What's the first game show you saw in person?

[Bob Zager]

The very first game show I COULD HAVE seen in person was Truth or Consequences, with Bob Barker in 1968.  My grandmother heard the show was going to be taping in Detroit, and she sent for tickets.  Despite getting tickets for the show, my father insisted that we NOT go, because of the city riots which occurred the previous year (He felt it wasn't safe to go downtown).  She ended up giving the tickets to my aunt/uncle, who were not afraid to go downtown at the time.

It wasn't until 1990 that I first saw a show in person--Ray Combs Family Feud.  CBS also had tickets for a pilot, I believe called "Personal Dillemas," with Eric Boardman, but chose to see Feud instead.  I also saw To Tell the Truth, with Lynn Swann, and veteran panelists Cass, Bean, and Bergen joining Ron Masak.

[tvwxman]

A great question for the board....

My first gs exp was Hollywood Squares in 1987 when it visited Hollywood, FL....got to meet Louie Anderson and Janice and Dian from TPIR   (Did I just get an award for mentioning THOSE three in the same sentence for the first time...anywhere?)

This was followed by Millionaire in 1999 when it first premiered.....and WeakLink...

Then, I got lucky. Joining an ABC affiliate in 2002 has given me the opportunity to not just see games, but to do behind the scenes reports on them... In the last year , i've visited Super Millionaire, Wheel (both in LA and NYC), and Jeopardy....which was the highlight, thanks to being able to go live on the set with Trebek, and being able to produce/host a half hour special on the College Championship at Yale last October.  The opportunity to talk game show history with Harry Friedman was alone worth the price of admission!

Just as good : a chance to warm up the crowd for the Yale shows, and having Johnny Gilbert introduce ME. Being a local tv personality sometimes has it's rewards...

The show got me an Emmy nod, which unfortunately I didn't win. But it also got me a nice crystal paperweight with the Jep logo from Harry and the staff, which, trust me, is better than any Emmy statuette.

Matt

[bulldog_06]

I got to see Double Dare live when it came to St. Louis back in I think was 1991. Got to see Marc Summers and Robin Mariella. It was a good experience.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'bulldog_06\' date=\'May 3 2004, 01:32 PM\'] I got to see Double Dare live when it came to St. Louis back in I think was 1991. Got to see Marc Summers and Robin Mariella. It was a good experience. [/quote]
That same tour (I dunno if I'd call it a "game show" in the sense that was asked about, since it was a stage show and not a taping, but what the hell) did my college basketball arena in 1992. I took my brother, and we had a blast. Summers asked a question of someone like two rows in front of me. Short little fellow.

[gameshowhost1]

Camouflage, 1961
Snap Judgment, 1968
Jeopardy! twice in NYC and at OSU in 2000s
Hosted "High Q" locally 1984-1998 on local CBS affiliate

[MikeK]

My first experience was It's Academic in 1995, cheering on a family friend who was representing my alma mater.  This was also the first time I saw a TV studio, specifically how small they are in real life.  Saying the studio appeared cramped would be a vast understatement.

After that, I saw Wheel when it came to Ohio in 1997, and TPiR and the Jeopardy! College Tournament Finals in LA in 2001.

[Chief-O]

National shows, not yet. Local shows, yes. I watched 2 tapings of a game show they used to do at the university [UW-Oshkosh] called "Sports Trivia Challenge" back in early 2001. I knew someone who was friends with the show's producer, and they were able to get me hooked up with him. I recall both tapings running very smooth, with very little stoppage of tape---or the game, for that matter. This show was very well-produced for a university show [too bad I can't say that about anything they produce over there now].

I've put up some pictures on a special [yeah, right!] part of my site:
http://www.geocities.com/oy61985/STC.html
[excuse the picture quality----this was before I went digital]

[JayC]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Aug 19 2003, 11:10 AM\'] - WoF (again, at the MSG theater, Oct. 99)
 [/quote]
 Hey, I was there also for the Thursday and Friday tapings during a doubles week!  Did you go to this taping or another?  My seat was terrible, about 8 rows from the very top.  I did go to the front level though after it was over and got to meet Vanna for a few seconds though.

Anyway, my first tapings were...

Double Dare and What Would You Do (Was very close to being picked to go on stage, a kid sitting right in front of me got chosen instead ) in 1992.

[davemackey]

I honestly wish I could remember which shows it was when I went to Los Angeles for the first time in January of 1986. I saw "Price is Right", "$25,000" and "$100,000 Pyramid", "Scrabble", "Dating Game", and a few others.

Robair was with me on three subsequent LA visits in successive Januarys. We didn't just see game shows - we went to a few sitcom tapings including "Married...with Children" (a wild experience), and even talk shows. We saw Johnny Carson and Pat Sajak do the talk thing.

More recently we've seen "Hollywood Squares" and "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" in New York.

The one show we've never seen live, but would like to one day, is "Jeopardy!"

[Jamey Greek]

I saw J! in person while living in Atlanta in 2000, It was the J! 2000 Tournament of Champions.  I won tickets from WXIA NBC 11 Alive, and Chick-fil-A.  My dad who is a big J! fan himself accompanied me to the tapings, They were taped at the Atlanta Civic Center, when Johnny Gilbert warmed up the audience he was a very cool guy, and so was Alex, both of them were funny.   I had a very good time.

[starcade]

Win Ben Stein's Money

I remember, between two shows, actually asking (since I never had whatever network had it on cable) the warmup guy if we were supposed to go crazy for the contestant in the event that Ben went second and got to the point that he could not win the Best of Ten.

(That is, if the contestant got 7 and Ben has 3 with 3 questions left...)

The warmup's answer:  "No, Mr. 'I Can Do The Math All By Myself'..."

[ClockGameJohn]

I'm not nearly as lucky as some of the people on this board, although I'm not nearly as dated as some either. ;-)

I believe my first one was Double Dare when it was taped at WHYY in Philadelphia around 1987.

Around 1989, I was at a performance of Tom Sawyer on Broadway in NY and sat next to none other than....Wink!  I only knew him (at the time) from watching High Rollers on USA after school.  Somewhere, I still have my Playbill autographed by him.  (That's as close to a live performance as a 10 year old is gonna get)

Saw Wheel of Fortune in Philadelphia in 1992 at the Philadelphia Convention Center.  (Sat next to Jim Gardner from WPVI for you Philly folks)

From there...I would say next was Price.

[sshuffield70]

The only one so far is LMAD '90 with Hilton.  "Big Deal" that day was a baby grand piano.

[zachhoran]

Wheel in Philly on 4/18/99(three shows of College week aired in May 1999), and Millionaire on 8/24/99(aired on 8/25/99)

[TPIRkid79]

I only went to see two tapings of my all-time fave, The Price is Right. September 23rd, and 25th. Although I wasn't picked as a contestant, it was still a lot of fun.