Game Show Viewing...

[Ian Wallis]

In your family, is everyone a game show fan, or just you?

When my parents came here from England in the 1950s, they sometimes watched game shows - they remember the quiz show scandals and were fans of shows like "$64,000 Question", "Twenty One" and "What's My Line".  Over the years their interest waned and now they don't usually watch any game show, although they did get caught up in the "Millionaire" craze a little bit when it first started.  I recently asked my father if he watched any of the Ken Jennings run, and he stated he wasn't interested in it.

As for my three sisters and their significant others, none of them are really into game shows either.  They're more into the "reality" craze, such as "Survivor".  Ken Jennings streak, or big winners on "Millionaire" don't really mean much to them.

My wife does like game shows and can watch GSN with me, and certain shows like "Press Your Luck", "Millionaire" or "Jeopardy", but if she misses them it's no big deal.  In the early days of GSN, if I watched it too long she'd get a little tired of it after a while and want something else.

So I'm about the only one in my family who really likes game shows - which is a little bit disappointing.

Is your family similar, or are there other big game show fans in your family?

[gameshowfan1991]

I'm the only game show fan in my family, too.

[BrandonFG]

Mine was an inherited trait, mainly from my older relatives. I know my great-grandmother watched them during the day while looking after me (mid-to-late 80s). Grandfather, aunt, and uncle all love TPiR, and I think I got my mom watching some of the stuff on GSN (occasionally plays along with MG7x).

[Jimmy Owen]

My grandmother loved them (she is now deceased), My mom liked them but enjoys other programming more, my father, after being captivated by them pre-scandal now says "they're all fixed." and my 39 year old sister absolutely hates them, she doesn't even like "The Apprentice" and others of that ilk.

[SplitSecond]

Millionaire will always hold a special place in my heart as the first game show (that I wasn't involved in, anyhow) that my entire family would gather around the TV to watch.

[Particleman]

When I was growing up and Family Feud with Ray Combs was airing here in the evenings, my whole family would sit together and watch it.  We'd enjoy playing along with the game and yelling answers out to "help" contestants who were stumped.  We'd hardly ever miss it when it was in prime time.

During the summer as a kid, my grandparents would keep me when we were out of school.  We'd never miss Family Feud or The Price is Right.  It was a daily ritual.

These days as a married man, my wife will watch certain shows with me but I'm the big game show fan now.  And I'm watching the original Family Feud shows for the first time.  I guess the fun of game shows has always stuck with me.  ...and it's still stuck with my family; they're just not as much into it as I am.

[Craig Karlberg]

Other than Millionaire & Wheel of Fortune, my parents aren't really that much into game shows except whenever I'm in the living room watching it.  Lately though, they watched J! thanks in large part to Ken Jennings.  My aunt Louise is visitimg us from Austraillia the past 3 weeks & she's a rabid game show freak for a while but now she's straying away from that so she can finish her months long continental tour which wraps up at the end of this month.  My siblings use to watch them with me as kids but they've shyed away from them.  My niece is more into cable shows & movies.  That's the game show perspective from my side of the family.

[parliboy]

I'm the only "fan" left in the family, as opposed to casual watcher.  When my paternal grandmother was still around, she did some nursing late at night to make ends meet.  So she usually got up late morning or early afternoon, and when I was there we'd watch togeter.  Too late in the day for the morning network stuff, but early enough to catch the CBN / USA stuff.  It also helped that basic cable in the area carried Bullseye / TTD / TJW during prime time hours.

Nowadays, it's mostly my own hobby.  My mom got into Lingo, which doesn't surprise me too much, since she also does the daily Jumble.  But I'm really the only one who follows TV with any seriousness.

[DrBear]

Not that we're up at that hour, but my wife loves to watch the B&W oldies, especially WML. She says it reminds her how polite people used to be.

[dmota104]

In your family, is everyone a game show fan, or just you?

Excluding me, my grandmother's a huge fan of game shows.  She truly enjoyed CS78 (didn't care too much for CS86), Pyramid (any flavor save for Davidson), and any show hosted by "Uncle Bill".  She still watches J! and WoF (still to this day prefers Chuck and Susan over Pat and Vanna)

The deaths of my grandfather and Bill came within weeks of each other.  A tough one to take.

