Game Show Fans 50 Greatest - Results

[Matt Ottinger]

Casey's top pick was Match Game.

[PYLdude]

So he rails against us for being old centric and tops his list with a game show first conceived in 1963. Interesting.

Actually, not really.

[TLEberle]

Like I said, don't devote much thought to him.

[BrandonFG]

He and his legion of followers (mostly castaways from this board) are a match made in Hell. And for that reason alone, I'm glad there's no more Open Enrollment here. Because you know exactly who would be at the front of the line.

Anyway, thank you Scott and Jason for the list and ensuing discussion. I always enjoy a nice discussion on the differing tastes, and this one was no exception.

[JasonA1]

Just as Matt provided in 2006, here's a clean recap of the entire top 50:

1   Pyramid
2   The Price is Right
3   Jeopardy!
4   Password
5   Family Feud
6   Wheel of Fortune
7   Match Game
8   Concentration
9   Press Your Luck
10   Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
11   Sale of the Century
12   Hollywood Squares
13   Scrabble
14   What's My Line?
15   Card Sharks
16   Let's Make a Deal
17   To Tell the Truth
18   Blockbusters
19   Tic Tac Dough
20   Name That Tune
21   The Joker's Wild
22   High Rollers
23   Double Dare (Nickelodeon)
24   Split Second
25   Supermarket Sweep
26   The Chase
27   The Newlywed Game
28   I've Got a Secret
29   Beat the Clock
30   Win Ben Stein's Money
31   Now You See It
32   Gambit
33   Whew!
34   Chain Reaction
35   The Who, What or Where Game/The Challengers
36   Lingo
37   Remote Control
38   Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
39   The Gong Show
40   Treasure Hunt
T41   Deal or No Deal
T41   Jackpot
43   You Bet Your Life
44   The $64,000/$128,000 Question
45   Russian Roulette
46   Twenty One
47   Tattletales/He Said, She Said
48   Win, Lose or Draw
49   College Bowl
50   Weakest Link

Looking over the results Scott compiled, I noticed a number of shows performed better than others even though they had fewer votes cast for them. While I don't encourage changing the way we do things, I found it interesting enough to run the numbers a different way. In a worst-case scenario, 48 of us could vote for the exact same show at #50, giving that show 48 points, but 2 people who champion their own show could trump that popular opinion with a pair of #1 votes, giving their choice 100 points. Even though most of us would have agreed the other show deserved consideration, it would have a harder time ranking.

So here's the list re-imagined, where the number of people who chose a show takes precedence, and the actual points it scored acts as a tiebreaker when shows have the same number of votes.

1   1   Pyramid
2   4   Password
3   5   Family Feud
4   2   The Price is Right
5   6   Wheel of Fortune
6   7   Match Game
7   8   Concentration
8   9   Press Your Luck
9   12   Hollywood Squares
10   3   Jeopardy!
11   16   Let's Make a Deal
12   15   Card Sharks
13   19   Tic Tac Dough
14   13   Scrabble
15   18   Blockbusters
16   10   Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
17   14   What's My Line?
18   17   To Tell the Truth
19   20   Name That Tune
20   21   The Joker's Wild
21   22   High Rollers
22   11   Sale of the Century
23   23   Double Dare (Nickelodeon)
24   25   Supermarket Sweep
25   27   The Newlywed Game
26   24   Split Second
27   29   Beat the Clock
28   28   I've Got a Secret
29   34   Chain Reaction
30   36   Lingo
31   30   Win Ben Stein's Money
32   31   Now You See It
33   32   Gambit
34   37   Remote Control
35   39   The Gong Show
36   26   The Chase
37   33   Whew!
38   40   Treasure Hunt
39   35   The Who, What or Where Game/The Challengers
T41   T41   Deal or No Deal
T41   T41   Jackpot
42   38   Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
43   48   Win, Lose or Draw
44   50   Weakest Link
45   47   Tattletales/He Said, She Said
46   43   You Bet Your Life
47   46   Twenty One
48   45   Russian Roulette
49   51   Double Dare (CBS)
50   53   The Dating Game

The first number is the "new" place, and the second number is where it was. Two new shows swap in, #1 would be the same, but there's a lot of shuffling. 1 vs. 100 was chosen by 15 people just as The Dating Game was, but lost to Dating Game by 56 points. Note that Sale of the Century falls 11 places - I didn't realize how many people omitted it when we did the results - seven in all. I'm curious to hear from some of those people (if they're in our midst).

