Game Show Fans 50 Greatest - Results

[TLEberle]

I can take or leave Deal or No Deal and Gong Show, but for the other three? Nice work, polling group. Well done.

[jjman920]

Treasure Hunt was one of those shows where the host really meant a lot. Geoff Edwards found a way to control the usually rowdy contestants and draw out the reveals perfectly so that it didn't matter what was in the box. US Deal or No Deal sort of works the same way, but it didn't have the right atmosphere and fell into a hole of gimmicks.

[Chuck Sutton]

So glad Carmen Sandiego made it.  I am not the target age but my daughter was and I watched it with her.  It was delightful.

Treasure Hunt was the last added last and first to drop this time. At least on Deal or No Deal you need to be able to do athrimatic.

So of the old list 34 of the top 40 remain.
So the remaining suspense where will Cash Cab finish?

[gromit82]

40. Treasure Hunt (1956-1959, 1973-1977, 1981-1982)
39. The Gong Show (1976-1980, 1988-1989, 1998-1999, 2008)
38. Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1991-1995, 1996-1997) (including Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?)
37. Remote Control (1987-1990)
36. Lingo (1987-1988, 2002-2007, 2011)

[gromit82]

38. Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
480 points; 21 votes
2006 ranking: 53

Scott: Now here's a generational choice. I'm not saying that only people approximately my age voted for this show -- in fact, I know that to be untrue -- but this is a show which would not be in the top fifty this year if the majority of voters weren't approximately my age.

37. Remote Control
521 points; 27 votes
2006 ranking: T47

Scott: And here's another show, fondly remembered by those who were young in the 1980s, which jumps up a whole bunch of places.

There was certainly a generational factor for me. Remote Control debuted when I was in high school, and I thought it was great. (I remember that I once wrote a fall TV preview for my high school newspaper in which I said that Jeopardy and Remote Control were the best game shows on the air at the time.) I hadn't seen Remote Control in a long time, but I still ranked it at #25 on my list this time.

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego debuted when I was in college, and I was vaguely aware that a TV show by that title existed. I once saw part of one episode on YouTube. That still represents my entire experience with the show to date.

[BrandonFG]

I'm amazed, if not appalled that I never included Lingo on either list. It was a fun little show, very underrated IMO.

[TLEberle]

I'm amazed, if not appalled that I never included Lingo on either list. It was a fun little show, very underrated IMO.

I would argue that it's rated precisely where it should be.

[TLEberle]

I rated Idiot Savants last time but not Remote Control last time because I liked the heavier quiz questions. Ten years later I realize that there's more to the picture than just what's on the index cards: there's the mood, there's the presentation and the fun factor. Do I think Idiot Savants could make it five years if it was treated well by MTV? No, I think one that's done simply and with the right amount of whimsy and silliness could, and it did.

One thing that I wish our version of Deal or No Deal did, but couldn't by casting cartoonish caricatures for contestants and a comedian as host is to really delve into what the money means. Not so much as Noel Edmonds did, but when you're pondering an offer that has three digits before the comma, that's time to have a think about it and not to listen to the Family Bullpen braying about how you have the million in your case so no deal. Do the show twice a week once a year, have some sort of play in to choose the contestant and fill out the hour without resorting to buffoonery, and treat the game with a bit more serious and I do think it could have been up there with the versions we revere. They didn't, so we don't.

[BrandonFG]

I'm amazed, if not appalled that I never included Lingo on either list. It was a fun little show, very underrated IMO.

I would argue that it's rated precisely where it should be.

I meant in general, not for the poll. Yes, its position is perfect...I think most of my final 10 were short-lived or underrated gems.

[Ian Wallis]

Count me as one of the voters who had Treasure Hunt on the list but not Deal or No Deal.

I must admit that when Deal or No Deal started, I was really into it for a while, but I lost interest for many of the reasons discussed on this forum in the past.  For Treasure Hunt, the viewer never knew what was in the box or how it would be revealed until the very end - that's one reason I kept coming back to the show every week.  I had it i the lower 20s.

Lingo and Gong Show were approximately in the same positions on my list as the results list.

[SRIV94]

I would guess I had GONG higher than everyone else, but I did have it much lower than I did 10 years ago.

[PYLdude]

I was surprised I didn't have Lingo on my list but I think what kept it off was how broken I felt the original was.

[TLEberle]

I was surprised I didn't have Lingo on my list but I think what kept it off was how broken I felt the original was.

Each version has things I wish they would have done differently. (You have Chuck Woolery as host. Why on earth do you not have a $500 bonus for a first-line guess, counted out in Chuck Bucks. Honestly.) But man, so much play along.

[PYLdude]

You certainly can't argue against the play along factor Lingo has. I wouldn't.

[PYLdude]

I just thought of something.

To me, where Lingo failed the most was its bonus round. The No Lingo round was just so drawn out and long, the Bonus Lingo round was kind of anticlimactic once a team got past the first draw because unless they either had the worst luck ever or choked bad in the 2:00 sprint, they were drawing out the inevitable $5K win. And the most recent edition gave away too much money for its own good.

I wonder if a round like the original Catch Phrase bonus could work. Where you start with a blank card and each square conceals a word and lines made using the center pay higher bonuses.