What would work best *Today*

[dizzy]

What 70's/80's Game Show format do you think would be most successful if brought back TODAY.  Pick from these or offer your own suggestion.

1.   The Cross-wits
2.   Whew!
3.   Press Your Luck
4.   Scrabble
5.   Battlestars
6.   Pitfall
7.   Let's Make a Deal
8.   Sale Of The Century
9.   Dream House
10. Password
11. Match Game
12. Name That Tune
13. Tic Tac Dough
14. The Joker's Wild
15. To Tell The Truth



   Dizzy

[clemon79]

Concentration.

[FeudDude]

Blockbusters would also work very well today.

[LA the DJ]

I've been thinking lately with all the empahsis on casino shows, TJW or Card Sharks might be worth a try.
I've always thought CS was a pretty solid show. The survey questions were always entertaining (You hear that, FreeMangle?), it had a possible big money payoff, and wasn't a really difficult show.
TJW Is a very solid quizzer with that extra element thrown in of a giant slot machine. The classic format also allowed for returning champions, thus opening the door to another KenJen, perhaps.
Fact is, though, that Sony and Freemantle need to recognize that these formats are good as is. Not much really needs to be added, other than perhaps a slight uppage in money due to inflation (though $32,000 is a pretty high payoff even these days)

[mystery7]

We've already proven that Deal and Truth didn't have the noodles for a modern audience. Match pretty much met its match as a format in 1998, and Fox shelved their pilot for What The Blank? last year - not a good sign. Tests were not good for Kennedy's remake of Scrabble. And PYL, of course, is hanging in by a thread as Whammy!. Of what's left, Password would have the best chance of them all, but even that'd be a slim one unless it either involved a $1,000,000 Alphabetics round or became a team show with vote-offs. And I don't see either of those happening (fortunately).

[MCArroyo1]

I'd really support a revival of "Split Second."  I think it'd cash in on some of Jeopardy's recent success, with its focus on general knowledge and its breakneck pace.  Blockbusters could work, but only if producers (and the host) could speed up the game considerably.

As for TJW, the slot machine element would probably be too gimmicky for today's audience.  Besides, why watch a show that only suggests a casino theme (but actually has little to do with a casino), when you can watch the real thing on cable?

[DJDustman]

If it worked for over 21 years, and it's now coming back with today's Aussie audience, I am sure a nicely done, Sale of the Century would work.  No added tweaks, no added swimming with piranhas stunts after the Instant Bargains as a Sale Suprise.

Just solid, good old Sale.

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'dizzy\' date=\'Apr 25 2005, 06:45 PM\']What 70's/80's Game Show format do you think would be most successful if brought back TODAY.  Pick from these or offer your own suggestion.

1.   The Cross-wits
2.   Whew!
3.   Press Your Luck
4.   Scrabble
5.   Battlestars
6.   Pitfall
7.   Let's Make a Deal
8.   Sale Of The Century
9.   Dream House
10. Password
11. Match Game
12. Name That Tune
13. Tic Tac Dough
14. The Joker's Wild
15. To Tell The Truth

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[/quote]
There's no reason why any of these formats wouldn't work today - except maybe Battlestars, which wasn't particularly successful in its initial run.  It's not like 20 or 30 years means the format doesn't work - although it may no longer hold an audience's attention.

That's why some formats were changed for the better (Password, Match Game).  Other format switches were bad ones (The Joker's Wild, Card Sharks).  With enough testing, they might have figured that out, but that's the way it goes.

A couple of years ago, I gave Newsday columnist Marvin Kitman a list of shows that would work if they were brought back (instead of Twenty-One.  I don't have the list handy (I don't really want to wake my son up to get the article), but among the shows I listed were Sale of the Century and Whew! - along with Split Second and The Big Showdown.

Honest, CBS puts those on Saturday nights with an hour-long TPIR in the middle, they might not be too bad off.

[Jimmy Owen]

Always enjoyed the "three people with buzzers" shows. Take the innovations of $ale, SS and TBS and create a great new show.  Monty and Ron Greenberg worked together at one time, maybe it's doable.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'dizzy\' date=\'Apr 25 2005, 06:45 PM\']What 70's/80's Game Show format do you think would be most successful if brought back TODAY.  Pick from these or offer your own suggestion.

1.   The Cross-wits[/quote]
Possibly, could use it as a decent celebrity vehicle, but don't make the game about them. *cough*Pyramid*cough*

2.   Whew!

Complicated in 1979, and the attention span of the average viewer is probably even worse. If you can simplify the rules without watering down the game, it could prolly work.

8.   Sale Of The Century
9.   Dream House

I'm slightly surprised neither of these were pitched during the Big Money craze of 2000. At least with these two, the gratuitous high-priced merchandise fit the shows. ;-)

12. Name That Tune

VH-1 had a decent effort with Name That Video. I think if the show is given a modern feel, "Tune" could still work.

15. To Tell The Truth

Paula Poundstone kinda rubbed me the wrong way...or was that her adopted daughters?*

*I'ma gonna go to Hell when I die...I'ma gonna go to Hell when I die...

[joshg]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Apr 25 2005, 05:40 PM\']9.   Dream House

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[/quote]

This was brought back... isn't it called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?

[saussage]

[quote name=\'dizzy\' date=\'Apr 25 2005, 06:45 PM\']6.   Pitfall

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[/quote]
It would be great to have it back. Loved the bonus round.

The only problem is that the set would cost too much to build if it was based off the original run.

[geno57]

Gimme "Blockbusters"!

It was hugely popular in England, for many years, as a game for college students. I'd love to see it done that way on, say, MTV.

As for another former Cullen vehicle, I've always thought some hip young comic could do a bang-up job on a remake of "Eye Guess". The comedy possibilities with this game are practically endless, and there could be plenty of bawdy stuff included for the modern audience.

[Game Show Man]

[quote name=\'geno57\' date=\'Apr 25 2005, 08:02 PM\']Gimme "Blockbusters"!

It was hugely popular in England, for many years, as a game for college students. I'd love to see it done that way on, say, MTV.

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[/quote]

Frankly, I'd like to see BB back too, but MTV?!?!  The only way they'd put it on is if they had those repugnant Real World/Road Rules imbeciles playing.

Seriously, Blockbusters would be a great show to revive.  Just the possiblities of a hybird gameboard (combining the on-set board of the original show with the nifty CGI of the 1987 incarnation) have me drooling.

And that's before we even mention the great gameplay.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Game Show Man\' date=\'Apr 25 2005, 08:16 PM\']Seriously, Blockbusters would be a great show to revive.  Just the possiblities of a hybird gameboard (combining the on-set board of the original show with the nifty CGI of the 1987 incarnation) have me drooling.

And that's before we even mention the great gameplay.

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[/quote]
Instead, you get Quicksilvers's set budget and WOF's contestant coordinators. Congratulations.