When did you first hear about GSN?

[davemackey]

I was working in cable at the time, so I had an ear pretty close to the development and eventual launch of this network, as well as a parallel channel that IFE (International Family Entertainment) had called The Game Channel that never got off the ground.

IIRC, GSN was originally a three-way partnership between Sony, Liberty Media and Mark Goodson Productions (or whoever owned them at the time, I believe it was All-American by then); hence the early emphasis on the Goodson library.

[whampyl03]

It was during those promos durning Wheel and Jeopardy! credits around 1997.  Man, I nearly jumped out of my pants.  I remember allmost everyday asking my Mom to buy a satelight dish so I could watch GSN.  She looked at me like there were snails crawling out of my ears.  I also remember calling my cable operator allmost everyday, asking for GSN, I usually ended up getting cussed out by the operator, or hung up on.  It was like that allmost everyday until March of 2002, when GSN was added to the new-fangled digital cable program.  And I have enjoyed allmost every minute of it.

[Jimmy Owen]

I read about the two possible channels in trade magazines and TV Guide before they launched.  Thought FAM's entry would win because they had the on air tryout.  I thought FAM had secured the Bob Stewart library initially and would have shown those if they had gotten off the ground with \"The Game Channel.\"    First time I saw GSN was in 1998. I was shopping at a department store, heard the \"Card Sharks\" theme and headed to the TV department and there on about twenty screens was Jim Perry and the Money Cards.  I then got motivated to upgrade to digital cable and have had GSN since the summer of 1998, so I missed the early days and the dark period.

[BrandonFG]

I remember reading a rumor about it c. 1992, then I was watching one of those network morning shows (\"Today,\" GMA), and they were talking about the \"possibilities\" of a 500 channel universe. From that point, I thought about how I desperately wanted to see this \"GSN,\" and I think I caught my first glimpse in December 1997; it was one of those \"game recap\" shows, patterned like Talk Soup. I then caught a 70s TPiR, featuring \"It's Optional.\" From that point to spring 2002, anywhere I went, if they had a satellite or digital cable, I \"casually\" turned to GSN, esp. if I was in a store at the mall. We finally got digital cable on May 15, 2002, and while it was fun seeing some of the shows, what we have now is still just not the same. I used to go out of my way to try to see TJW/TTD, shopping-era Wheel, etc. Now, I just watch Match Game, Dawson Feud, Lingo, and RR, with a few other originals scattered in.

[Timsterino]

I first heard of GSN from lurking in ATGS back in 1996. I was so intrigued with the idea of calling up to be a contestant on Super Decades that I purchased the digital tier.

Tim :-)

[Brandon Brooks]

Wow, what fond memories I had.

I didn't come onto ATGS until 2000, and I was lurking around, using tvgameshows.net and tv-gameshows.com as my main resources of game show info.  Well, through these sites I heard about GSN.  A game show channel for a game show freak.  Wow!  So I had to wait until digital cable to come around to the Memphis area, and that was around September of 1999.  To appease me, my mom got it in December.  I even stayed home from school that day to watch it (My mommy loved me :-)).  The first show I saw was Larry Blyden and the red and yellow WML?  I'd never seen it before, and I was captivated.  Then it was one of my favorite shows of all time (and still is):  The $100,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark!  And later on... Classic Barker Price Is Right, infused with WinTV!!!  Man, what heaven that was.

Other great early memories was the GOTW (weird, and obsucre shows, and my introduction to my least favorite show, Camoflauge), Cullen TPIR (my favorite B&W game), and Y2Play (with my first sightings of Narz NYSI, Eubanks CS, and the most bass ackwards version of Jeopardy I've ever seen).

Man, those were the days.

Brandon Brooks

[Tim L]

I first saw GSN at a buddy's house in Massillon, Ohio in late 98 early 99.(knew of it before then).It had a 3:30 Color Password airing (Peter Lawford, Barbara Eden)..Thought it was neat to \"play along\" with contestants from over 30 years ago..In late summer 1999 GSN was added to the Digital Cable of Time Warner of Canton Ohio..Also got it on Dish Network for a while..Love the classics Would watch more originals if I had time..

[WrenCanada]

I actually heard of GSN whilst doing a search on the web and found their discussion forums back in July 2001.  At that time I didn't get GSN, as I had no television, but I got a television last February and have had GSN ever since.  I really love gameshows, I just more people in my area of Montreal, Canada, shared my joy.

[HdbngrKen26]

A promo via satellite in the Summer of 1995 and became a GSN viewer a year later in September,1996.

[TonicBH]

I think I heard of GSN around 1997-98 or so. saw the WOF/J! promos, and went to their website. I was disappointed when they didn't have one of my favorite shows (Pyramid).

after taping 2-10 hour tapes from around 1999-2000 at my dad's work which had a satellite dish, I finally got Digital Cable which had GSN on September 5, 2001. Basically I got it 4 days after LMAD and PYL came to the network.

[trainman]

First time I saw GSN was at GSC-2 in the winter of 1995, thanks to David Hammett and the aforementioned tapes he made of the debut weekend using his school's satellite equipment.

I saw GSN for the first time \"live\" when I became one of the first digital cable customers in the South Hills of Pittsburgh in April 1998...I had it installed on the Monday of the last week of the Dark Period.  I don't remember what I watched first, but I do remember managing to catch \"Go\" every night that week.

Then I moved to Burbank, California, and it turned out that the apartment complex I moved into had its own private cable system that set new standards for incompetence and didn't have GSN, so I was without it from March 1999 until my lease was up in March 2000 and I moved.

[ascatlegesone]

i saw match game on and i throught it was some werid looking hollywood squares and then i changed it and went back to gsn and  i herd rod roddy on pyl and after that i start watching gsn

[HomieG1386]

Holy smokes... Just reading all this brings back many memories of when I had GSN...

I first saw GSN when I went with family to go see relatives in Missouri. My aunt whom we were staying with had sattelite, and when they were flipping channels I saw a classic To Tell the Truth. I asked them to flip it back and I was in awe. I didn't know there were black & white game shows (hey, I was about 11 at the time; gimme a break!). When I went back home I forgot about it all.

Then about in 1997-98 I was talking to my pastor's wife. They had cable (or was it sattelite?) and she was talking to me about GSN and, more specifically, an original on it called Inquizition. Now, this woman is a game show fanatic, so she explained it even better than I could imagine. It was then that I wanted digital cable.

Finally, after months of complaining, begging, and explaning, my parents got digital cable and I got to watch GSN. I don't even remember much, but since someone else brought it up, I do actually remember old TPIR episodes (WinTV was the light switch for me). I now remember many shows on there that I miss.

Sadly, bills were piling and digital cable went away in early 2002 (I remember this because I was watching TechTV and Leo Laporte doing his best to be a reporter when 9/11 happened) and I was stuck with nuthin' again.

But hey, this Thursday we get Dish Network and the return of GSN to my family's home!!! YAY!!!!!

[combsisthebest]

I first heard about GSN during the Wheel and J! episodes. I got my first glimpse of GSN in 1999 and that was just a promo. In 2001 my cable company finally got with the digital program, and I had GSN on free preview, and I wish I had thought to record then. I kept getting it on Free Preview and started recording, every time they had the station on free preview. Finally about a week ago, I was able to expand to digital and I now have GSN.

[HSquares2003]

I had heard of it when Gene Rayburn appeared on the Maury show in 1996. My cable company finally went digital in 2001, and I started getting GSN then