The Game Show FANS 50 Greatest List

[Peter Sarrett]

D'oh!  Already included The Crystal Maze on my list.  Feel free to eliminate it and slide everything else up one, Matt.

Also, in a blatant attempt to influence the voting, I'd like to suggest that Battle of the Network Stars qualifies as a game show.  It certainly makes my top 50.

[Dbacksfan12]

Lemme ask this...what about shows that are similar in structure, but not an all and out revival (i.e. He Said She Said/Tattlestales; Child's Play/Small Talk, The Who What or Where Game/Challengers)...or are those all separate?

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'127026\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 11:24 PM\']Lemme ask this...what about shows that are similar in structure, but not an all and out revival (i.e. ...The Who What or Where Game/Challengers)...or are those all separate?[/quote]Ron Greenberg would like to have a word with you, sir... Everything I've read about 3W's/Challengers was that the latter was indeed a revival of the former. Apparently the American viewing public is not smart enough to grasp the concept of bet times odds.

[DrBear]

I dunno - I was 10 at the time and was able to figure it out OK...of course considering the state of American intelligence today...we may have people watching who can't count to 10, even with their fingers in front of them.

[ChrisLambert!]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'126768\' date=\'Aug 9 2006, 06:41 PM\']

You decide what criteria to use to pick your 50 Greatest, including your own decision as to what is or is not a game show.  
[/quote]

I WAS going to include reality competitions, until I realized they chewed up five slots that I *really* wanted to use for other game shows, so I removed them. (I would've had TAR at #5 and The Mole in the top 15.)

And I would've counted The Dating Game, but it wouldn't have made my top 50 anyway.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'127026\' date=\'Aug 11 2006, 02:24 AM\']
Lemme ask this...what about shows that are similar in structure, but not an all and out revival (i.e. He Said She Said/Tattlestales; Child's Play/Small Talk, The Who What or Where Game/Challengers)...or are those all separate?[/quote]
Two of your three examples are all-out revivals.  The tricky one is WWW/Challengers because each show has received votes and a couple of people included both shows on their list.  I've decided to count them as the same show, which seems to be the fairest thing to do, and in line with the producer's intent.  (I know Ronnie Greenberg.  Ronnie Greenberg is a friend of mine.  And you, sir, are no Ronnie Greenberg.)

If anybody picks He said/She Said (out of 1,290 selections so far, no one has) I'll add it to Tattletales.  As for Small Talk (which actually did get a vote), it's just not the same show as Child's Play.  Once you start getting into similar themes, then you quickly head down a slippery slope that ends with every show that has returning champions and/or buzzers being lumped in with Winner Take All.

I think I'm on pretty solid footing here.  Rather than spending time coming up with the rare exceptions, I hope people are using that brainpower to come up with their lists.  Twenty-six entries so far, and the results are very interesting.  It's obvious now that I'll want to show you more than the Top 50 when this is over.  Right now, I'm thinking anything with more than 50 votes (which means at least two people had to vote for it) will make the final cut.  Currently, that's 77 shows, but naturally that'll grow as more votes come in.

Remember, e-mail your list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time to ottinger@acd.net

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'127042\' date=\'Aug 11 2006, 10:06 AM\']
The tricky one is WWW/Challengers because each show has received votes and a couple of people included both shows on their list. [/quote]
Oops. And I'm one of them. Well, I'm still not voting for Just Men!

[uncamark]

And "Child's Play" and "Small Talk" were different packagers--even if both packagers are now under the same corporate umbrella.

(And the original British version of "Small Talk" was developed and telecast before Pearson acquired All-American, who acquired MGP.)

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'127042\' date=\'Aug 11 2006, 10:06 AM\']
Two of your three examples are all-out revivals.  The tricky one is WWW/Challengers because each show has received votes and a couple of people included both shows on their list.  I've decided to count them as the same show, which seems to be the fairest thing to do, and in line with the producer's intent.  (I know Ronnie Greenberg.  Ronnie Greenberg is a friend of mine.  And you, sir, are no Ronnie Greenberg.)

