The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Winkfan on June 01, 2004, 06:51:11 PM
-
Well, I've picked on Nickelodeon and ABC Family (or what's left of the latter), so here goes: Not counting 'off-network' or 'off-syndie' repeats, what was the BEST and the WORST 'original' game show to air on USA?
My choices are:
BEST: Bumper Stumpers, Jackpot, and The New Chain Reaction (The 'Canadian Trifecta' of the 1980s)
WORST: The Big Date
Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Carol Wayne of the Big Board!'
P.S. If you're tired of these 'Best & Worst' polls, I'll cease doing them.
-
[quote name=\'Winkfan\' date=\'Jun 1 2004, 03:51 PM\'] BEST: Bumper Stumpers, Jackpot, and The New Chain Reaction (The 'Canadian Trifecta' of the 1980s)
[/quote]
Jackpot I agree with. I couldn't abide the other two. And how does Free-4-All not at least make a LITTLE splash in the "worst" category?
P.S. If you're tired of these 'Best & Worst' polls, I'll cease doing them.
They beat the HELL out of reading completely inaccurate Jeopardy recaps. Knock yerself out. :)
-
Smush?
-
There really weren't that many to choose from, but "Jackpot" was the best of the ones I saw. "Chain Reaction" just didn't have the same spark as the old show though I did enjoy the banter between Geoff and Rod Charlebois. Worst show on USA: "Gonzo Games."
-
Best: Jackpot. I did like the first run of USA's Chain Reaction, with the two-person teams; with people playing alone it lost whatever charm it had left -- which, admittedly, wasn't much compared to the NBC version.
Worst: Quicksilver. Ron Maestri is the anti-Christ. (Okay, he's right behind Scott Baio. :-)
-
Best : Bumper Stumpers - at least an original original, even if shared with the Global Network. Snappy theme, clever concept. PDQ meets vanity plate.
Worst - tie between Free - 4-All, Love Me, Love Me Not and the remade Chain Reaction.
Didn't get to see Smush. Was it anything worth writing home about?
-
Best: I remember USA for it's reruns more than the originals, but I'd say either Bumper Stumpers or Chain Reaction.
I thought Quicksilver was a clever little game with good play-along. But, the format was badly executed. It also had one fugly set made up of what looked like backstage props (I think it inspired the current Jeopardy "set"). Pretty decent effort from Stone-Stanley, but needed some tweaking (and a set!).
Strip Poker was a fun little guilty pleasure of mine. >:-)
Worst: Free-4-All...could a game show be any drier? Family Feud w/trivia, but none of the charm that Feud has. Another bad set.
[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Jun 1 2004, 09:14 PM\']Didn't get to see Smush. Was it anything worth writing home about?[/quote]
Smush was pretty cool, it had decent payouts for cable ($8,000 seems kind of uneven for a top prize though), but I would've lost the party atmosphere in favor of a more traditional approach. There was one round where you had to repeat the entire Smush chain in order to continue. Seemed fun, but confusing as hell. :-)
-
Who owns the Reg Grundy rights and Jackpot, etc????
I keep reading about a MGM/Sony merger. If so...does that mean Davidson Hollywood Squares might appear?
-
[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'Jun 1 2004, 09:14 PM\']
Didn't get to see Smush. Was it anything worth writing home about? [/quote]
It had four players answering questions a la the Before and After category on J!. One player was eliminated in each round(low scorer). THe third round had the remaining two players repeat a "Smush chain". A question was asked, and a player could buzz in and answer it. After that, a player buzzing in had to give all the answers used in the round plus the new one. At the end of that round, the leading contestant played the bonus round. The bonus round was pretty easy, answer five questions in forty five seconds. There would be a root word, and the answer to the question read would Smush onto either the beginning or the end of it. $1K per correct answer, getting all five won $8K. This game was based on a computer game by Jellyvision.
-
[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jun 1 2004, 07:45 PM\'] This game was based on a computer game by Jellyvision. [/quote]
You are wrong, O Cheeto Breath.
"Smush" was Jellyvision's first foray into television production (if you don't count the many many years they spent getting the television version of "You Don't Know Jack" to air), but was not based on any previous Jellyvision concept.
(EDIT: I should qualify this. It wasn't based on any Jellyvision concept that made it to store shelves. They may well have had the Smush concept on the shelf for other reasons, I don't have the insider information to know.)
-
My favoritte USA original was Bumper Stumpers with Jackpot(Canadian) & Chain Reaction(also Canadian) a close runner-up tie.
As for the worst, the tandem of Quicksilver/Free 4 All. Both of them didn't do too much for me gameplay wise. Smush was OK for a while but it got monotonous soon afterwards.
-
THE BEST: Going with the crowd on this one--Jackpot!
