"YOU FOOL!"

[filkertom]

If you need to laugh insanely for a few minutes, here you go.

What are your favorite game shows? Mine is, without question, Jeopardy, but The Price Is Right is much easier to watch since Drew Carey took over, and Deal Or No Deal is more fun than it should be. Vintage, the original Jeopardy and the original Match Game and Password.

ETA: Over on Dreamwidth, wednes reminds me of one I can't believe I forgot -- The $amount Pyramid. (Started out at $10,000, went up to at least $100,000.) Loved loved loved that show -- challenging, fun, and the easy banter between Dick Clark and everybody else was a joy. You knew Dick wanted every single contestant to win.

Comments

[wednes]

I also love Jeopardy, which is why I have a framed pic of Ken Jennings in my office at home.

I also have been, at one time or another, really into:

Family Feud
Newlywed Game
Press Your Luck
Match Game PM
*Indetermined amount of money* Pyramid

I used to dig a lot of smaller game shows. Beat the Geeks was wicked awesome, which is why it lasted one season. I dug Remote Control, Debt, and Joker's Wild.

I have to say though, that as a horror fan--the creepiest American Game show ever would have to be the Dating Game. It certainly has the most shenanegan-riddled history. Conspiracies, serial killers, stalking and assault allegations, and some of the worst hair and clothes in the history of television...plus, it always ends with the show kissing you. Ew. That is some masterful creep, right there!

[alfiechat.livejournal.com]

Match game best game show ever. I also liked How to survive a japanese game show for the sheer cheesiness.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Jeopardy, always. Not so much Deal..., and I did prefer Bob Barker on Price, but add to the last couple on your list Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and vintage reruns of You Bet Your Life, and some What's My Line and I've Got a Secret. Would you count Whose Line Is It Anyway? as a game show? -- if so, it bumps up to third place on the list, and maybe second.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I thought about Whose Line, but the thing about game shows is that they have actual prizes. By the way, the new Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza (http://tv.gsn.com/shows/improv/) is pretty darn fun.

[ericcoleman]

Whose Line, the Brit version yes, the US version became the same show over and over. Same three people, with one rotating, and the same games over and over.

[lindaneely.livejournal.com]

Love Jeopardy and I find myself more fascinated by Lingo than it probably deserves.

[danceswithlife]

That was awesome--thank you! My mom liked game shows so I was watching Jepordy, Password, the Match Game, etc. in the 60's. But recently, it's got to be "The Weakest Link," especially the one with the the actors from Star Trek.

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

Match Game hosted by Gene Rayburn with Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett, Fran, and Richard Dawson there as well. I LOVED that show when it was first one, and I still love watching reruns of it. I don't think any other game show was better than it. Jeopardy was good at testing my thought process, but Match Game was just *FUN*.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I grew up watching Hollywood Squares with Paul Lynn in the center square. It was the best part of the show when Paul got called on. I was glad to see the revival of the show kept the fun of it, as shown in the linked video (I remember when that episode first aired).

[alverant.livejournal.com]

The old Press Your Luck game when the Whammies were done by the guy doing the Mad Magazine marginals. They were the funniest part of the show. Really, what other game show made a contestant losing all their money the best part?

[jss]

Definitely Match Game (1973-1980, which was really the second version). And I remember seeing the "You fool!" episode to which you linked when it was first run. Still makes me laugh.

[virtualvirtue.livejournal.com]

"Match Game", first run with Gene Rayburn and Charles Nelson Reilly definitely.
"Name that Tune" and "Let's Make a Deal!" was kinda interesting for sheer cheesiness.
"Wheel of Fortune" helped me learn to spell as a child.

[kshandra]

OMG Name That Tune. I'd completely forgotten, and it was one of my HUGE favorites.

[virtualvirtue.livejournal.com]

Kathy Lee Gifford's career beginner from what I remember. :-)

[kshandra]

I just fell into a Wiki-hole, actually - Kathie Lee Johnson (as she was then known), Monica Burruss (who I knew as one of Barry Manilow's back-up singers originally), and Steve March (who I had NO IDEA until I read that article was Mel Torme's son).

[kshandra]

...ah, so nice to see them force the three of clubs again....

Yes, I know that wasn't the reason you posted the video, but having been a P&T fan for close to 25 years, it was what stuck with me. (I had the pleasure of blowing both their minds when I saw them at the Rio in '08 and got to tell them that I had now seen them perform in three separate decades. If I make it back to Vegas any time soon, it'll be FOUR.)

