Lately, I’ve been watching some old shows on YouTube. They had some really interesting guests. For example, on an episode of I’ve Got A Secret, they had a 96 year old man who was the last living witness to Lincoln’s assassination. And I just watched an episode of To Tell The Truth where the guy they were trying to guess was John Thomas Scopes, of Monkey Trial fame.
I miss those old shows. What was your favorite show / episode?
TV channel Buzzr runs these now, same format as the old Black & White Overnight on GSN but in the afternoon. The “What’s My Line” with the prenatal nurse (not called that, though) was a riot!
As a kid, I loved Card Sharks and Press Your Luck. Nowadays, I can catch episodes of either on GSN, and while I actually choose to do so from time to time, neither has aged well.
The Match Game is still pretty entertaining, though.
I too like that IGAS episode with the assassination witness.
I also like an episode of What’s My Line from about 1964 where the mystery guest was former heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey. The panel seemed to know their boxing, and guessed him pretty quickly. When they took their blindfolds off, panelist Arlene Francis remarked, “that’s the fastest count Jack ever got!”, a reference to the famous “Long Count” in the second Dempsey-Tunney fight).
Some good guests on You Bet Your Life. For instance, Ray Bradbury. Plus, there was an episode where some famous opera singer was on and there was a kerfuffle over the subject of Elvis that spilled over to the next week–interesting in hindsight in how today almost everybody still knows Elvis and almost nobody knows the opera singer.
Meh. That Rock&Roll music will never catch on.
The Generation Gap, where teens were asked questions about their parents’ pop culture and adults were asked about current teen culture. A 21st century version would be just as entertaining.
I used to love To Tell the Truth. I remember one where they had a kid who was a black belt. Number Two looked about six years old, and Gene Rayburn said that if it was Number Two, he’d eat his card (on which he’d written his answer.) Of course it was Number Two, and Gene started to eat the card.
Neil Armstrong’s parents on I’ve Got A Secret on September 17, 1962, the day he had been named as an astronaut. Host Garry Moore innocently asked Armstrong’s mother, “Now, how would you feel, Mrs. Armstrong, if it turned out - of course nobody knows - but if it turns out that your son is the first man to land on the moon? How would you feel?"
Of course, no one then knew that that was exactly what would happen almost seven years later.
Guitar groups are on the way out, anyway.
Did he ask about how their next door neighbor would feel?
I wonder if he ever got that BJ?
There’s a neat shout-out to that in the film Apollo 11 (no, not 13). The bar the mission control guys hang out at is named Gorsky’s.
Anyway, my favorites growing up were The Price is Right and Tic-Tac-Dough. I can still hear the Showcase Showdown music in my head.
I ran across an episode of Press Your Luck yesterday while channel-surfing. I’d forgotten how both addictive and annoying that show was.
I still watch old episodes of Match Game when I find them.
As a kid, I loved Eye Guess with Bill Cullen.
Sadly, it appears virtually all the episodes were lost.
I am morbidly fascinated by this 50s/60s-era ‘game show’ (I guess it’d be classified a game show as there’s an element of competition in it.)
Queen for a Day - hosted by the very lecherous-looking Jack Bailey. In which the dowdiest of the dowdy, frumpiest of the frumpy, and most down-trodden, lower-class housewives tell their hard-luck stories. Whoever the audience decides has the most depressing, awful life gets to be “Queen for a Day” with a crown and sash and throne. It’s a rather mesmerizing train wreck.
Not really all that old, but I used to love Liar’s Club.
Yeah, I guess it is kinda old. 
Block Busters because Bill Cullen was a nice guy. Name that Tune because Tom Kennedy was a real tight wad. “Sorry you said ‘Three Coins in a Fountain.’ The correct answer is ‘Three Coins in THE Fountain.’”
Game shows were a staple when I was a kid in the 60’s & 70’s. The shows that had the “stars” were the best. They always seemed to be having a great time - like a party. Anyone remember Tattle Tales? Hosted by Bert Convy (had a crush on him!). It involved stars and their spouses.
As a kid, I loved watching the 1970s-era Match Game. A lot of the naughty humor went over the head of a 9-year-old, but they were funny, and clearly having a great time. I watch reruns of it on GSN on occasion, and it’s now clear to me that all of the panelists (and, probably, Gene Rayburn, too) were drunk and / or high as kites. 
Similarly, I also loved The Gong Show, though one could argue whether or not that was actually a game show.