Game Show Fans 50 Greatest - Results

[TLEberle]

They didn't. Drew would ask the questions, the contestants logged their guesses and Drew revealed the answer and awarded the point. I suspect that's because they wanted to get to the end game, where they actually did delve into the thought process and the results of the audience poll, but it wouldn't have hurt them to talk a little bit, especially if the contestants' guesses were more than fifty points apart.

[BillCullen1]

For Card Sharks, I like the 80s versions best. They fixed the scoring in Money Cards, and Bill Rafferty in particular added a touch of humor. The Pat Bullard version was a train wreck. For WML, how many  other game shows lasted 25 years giving $50 as a top prize? Scrabble had good play along value. I enjoyed all versions of HS except the Davidson version. I just thought he was inept as a host. Jim Perry made SOTC fun to watch, reading the Speed Round questions quickly and with good enunciation.

[Dbacksfan12]

Jason: The classic runs of Card Sharks came in two distinctive flavors, both with their fans around here. Jim Perry & the '70s  plus the allure of a brand new car at the back of the set.

I guess I wasn't a big fan of how it was executed...I thought it was a bit of a downer to have an exciting money cards run followed by a buzzer sounding in the second part of the bonus game.  IMO, the car should have been tied to a money milestone.

[TLEberle]

IMO, the car should have been tied to a would have been better set money milestone.

Play Your Cards Right did that and it worked beautifully. Start with 250, another 200 on line two, if you had 4,000 going into the Big Bet the final card was for the car, if 3,950 or less it was double or zero if the couple went for it. I get why the CBS version did what they did (they get some bucks every time the car is shown, five-point-five times out of seven the car isn't won, so that's a net gain) but I think most people will agree that it was done clumsily. I wouldn't use that to penalize the show, however. (I didn't use Card Sharks 2001 to penalize either, as it happens.)

[Ian Wallis]

The car game on the Eubanks version was probably unnecessary, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the show.  The cards were sometimes unpredictable but that's part of what made it a fun half-hour.  It's been a while since I've looked at my tapes (DVDs) of the show, but in watching some of the GSN reruns of late, I'd kind of forgotten some of the interesting types of questions they came up with.  This has always been one of my favorites.

I had Card Sharks and Hollywood Squares in my top 10, but if being off TV for a while is one of the reasons for the drop for Squares, I guess it makes sense.  The two shows that have moved into the top 10 are still on everyday (either in reruns or first run).  Out of sight, out of mind I guess.  I'm a bit surprised though that through the memories of all Squares runs that it didn't rank a little higher.

Sale of the Century and Scrabble both ranked in my top 20.  I had What's My Line just a bit lower.

[The Ol' Guy]

Took a long time to warm up to Card Sharks, but grew to love it for the points mentioned. The cards are unpredictable, and one could say that the "what do 100 people think..." gives the quiz part a Family Feud feel. Kinda like "When asked their favorite part of a Thanksgiving dinner, how many said cranberry sauce?". Gives you a chance to see if you're thinking in the mainstream. I am surprised by WML?'s ranking. A heritage show that laid a foundation for the successes to follow. On the 2006 list, I had it as #1. Listed it as #2 this year, but it was a toss-up. My 1 and 2 could flip flop and I'd be happy, but went at the collection at a different angle than some.  Be interesting to see the rest of the list. Thanks for the hard work putting it together. Nice job and commentary.
 

[gromit82]

15. Card Sharks (1978-1981, 1986-1989, 2001-2002)
14. What's My Line? (1950-1967, 1968-1975)
13. Scrabble (1984-1990, 1993)
12. Hollywood Squares (1966-1981, 1983-1984, 1986-1989, 1998-2004, 2012, forthcoming 2016)
11. Sale of the Century (1969-1974, 1983-1989, 2007-2008)

[jjman920]

What My Line? was my #10 game. I think what swayed if for me were the memories of watching it every week during Black & White Overnight before I'd go to bed for school and the subsequent memories of watching it every night when GSN ran it at 3am daily. The grand tradition it was steeped in gave way to wonderful chemistry when the panel was at its best. I still believe I've Got A Secret had the best panel, especially since it remained the most consistent among the G-T panel shows, but the game and fun they had throughout an episode of What's My Line? was something that could keep me entertained every time.

[PYLdude]

These were all about where I had them. Sale and Card Sharks were in my top 10, and Scrabble, Squares, and WML occupied spots 12-14. Of my panel shows WML ranked the highest. I included three.

[MSTieScott]

Scott: By this point, you should be able to figure out which are the remaining ten shows. But before we reveal the order of the game show fans' top ten, here's a list of #51 through #100. Given the small number of respondents in this year's survey, it really isn't a very definitive ranking of our top 100 shows. Think of it more as your answer to the question, "What happened to (show which I think should have made the list)?"


