Shows you really looked forward to seeing, but found underwhelming

[johnnya2k3]

I too was crazy about the Snoop Dogg TJW at first, but gave up a few episodes into it as the lengthy questions were a letdown.

The same can be said with the Hollywood Squares portion of the MGHS Hour; what did it for me was no Secret Square round (which should’ve been a jackpot starting at $5,000 and increasing by $1,000 if not picked) and no bluffing.

[TLEberle]

no Secret Square round (which should’ve been a jackpot starting at $5,000 and increasing by $1,000 if not picked) and no bluffing.

Which stands a good chance to overshadow the Suprr Match at even its base value.

[BrandonFG]

I remember getting very excited when USA started plugging The Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Dough in the early 90s, thinking it would be the Barry/Cullen and Martindale/Caldwell versions.  That was a disappointment.

I might’ve been the exact opposite. Those two versions came on at 1-2 am where I lived so when I finally got to see them a few years later, I was a little excited. At 11, I liked most game shows and didn’t remember enough about the originals to be able to compare just how inferior the reboots were.

I too was crazy about the Snoop Dogg TJW at first, but gave up a few episodes into it as the lengthy questions were a letdown.

Is it really TJW if the questions weren’t wordy?

[BillCullen1]

I remember getting very excited when USA started plugging The Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Dough in the early 90s, thinking it would be the Barry/Cullen and Martindale/Caldwell versions.  That was a disappointment.

Yes, to say the least. My main gripe with TJW '90 was the format. My main gripe with TTD '90 was the host.

[calliaume]

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.

This. It was the summer of pinball, with this on television and Tommy in the theaters, but I was bored by one and confused by the other.

[Kevin Prather]

I too was crazy about the Snoop Dogg TJW at first, but gave up a few episodes into it as the lengthy questions were a letdown.

I really wanted to like the Twenty One revival, but those isolation booths completely ruined it.

[Clay Zambo]

I just hope I don’t have to add SPLIT SECOND to this list.

[PYLdude]

I remember getting very excited when USA started plugging The Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Dough in the early 90s, thinking it would be the Barry/Cullen and Martindale/Caldwell versions.  That was a disappointment.

Yes, to say the least. My main gripe with TJW '90 was the format. My main gripe with TTD '90 was the host.

I honestly could get over Patrick Wayne as host to watch an episode of TTD90. My gripe is more with the way the game worked out.

The only thing they seemed to get right was the shuffling of the categories being stopped by the contestants. And even that had to come with that annoying screeching…whatever the hell you wanted to call that. Don’t know what was worse, that or the original series’ music bed.

I get that they wanted to give out more money but why reset the pot after every tie? That was something I thought was one of the bigger selling points of Tic Tac Dough, where if you have two players who are really solid trivia players going back and forth and the pot keeps building and the tension rises and you wanna see who’s going to crack first. (Man that was a lot to get out.) You don’t really get that as much with the way they did it, because you’re starting from zero and it doesn’t feel to me like you’re engaged as much. It’s like they did all that work and now they’ve gotta do it all over again, possibly for less money than the previous tie game’s pot was assuming they get it over quick?

And it’s never a good sign when you jigger the bonus round to have the possibility that no matter what you do, you can’t win unless it’s by total accident.

[That Don Guy]

The first one that came to mind when I read the subject was 1990 ABC Match Game. Something about the timed rounds turned me off.

Honorable Mention: 1970s-era Masquerade Party (Richard Dawson) - I was excited when I saw it mentioned in the TV Guide Fall Preview, only to discover that none of the stations I could get on TV picked it up; the closest I came to seeing it was when a brief audio clip appears in an episode of The Odd Couple. Anyway, decades later, I finally saw an episode (the one on Wink's Vault, I think), and...meh.

[Stackertosh]

A few come to mind


Card Sharks with Joel Mchale my two problems with the show was, Joel Mchale hosting he look like he didn't want to be there and the show dragged.

Weakest Link with Jane Lynch. I hated the silly question writing. The bantering before the contestants reveal who they voted for. The set has way too much going on it looks like a room full of led lighting.

[That Don Guy]

I too was crazy about the Snoop Dogg TJW at first, but gave up a few episodes into it as the lengthy questions were a letdown.

I really wanted to like the Twenty One revival, but those isolation booths completely ruined it.

For me, it wasn't the isolation booths that ruined it; it was the way the gameplay was handled. For example, a contestant would be told that their opponent had just missed their third question, which of course meant that the contestant realized that all they needed to do was to answer a 1-point question to win. Also, I think that the host told the contestants when the opponent had 21, so they would always choose the value needed to get to 21 themselves, as anything else meant that they would lose the game.

[PYLdude]

I too was crazy about the Snoop Dogg TJW at first, but gave up a few episodes into it as the lengthy questions were a letdown.

I really wanted to like the Twenty One revival, but those isolation booths completely ruined it.

For me, it wasn't the isolation booths that ruined it; it was the way the gameplay was handled. For example, a contestant would be told that their opponent had just missed their third question, which of course meant that the contestant realized that all they needed to do was to answer a 1-point question to win. Also, I think that the host told the contestants when the opponent had 21, so they would always choose the value needed to get to 21 themselves, as anything else meant that they would lose the game.

Call me crazy, but I think Kevin might have been being sarcastic.

[TLEberle]

Indeed. I was discussing this very notion with him.

A game show without an isolation booth is like a car without wheels!

[PYLdude]

Addressing Don’s points:

To your first point, I don’t seem to remember any of that happening. I know Maury told the champion  if their opponent reached 21, but that was after the question was chosen. I remember at least one episode where the challenger reached 21, but the champion didn’t choose a question that would’ve tied the match.

If I also remember correctly, if one contestant struck out, the other contestant was only forced to play their question if they could also strike out with a wrong answer outside of the one time Maury screwed it up and revealed the info.

[TLEberle]

There was one game where Maury flubbed and revealed to somebody that his opponent had struck out. The opponent ran with it, played a one point question and got what amounted to a gift. The opponent, having struck out, could lay no foul claim, though maybe the incoming contestants could, since a double wipeout could be advantageous to fresh meat.

We are making the point that criticizing a show for an integral mechanic comes off as doofy; not that the poster will listen to us. There’s a difference between I didn’t like it and I was prepared to like it but for X.