My brother's not as big a fan -- but preferred Greed over WWTBAM.  He even watched a full half-hour of Debt with me one winter's day (he called it "Tic Tac Debt" and "Need More Dough").  These days, you'll find him watching The Amazing Race.

In the '80s during breaks from school, lunches with Mom were spent watching Scrabble or SP (she was stunned to hear Bert Convy died).  Family dinners usually revolved around FF -- whether it was Richard or Ray hosting.

That's about it.

[Tony]

When I was little, my sister and the two youngest of my three brothers would form a "voting bloc" against me and my other brother.  Therefore, while the three got to watch The Disney Channel (back when it was THE Disney Channel - we had a big sattelite dish in the backyard) in the mornings on the bigger color TV, my brother and I had to watch our game shows on a tiny B&W set.  During afternoons, if there were any on, we would all watch together, but at night I often had to watch Wheel on that tiny B&W (this was back when Wheel was GOOD) while everyone else watched reruns of M*A*S*H or The Cosby Show.
BTW, during Scrabble's run, my brother sent an opening word-and-clue to the show, and received a T-shirt.

[PYLdude]

Ah, game shows.

I am the only one who still likes game shows in my house. My parents were bigger fans in their early days (my mom's favorites were Match Game and Tattletales, dad was a Password fan), but now they don't watch at all. To them, it's just not the same as it was.

My grandmother and I used to watch game shows when I was a little kid (Sale Of The Century, The $25,000 Pyramid, Card Sharks, Scrabble, and of course TPIR). One show she would never let me watch when she was around was, ironically enough, the show which spawned my name here...Press Your Luck! She wasn't a fan of the show (still isn't), so I pretty much had to watch it when I was at home without Grandma around. She still watches The Price Is Right every morning (I know this because when I call her house between 11 and 12 I can hear that playing in the background).

Strange note: Mom and her aunt went to see a taping of Art Fleming's Jeopardy!, and they (mom, aunt, Art) had a conversation in between games where Art asked mom's aunt if she wanted to try out for the show (she declined).

[FeudDude]

I give my grandmother (who died when I was 3) credit for first getting me into game shows.  She loved Jeopardy! and Wheel, and got me hooked on them too. From there I discoved TPIR and Family Feud (Combs).  I also have vague memories of watching Classic Concentration and the original Scrabble (when the latter was revived in 1993 it was appointment TV for me).  And oh yeah, Carmen Sandiego.  I probably would've watched Double Dare and the other Nick shows too, but I had a childhood without cable.

Getting back to the family aspect, I recently discovered that my uncle really enjoys game shows - probably not quite as much as I do, but he watches TPIR and checks what's on GSN whenever he's watching the tube (unless there's a sports game on).  My great-uncle also enjoys game shows - he's like one of those stereotypical elderly folk who shout at the TV when watching Wheel.  The rest of my family isn't really too much into game shows.  My mother watched GSN a lot (especially Match Game) when Cablevision first picked it up, but I guess the novelty wore off for her.

[Matt Ottinger]

The story I wish I had told when I appeared on Jeopardy is that during the summer, when I'd be home from school and able to watch the old Art Fleming version, it was a rule at our house that I had to remember (couldn't write it down) the Final Jeopardy clue and quiz my father on it when he got home from work.

Also, to this day, seeing a 70's era TTTT reminds me of watching the show with my grandparents.  It was their favorite game show, and pretty much required viewing each weeknight at 7pm.

[MikeK]

Growing up, I used to watch Jeopardy! with my dad.  He could get on the show if he wanted to, but he hasn't tried out for the show in almost 2 decades.  We also used to watch WBSM during its first few seasons.  Dad's like me, a fan of quizzers.

The first person to get me interested in Jeopardy!, however, was my 5th grade teacher.  Fifth grade for me coincided with the first Trebek season.  My teacher did something similar to Matt's dad, where she'd quiz us the following day about the previous night's show.

As a kid, myself, my sister, and our cousins used to watch the USA lineup after school, with PYL being the favorite of my two youngest cousins and my sister.  My eldest cousin preferred TJW 90.  For some reason, he got a kick out of yelling "FIFTEEN!  THIRTY-FIVE!  JOKER!" every time the wheels spun.  Needless to say, he's the black sheep of the family. ;-)