Tired of politics? Me too. Let’s take a break shall we?
Watching ordinary people on television has always been fascinating to the TV viewing public. Whether it’s watching people make fools of themselves as they frequently did on Monty Hall’s Let’s Make a Deal when they got dressed up in the most outrageously stupid costumes in order to get on the show or sharing the excitement of someone who has just been called to “Come on down” on The Price is Right, the “hook” of the game show has always been “that could be me up there” as the TV viewer lives vicariously through the contestants on the screen.
The genre has been hugely successful as well as being enormously popular with the networks in the early days of TV. That’s because it’s ridiculously cheap to produce a game show compared to an hour long drama or even a 30 minute sitcom. The profits can be enormous. When daytime programming on the big three networks was a major profit center, game shows ruled the tube.
These days, game shows are owned by private production companies and syndicated. Shows like Wheel of Fortune are worth a half billion dollars or more. But I prefer the traditional, network owned shows from the past. Watching many of them on The Game Show Network is not only fun, it’s like going on an antropological expidition into the past. The clothes, the pop culture references, even the way people talked was different back then.
At any rate, here are my choices for the top five TV game shows of all time.
5. The Match Game
Gene Rayburn was in his element, bantering with celebrities and generally being goofy. The questions – especially later in the series history – always seemed to encourage double entendres. Has the distinction of being broadcast on both CBS and NBC daytime.
4. Let’s Make A Deal
From prince to pauper in a moment as the contestant would trade the $10,000 car for what was behind the curtain – a milkcow. Nowhere was greed punished more satisfyingly than on this show. And Monty Hall was perfect as the huckstering host.
3. Password
Classy Alan Ludden in a cerebral, staid, but nevertheless surprisingly challenging game. The old games featured more literate celebrities and harder words.
2. You Bet Your Life
Groucho Marx. ‘Nuff said.
1. Jeopardy
Alex Trebek and a legion of Mensas. I tried out for the show once. Got through two rounds before being eliminated. Great host. Great questions. Big money.
UPDATE 11/12
Thanks to Kim at Wizbang who linked this piece, the emails are coming hot and heavy. I bow to the superior wisdom of the group and present some honorable mentions:
THE $25,000 PYRAMID
Instant wealth on a game show that everyone can play. The look on people’s faces when they suddenly won the $25 grand is what game shows are all about. Some very smart celebrity contestants (and some dumb ones) also made the show exciting. Soupy Sales and Lily Tomlin were brilliant.
NAME THAT TUNE
This one goes all the way back to the 1950’s and was a victim of the “Quiz Show” scandals that rocked TV. All game shows back then became suspect and people stopped watching for a while. Bill Cullen hosted one of the original shows. Later, Tom Kennedy emceed.
CONCENTRATION
Next to Wheel of Fortune, the longest running game show in history. Brilliant “rebus” puzzles and the presence of Hugh Downs made this one a gem. One of the harder shows to be good at. Great prizes too.
WHAT”S MY LINE
In the beginning, when New York was still the center of the universe, the show featured a brilliant panel of literati and theater personalities. Random House publisher and humorist Bennet Cerf, columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, poet Louis Untermeyer, and comedy writer Hal Block were more or less permanent fixtures of the show in the 50’s.
The entertaining part of the show was the cross banter between some very witty people – almost like a televised Algonquin Round Table with Dorothy Parker and George S. Kaufmann trading barbs. Still on the Game Show network late, late night.
UPDATE II
I emailed my brother Jim who appeared on two different games shows in the 1970’s. I had forgotten the names of them and he was kind enough to reply:
The show was called Split Second, and the year was 1974. I also was also on Tic Tac Dough in 1978, both times winning a considerable amount of money in the much smaller stakes of game shows in those days.
Quiz-type shows all but disappeared from TV in the wake of the 1958 scandals dramatized in the movie “Quiz Show,” which was about the show 21. The $64,000 Question and the first incarnation of Jeopardy were caught up in the same net, though – feeding answers to contestants with high Q ratings, or audience reaction. The scandal broke when an unattractive bus driver (I think) resented the fact that glamor boy Charles Van Doren (asst prof at Columbia University and scion of one of America’s great literary families) had replaced him in populatity.
