20. Name That Tune
1,176 points; 42 votes
2006 ranking: 19
Jason: Here's another game that lingers in our pop culture even if the show's been off for decades. For all the people who know "I can name that tune in 5 notes," its time in America's collective consciousness was rather brief - 1974-1981, minus time to grow into the familiar rules of Melody Roulette & what have you. Unless, of course, I'm mistaken that there's more than one person with a George DeWitt poster on their wall. Maybe I missed hoards of TV viewers who really loved Jim Lange's Tune Topics.
Scott: First of all, I thought you said you weren't going to mention my George DeWitt poster. But more to the point, I think the votes here may be more for the concept of Name That Tune as a whole. I grew up seeing the Jim Lange version, so when somebody mentions the show, that's the first thing to enter my mind's eye. There have been plenty of other attempts, but when you hear the phrase "music game show," you think of Name That Tune. It's the archetype, so it gets the votes.
Jason: I completely buy that. I always enjoyed watching it; even the episodes dominated by standards & other songs I had no chance of knowing. Music clearance is probably the biggest obstacle keeping this one from coming back, but on the upside, any venue willing to spend the money on music is probably going to make it a big production, something that added to the proceedings in the '70s. The energy of the Tom Kennedy shows makes them jump off the screen. It's a great example of getting the most out of a simple-to-understand game.
19. Tic Tac Dough
1,195 points; 44 votes
2006 ranking: 18
Jason: In 2006, The Joker's Wild sat at #15. This year, Tic Tac moved ahead of its sister show. What do you think put Tic Tac Dough ahead of Joker this time? I don't feel like there's quite as many game show fans clamoring to talk about it over Joker.
Scott: Speaking for myself (and assuming that for most voters, this ranking goes to Martindale's version)... Tic Tac Dough's objective is more visual and easier to understand -- here's a tic-tac-toe board with categories; pick a category. And there's something more satisfying about the wider variety of categories and illusion of choice, especially because you get to see most all of the subjects in the early stages of the game. The Joker's Wild was the same randomization every time, but at the beginning of a Tic Tac Dough game, a contestant had a wider variety of options. They weren't at the mercy of the randomizer until the game neared its conclusion. Whether it was true or not, it felt like there was a little more strategy to Tic Tac Dough.
18. Blockbusters
1,209 points; 43 votes
2006 ranking: 22
Scott: I love Blockbusters, and I'm happy to see it move into the top 20. I find that open-ended trivia can sometimes be a chore to play along with. But give me a tiny hint -- say, the first letter of the correct answer -- and I'm right there. Of the shows in our top 25, this had the shortest run in the U.S., and I think that's a shame. At least they appreciated it in the U.K.
Jason: My dad grew to be a fan of this show, finding time to watch it every morning on GSN & seeing the whole Cullen run multiple times. I loved the two-pronged question writing with multiple definitions for the same word. Poring over the daytime schedules & ratings, it looks like Blockbusters was holding its own, hovering around a 17 share, just like Password Plus (and later Battlestars) got an hour later. When NBC moved the hour-long soap Texas to mornings, out of the shadow of Guiding Light & General Hospital, Wheel of Fortune moved Blockbusters out of its time slot, leaving the network with only 30 minutes of daytime games. Blockbusters might just be a victim of bad timing in the U.S.
Scott: And then the revival missed the mark in a number of ways. A soulless computer-generated board? Same ol', same ol' one-on-one matches? That was disappointing.
17. To Tell the Truth
1,320 points; 42 votes
2006 ranking: 10
Scott: To Tell the Truth takes a hit in the rankings this time around. Of the "big three" panel shows, I ranked To Tell the Truth the highest on my ballot because it was the only one with strong play-along value. Even if you looked away from the screen while secrets and occupations were being revealed, you were still learning the answer no more quickly than the panelists. But when you watch this show, it's easy to play along -- even more so because you can just watch the contestants' responses rather than worry about things to ask them.
Jason: The Garry Moore run, which was later Joe Garagiola's, had the right mix for me. I wish it had more exposure on GSN or Buzzr. The panel had its core game players, together with a guest, and Bill Cullen who could always be counted on to lighten the mood. Only with the most recent version did that attitude creep back in - the three runs that fell in between (1980, 1990 & 2000) were pretty straightforward, all things considered.
Scott: It's weird to call the 2000 version straightforward, considering how much they went out of their way to be edgy, but... you're right. I think the best decision the current version made was to drop the monetary stakes entirely. This is a game which just works better when everybody is playing for fun.
16. Let's Make a Deal
1,368 points; 45 votes
2006 ranking: 17
Scott: In 2006, the game show fans ranked Let's Make a Deal at #17 based entirely on how the show equaled Monty Hall and Monty Hall equaled the show. In the past ten years, Wayne Brady's version came into being and has seen a healthy run, yet there's been no perceptible change in how we ranked the show. Is a vote for Let's Make a Deal for both versions, or are we only voting for Monty?
Jason: I think Let's Make a Deal is one of those shows like Match Game that, no matter what, one version will carry it through history. I gave the show extra credit this year for all the things it pioneered. One of the early '70s episodes I watched to help me make decisions on this ballot had a couple trying to add zeros to a lone 1 in the hopes of winning $10,000 - sound familiar? Let's Make a Deal is where you can really try any game show device you want as part of a deal. It helped that Monty was the producer. There are many times where you can tell he's calling an audible to make a deal the best it can be. All game shows lost a little something when contestants got over winning new appliances or color TVs (oooooh), but on Let's Make a Deal, they always seem relieved at avoiding a zonk.
