Game Show Fans 50 Greatest - Results

[PYLdude]

It's very one-note and there really isn't any room for variety so you can switch things up a little.

Not a big Jeopardy! fan either, eh?

Apples and oranges.

What Whew! boils down to is that the game is simply 3-4 rounds of "fix the oopsie" and not a whole lot else. Which, while still decent and carrying a good play along factor, just isn't enough for me to put it on my list.

With Jeopardy, you have a few things. One, you have anywhere between 4-6 times the categories that Whew! does and more material to go with it. Two, you have potentially three opportunities during each game to better your position through wagering (not counting Final Jeopardy). Three, answering in the form of a question, a maneuver that turned quizzing on its ear when it was introduced. And four, even though the necessity of its inclusion in the grand scheme of things is debatable, it showed that you could add a bonus round to the format if you desired and not really lose anything.

Whew! was one of several shows that I considered and enjoyed watching but left out for similar reasons. Another prominent example was Three on a Match, which while I liked the basic game premise found it didn't stand out very much either. I didn't have I've Got a Secret on my list either because I feel out of the basic G-T panel games it's not as strong as What's My Line? or To Tell the Truth (which I gained a better appreciation for since last time out). I even felt The Name's the Same was better (and underrated).

[The Ol' Guy]

Good points all on Whew! I came up with a list of 25 greats, one that should have been in the 25, and just listed 25 other favorites that were in no way great, based on how I chose to define "great". I also missed Whew!, and probably for most of the same reasons. Whew! would have been in the favorites. If it were on today, I'd still watch it because the writing was amusing. It's the main reason I watched. The set was well-designed to add dazzle to a simple game. The game itself was not that strong. But I admired how well the producers made so little look so incredible.

[Neumms]

Same reason Hollywood Connection hasn't: the world needs neither a poor man's Password nor a poor man's Match Game.

Hollywood Connection, despite its unoriginality, was its own unique brand of torture. You Don't Say! was a very pleasant half-hour.

[Neumms]

Three, answering in the form of a question, a maneuver that turned quizzing on its ear when it was introduced.

I know that's how Merv always said the idea started, and you'd never get rid of it, but it's a novelty that wears off quickly. The blooper format served a purpose, opening it up for humor.

Whew! had flaws--I agree it favored the blocker, and the longshot almost made the other levels pointless--but dang it was exciting and fun. I'd have loved to see it return with fixes, as Second Chance did to become Press Your Luck.

[SRIV94]

I said to Scott when I e-mailed mine that I would probably forget something obvious.  WHEW! qualified.

What Whew! boils down to is that the game is simply 3-4 rounds of "fix the oopsie"

Now, had that been WHEW!'s actual title, I might've remembered to include it. 

[PYLdude]

Yeah, but "a combination guaranteed to make you say fix the oopsie" just doesn't roll as well.

[calliaume]

Hollywood Connection, despite its unoriginality, was its own unique brand of torture. You Don't Say! was a very pleasant half-hour.

The original one, anyway.  I sorta kinda liked the 1975 version, but by 1978, I was watching more to play "And You're Famous for What?" with the panel.

I wonder if whoever was programming ABC daytime in 1975 insisted on making their new shows more like Match Game and Hollywood Squares, to their detriment - three new shows with 14 celebrities needed to play each week (on top of the 28 required by the other daily network shows then airing) means you're either seeing the same faces repeatedly or bringing in the owls.

[MSTieScott]

30. Win Ben Stein's Money
684 points; 28 votes
2006 ranking: 29

Scott: Win Ben Stein's Money would seem to be an unlikely classic, especially now that it's been 16 years since its heyday (really, does anybody remember this show for any cohost other than Kimmel?). Yet I'm not surprised that it's maintained its position on our list.