Back to the subject at hand: Vintage Squares, rather more than the modern version (largely because I greatly preferred Peter Marshall as host); Match Game (I'll see your You Fool! and raise you); and I will always have a soft spot for TattleTales.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Hands down, no question, Jeopardy of both the 1964-74 and 1984-present varieties. The late 1970s revival changed the game mechanism a bit, for the worse.

By Match Game did you mean the 1960s or 1970s version? Having seen the older ones on cable I'm inclined to say I still like the 1970s version better, for sheer entertainment value with the celebrities. Along similar lines are Hollywood Squares, What's My Line?, and To Tell The Truth.

I loved to *play* Password more than I liked watching it.

My other big favorites from my game show watching days are Split Second (which didn't last long) and The $10,000 Pyramid (with various values for the pyramid).

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Split Second ran for a little over three years.

[pyffe.livejournal.com]

I used to love Concentration. Jeopardy is also on my list. I despise Wheel.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

My sister and I had the Concentration game and played it all the time. Fun show. I sucked at it, though. ;)

Good lord....my brain is completely gone...

[virtualvirtue.livejournal.com]

Anyone remember who was always the center square in the Peter Marshall era of Hollywood Squares? He was very funny.

(My grandparents had games shows on constantly at their house when I was a kid. Loved watching them with them.)

Re: Good lord....my brain is completely gone...

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I think that was Charlie Weaver.

Re: Good lord....my brain is completely gone...

[virtualvirtue.livejournal.com]

Saying that made me think....Paul Lind?

Re: Good lord....my brain is completely gone...

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

My memory is telling me Paul Lynde was the center square and Charlie Weaver (real name Cliff Arquette, grandfather of Patricia, Rosanna, and David) had one of the bottom corners, left, I think. Wally Cox was up in the top left corner, as I recall.

Re: Good lord....my brain is completely gone...

[jss]

You recall correctly. There're some clips with all three of them on YouTube.

Re: Good lord....my brain is completely gone...

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

And Rose Marie top center. Paul Lynde was a *stitch*, he *always* had something up his sleeve besides his arm.

[vik_thor]

Match Game, and What's My Line? (from the GSN reruns)

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

Gong Show. When I got a DVD recorder, I converted some tapes of it to DVD for myself, getting 4 DVDs.

These days the news and Wheel of Fortune and Jeapordy! get recorded on the hard drive part of the tri-corder. I can watch the 2 hours in about an hour and 20 minutes, skipping spots. Been watching Jeapordy since the early days when I also would like Concentration.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

Jeopardy! Or Wheel of Fortune if I want to feel despair.

[bald-ruminant.livejournal.com]

There's a British show called QI. Youtube is littered with clips and episodes of it. Stephen Fry is the host. It might not have the glittering prizes, but it's educational, entertaining and takes the form of a quiz show.

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

Oh, QI is excellent! Unfortunately, it won't be released overseas anytime soon due to licensing issues with the video/music clips they play on the big screens.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

My favorite game show was the original Hollywood Squares (though the cast in that clip is pretty darned good), with Charley Weaver, Wally Cox, Rose Marie, and Paul Lynde. I love Jeopardy, too, but haven't watched in ages. And growing up, my favorites included Truth or Consequences and Video Village, and yes, I think I've just dated myself. ;) Oh, and there was a brilliant game show called The Celebrity Game with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, among others. It was on in the evenings. To Tell the Truth and What's My Line were fun, too.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

The firesign theater one where they inject a disease into the contestant, who has 30 seconds to name the disease, or they don't get the antidote.

[roman-mclaze.livejournal.com]

The theme song alone would have been enought to endear Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? to me forever, but the show itself was a lot of fun too. Of course, both song and show are rather dated now.

[virtualvirtue.livejournal.com]

YAY!!!!! Someone remembered that one. :-)

The group that sang the song was called Rockapella.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Seen those boys live twice now. Rockapella is Pegasus-level awesome. (And I say that cognizant of whose journal I'm posting in. If Rockapella and Tom were both showing the same night in my town, I'd be upset. And go see Tom because I could sing along. :)

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

Press Your Luck... with the animated Whammies

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Jeopardy, Numba One Ansah (which was Richard Dawson's tag line from Family Feud, which I didn't like as much)... Match Game was always good for a laugh.