RUNNER-UP FOR BEST: Chain Reaction post Blake Emmons and before the $40000 format
THE WORST: Quicksilver---they replaced $ale of the Century for thaaaaaaaaaaaat?
-
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 1 2004, 11:21 PM\'] [quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jun 1 2004, 07:45 PM\'] This game was based on a computer game by Jellyvision. [/quote]
You are wrong, O Cheeto Breath. [/quote]
How did you get close enough to Zach to know this? Are you reviving "What's That Smell?" 'Fess up, Chris! ;-)
-
I'm not familiar with USA originals, so I'm gonna lay out of this one.
[quote name=\'Winkfan @ Jun 1 2004\' date=\' 05:51 PM\']P.S. If you're tired of these 'Best & Worst' polls, I'll cease doing them.[/quote]
Keep churning them out; I think they're fun!
-
[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Jun 2 2004, 04:04 AM\'] THE BEST: Going with the crowd on this one--Jackpot!
RUNNER-UP FOR BEST: Chain Reaction post Blake Emmons and before the $40000 format
THE WORST: Quicksilver---they replaced $ale of the Century for thaaaaaaaaaaaat? [/quote]
..........I just remembered that USA *did* can $ale for Quicksilver, and I remember how pissed I was. Hmmm...my fondness for Quicksilver just diminished greatly. ;-)
-
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jun 2 2004, 11:06 AM\'] [
..........I just remembered that USA *did* can $ale for Quicksilver, and I remember how pissed I was. Hmmm...my fondness for Quicksilver just diminished greatly. ;-) [/quote]
USA canned TTD90 and TJW90 reruns to make room for Quicksilver and Free 4 All. $otC and one of the two Scrabble airings were canned a month later to make room for non-game show programming.
-
None of them were anything to write home about, but at least "Bumper Stumpers" had a good premise that just need better production and a more consistent end game (that didn't have any B&E beat-the-bad-guy elements).
If only Terry McConnell had sold "Quicksilver" to Merv while he was working on "J!" instead of S-S (and if there was a market for game shows in the 90s)...
Worst? No one's bashed "The Big Date" yet, so I will. Notice that Marky Mark L. never mentions that dog in interviews.
-
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jun 1 2004, 09:29 PM\']Strip Poker was a fun little guilty pleasure of mine. >:-)[/quote]
I also enjoyed it. I recently put up my page from Fortune City:
Unofficial Strip Poker page (http://\"http://web.itctel.com/arlateo/gameshow/StripPoker.html\")
It wasn't USA's best game, nor one of its worst, but it would have helped to display the contestants' names on the wall near the scoreboards. If only the show had been done like Finland's version!
-
I had read Jellyvision was going to make a computer game of Smush, but they never did.
-
Best: Jakpot, (The New)($40,000) Chain Reaction, Strip Poker, Smush
Worst: Quicksilver, Free 4 All, The Big Date, USA Gonzo Games, Bumper Stumpers
-
I forgot about Strip Poker; that show should also be my choice for WORST USA 'original.' I'm surprised some of you considered it among the BEST USA shows. It kind of reminded me of The $1.98 Beauty Show, minus 'El Rippo.'
Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Carol Wayne of the Big Board!'
-
[quote name=\'Winkfan\' date=\'Jun 5 2004, 12:37 AM\'] I forgot about Strip Poker; that show should also be my choice for WORST USA 'original.' I'm surprised some of you considered it among the BEST USA shows. It kind of reminded me of The $1.98 Beauty Show, minus 'El Rippo.'
[/quote]
Nah, it's not that it was the best, but like I said, it was a guilty pleasure. A fun little game show that didn't take itself too seriously, the perfect thing to watch at 2 in the morning, when nothing else is on. I wouldn't include it on my list of Top 10 favorite game shows or anything, unless of course it was the Top 10 guilty pleasures. :-)
Then again, the scantily-clad females had a tad bit to do with it. ;-)
-
[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jun 2 2004, 11:17 AM\'] USA canned TTD90 and TJW90 reruns to make room for Quicksilver and Free 4 All. $otC and one of the two Scrabble airings were canned a month later to make room for non-game show programming. [/quote]
So true, Zacheroo.
However!
From TV GUIDE Friday, July 29, 1994:
USA 3:30pm ET SALE OF THE CENTURY
From TV GUIDE Monday, August 1, 1994:
USA 3:30pm ET QUICKSILVER
Quicksilver had been running for a month in the 5pm time period
later taken by Quantum Leap, but for it to continue, $OTC was sacrificed.
-
My favorites were Jackpot, Bumper Stumpers, and Smush...and they were damn good...
...the worst were the 1994 bombs, Quicksilver and Free-For-All.
I didn't add Chain Reaction to the list because I haven't seen the Edwards/Emmons editions.