Jason: Lest we forget, the show won Emmys in 1999 for Outstanding Game Show & Outstanding Game Show Host for both Ben & Jimmy. Who would have thought a show on Comedy Central starring the teacher from Ferris Bueller & some radio guy from Los Angeles would knock around Jeopardy! in the quiz arena? With time having passed, I forgot how good Ben & Jimmy were at their respective hosting duties. Win Ben Stein's Money was a very solid show that did many details right.

Scott: I wonder how it would have fared if it had been introduced in some other era. Now that the genre is thriving again, it's easy to forget what we had to choose from in the mid- to late 1990s (or maybe it's just best not to think about it). Then along comes a slightly unorthodox game show in which comedy is key, yet the game (played with legitimately difficult trivia!) is always taken seriously. It earned those Emmys.


29. Beat the Clock
709 points; 31 votes
2006 ranking: 24

Jason: No matter what the era or host, I'm always captivated by those quintessentially-Beat the Clock stunts. I liked the unbridled excitement of Bud Collyer and the bonus stunt of the 50s. I liked the Narz/Wood era for its "let's have some fun & win a few bucks"-type atmosphere. And by gum, I like Bonus Shuffle. I don't know why. I like Bonus Shuffle.

Scott: Oh, you're the one! But I kid. When television was in its infancy, and everybody was trying to find ways to make old programming more visual, shows focused on performing physical stunts were a natural choice. But to have a big clock looming over the proceedings, ominously ticking away the seconds? That's how you get people to remember your show.


28. I've Got a Secret
727 points; 30 votes
2006 ranking: 21

Scott: When it came time for me to decide how to rank the panel shows, I had a difficult time, especially with I've Got a Secret. Of the three most popular panel shows, I've Got a Secret is certainly the most fun. But it's also the game show in which the game is the least important. We don't really care whether Henry Morgan can figure out the secret -- we just want to hear about the contestants' interesting stories. Heck, there were episodes where when it came time for the celebrity guest's appearance, they dispensed entirely with trying to guess what the secret was and just jumped right into the comedy bit.

Jason: Perhaps years from now, the Winston-sponsored I've Got a Secret will find its way out again. I remember liking those episodes best. It wasn't long after those shows that the panel got hip to the producers' tricks. At first, I'm sure nobody expected their home furniture to show up on stage, or an elephant to come out of the back, but later, the panel gave me this vibe of "okay, what is it THIS time?" Of all the panel shows, you'd think I've Got a Secret would have made its way back to network TV first (certainly ahead of To Tell the Truth) because of the potential to break format and do demonstrations, putting the game second.


27. The Newlywed Game
730 points; 35 votes
2006 ranking: 26

Jason: For a guy who raised a lot of ire with TV critics, Chuck Barris left a lasting legacy in the history of game shows, even on a list made by fans like us. A lot of his concepts, which seemingly came from refrigerator magnets slapped between the words "THE" and "GAME", really came to life thanks to the talent he used in front of the camera & behind the scenes. Special recognition to Steve Friedman, Mike Metzger and others for curating that Barris style, including the very very odd Newlywed Game questions that helped show off the interesting personalities that were hitting each other with cue cards & pillows. Director John "The Fox" Dorsey was an expert in covering the action. And nobody could grill those couples like Bob Eubanks.

Scott: Objectively, Tattletales was probably the better game, but The Newlywed Game made for a better show. And in this case, I mean "show" in the sense of "spectacle." When the people playing your game are celebrities whose careers are built on their public image and whom you want to invite back for future tapings, you have to treat them with some amount of respect. But when you have a pool full of non-famous people who are willing to tell America about their sex lives just so they can be on TV and maybe win a refrigerator, you can run them through the wringer. And that makes for a more popular TV show.


26. The Chase
740 points; 26 votes
Did not exist in 2006

Scott: Of all of the new game shows which have been introduced in the last ten years, it seems like The Chase had the best chance of making it into the fans' top fifty.

Jason: There was absolutely zero question in my mind we'd see it somewhere. We could have called this exercise The Game Show Fans Decide Where The Chase Ranks in the Top 50. The Final Chase is wonderfully simple & incredibly compelling. For that alone, the show earned its spot on my list, and it crept higher & higher as I compared neighboring shows against one another.

