Best Game Show Finales – Your Picks?

[Neumms]

Bad answers from panelists were frequently and roundly mocked by Gene and the other panelists and they certainly got booed. Geez, how often did Brett win the “most pathetic answer” award? How often did Rayburn after a string of matches get to Patti or Joyce and tell the player something like, “your luck may be over?”

Once Mr. Nixon dragged the Mrs. in to sit there for the Checkers speech, I’d say she became in bounds, and their kids, at least Julie Nixon Eisenhower, were adult socialites. I doubt the jokes were all that personal.

I heartily agree with the title of the O’Reilly book, but not that he and Patti had anything in common. Wasn’t the Monty Hall answer part of a running or inside joke? I thought that came up here.

[thewhammy_2000]

The finale for paranoia got me. Peter was trying was trying to hold it, but you can tell he was trying to beg for feedback. Which felt like the opposite on the Hit Man and PYL finales, which also got me as well.
Eubanks' Card Sharks cracked me.
"Joker's Jive" always crack me emotionally. Using it in the 1975 TJW finale takes it all the way.
Dawson's Feud speech gets me.
Bert and Betty get me on Super Password.
There's more, and I would still play Nedeff's Game Show Finales video if it was still on YouTube.

[golden-road]

I'll say the end of the original LMaD, as there wasn't a single Zonk to be seen

[wdm1219inpenna]

Another one that comes to mind, wasn't the finale for the show but for the long time host.

During the first episode I believe of the 1977-78 syndicated season, Garry Moore came back as a guest host to announce his retirement due to health issues that he was going through.  Joe Garagiola was named the new host.  If it was due to this change or due to other reasons, this would prove to be the final season of this classic series on American television until 1990.

Bill Cullen served as host during the previous season during certain episodes when Garry Moore was ill.  The show decided that the panel's cast was lacking without having Bill as one of the panel, so the powers that be decided to name Joe permanent host.

I am grateful that Mr. Moore went on to live until almost the end of 1993, so he had 16 years of retirement to enjoy.  It was a cozy set and a cozy show to me, one of the very first game shows I remember my parents watching when I was so very young, circa 1970/71...I also remember What's My Line? and Pay Cards!  Those were my first memories of game shows and my obsession with playing cards began back then.  When Gambit came out I about melted into my socks seeing those giant cards, and did so again with the Perry, Eubanks & Rafferty versions of Card Sharks.

[Mark McNeil]

During the first episode I believe of the 1977-78 syndicated season, Garry Moore came back as a guest host to announce his retirement due to health issues that he was going through.  Joe Garagiola was named the new host.  If it was due to this change or due to other reasons, this would prove to be the final season of this classic series on American television until 1990.

Actually, you forgot about the 1980-81 version of To Tell The Truth.

I remember, on the finale of the original Now You See It, that Jack joked that the show aired its first episode on an April Fool's Day and is airing its last episode on a Friday The 13th.

[danderson]

FYI I reposted the GSN Y2Play finales marathon from December 31st, 1999.  Eight hours of final episodes, covering quite a few of the series mentioned in this

Although there were a few entries left in the medium, the end of Super Password doesn't just feel like the end of the series, it feels like a broader finale for the glory days of daytime games as a whole.  NBC daytime would never feature more than two hours of daytime games again after that day. It's an episode that revels in it's own emotion. The hilarity of turning the contestant plug into a Help Wanted ad for the staff. Reserving part of the closing remarks for Betty. Bert's clear sadness at not being paired up with Gene Wood anymore, at least here (or with all the other staff-turned-recurring characters). The joy of giving the $10K bonus away on the last attempt. It does every other gameplay and emotional beat the others does well, at the same time. And in many ways with hindsight, it feels like a swan song for daytime games in general, who outside of Price now have less than a half decade left at that point and many of the remaining series are short-lived shows largely left on the shelf historically.

CBS What's My Line is almost assuredly my silver medalist. Much like Super Password above, it's something of a swan song. The show had been on the air for basically the entire meaningful history of network broadcast television. It represented the shift away from live or as-live programming in favor of pre-taped scripted series. It was the end of panel shows in prime time, and the end of game shows as a credible vehicle for A-list celebrity appearances. The Daly Mystery Guest segment is delightful, and while Goodson was known for making appearances on shows, Bill Todman most assuredly wasn't - so Line's network exit being meaningful enough to get him out of the office?  Is a statement.  And it's just a great half hour of TV.

Somewhere in between the two is ABC Split Second. The show itself and for most of the core game is no-nonsense, only to turn on it's side near the end. Just giving the contestant the car. The sincerity in both Tom and Monty (and Jack Clark and Jay Stewart). Monty has always struck me as having a certain reluctance to ever acknowledge on-air the degree to which he's "the man behind the curtain" on his shows (there's a difference between saying a show is a "Hatos-Hall Production" and outright going "Yes, Monty is the actual boss of everything around here.") but here he does it. Here too, the world was changing.  The finale comes in the midst of a two year period of massive changes at ABC and in daytime as a whole.  It's a damn shame that this show is almost completely lost outside of a handful of home recordings (and at least one master)

Honorable mentions: Dawson Feud (ABC '85), Newlywed Game (ABC '74), Sale of the Century (NBC '89), Now You See It (CBS '89).

I agree about the Super Password finale, it doesn't just feel like the end of the series, it feels like a broader finale for the glory days of game shows as a whole, i love the way Bert reserved part of the closing for Betty, and his sadness about not working with Gene, just makes it very much a swan song for the genre on network daytime (outside of Price). Although Gene would continue on Classic Concentration and Family Feud, it felt like he was near the end of his career to be honest. However, i saw Jim Perry's goodbye on his last SOTC (can't remember how many years ago) and it was as classy as they get. I miss him, Jay Stewart, Don Morrow as well as Bert and Betty, they were part of what i call the "last golden age" of network daytime games in the 80s, not to mention Chuck Woolery, Alex Trebek and Vicki Lawrence ( i wouldn't consider her part of the legendary hosts line, but I'll include her here.)