Watching the Revival BEFORE the Original

[TheInquisitiveOne]

Good evening.

Based on the “looking forward but found underwhelming” thread I read earlier, a thought came to mind, one which I personally experienced when I was younger.

Has there been a show that you didn’t know at the time was actually a revival of an older show, only to find out later (whether it was through reruns on cable, or much later via the internet or even GSN) that there was an original version…which turned out to be better or more interesting?

When I really got into game shows around 1990 (the downturn), I actually was fascinated with ABC’s version of Match Game. I thought it was a fun concept and wondered why it disappeared so quickly. Then I saw the original version for the first time almost a decade later on GSN, and I saw why the ABC version wasn’t up to snuff. Better chemistry, funnier gags, more risqué content, and a better mediator in Gene Rayburn (vs. Ross Shafer, who did try his best).

Same thing happened with the 1990 version of The Joker’s Wild. I thought it was fun for what it was, but then saw the Jack Barry version on GSN and saw that it was leagues better than the revival…especially Barry’s syndicated comeback.

Finally, I remember watching the 1984-86 version of Let’s Make a Deal (which were themselves reruns at the time) and then turning around and watching the short-lived 1990 NBC revival. I had enough knowledge to know that Monty Hall was well known in the game show world, but wondered why his show never really took off. Years later, I would see why; shows from the earlier years (the original 14-year ABC-NBC-syndicated run) started surfacing on the Family Channel, and really was in vogue when GSN got the reruns in 2001. It suddenly dawned on me that I was watching the revivals first. Monty had a lot more energy in his early shows.

It really threw me off at first, but it was more difficult to trace shows back then due to lack of internet and cable reruns being the only real point of reference. Has this happened to any of you? Discuss below. Thank you in advance, as always, for your responses.

The Inquisitive One

[BrandonFG]

Being born in the early-80s, several come to mind. The most specific examples are Feud, Card Sharks, and PYL.

With Feud, Combs’s version was the first one I ever watched in the late-80s. I did have the Commodore 64 home game, and was a bit surprised to see a 1984 copyright. That’s when my mom explained Richard Dawson to me.

In the case of Eubanks CS and PYL, those were also my first exposures to the shows, and I later found out they were reboots from reading various TV encyclopedias.

This is more a case of watching the successor first, but the biggest surprise came to me when watching Rodeo Drive. Louise DuArt asked who hosted Wheel first, Chuck or Pat. I immediately yelled out “Pat!”, only to realize I was completely wrong.

[SuperMatch93]

Lingo for me. I didn't know there was a pre-GSN one until I discovered Kris Lane's site.

[Blanquepage]

I liked watching Crosswits reruns on FAM back in the 90s, but only as an adult did I get to enjoy the superior Jack Clark version.
Still holding out hope that those tapes turn up one of these days.

[Casey]

I grew up in the 80s also, so for me, the show that answered this question directly for me was Super Password.  I had seen Dawson's Feud as a young child, but I don't recall ever having seen Password Plus, and certainly not the previous versions of Password.  I would also count the $25,000/$100,000 Pyramid.  I had never seen the 70s versions until GSN.

[BillCullen1]

Growing up in the 70s, the shows that were new to me were TPIR, IGAS, BTC and Match Game, which all had their original versions in the 50s and 60s. When I first saw Cullen's TPIR, the difference was like night and day to me.

[Dbacksfan12]

When I first saw Cullen's TPIR, the difference was like night and day to me.

You found this version superior to the current one?

Until episodes of Kennedy’s version were uploaded, the only version of Name That Tune I had seen was Lange’s.  Which is a pale imitator in almost all aspects.

[TimK2003]

Growing up in the 70s, the shows that were new to me were TPIR, IGAS, BTC and Match Game, which all had their original versions in the 50s and 60s. When I first saw Cullen's TPIR, the difference was like night and day to me.

I'm in the same boat as ^^, thinking all the Goodson shows of the 70's were the true originals, only to find out that they were all remakes of the 50's and/or 60's versions.

Match Game 7x was a far better version than the original.
To Tell The Truth, IGAS and WML were all toss-ups, as they didn't stray much from one version to another.
Cullen vs Barker/James/Kennedy... TPIR was also a toss up as both, IMHO, could be considered two entirely different show formats with not much similarities outside the one-bid items.

BTW, after finally seeing a Cullen version on GSN, the Flintstones episode spoofing his version as "The Prize Is Priced" made a lot more sense to me.

[Kevin Prather]

Count me as one who didn't know Tic Tac Dough was around in the 50s until relatively recently.

[PYLdude]

Earliest examples of this for me probably have to be Sale of the Century and the Pyramid, which win because they were on first during the day.

I’m trying to think of something that I knew was a revival from the outset and still got to see it before the original; the only example that springs to mind for me is Let’s Make a Deal from the 80s, and that’s only because they made the effort to call it “The All New” in the title.

[Winkfan]

When I first saw Cullen's TPIR, the difference was like night and day to me.

You found this version superior to the current one?

Well, I certainly do!

Cordially,
Tammy

[BillCullen1]

When I first saw Cullen's TPIR, the difference was like night and day to me.

You found this version superior to the current one?

No, just the opposite actually. I see why Mark Goodson felt the 50s version of TPIR would not work in the faster paced 70s.

[Clay Zambo]

It's not what the OP had in mind, but when I first saw He Said, She Said, I thought, "Yup, Tattletales got this right."

[Chief-O]

Grew up on Combs FF, Lange NTT, Edwards "Chain Reaction", and Finn TJW. Got introduced to "Match Game" through Shafer and "Squares" through Davidson. Of course, that was 30+ years ago, and I lacked judgement.....they were game shows, so I liked them by default. I do slightly prefer Combs to Dawson these days, but I doubt I'd prefer the other aforementioned to the originals or more popular revivals.

Of course, though, I was also raised on 80s "Pyramid", "Classic Concentration", and Perry SOTC.

/especially with NTT; I'd take Kennedy's later eps over Lange
//3 words: Steve March-Tormé
///has met/done audio for him......good guy

(edited my terrible math! Also forgot more than a few other shows!)

[JMFabiano]

Can we go within (technically) the same series?  Then syndie MG before knowing of the CBS version.  More particularly, before knowing the pre-Star Wheel episodes. 

Again I could be cheating, but not knowing there was a Dream House before the Eubanks version.  Similar, not knowing of the other Break the Banks before Rayburn/Farago.  Same name, different show is probably stretching it. 

Super Password (and barely Password Plus*) before Password. 

Darrow Jackpot before NBC. 

The current run of Jeopardy! before the Fleming versions, of course. 

Classic Concentration. 

Tattletales '82. 

Sale of the Century...of course, even now, the older versions are near impossible to come by. 

Earliest TTTT I knew was the Ward one. 

Now You See It '89. 

Probably should have been tipped off by it being "The New" Battlestars, but was unaware of the original. 

Only Martindale/Caldwell Tic-Tac-Dough, not the 50s version. 

All-New LMAD being the earliest version I knew. 


* - I am not counting shows I had vague memories of, cause I knew they existed as such.  Thus, I disqualified the later versions of certain shows I grew up with, as I had said memories of: Marshall HS, Password Plus, Trebek High Rollers, Woolery WOF, Blockbusters, Kennedy NTT, and $20K (possibly $50K) Pyramid.