Mark Goodson

[GSFan]

We all know that Mark Goodson built an extremely successful production company.  Of all his game shows, which ones did he actually create?  Bob Stewart created TPIR and Password.  Who came up with the concepts for G-T's other programs?

Does anyone know if a biography of Goodson was ever published?

David

[Matt Ottinger]

Other people on this board were closer to a lot of the action that I ever was, but the general consensus that's come up over the years is that Goodson didn't really "create" as such very many of his games at all (if any, actually).  He's usually given credit for taking good game ideas and turning them into even better TV shows.  Or at the very least surrounding himself with people who could do that for him and having the instinct to recognize when they had it right.

By way of comparison, look at Bob Stewart when he went independent.  Sure, Pyramid turned out to be a company-making monster hit.   Most everything else he did, however, tended to be clever ideas that we fans recognized as decent games but that the general public never really loved.  Also, Stewart shows were notorious for tinkering with rules and formats after they had been running for a while.  Had he still been making those formats for Goodson, half of them would never have seen the light of day, and the others would have been hammered out to something resembling perfection before they got on the air.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'GSFan\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 10:36 AM\'] We all know that Mark Goodson built an extremely successful production company.  Of all his game shows, which ones did he actually create?  Bob Stewart created TPIR and Password.  Who came up with the concepts for G-T's other programs?

Does anyone know if a biography of Goodson was ever published?

David [/quote]
 STeve Ryan was responsible for Blockbusters, Puzzlers, and Spellbinders(the latter two of course unsold pilots), and I think maybe Trivia Trap as well.

CHester Feldman was responsible for Card Sharks

Jay WOlpert was responsible for Trebek Double Dare

[Jimmy Owen]

Monty Hall had some interesting information on the creation of a couple of well known Goodson shows in his book "Emcee Monty Hall."  The book is long out of print, but in a nutshell, the creation of a game show generally is a group effort, with ideas brought to the table and refined by different people, so that no one person is the "creator," and sometimes the guy who first brought the idea to the table isn't properly credited.

[uncamark]

Stewart also created "TTTT"--the show that first got him through the door at G-T.

Bob Bach was considered the main force behind "WML?"--although there were a lot of fathers in that one.

Bob Noah is considered the creator of the original "Match Game" concept--but Jean Hollander Kopelman was the original producer and Ira Skutch and Bob Sherman (and Gene Rayburn indirectly) were responsible for the changes in format and tone in the 70s version.

The only show that you could probably say out-and-out was a creation of Goodson and Todman was "Winner Take All," the show that got them started.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 11:32 AM\'] ... in a nutshell, the creation of a game show generally is a group effort, with ideas brought to the table and refined by different people, so that no one person is the "creator," and sometimes the guy who first brought the idea to the table isn't properly credited. [/quote]
 Some game shows, mostly Nickelodeon's, had a "developed by" credit to go with the creator credit.  One example: Make the Grade: one creator, five developers.  "Creative consultant" and "executive consultant" also appear on other shows.

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 10:59 AM\'] By way of comparison, look at Bob Stewart when he went independent.  Sure, Pyramid turned out to be a company-making monster hit.   Most everything else he did, however, tended to be clever ideas that we fans recognized as decent games but that the general public never really loved.  Also, Stewart shows were notorious for tinkering with rules and formats after they had been running for a while.  Had he still been making those formats for Goodson, half of them would never have seen the light of day, and the others would have been hammered out to something resembling perfection before they got on the air. [/quote]
 Which ones do you suggest wouldn't have made it to air? Was Pass the Buck a BASADA production? Would that have made the Goodson but?

Yours,
Thomas
who's surprised that PtB hasn't been resurrected in it's 1999 British format

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 11:05 AM\'] [quote name=\'GSFan\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 10:36 AM\'] We all know that Mark Goodson built an extremely successful production company.  Of all his game shows, which ones did he actually create?  Bob Stewart created TPIR and Password.  Who came up with the concepts for G-T's other programs?

Does anyone know if a biography of Goodson was ever published?

David [/quote]
STeve Ryan was responsible for Blockbusters, Puzzlers, and Spellbinders(the latter two of course unsold pilots), and I think maybe Trivia Trap as well.

CHester Feldman was responsible for Card Sharks

Jay WOlpert was responsible for Trebek Double Dare [/quote]
 I thought Jonathan was responsible for Trivia Trap?

Also, who made the decision to reformat TPiR in the 70s?

[kidsplash]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 11:41 AM\'] [quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 11:32 AM\'] ... in a nutshell, the creation of a game show generally is a group effort, with ideas brought to the table and refined by different people, so that no one person is the "creator," and sometimes the guy who first brought the idea to the table isn't properly credited. [/quote]
Some game shows, mostly Nickelodeon's, had a "developed by" credit to go with the creator credit.  One example: Make the Grade: one creator, five developers.  "Creative consultant" and "executive consultant" also appear on other shows. [/quote]
 I know the creator of a game show comes up with an idea but what do the people who developed the show do? And what's the difference between a "creative consultant" and a "executive consultant"?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'kidsplash\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 03:30 PM\'] And what's the difference between a "creative consultant" and a "executive consultant"? [/quote]
 About ten grand a year.

[Matt Ottinger]

Which ones do you suggest wouldn't have made it to air? Was Pass the Buck a BASADA production? Would that have made the Goodson cut?

Well, keeping in mind that I'm a huge fan of the Bob Stewart catalog, off the top of my head I think that Winning Streak, Pass the Buck, Blankety Blanks and Double Talk/Shoot for the Stars wouldn't have gotten out of the Goodson machinery in the form we saw them.  Good ideas, bad execution.  Eye Guess, Go, Three on a Match and Jackpot, on the other hand, were pretty well developed out of the box.

[Jimmy Owen]

Of some of the other Stewart productions, I thought "Personality" was a good concept (a two year run on NBC).  However, even as an 8 year old, I wondered how "You're Putting Me On" got a green light. (Though it could have been an inspiration for the "What _____ Might Say" category on Pyramid)

[GSFan]

What a great thread this is turning out to be.  Who thought of it?  Oh, I did(blush)!

Matt, I agree with you.  Whatever Mr. Goodson did, he had the ability to surround himself with talented people, take a good game and make it an even better tv show.  His instincts were, for the most part, right on the nose.

I also agree with Jimmy Owen who stated that the creation of a game show is a "group effort".  When I was in high school I created a presentation tape of a format which I had created (it turned out to be a class project).  I came up with the concept, and the entire class contributed other things to the show; set, music, simplifying the game, etc.  We came up with something good enough to submit to the networks, even if they all passed.  It has to be a group effort.  Whose idea was it to slap a piece of plywood on The $10,000 Pyramid?

Speaking of Pyramid, I too was a big fan of the Stewart catalog, especially Pyramid.  Pyramid was the show that really grabbed me by the cohones, got me interested in a career in television and was the only game show on which I wanted to be a contestant.  Of course, we all know what happened there.  If I tried today, do you think I could get Lois Nettleton to say the word "go?"  While I am having a rhetorical moment, I still say we hijack Bob Stewart and get him back to the PYRAMID.

David

[chris319]

We certainly have a lot of authorities on the topic of Mark Goodson.

[DrBear]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Oct 15 2003, 08:54 PM\'] We certainly have a lot of authorities on the topic of Mark Goodson. [/quote]
 Well, if this were an American History board, we'd have a lot of authorities on Millard Fillmore and the Gadsden Purchase.