Cherry picking here...
Match Game starring Charlene Tilton
I didn't see the pilot tape, but friends of mine who did (and Chris knows who!) stated flatly that this show set game shows back 20 years.
Liars' Club starring Ed McMahon
Shoulda been. I saw two live run-throughs of this show, and it sang to me. The only real change was the game itself became two sets of comedian teams playing for the studio audience. Ed was remarkably good at hosting the show because he knew how to stay out of the way of his comics.
And wasn't there a 1997 Card Sharks pilot too? From my memories, dunno if it was a bigger "CaSINO" than the one we eventually got...on one end there was NO Money Cards. On the other hand, I don't remember dilemma videos being used in the main game!
Yup, yup, yup, with Tom Green (
Sports On Tap) as host. Dreadful. I was at the taping, and was going to give it a chance until one of the "dilemma videos" gave a false correct answer. ("Well, normally I'd say <correct answer>, blah blah blah, but I'll really say <incorrect answer>." Took the steam right out of the audience.)
'Brian