If anybody picks He said/She Said (out of 1,290 selections so far, no one has) I'll add it to Tattletales.  As for Small Talk (which actually did get a vote), it's just not the same show as Child's Play.  Once you start getting into similar themes, then you quickly head down a slippery slope that ends with every show that has returning champions and/or buzzers being lumped in with Winner Take All.
[/quote]

Hey, it's your list, but i'm not sure i agree with lumping hs/ss with tattletales, and especially WWW with challengers...yes, they were revivals, but there were enough rule differences that made them quite different.... I liked WWW a LOT more than Challengers....

but hey, again, it's your list, and your rules....

btw, has there actually been a vote for "Small Talk"? geez.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' post=\'127056\' date=\'Aug 11 2006, 11:29 AM\']Hey, it's your list, but i'm not sure i agree with lumping hs/ss with tattletales, and especially WWW with challengers...yes, they were revivals, but there were enough rule differences that made them quite different.... I liked WWW a LOT more than Challengers....[/quote]
No doubt, and I completely get that.  But look how different The Price Is Right versions are from each other, or the Match Games.  Experts like us could easily discuss the differences in Art's and Alex's Jeopardy.  Lines have to be drawn, and I feel I'm being consistant this way.

Make no mistake, lumping WWW and Challengers together was definitely the toughest decision to make, even more than the decision to lump Password together with its "puzzle" variants.  As I said before, there's no issue with HS-SS/Tattletales, because no one has chosen the former.

And...um...yeah, one guy picked Small Talk.  Not nearly the weirdest choice, BTW.  When you're picking fifty, the last ten or so are going to be all over the board.  Nearly 200 shows have been mentioned by somebody, and about fifty of those have been solo selections.  So far.

[MSTieScott]

Heck, I'm having trouble thinking of 50 game shows that I feel deserve to be called the greatest game shows, let alone ranking them. I'm just glad that we'll be getting the total group's rankings, 'cause after number 20 or so, I think it gets really subjective.

Now, should I place "Malcolm" in the top five or just the top ten?

--
Scott Robinson

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'127081\' date=\'Aug 11 2006, 04:20 PM\']
Heck, I'm having trouble thinking of 50 game shows that I feel deserve to be called the greatest game shows, let alone ranking them. I'm just glad that we'll be getting the total group's rankings, 'cause after number 20 or so, I think it gets really subjective.[/quote]
Which, trust me, is the fun.

Still, I'd say that on every decent list of 50, everybody's got 35 to 40 of the same shows.  Sure, the placements are going to be wildly subjective from list to list. The idea is that 100 or more subjective lists will create an objective consensus of Forum opinion.

Today's fun fact:  With thirty entries so far, the number two show on the current list is the only show in the top ten to have no first place votes.  What could be big enough to be number two overall, but not be anyone's absolute favorite?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'127155\' date=\'Aug 12 2006, 09:15 AM\']
Today's fun fact:  With thirty entries so far, the number two show on the current list is the only show in the top ten to have no first place votes.  What could be big enough to be number two overall, but not be anyone's absolute favorite?
[/quote]
I'm pretty sure I know, but I'm also pretty sure Matt doesn't want it discussed aloud in case it taints future entries.

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'127168\' date=\'Aug 12 2006, 01:06 PM\']
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'127155\' date=\'Aug 12 2006, 09:15 AM\']
Today's fun fact:  With thirty entries so far, the number two show on the current list is the only show in the top ten to have no first place votes.  What could be big enough to be number two overall, but not be anyone's absolute favorite?
[/quote]
I'm pretty sure I know, but I'm also pretty sure Matt doesn't want it discussed aloud in case it taints future entries.
[/quote]

I took another look at my own list and it jumped right out at me.  Or at least the one I think.  It's pretty much a classic, too.

[DrBear]

Just to bump this up and remind people...

I did my list over the weekend, and lemme tell ya it wasn't easy - the first few were, and maybe the last five (which in my case consisted of shows that likely were going to get on but that I really dislike) but the middle was tough - and how do you decide whether, say, Split Second is better than Who, What or Where Game other than by personal preference, and how many spots do you put between them?

Anyway, it's there. And I look forward to the howling when the final list is published.