Best Game Show Finales – Your Picks?

[Otm Shank]

Of the episodes that announced "you'll be seeing some choice shows", Play the Percentages at least got Judge Von Eric on camera and Geoff had a chance to riff on some of the staff members on camera as only he could do.

[Loogaroo]

I wholeheartedly agree with Chelsea that Super Password was not just a finale for the show itself but also for the era of three networks airing two hours of game shows five days a week. The closing theme song, which was already among the best in the genre, got to play for an extended time thanks to the extra-long credit roll.

I'm surprised to not see the 1975 finale of The Joker's Wild in more people's lists. That one was especially unique in the way they turned off all the stage lights towards the end of the broadcast, ending with the slot machine slides being turned off one by one. Would've been nice if they'd "accidentally" left off the Devil slides in the final playing of the bonus round, but that's something that B&E would've never gotten away with doing at the time.

[BrandonFG]

I wholeheartedly agree with Chelsea that Super Password was not just a finale for the show itself but also for the era of three networks airing two hours of game shows five days a week.

I think what bums me out more was we lost three shows in one week. I have fond memories of watching game shows in 1989, but the cancellations of $ale, Card Sharks, and Super Password were the beginning of the end. The daytime genre basically coasted on fumes for the next five years, although I'd take daytime TV of 1989 over what we have now.

Which reminds me, I'd also like to add $ale to my list. Jim gave a similar heartfelt thank you to the viewers on the Christmas '88 episode which makes me think they knew it was only a matter of time. IIRC they got an unexpected 13-week renewal in January '89.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Which reminds me, I'd also like to add $ale to my list. Jim gave a similar heartfelt thank you to the viewers on the Christmas '88 episode which makes me think they knew it was only a matter of time. IIRC they got an unexpected 13-week renewal in January '89.

Agreed on this finale, and uniquely, this is one of the rare shows that acknowledged it aesthetically too, with the stripped down shopping area giving "Going out of Business" vibes that whole week.

[Eric Paddon]

Which may have been why Winters was only booked on the daytime version once. Someone else with more experience can determine whether he was made the Secret Square frequently (or not) on the syndicated run.

Dawson told Maxine Fabe "Some of the worst celebrities on game shows are the stand-up comics. They're getting big bucks with an ad lib and the contestant's ten thousand bucks is going down the drain. All someone has to do on Match Game is to try that once and they're never invited back."

If anything, Winters' antics would have been slightly less annoying on the daytime version because at least on the daytime version the contestants don't get screwed if time runs out whereas on nighttime his antics were costing contestants their one shot.   More than once I've heard Peter remind the stars to move quick because on nighttime the contestants don't come back.

Dawson may not have had her in mind, but his sentiments explain why I always found Patti Deutsch the most insufferable of the semi-regulars because she was always trying to come up with a punchline.

[wdm1219inpenna]

Back in March 1989 I worked full time but my hours were from noon until 830pm.  This afforded me the chance to be able to watch much of the NBC Daytime lineup.

Sadly, the finale of NBC'S Sale was interrupted by a news bulletin, some sort of speech by President George H.W. Bush which irritated me to no end, so I did not get to see the end of that episode originally.

The Joker's Wild finale in 1975 was one that had crossed my mind, but I figured I'd see if anybody else came up with it here and by golly, somebody did!

Also the Art Fleming NBC Jeopardy! from January 3rd 1975 ranks up there as well.  Watching that finale and hearing the theme song "Smile" playing at the end gets me so very wistful for my childhood, for in 1975, I still was so young (only and all of my loved ones were still alive and in my life, I feel tremendous angst each and every time I watch that Jeopardy! finale.

[TLEberle]

Research indicates the speech pertained to the Exxon Valdez split.

[rebelwrest]

Dawson may not have had her in mind, but his sentiments explain why I always found Patti Deutsch the most insufferable of the semi-regulars because she was always trying to come up with a punchline.

Patti only did that in round one.  In round two she made the attempt to match.  There is a video out there when she was picked for the head-to-head match and won the contestant $5,000.

/When Patti's face appeared during the "next time we get together" collage, I said the exact same words each time: "The Weirdo Lady"

[NickintheATL]

Oddly enough I did a stream of final episodes on my Twitch channel last Monday. Fitting for my last stream of 2024.

Here is what I picked to be among my favorites:

Super Password #1151 (3/24/89 OC)
Jeopardy (1/3/75 - 50th anniversary of it the following Friday)
Password (6/27/75 OC)
Split Second #115-SPS-75 (6/27/75 OC)
The Gong Show #D500 (7/21/78 OC)
The $20,000 Pyramid (6/27/80)
Match Game #81-35-5 (Final Syndicated ep - airing from 12/31/99 Y2Play GSN marathon)

Lots of these shows already noted in previous posts, so I am very much on the same wavelengths.

[Neumms]

Patti only did that in round one.  In round two she made the attempt to match.  There is a video out there when she was picked for the head-to-head match and won the contestant $5,000.

This. Patti’s weird answers were funny, often witty. Joyce Bullifant, on the other hand, gave stupid answers that weren’t funny and was annoying while she gave them.

I have to think Jonathan Winters did both versions of Squares. Daytime games could straddle, so his leisurely pace wouldn’t have impacted the contestants’ winnings.

[CeleTheRef]

Among international shows, the Portuguese Wheel finale is hard to beat     

[Ian Wallis]

I think what bums me out more was we lost three shows in one week. I have fond memories of watching game shows in 1989, but the cancellations of $ale, Card Sharks, and Super Password were the beginning of the end. The daytime genre basically coasted on fumes for the next five years, although I'd take daytime TV of 1989 over what we have now.

I also think of May-June 1980 when we lost five shows all in a short time - Whew!, Hollywood Squares, High Rollers, Chain Reaction and $20,000 Pyramid.  I remember the summer of 1980 as being kind of a down time for game shows.  That summer break from school wasn't as enjoyable as some years past!

[Ian Wallis]

I'll go along with what others have already stated.  It was neat seeing some of these finales in tape-trading that I'd never seen before, such as Joker's Wild; or re-connecting with shows that I did originally see, like Split Second (I'll never forget the "It's a Brand New Day on ABC" promos), but I'll add another here which hasn't been mentioned:  Definition.

I haven't seen it since it originally ran but I remember Jim thanking the viewers for 15 wonderful years and they even had a 15th-anniversary cake.  Nice ending to a long-running show.  Probably only members in northern states with access to a CTV station would have had a chance to see it.

[rebelwrest]

Patti only did that in round one.  In round two she made the attempt to match.  There is a video out there when she was picked for the head-to-head match and won the contestant $5,000.

This. Patti’s weird answers were funny, often witty. Joyce Bullifant, on the other hand, gave stupid answers that weren’t funny and was annoying while she gave them.

The best description of Patti Deutsch I've ever read came from the book Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly.  This came from the section "Patti Deutsch Syndrome by Proxy"

Back in the game show industry's golden age, when Patti Deutsch regularly occupied the lower-right hand seat of the Match Game celebrity panel, she was renowned for giving answers that betrayed a tenuous grasp not only of the game, but of English, logic, and the boundaries of space-time. ....

Indeed, it often appeared as though Deutsch was off in some parallel universe playing some other game with entirely different questions.......which we have dubbed the Patti Deutsch Syndrome by Proxy. Now, we should note that we have nothing but love and respect for Deutsch, and our appropriation of her good name to describe what ails O'Reilly should be considered an homage.  Plus it sounded way better than Avery Schreiber Disease.