Author Topic: The Best Game Shows on the Air Right Now (Read 5794 times)

alfonzos · « **on:** February 02, 2006, 02:50:12 PM »

With the outlook concerning daytime and syndication stagnant, maybe the future of game shows isn't televsion at all. Three of the most interesting quizzes on the air are on radio. Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, Whad'ya Know and, my personal favorite, Says You! all feature witty patter and challenging questions that are reminiscent of the great panel shows of the fifties and sixties. All three shows are found on NPR, National Public Radio.

Link to Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me

Link to Whad'ya Know

Link to Says You!

Comments?

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #1 on:** February 02, 2006, 04:26:30 PM »

I haven't listened lately, but generally I find radio game shows to be too self-aware and spoofy. Have things changed?

Chief-O · « **Reply #2 on:** February 02, 2006, 04:58:53 PM »

As someone who listens to the show weekly, I wouldn't necessarily call "Whad'ya Know?" a quiz/game show. More like "a radio interview/variety show that just happens to have a quiz in it".

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #3 on:** February 02, 2006, 05:42:56 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Feb 2 2006, 04:26 PM\']I haven't listened lately, but generally I find radio game shows to be too self-aware and spoofy. Have things changed?[/quote]

I like them all right, but in terms of your opinion, I think the answer is "no". I mean, Wait Wait has Mo Rocca as a regular panelist.

sshuffield70 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 02, 2006, 11:28:39 PM »

Then again, I've listened to Paul Harvey's "Rest of the Story". It could almost pass for a game of some sort since the answer doesn't come until the very end.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #5 on:** February 03, 2006, 10:13:01 AM »

[quote name=\'Chief-O\' date=\'Feb 2 2006, 05:58 PM\']As someone who listens to the show weekly, I wouldn't necessarily call "Whad'ya Know?" a quiz/game show. More like "a radio interview/variety show that just happens to have a quiz in it".[/quote]
The analogy would be to say that You Bet Your Life wasn't a quiz show, it was an interview show that just happened to have as quiz in it. Certainly, you could say that, but most of us would consider both programs to be well within the parameters of our genre.
[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Feb 2 2006, 06:42 PM\']I like them all right, but in terms of your opinion, I think the answer is "no". I mean, Wait Wait has Mo Rocca as a regular panelist.[/quote]
Maybe my sarcasm detector needs adjusting, but if someone is worried about a show being "self-aware and spoofy", the fact that Mo Rocca is on the panel is probably not the best evidence to the contrary.

clemon79 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 03, 2006, 02:11:07 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 3 2006, 07:13 AM\']Maybe my sarcasm detector needs adjusting, but if someone is worried about a show being "self-aware and spoofy", the fact that Mo Rocca is on the panel is probably not the best evidence to the contrary.

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Yeah, I think you missed it. The question was "Have things changed?" and the answer was "No", correctly citing Mo Rocca as evidence.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #7 on:** February 03, 2006, 04:30:18 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 3 2006, 03:11 PM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 3 2006, 07:13 AM\']Maybe my sarcasm detector needs adjusting, but if someone is worried about a show being "self-aware and spoofy", the fact that Mo Rocca is on the panel is probably not the best evidence to the contrary.[/quote]
Yeah, I think you missed it. The question was "Have things changed?" and the answer was "No", correctly citing Mo Rocca as evidence.

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Yep, you're exactly right. Sorry about that. My unit is way out of warranty (I think I had one of the first models, after all) and I'm too cheap to get the upgrade.

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #8 on:** February 03, 2006, 05:12:42 PM »

Mo Rocca would take advantage of this moment of rhetorical victory with a quip.

Damn.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #9 on:** February 03, 2006, 05:58:36 PM »

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Feb 3 2006, 06:12 PM\']Mo Rocca would take advantage of this moment of rhetorical victory with a quip.[/quote]
As a personal aside, I was supposed to interview Mo when his book All The President's Pets came out, but I think when he realized he was going to waste five minutes talking to a substitute host on an AM radio station in Lansing, Michigan, and that it probably wasn't going to help move a lot of product, he blew me off at the last minute. I got a copy of the book out of the deal, though.

Clay Zambo · « **Reply #10 on:** February 03, 2006, 06:17:10 PM »

[quote name=\'alfonzos\' date=\'Feb 2 2006, 02:50 PM\']Three of the most interesting quizzes on the air are on radio. Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, Whad'ya Know and, my personal favorite, Says You! all feature witty patter and challenging questions that are reminiscent of the great panel shows of the fifties and sixties.

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Says You seems to me to be the most 50s-licious, since it's all-panel, all-the-time. I'm a big fan of Wait, Wait, too, though.

clemon79 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 03, 2006, 06:28:30 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 3 2006, 02:58 PM\']As a personal aside, I was supposed to interview Mo when his book All The President's Pets came out, but I think when he realized he was going to waste five minutes talking to a substitute host on an AM radio station in Lansing, Michigan, and that it probably wasn't going to help move a lot of product, he blew me off at the last minute. I got a copy of the book out of the deal, though.

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Wow. Getting blown off by Stephen King is one thing. Getting blown off by Mo Friggin' Rocca...I am truly sorry.

TimK2003 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 04, 2006, 11:46:55 AM »

One of the longest-running radio quiz shows, albeit on the local front only, is 700/WLW's "Sports or Consequences", which afternoon drive personality Gary Burbank has hosted for over 20 years.

You can hear it live on the 700-WLW website (click on the "listen Live" link on the upper right_) Monday thru Friday Afternoons at 4:05 Eastern. Very off the wall, yet highly entertaining.

Don Howard · « **Reply #13 on:** February 05, 2006, 11:58:00 PM »

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Feb 4 2006, 11:46 AM\']One of the longest-running radio quiz shows, albeit on the local front only, is 700/WLW's "Sports or Consequences", which afternoon drive personality Gary Burbank has hosted for over 20 years.
You can hear it live on the 700-WLW website (click on the "listen Live" link on the upper right_) Monday thru Friday Afternoons at 4:05 Eastern. Very off the wall, yet highly entertaining.

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And they don't mess around. Hey! Matt, you can use me as an emergency fill-in guest next time out. You don't mind spending the session discussing Pat O'Brien, do you?

FOXSportsFan · « **Reply #14 on:** February 06, 2006, 01:48:27 AM »

Don, I ask...no, I beg of you, don't bring those copies of the notorius POB's sex calls. Leave that to Ebaumsworld, please.