Shows you really looked forward to seeing, but found underwhelming

[BrandonFG]

I’m thinking more along the lines of something you only read about in the EOTVGS and always wanted to see, but if you waited all summer for a premiere only to be disappointed, I’ll allow it.

As a child I was obsessed with Bullseye, having seen the pictures of the impressive set in the EOTVGS, then getting to download clips and the theme song on various sites. When I finally watched the show, it was intriguing but lacking. Maybe it was because the first episode I watched had celebrities but it felt like Joker’s Wild tried to make the Fast Forward category its own show, then ironically slowed it to a crawl.

Your turn!

[SuperMatch93]

I remember that reading about Battlestars on David Livingston's old website piqued my curiosity, and when I finally saw an episode years later I thought it was OK but not as interesting as it sounded on there.

EDIT: For your second category, Temptation is the prime example.

[Chief-O]

As a child I was obsessed with Bullseye, having seen the pictures of the impressive set in the EOTVGS, then getting to download clips and the theme song on various sites. When I finally watched the show, it was intriguing but lacking. Maybe it was because the first episode I watched had celebrities but it felt like Joker’s Wild tried to make the Fast Forward category its own show, then ironically slowed it to a crawl.

I guess I can count that one too. If I remember, the first ep. I saw of that didn't have a bonus round, so I guess that didn't help (and only reinforces your claim re. the pacing).

[PYLdude]

As far as the."waiting for the premiere" side: by far, the 2001 edition of Card Sharks tops my list. I was so excited to see that one of my favorites as a kid was coming back, and then...

As for the "I read about it so I have to see it" side: this one is a toughie because I got back into my fandom largely because of the fansites so many people made in the early 2000s. And a lot of them were about what I expected, be they good or bad. But if I'm going to pick one, I've probably gotta go with (apologies to Kris Lane and his awesome page on the subject) Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak. I just didn't like the format, outside of the bonus round.

I have to give an honorable mention to Double Talk, because of just how.little there was to the game. The bonus round, again, to me was the only redeeming factor.

[BrandonFG]

As a child I was obsessed with Bullseye, having seen the pictures of the impressive set in the EOTVGS, then getting to download clips and the theme song on various sites. When I finally watched the show, it was intriguing but lacking. Maybe it was because the first episode I watched had celebrities but it felt like Joker’s Wild tried to make the Fast Forward category its own show, then ironically slowed it to a crawl.

I guess I can count that one too. If I remember, the first ep. I saw of that didn't have a bonus round, so I guess that didn't help (and only reinforces your claim re. the pacing).

You remember correctly. I was surprised GSN would use such an episode for the Feast of Favorites.

As far as premieres, I’ll add CS01 to the list. I initially liked Temptation but that wore off pretty quickly.

[Chief-O]

You remember correctly. I was surprised GSN would use such an episode (of "Bullseye") for the Feast of Favorites.

You know, that's probably where I saw it.

The mention of CS '01 earlier reminded me that the Joel McHale reboot was somewhat of a letdown for me.

[DoItRockapella]

I’m thinking more along the lines of something you only read about in the EOTVGS and always wanted to see, but if you waited all summer for a premiere only to be disappointed, I’ll allow it.

I'll give you one of each.

Read About It: Remote Control. I never saw it on an actual television - it was canceled when I was one year old. Kris Lane's site made it sound hilarious, and I also spent many an hour playing a version of the DOS computer game downloaded from whatever abandonware site. When the advent of sites like Youtube finally allowed me to watch a few episodes...I would never saw it was bad, but it mostly just felt like a weird 80s relic. Ditto Fun House  - sites like The Fun House Factory made it sound great, but when I finally found it on Youtube, I had to constantly repeat to myself "It's 1988...it's 1988..."

Waited Months For The Premiere: The 2021 Legends Of The Hidden Temple on CW. Again, I would never call it bad - it was watchable and it was cute and it made me nostalgic - but it wasn't worth the 25-year wait* for a part of my childhood to come back. Even Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge was better.

*I'm not counting the 2016 TV movie. If I must give an opinion on it, again, it was watchable and it was cute and it made me nostalgic.

[WarioBarker]

I remember eagerly anticipating Temptation and Merv Griffin's Crosswords back in 2007. Both left me going "eh, it's okay".

Ditto with Save To Win, which got me intrigued due to being a new daytime network game show. Found it to be kinda dull, especially when I realized the "smart shopping" mentioned in the opening spiel was nowhere to be found. The bonus round being straight-up stank-ass luck right out of a lottery game show didn't help matters.

In all three cases, I figured I'd give them time to find their footing. I was rewarded with three big raspberries for my trouble.

[trainman]

What comes to mind first is the "Scrabble" revival and "Scattergories" in 1993.

[Jamey Greek]

I would say Match Game 1998

[Jimmy Owen]

The Million Second Quiz.  Ryan Seacrest 's bete noire.

[TLEberle]

Caesars Challenge felt like lots of window dressing for a banal game I wasn’t good at. It wasn’t until later in life that I started to appreciate it.

Most of the Family Channel ‘96 block, and the two USA originals Quicksilver and Free 4 All.

[Ian Wallis]

Going back quite a ways, but the first thing that came to mind for me was The Magnificent Marble Machine.  School had just ended a couple weeks prior and NBC was running a lot of promos for this show.  I couldn't wait until it finally came on, but remember being kind of unimpressed when I saw it.

[Jimmy Owen]

Going back quite a ways, but the first thing that came to mind for me was The Magnificent Marble Machine.  School had just ended a couple weeks prior and NBC was running a lot of promos for this show.  I couldn't wait until it finally came on, but remember being kind of unimpressed when I saw it.
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There wasn't enough action at the machine. I thought it would be good to have letter targets to spell words, instead of the main game, which was ok, but belonged on another show.

[tyshaun1]

One of my earliest game show memories was seeing the promos for Hit Man and getting pretty excited due to NBC promising us "video game action" and 6-year-old me thinking we'd see video games on TV... only to find out it was a memory based quiz which virtually had nothing to do with arcades or gaming. Great set and music but still don't know why they thought that'd be a good combo at the time.