Game Show Fans 50 Greatest - Results

[The Ol' Guy]

Adding to Clay's point, that's one of the reasons I gave Concentration a high rank in my list. It was an excellent use of early television because it totally demanded your attention. It could hold you, as compared to other shows where you could flip the dial and take in a few minutes of some other show and not miss much. The excitement built as the puzzle was revealed, bit by bit, like Wheel of Fortune. A point was made a long time ago that a lot of Mark Goodson's games could just as easily been done on the radio (Password, To Tell The Truth, What's My Line?, Family Feud) if TV had never been developed. Concentration was one of several games that played to television's strengths. Could it work with today's attention spans? Well, if one can sit through an entire two- hour drama because it's captivating, what's the difference? It's a matter of want to. If you're interested enough and it's good enough, you'll watch it.

[clemon79]

I think I've figured out what the Top Five shows are.

Yes. And Your Number's Up and Bargain Hunters could not be more deserving.

[BrandonFG]

I just wonder if Concentration requires too much thinking*, ...
*/And if the answer is yes, the show's title might be a bit ironic

I don't think the point is that it require too much *thinking,* but that it requires too much *attention.* Although you might be able to solve a rebus with a quick look-in, you couldn't follow the prize-matching part of the game without being attentive to the whole game. You wouldn't necessarily have to *look* at the screen the whole time, but you'd have to be actively listening.

This is a good way to look at it. With Wheel, you have to watch, but you can glance up from whatever errand and solve the puzzle, even though it's only halfway filled-in. But yeah, Concentration requires more....well, concentration.

[TLEberle]

I'll cosign that.

I know lots of moms who are staying at home to attend to the family and home while the dad is out earning the money. I believe that every one of them is smart enough to play along with Concentration or any other game show of the 60s, 70s or 80s. If you watch a minute of game play of Concentration you get the idea: reveal two cards, see if the item matches. If so, reveal the puzzle pieces, if not cover them and continue play. Anyone watching could then make the choice of "does this interest me?". That's the hurdle, not difficulty.

[PYLdude]

I think I've figured out what the Top Five shows are.

Yes. And Your Number's Up and Bargain Hunters could not be more deserving.

I'm suddenly curious to see if either of those shows garnered a vote.

[BrandonFG]

I was wondering if Millionaire would make the list.

The list as a whole? I had no doubt it would make it. I mean, it's arguably one of the most iconic games of the last 25 years and is largely credited with reviving the genre. It was just a matter of how high it would place.

Top 10 doesn't surprise me, again, given how it took off in the U.S., and has remained on the air, minus a few months in summer 2002.

[BillCullen1]

I think I've figured out what the Top Five shows are.

Yes. And Your Number's Up and Bargain Hunters could not be more deserving.

Then there's Show Me The Money, with Captain Kirk himself

[PYLdude]

I was wondering if Millionaire would make the list.

The list as a whole? I had no doubt it would make it. I mean, it's arguably one of the most iconic games of the last 25 years and is largely credited with reviving the genre. It was just a matter of how high it would place.

Top 10 doesn't surprise me, again, given how it took off in the U.S., and has remained on the air, minus a few months in summer 2002.

Here's what I thought cemented Millionaire's status for me as a top 15 (I say that because it just missed my top ten, as I had it at 12).

Through all the changes they made to the show over the years (getting rid of the Fastest Finger round for the syndicated series, lifelines coming and going, the 2010 format overhaul, the 2015 return to the classic format), the show never lost its sense of self. Which is one person vs. a stack of questions with total control over his destiny, with the drama ratcheting up the higher he goes. And as a viewer, you're locked in step with him the whole way and once he starts getting high up on that ladder, you start to get excited because you just don't know where it's going and can't wait to find out.

[TLEberle]

Then there's Show Me The Money, with Captain Kirk himself

whoosh.

[BrandonFG]

I had it at 20, which now surprises me, given everything I said. I think, for me, that while it's still one person answering a stack of multiple-choice questions, it's not quite the appointment television it was 16 or 17 years ago.

And that's perfectly okay; you could say the same thing for Wheel now, compared to 1984. Millionaire comes on at noon here, so I don't get to watch too often, but the last time I did, it was still a fun game show, just refitted for daytime. Years ago, someone here noted that game shows don't hold the same iconic status and last for decades, compared to 40 years ago. So, to see a show break out the pack and stay on the air is a great thing, changes and all.

[JasonA1]

I had it at 20, which now surprises me, given everything I said. I think, for me, that while it's still one person answering a stack of multiple-choice questions, it's not quite the appointment television it was 16 or 17 years ago.

And that's perfectly okay; you could say the same thing for Wheel now, compared to 1984.

I think your observations help show that part of what made Millionaire so appealing in its first run, and in game show history for the voting, was the specialness of the big money & the primetime pageantry. Sort of like why people chose some of the scandal shows, I guess. Conversely, that's what's less appealing for me personally in syndication. As a game, I wouldn't really play straight-up Millionaire for fun on my own. Playing the CD-ROM with my family is still fun, but as a collaborative effort by everybody in the room. I liked the tweaks for the Facebook game when the shuffle format was around. I think I'm in the minority among game show fans who liked the shuffle format for the very reasons it came about - it made the early questions interesting, it made every show different, etc.

-Jason

[Dbacksfan12]

If we've got to the point where thinking is too hard then maybe the game show is done as a genre. The fact that "Hit the Buzzer, Win a Cookie" is in the top ten and got a greatest of all time vote does not fill me with confidence.

Heaven forbid that people like a show that is entertaining as opposed to something boring and mundane such as Quiz Bowl.

[TLEberle]

There's no generalizing quite like your generalizing.

[PYLdude]

There's no generalizing quite like your generalizing.

Who's more generalizing? Mark or you, who boiled down a show that employs knowledge, strategy, and risk to create drama perhaps better than most shows of its era into the 80s equivalent of How Much Is Enough?

I mean, there's dislike of a show and then there's Nisanian level hating just to hate.

[clemon79]

who boiled down a show that employs knowledge

You know, you keep going to this well out of the gate, but I am sure you realize that the question difficulty wasn't exactly S.A.T.-quality. It's a little disingenuous and really undermines the rest of your argument. Just saying.