-Jason

[aaron sica]

Not that anybody cares, but the obsessive compulsive proprietor over at a certain blog few people take seriously chimed in on our list and came up with one of his own.

Yup, and the old blowhard windbag took it as a huge compliment (no surprise with his huge ego) and dedicated a blog entry to the fact that he was talked about! Oh, joy!

[clemon79]

If he's such an "old blowhard," why pay him any attention at all?

[PYLdude]

Not that anybody cares, but the obsessive compulsive proprietor over at a certain blog few people take seriously chimed in on our list and came up with one of his own.

Yup, and the old blowhard windbag took it as a huge compliment (no surprise with his huge ego) and dedicated a blog entry to the fact that he was talked about! Oh, joy!

I feel like I should say something but question if it's worth the effort. Because I'm the one he called out.

[Mr. Armadillo]

Call me crazy if you must but I felt the concept of a race against time to prevent everything you could win, as well as yourself, from going off the side of a building to be a fascinating one.

I liked the show because it was CHOCK FULL of content for an hour's time (and I like Jericho, period, and anyone who disagrees is a STUPID IDIOT <clap, clap, clapclapclap>), but having to disclaimer the conveyor belt at the top of every show really ruined the gimmick.

Downfall wasn't on my list, but I'll concede that it was the best in the world at what it did.

Yep.  Game shows aren't all serious business.  Sometimes you've just got to sit down and drink it in, man.

[aaron sica]

He and his legion of followers (mostly castaways from this board) are a match made in Hell. And for that reason alone, I'm glad there's no more Open Enrollment here. Because you know exactly who would be at the front of the line.

Yep, the one who thinks we're all Copyright Nazis.

[PYLdude]

He and his legion of followers (mostly castaways from this board) are a match made in Hell. And for that reason alone, I'm glad there's no more Open Enrollment here. Because you know exactly who would be at the front of the line.

Yep, the one who thinks we're all Copyright Nazis.

Which is eventually what drove me to respond. God help me, I should've known better but he always spins everything to make himself look like a victim.

[Dbacksfan12]

So, are we good to start posting our final lists (those who care to do so, of course)?

[JasonA1]

Absolutely.

-Jason

[Dbacksfan12]

I guess I'll get the ball rolling on this....:
50-Trump Card
49-Jackpot
48-Hot Potato
47-Legends of the Hidden Temple
46-Tattletales
45-I’ve Got a Secret
45-Crosswits
44-Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
43-Trivia Trap
42-Duel
41-Go
40-Win Lose or Draw
39-Whew!
38-Blockbusters
37-Now You See It
36-Celebrity Sweepstakes
35-Crosswits
34-Shop 'til you Drop
33-Weakest Link
32-Cash Cab
31-Twenty-One
30-Tic Tac Dough
29-Remote Control
28-The Joker's Wild
27-The Gong Show
26-Russian Roulette
25-Win Ben Stein's Money
24-Scrabble
23-High Rollers
22-Beat the Clock
21-Double Dare (Nickelodeon)
20-The Challengers
19-Card Sharks
18-What's My Line?
17-The Newlywed Game
16-Wheel of Fortune
15-Let's Make a Deal
14-Supermarket Sweep
13-Hollywood Squares
12-Family Feud
11-Match Game
10-Press Your Luck
9-Name That Tune
8-Split Second
7-Concentration
6-Password
5-The $10,000 Pyramid
4-Jeopardy!
3-The Price is Right
2-To Tell the Truth
1-Sale of the Century

[jmangin]

Would it be helpful for respondents to submit their lists using a Google Form? The shows linked within Lists of game shows on Wikipedia and the related sub-articles could be used to populate a form with 50 drop-down choices. The results could then be pivoted from a Google Sheet when ready. You can also setup the form to only accept one response, but this would require a log-in.