51. Double Dare (CBS)
259 points; 15 votes; 2006 ranking: 68

52. The Cross-Wits
259 points; 13 votes; 2006 ranking: 63

53. The Dating Game
255 points; 15 votes; 2006 ranking: T47

54. You Don't Say!
246 points; 13 votes; 2006 ranking: 51

55. The Big Showdown
239 points; 11 votes; 2006 ranking: 55

56. Truth or Consequences
234 points; 9 votes; 2006 ranking: 34

57. American Gladiators
209 points; 11 votes; 2006 ranking: 71

58. Greed
203 points; 12 votes; 2006 ranking: 59

59. Survivor
203 points; 5 votes; 1 first place vote; 2006 ranking: 65

60. Break the Bank (1976)
202 points; 10 votes; 2006 ranking: 42

61. Three on a Match
200 points; 9 votes; 2006 ranking: 61

62. 1 vs. 100
199 points; 15 votes; did not exist in 2006

63. Cash Cab
195 points; 13 votes; 2006 ranking: T136

64. Million Dollar Mind Game
171 points; 10 votes; did not exist in 2006

65. Celebrity Sweepstakes
171 points; 8 votes; 2006 ranking: 57

66. Liar's Club
168 points; 10 votes; 2006 ranking: 62

67. Wipeout (1988, syndicated)
166 points; 12 votes; 2006 ranking: 66

68. The Amazing Race
163 points; 6 votes; 1 first place vote; 2006 ranking: 74

69. Caesars Challenge
154 points; 6 votes; 2006 ranking: 87

70. Hit Man
153 points; 7 votes; 2006 ranking: 67

71. Face the Music
149 points; 9 votes; 2006 ranking: 75

72. Eye Guess
145 points; 10 votes; 2006 ranking: 64

73. Bumper Stumpers
144 points; 9 votes; 2006 ranking: 102

74. Body Language
143 points; 12 votes; 2006 ranking: 58

75. Celebrity Name Game
142 points; 9 votes; did not exist in 2006

76. Grand Slam
142 points; 7 votes; U.S. version did not exist in 2006

77. Trivia Trap
136 points; 9 votes; 2006 ranking: 90

78. Dream House
136 points; 8 votes; 2006 ranking: 86

79. Legends of the Hidden Temple
134 points; 11 votes; 2006 ranking: 89

80. 2 Minute Drill
127 points; 5 votes; 2006 ranking: 72

81. Go
113 points; 7 votes; 2006 ranking: 40

82. Shop 'til You Drop
110 points; 11 votes; 2006 ranking: 104

83. Debt
108 points; 9 votes; 2006 ranking: 73

84. The Mole
101 points; 3 votes; 2006 ranking: 91

85. Battlestars
95 points; 5 votes; 2006 ranking: 77

86. Love Connection
88 points; 5 votes; 2006 ranking: T156

T87. Video Village
88 points; 3 votes; 2006 ranking: 69

T87. Make the Grade
88 points; 3 votes; 2006 ranking: 135

89. Talk About
85 points; 6 votes; 2006 ranking: 83

90. Duel
83 points; 5 votes; did not exist in 2006

91. Finders Keepers
82 points; 8 votes; 2006 ranking: T100

92. Idiot Savants
80 points; 4 votes; 2006 ranking: 118

93. Child's Play
79 points; 7 votes; 2006 ranking: 82

94. Pitfall
75 points; 4 votes; 2006 ranking: 99

95. Bullseye (1980, syndicated)
71 points; 6 votes; 2006 ranking: 56

96. Trivial Pursuit (Family Channel)
68 points; 5 votes; 2006 ranking: 139

T97. Pass the Buck
66 points; 4 votes; 2006 ranking: 79

T97. Winning Lines
66 points; 4 votes; 2006 ranking: 84

99. Starcade
64 points; 5 votes; 2006 ranking: 70

100. Idiotest
64 points; 4 votes; did not exist in 2006


Scott: While there's a lot to process here, there are a few specific things which warrant mentioning. First of all, I would like to call attention to the massive leap for Love Connection, because I think I know what happened. When GSN presented its top fifty game shows in 2006, the network placed Love Connection at #18. There was a decent amount of complaining here on the board when that was announced, and roughly a month later, only two of the eighty fans voted for Love Connection at all when completing their 2006 lists. This year, without that peer pressure, the show received a couple more votes. Related to that, I think a lot of the major shifts (in both directions) can be attributed to the age of most of the voters landing in the range of "grew up during the 1980s/1990s."

