doubt we're going to get just the list of the top 50 with no embellishment.

[MSTieScott]

I doubt that, too.

The polls are closed! I'm still working to input the final ballots (several came in today), so if you sent a ballot this evening and I haven't replied to you yet, I'll get there by tomorrow (probably later tomorrow -- work and all that). If I've replied to you asking for clarification on one of your votes, of course I'll still let you make that clarification, since you got your ballot in before the deadline.

Then I'll tally everything up and begin posting the results next Monday, August 29, five at a time every couple of days. Discussion will be encouraged ("I ranked that higher"/"I ranked that lower"/"We sure got this list more right than GSN did in 2006"), but I do request that if you're itching to post your entire list, please refrain from doing so until #1 is revealed.

A big thank you to everybody who voted!

[Sonic Whammy]

Sadly, did not have time to sit down with this until now and put in my submission. Guess that's what family life does. But I'm still going through it anyway, and I'll be interested to see how my own new list compares with the new one here.