Showing our shows to friends/significant others who aren't fans....

[aaron sica]

....what was their take on them? This can be any show but particularly ones that they might not have heard of before you showed it to them.

Spinning this off from the 5 episode list thread.

[Dbacksfan12]

I have a good friend, who secretly enjoys game shows.  I had great success with USA’s block of originals from the 80s—Jackpot, Bumper Stumpers, and Chain Reaction.  Discussing this with other forum members; the conclusion was there’s plenty of engagement and play-along.

OTOH, she made it through about 90 seconds of Whew! before requesting another show.

[aaron sica]

OTOH, she made it through about 90 seconds of Whew! before requesting another show.

What didn't she like about it? Unlike Child's Play, which I had mentioned moves slow, Whew! is pretty fast moving.

[Dbacksfan12]

This was a couple of years ago, but IIRC it was a bit too quirky and esoteric.  I don’t think the animated opening helped much.

[TLEberle]

This was a couple of years ago, but IIRC it was a bit too quirky and esoteric.  I don’t think the animated opening helped much.

It's certainly a deep cut and also not for everyone.

[PYLdude]

I’m pretty sure I’ve told these stories before, but just in case. 

One day my brother and his then girlfriend were over in the afternoon and at the time, GSN had the original Card Sharks and the Eubanks CS back to back. She got into the much more subdued nature of the 1970s series, but wasn’t impressed with the look in the 1980s.

With my other brother, once we finally got GSN, the daily airing of the syndicated CS was as close to appointment TV for us as we could get. So much so that when they dropped it and brought back the CBS episodes, the first question he asked was “where are the prize cards?” I had to explain that it was a gimmick just for the other show.

[Ian Wallis]

My wife isn't as fanatical as I am but she enjoys watching them.  We spent many a day watching my VCR tapes of the USA game show block after work back in the early '90s.  I was most excited about seeing the 1986 episodes of Press Your Luck which weren't carried in my area and she got into it for a while too.  She wasn't that familiar with the show before we started watching it at that time.

When there's nothing else on she enjoys watching some of the older shows.  I watch Match Game every day on GSN.  She's OK with it and gives some good answers to some of the questions, but also won't get too upset if she misses it.

[BrandonFG]

I told the story about Treasure Hunt in the other thread but my fiancée and I love Shut the Box, which of course became High Rollers. Showed her a 70s episode and I think she was more intrigued by Alex’s fro and pornstache.

[nowhammies10]

I remember the first time I showed some mutual friends an episode of Russian Roulette. I told them nothing of the format, just let the show play. When the first contestant dropped through the trapdoor, it sparked the longest fit of the giggles I've ever seen, lasting through the first commercial break and into round 2.

[BrandonFG]

I remember the first time I showed some mutual friends an episode of Russian Roulette. I told them nothing of the format, just let the show play. When the first contestant dropped through the trapdoor, it sparked the longest fit of the giggles I've ever seen, lasting through the first commercial break and into round 2.

You just reminded me of another memory. When I was in college, a good friend and I were watching the show one night. He was surprised that someone would greenlight a show with that title, and I never told him the rules. When someone fell through the door, his eyes bulged to about the size of a dinner plate.

[SuperMatch93]

In addition to my comment in the previous thread, here are a few other things I've noticed:

-My girlfriend can tolerate hour-long shows, but not very often. When The Game Show Channel was uploading Millionaire episodes taped off of GSN a while back, we would occasionally watch those but she would get a bit restless towards the end. Also, she got really into Raid the Cage when I showed her an episode but didn't want to watch it the next day since it was a bit too overstimulating.

-There's a certain balance between lively and staid that I have to hit. She usually finds Price is Right annoying because of how hyper the contestants are, but sometimes I can convince to sit through a half-hour one. I showed her a Cullen episode once for the novelty--she recognizes him from TTTT and Blockbusters--but the black-and-white shows don't usually do anything for her.

-I've gotten her into SOTC recently, mostly with Mort Kamins' episodes and the beginning of the syndie run. I actually showed her an Australian episode from 1984 tonight and she even liked that.

-She finds 60s Password boring.

[carlisle96]

....what was their take on them? This can be any show but particularly ones that they might not have heard of before you showed it to them.

Spinning this off from the 5 episode list thread.

A girlfriend saw my game show VHS tapes after she moved in (this was a while ago, of course) and started watching Split Second with an "OMG! I remember this show!" So we sometimes spent the evening watching old game shows. My kids like the 60s Passwords and the 70s Family Feud, but think Beat the Clock is "stupid."

[TLEberle]

Most people are intrigued when I show them a puzzle or two of mine that was on Only Connect. A while ago I showed a friend an episode of Trebek Dare and even though he's not a trivia-head he was playing along with Beat the Spoilers and when to take a dare or not. Other than that not much chance for watch parties and the like. The people who are close to me know my affinity for the genre and accept that as part of me just like anything else, which is just about all I can ask.

[CarpetCrawler]

In my main friend circle we have a server on Discord where we will stream whatever sometimes, and it's always been known by my friends that I've been a game show fan. In recent years they've been interested enough in asking me more about the genre so I've streamed some stuff from my collection sometimes. They had shows they watched growing up (the Nickelodeon game shows, Jeopardy!, Supermarket Sweep) but would never really call themselves game show fans persay. From me streaming stuff they've definitely gotten much more interested in the genre than they used to. Classic Concentration has been a "comfort show" on nights where we have no anime or movies that we wanna watch. To the point where I would argue that at least one of them has been a genuine fan--she's even gone out of her way to learn a bit about the genre, asking me to stream random stuff she is interested in seeing from my collection sometimes!! I did a Jim Lange Name That Tune episode a few nights back and she recognized Jim as The Dating Game guy.

Of the shows they've all never really watched before, Classic Concentration and To Tell the Truth have been the big hits. Name That Tune is slowly winning some people over, and for awhile there we were watching The $100,000 Pyramid. Card Sharks unfortunately I've tried a handful of times but never gotten anyone to like it enough. I think the "it counts as an incorrect guess if you say 'lower' on, say, a 7, and the next card is a 7" thing kind of turned them all off on that show. Alex Trebek is the favorite host out of people in the server, so I've done some High Rollers in there and that's been a surprisingly popular one too.

Otherwise, Nickelodeon Double Dare, Nick Arcade, Jeopardy!, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and Supermarket Sweep have been the obvious favorites.

[beatlefreak84]

I was thinking about this when the other thread came up, and most people I know are not game show fans themselves except for very specific shows, typically Jeopardy.  But, when telling them about some of the shows I like to watch, there seem to be three that always get some intrigue:

Treasure Hunt (the ones familiar with LMAD get intrigued at the suspenseful reveals, but the novelty wears off quickly)
Sale of the Century (I actually got my wife to watch this with me when it was on GSN; she'd never seek it out herself but always enjoyed the shopping parts!  Oh, and hated Alice because she never bought anything)
Remote Control (questions are very dated now, but Sing Along with Colin and the crazy eliminations always get some laughs)

When teaching a class that ends the semester with extra time, classic PYL is always a hit, too. 

Anthony