Jason: I can see that point with some of the shows, but I've also seen younger fans who treat YouTube like we used to treat the trading circuit. Perhaps they're forming their own opinions about the classics now that they've seen them in full, as opposed to copying popularly-held opinions, which I'll admit I was guilty of when I first started participating. You read enough people who say a show is great, and without being able to see it, that's what you come to think too.

Scott: I admit that I also used others' opinions to guide some of the rankings on my 2006 ballot, but I think nostalgia still played a significant role in these results. As evidence, I'll point to the big move up for our #37 and #38: Remote Control and Carmen Sandiego -- especially the latter. Objectively, I think Carmen Sandiego deserves to be somewhere on the list because it found a fun way to teach kids geography. But realistically, I'm sure it saw its gain because a lot of the voters thought, "I remember watching that show back in the day. Those were good times." If you didn't grow up watching that show back in the day, you're less likely to think that. I know the rankings in the bottom of the top 100 are largely meaningless, but I think they demonstrate the impact that '80s/'90s nostalgia voters had in this smaller pool of respondents. See Trivial Pursuit's 40-position jump. Heck, three people feeling really strongly about Make the Grade allowed that show to make the top 100. I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude that nostalgia voting had a smaller, but still perceptible, effect on the rest of the list.

Jason: I can agree with that, especially with shows like Trivial Pursuit, as you mentioned. I'd like to see people weigh in with regards to Carmen & Double Dare who weren't in the target demo when those shows were first run. I also want to bring attention to those shows that fell out of the top 50 since 2006: The Dating Game, Truth or Consequences, Break the Bank (from the '70s) and Go. The last two in particular interest me, because they're in the same type of fan darling category as Whew! Did people leave them off on accident? Was it deliberate given more historical perspective?

Scott: Can I use my nostalgia tirade as a potential answer? Three of those four shows would be more fondly remembered by people who grew up watching game shows in the '70s than by people who grew up in the '80s. See also Stump the Stars and The Money Maze, which were ranked #78 and #92 respectively last time but which fell out of the top 100 this time. Are those two worse than Shop 'til You Drop and Caesars Challenge? Or objectively, would they be ranked roughly the same if not for the rose-colored memories of several of the voters?

[parliboy]

Without trying to pick a fight, I do admit that I'm curious about #59 and #68 being the ones from 51-100 to get first place votes.

[TLEberle]

Also not trying to pick a fight, I'm curious to hear from those who backed them. I think for a long time that Survivor has been best of breed and the American version of The Race has become unwatchable while the Canadian version is top drawer, but does that make them the best game show?

[PYLdude]

Well, we already should know who cast the first place vote for #68. Because it probably was the same one as last time. (I'm not trying to pick a fight either.)

Me, I didn't include either because neither fits the game show definition. I consider reality competitions to be separate from traditional game shows.

[Unrealtor]

I'm also curious about people's reasoning for counting (or not counting) The Amazing Race and Survivor as game shows. Both strike me as being in a gray area between game show and reality show, but with TAR just inside of where I would draw a hard line (because it's possible to objectively measure "be the fastest") and Survivor just outside (because what constitutes "good gameplay" is subjective.)

[Ian Wallis]

I ended up with around 8 - 10 shows that didn't make the group's top 50.  Most of them I had ranked in the 40s.

I've never considered Love Connection, Survivor, Amazing Race or Big Brother to be game shows, so I didn't rank them on my list.

One show I had ranked quite high is Break the Bank, and it's slightly disappointing to see it drop so far this time around.  As Matt said last time - this was "the one that got away".  The show had high ratings during its network run but was cancelled in favor of the network expanding the soap operas to 45 minutes.  It probably should have had a much longer run than the 15 weeks it got.  Unfortunately the one-weekly syndicated version in the 1976-77 season kind of got lost as there was a lot of competition in the "checkerboard" format that year.

I always loved the show - I think the set and huge gameboard won me over from the beginning - just what was the layout this time around?  I loved the theme song and game play - it was just as funny at times as Squares could be.  It still pains me to this day that GSN never gave it a complete run-through, while (in my opinion) a couple of inferior short-lived shows were run through several times.  I always hoped they'd eventually go back to it (mainly because of the celebrity factor) but they never did, and I guess it's unlikely we'll ever get any more of it.  At least we have a few weeks of it, plus a handful of the syndicated shows.

Another show I"m surprised to see drop is Truth or Consequences.  I had it in the 30s.  I fondly remember the syndicated version in the early '70s and I thought its long run would pull it into the top 50.  I also had Celebrity Sweepstakes on my list, but with only two episodes of it around most of the series is just hazy memories at this point, so I can see why it wouldn't make it.

In an alternate universe somewhere, all of these old episodes exist and play to high ratings on GSN!