As for $$ Pyramid: Dick was good. Who made that show for me, though, was Rita Moreno. Not ONLY did that woman win every award in sight for her performances, I swear that woman was psychic. Both giving and receiving. Two words and she's either got it, or the contestant is getting it. bam, bam, bam. She was the Pinball Wizard of that show... a joy to watch.

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

_Match Game_ with Gene, Brett, Charles-Nelson, Fannie, Richard et al for the zany half-sexy, half-drunk banter.

_Gong Show_ for the total amount of goofy (also that's where I first discovered Tom Lehrer, because of an act that actually performed "The Vatican Rag"!)

But I'm shocked no one so far has mentioned either _Let's Make a Deal_, hosted by Monty Hall, or Truth or Consequences, as hosted by Bob Barker. Quintessential quiz hosts and shows where people good-naturedly dressed up as vegetables, performed crazy stunts, traded for what's behind Door Number Three, and occasionally had nice things happen to them.

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

Well, since Jeopardy! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the logo) is the only game show I've ever tried out for, I think my favorite is pretty clear. :) We often watch Wheel of Fortune before Jeopardy!, but while I like it (and am good at it), it's not at the top of my list.

I have a fondness for trivia games in general. Cash Cab is a lot of fun. The half hour version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, which I watch sometimes as I eat breakfast, moves a whole lot faster than the prime-time hourlong, so big improvement there. (And they're using some really tough questions these days.) But 1 vs. 100 is way too slow.

On a related topic, I've noticed, recently, an interesting example of how cultural norms change, and our entertainments change to accommodate them. On, of all things, Family Feud. (It's on right after Millionaire, so if I have breakfast late, I end up watching for a bit.) In the original FF, the host was Richard Dawson, a comic in the British music hall tradition. Part of his appeal was his ability to make answers sound more risque than they were, to lend an air of naughtiness to the proceedings.

But these days, the contestants (and survey responders) are more willing to give outrageous answers. The current host, Steve Harvey, is a good fit for that. He has a more conservative presence, with a knack for reacting to the answers with theatrical dismay. Which leads to things like this. (Watch the whole thing - there are a few punch lines.)

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

Argh. Damn typo. ( instead of ) But it's still readable, the one link works, and I'm too lazy to go back and re-tag the whole thing.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

I know now the guy's a complete dickcissel, but I still loved Win Ben Stein's Money.

[rickvs.livejournal.com]

I used to like "Make Me Laugh" quite a bit...

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Favorite moment from Pyramid: William Shatner in the winner's circle by himself, giving clues to himself.

My favorite game shows? Well, just to name a few, The Weakest Link, Match Game, Split Second, Jeopardy!, The Money Maze, Press Your Luck, Whew!, and The Joker's Wild.

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

Jeopardy!'s definitely on the top of my list - I've taken the test four times, and auditioned twice, but haven't gotten on yet.

Millionaire was a favorite for a while - I really liked the show format. Not having to race to the buzzer allows for more thinking, but the host-seat pressure is pretty amazing to watch. I briefly enjoyed Weakest Link until I really got sick of the contestants perpetually failing to go more than three or four questions without banking.

Wheel is a long-time favorite too, though I find it pretty easy. I had a bit of a habit of guessing correctly with one or two letters on the board, for a while.

The old Match Game shows are always loads of fun - Gene Rayburn is charming and full of smiles, and the panelists are constantly cracking jokes at each other.

Deal or No Deal is fun to play along with, in a different way. I'm constantly estimating the expected value of the contestant's case, and the arc of the banker's offers is pretty constant - early in the show, the offers are 50%-75% of EV, so the lowball offers keep the contestant in the game. (I'm pretty sure they're actually coached backstage to never take the first offer.) Then, with 6-8 cases left, the offers are pretty close to EV, making the contestants think really hard about whether to go for it. Finally, if you get down to 2-3 cases, the offers will often be 110-140% or so of the EV if the million's still on the board...

Pretty much any trivia game will catch my interest. And now I'm scanning the rest of the responses for further favorites - the manic prompts and guesses of Pyramid, Win Ben Stein's Money for the novelty of watching the game show host actually compete in the show, Carmen Sandiego and the love of geography that it fostered (if not birthed) in me... and I can't believe I forgot the prop-tastic fun of The Price Is Right. Building all those game machines must have been so much fun.