Scott: Here are some random thoughts about The Chase: Interesting that it should rank relatively close to Win Ben Stein's Money, the other exemplary show about trying to defeat a recurring trivia genius. I'm sure that like so many other titles on this list, a new version will be along at some point in the future. Mark Labbett is surprisingly tall in person.

[Joe Mello]

I find it interesting that Newlywed Game appeared on nearly 3/4 of the ballots, yet failed to make the top 25 AND will likely be eclipsed by at least 1 other show with less votes.

[Ian Wallis]

Hollywood Connection, despite its unoriginality, was its own unique brand of torture. You Don't Say! was a very pleasant half-hour.

The original one, anyway.  I sorta kinda liked the 1975 version, but by 1978, I was watching more to play "And You're Famous for What?" with the panel.

I wonder if whoever was programming ABC daytime in 1975 insisted on making their new shows more like Match Game and Hollywood Squares, to their detriment - three new shows with 14 celebrities needed to play each week (on top of the 28 required by the other daily network shows then airing) means you're either seeing the same faces repeatedly or bringing in the owls.

I must admit, I kind of liked the 1975 version as well.  Its cancellation must have come quick - in an early November episode Tom announced that children would be playing the game during Christmas week (just like on the original run), but just after Thanksgiving it was gone.  Ratings must have been OK for a while, but I guess we can thank The Edge of Night for that.

When you think back to the '70s, its interesting how many celebrity game shows there were around the same time.  I was really surprised in '76 when reading the TV Guide listing for the debut of Break the Bank , that there was another show with 9 celebrities. 

Some of them seemed to make a career out of being game show panelists.  Besides a short run on When Things Were Rotten, what else did Dick Gautier do in the '70s besides game shows?

[gromit82]

30. Win Ben Stein's Money (1997-2003)
29. Beat the Clock (1950-1961, 1969-1974, 1979-1980, 2002-2003)
28. I've Got a Secret (1952-1967, 1972-1973, 1976, 2000-2001, 2006)
27. The Newlywed Game (1966-1974, 1977-1980, 1985-1989, 1996-1999, 2009-2013)
26. The Chase (2013-2015)

[calliaume]

Some of them seemed to make a career out of being game show panelists.  Besides a short run on When Things Were Rotten, what else did Dick Gautier do in the '70s besides game shows?

I didn't realize Gautier was already in his mid-40s when When Things Were Rotten aired.  He may have been in that awkward spot where, having appeared on so many game shows, producers didn't take him seriously as an actor.

Does anybody remember how well he did hosting It's Your Bet?  I know I watched a few episodes he hosted, but given that was when I was seven or eight years old, I don't remember him as host very well.

[Chuck Sutton]

So do we have to wait until Monday for 25-21, probably the last 5 with any suspense.

[Matt Ottinger]

Some of them seemed to make a career out of being game show panelists.  Besides a short run on When Things Were Rotten, what else did Dick Gautier do in the '70s besides game shows?

It was, and has always been, a double-edged sword.  On the one hand, a middling or up-and-coming actor can do game shows to stay in the public eye and maybe end up with opportunities they wouldn't get otherwise.  Back in the 60s and 70s, that often meant summer stock and other theatrical tours.  But it can reach a point of over-saturation, which works against you.  I know of a very famous comic actor who loves, loves, loves doing game shows (and has done a few), but won't do too many because of the concern that it might hurt his career.

These days, I see "celebrities" on a show like Celebrity Game Game, who are famous for something they used to be on, and I can't help but wonder whether they could use that $20,000 grand prize they're trying to win for somebody else.  That really shouldn't enter your mind when you're watching a celebrity game show.

[Jay Temple]

Dick Gautier's fame, such as it is, began before the 1970's. I don't know what else he did, but he had a recurring role on Get Smart (1965-70) as a robot named Hymie.