I mention this because 21 was hosted by Jack Barry, and the show was a Barry-Enright production. So was Split Second – and I met Jack Barry, immediately remembered who he was, and had a slightly uncomfortable interview with him because he knew that I knew. Split Second (similar in many ways to Jeopardy) was network TV’s first (or one of the first) attempts to get back into Q&A shows. It spawned the re-makes of both Name That Tune and Tic Tac Dough, both of which had had earlier pre-scandal incarnations.
4:37 pm
Go read my friend Bob Harris’ book: “Prisoner of Trebekistan.”
10:22 pm
What? No “Name That Tune”?
Nevertheless, a truly fine list!
I have fond memories of playing “Password” with friends and family—Mom bought the boxed game, complete with the Password cards and the envelopes with the little red plastic windows (which were the only way to read the cards, and which we kids used for playing “Mission: Impossible” or, occasionally, “Secret Agent Man”... complete with cool theme songs).
But our family still drops everything to play along as “Jeopardy!” comes on the air.
10:43 am
One of my daughters – the seven year old!! – loves Jeopardy now. Anyone remember the original host … pause … Art Fleming?
The original Alex Trebek vehicle – High Rollers – wasn’t terrible, either.
11:59 am
My all-time fave was “Win, Lose or Draw.”
“Password” is probably my second favorite.
Honorable mention: The Richard Karn version of “Family Feud.”
Best Game Show moment of all time: William Shatner trashes the set of “$20,000 Pyramid” after called for giving an illegal clue.
12:07 pm
DEAL OR NO DEAL, WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE and THE PRICE IS RIGHT are all very effective programs with excellent hosts. DEAL OR NO DEAL is such a simple formula, but really works as entertainment. Howie Mandel is very effective as host that can alternate between being funny and having fun, and being supportive of the contestant as well as slightly taunting. But Bob Barker is a long favorite of mine, and I consider his love and respect for animals and his commitment to a vegetarian diet that respects the lives of animals a plus as well.
12:55 pm
Does anyone besides me remember when the $25,000 Pyramid was the $10,000 pyramid?
1:25 pm
What, no “To Tell The Truth”? We watched that every night. Kitty Carlysle, Peggy Cass. A great show.
Uh, guess I’m showing my age, huh? All right. No “Gong Show”? Nothing ever came close to it for pure cheesy entertainment.
2:03 pm
If I remember correctly, my favorite gameshow was ‘Split Second” which had the gimmick of the winner getting to choose one of five cars on the set – only one of which would start on the first day they won, and all would start if he won his fifth game.
I remember one contestant was asked “What movie star appeared in….” when she buzzed in early and gave her answer -”John Wayne”. The audience laughed until the host, Tom Kennedy, finished reading the question – and John Wayne was indeed the correct answer.
The host asked the contestant why she has given that particular answer and she said that in her house, there was only one real movie star!
I always wondered why the host and audience seemed a bit embarrased and nervous about her quick answer.
6:19 pm
Giacomo, Yes I remember Art Fleming well! What were the prize amounts back then, I seem to remember $25 as the lowest level, but maybe it was $10. One of my favorite things now, is “shhing” Trebek when he gets rambling with lots of clues still left, I’ll be going shhh then shhh and finally yelling shut up!
Still, though I enjoy Jeopardy!, Bob Barker and the TPIR is my favorite.
6:20 pm
Can’t believe no one’s mentioned “The Price is Right”, classic game show too!
5:55 am
Truth or Consequences was Bob Barkers show before TPIR. Also I haven’t seen mention of Family Feud or The Newlywed Game.
4:36 pm
The Top Game Shows of all time
Rick Moran’s absolutely delusionally wrong evaluation of an important genre. What, no “Joker…. Joker….............aaaaaaandddd…...... Joker!”????? Puh-leeeze….