# Ten Best Game Shows Ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379 "2006-03-07T15:29:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/21 "2006-03-07T21:48:07Z")
_Millionaire_ could have been (and still is in some areas of the world). I’d change three things about it to make it a U.S. ratings juggernaut again: 1: Those first few questions (“Men seldom make passes at girls who wear what? A- glasses B- leg braces C- colostomy bags D- dead raccoons”)- get rid of 'em. I understand that it’s mainly to give the person a chance to get comfortable in the seat and all, but if you want to keep it edit it- show them all in 30 seconds or less. 1. OPEN BACK UP THE 1-800 CONTESTANT NUMBERS! People watch because they want to play. Even if you only accept 1% of 1% of 1% of the people who call will ever make it on the show, it’s this that keeps them interested. 2. Add “30 second Google” to the lifelines. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Soylent\_Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Gene)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/22 "2006-03-08T03:56:38Z")
How about the wierdest one of all time. Chuck Barris’ 1970s-era “Treasure Hunt” with “bonded securtiy agent” Emil Otori and hosted by the creepy Goeff Edwards. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/23 "2006-03-08T04:17:41Z")
Does anyone remember a game show called “The Krypton Factor”? IIRC, the purpose was to find the “ultimate human.” It had stages that included general knowledge, math and language skills, memory tests, hand-eye coordination and physical strength. I loved it, but then I was only 9 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/24 "2006-03-08T04:25:32Z")
I can name that [del]tune[/del] show in 3 notes! **Name That Tune!** StG ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/25 "2006-03-08T04:59:32Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Does anyone remember a game show called “The Krypton Factor”? IIRC, the purpose was to find the “ultimate human.” It had stages that included general knowledge, math and language skills, memory tests, hand-eye coordination and physical strength. > > I loved it, but then I was only 9 at the time. Yep, and another blast from the past, who remembers Almost Anything Goes. It started out by having different teams from different towns in the same state compete against each other in a bunch of bizarre stunts. Then later it became All Star Almost Anything Goes and featured teams from different TV programs. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/26 "2006-03-08T05:20:24Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > [High Rollers](http://www.curtalliaume.com/highroll.html) is missing! Check out the link for cool photos of Alex Trebek. Man, SNL missed a golden opportunity there. Of course, no one my age would get _Celebrity High Rollers_ while of course we all got _Celebrity Jeopardy!_. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/27 "2006-03-08T05:26:59Z")
_Jeopardy!_ is the best, hands-down. I watch two episodes of it every day (there’s an old rerun on the Game Show Network), and I’m _still not sick of it_. There is no other TV show, period, that I can watch that much without getting surfeited. _Family Feud_ was way ahead of its time in the weird irony involved in all of it; Richard Dawson was more social critic than emcee in the way he’d play the role of the genteel suitor, kissing hands and playing interested as an _entire family_ went bonkers onstage because they’d just won seventy-six dollars. The entire premise of _Family Feud_ was incredibly surreal: The families would pose at the beginning, as if for an old daguerrotype family photo, then leap into action accompanied by some kind of crazed, “old-timey” hillbilly fiddle music, like the most wretched excess of _Hee-Haw_. Once the game had begun and all family members had been introduced (“This is my nephew Ben. He sells plumbing.”), the families were rewarded, not for coming up with _correct_ answers, but for giving answers the most like what the “survey says.” I.e., families were rewarded for being so “average” that their answers would most closely approximate the general results of a survey. It was like an exercise in Orwellian Darwinism, if that makes sense. Another groundbreaking show that deserves mention, and the first one I can think of that really went crazy with flouting (and thereby exposing) the conventions of the genre, was [Remote Control](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0092436/) on MTV. Remember? With Colin Quinn as the sidekick? That was some crazy, brilliant stuff, with the “Dead or Alive?” category and the chairs that would fling the losers up and backward through the wall, where they appeared to be eaten by ghouls. That was the predecessor to _Distraction_, and the short-lived but wonderful _You Don’t Know Jack_, and _Fear Factor_, and even _Survivor_ (which, as **PeterWiggen** rightly points out, is a game show too). The Japanese were way ahead of us Westerners in all this stuff, though; when I lived there back in the '80s, they already had shows that we would today call “reality shows,” on which people had to eat disgusting things and do terrifying, dangerous stunts and humiliate themselves in public. (At least that’s what I assume was going on; I would watch them sometimes, but I didn’t speak Japanese.) Yeah, I’ve probably spent too much time thinking about this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/28 "2006-03-08T05:40:11Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > Another groundbreaking show that deserves mention, and the first one I can think of that really went crazy with flouting (and thereby exposing) the conventions of the genre, was [Remote Control](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0092436/) on MTV. Remember? With Colin Quinn as the sidekick? That was some crazy, brilliant stuff, with the “Dead or Alive?” category and the chairs that would fling the losers up and backward through the wall, where they appeared to be eaten by ghouls. I loved _Remote Control_! It also had a pre-SNL Adam Sandler as cousin Stickpin the thug. IIRC, the category you mentioned was actually “Dead or Canadian?” “Yvonne DiCarlo: Dead or Canadian?” > [@](#): > > The Japanese were way ahead of us Westerners in all this stuff, though; when I lived there back in the '80s, they already had shows that we would today call “reality shows,” on which people had to eat disgusting things and do terrifying, dangerous stunts and humiliate themselves in public. (At least that’s what I assume was going on; I would watch them sometimes, but I didn’t speak Japanese.) Unfortunately, the shows here are just so _tame_ now, it’s boring as hell. Even just a few years ago, there were semi-pornographic ones in the middle of the afternoon (and really pornographic ones late at night!), and now there’s nothing but occasional re-runs of _Survivor_ and _Temptation Island_. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/29 "2006-03-08T05:49:12Z")
Tic Tac Dough might have been interesting if the questions weren’t so insultingly easy. Millionaire was so dull, I can’t understand why anyone liked it. All the out-loud agonizing about the right answer, Jesus! If you know the answer, say it. If you don’t, sitting and yammering about it for five minutes is BORING. Use a lifeline or take the consolation money, but GET ON WITH IT! Press Your Luck is perhaps the single most irritating game show in the history of television. “Big Bucks, Big Bucks, No Whammys!” SHUT THE FUCK UP! Love Connection, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, all of those types of shows are so incredibly tiresome. The only dating-type show that’s any good is Blind Date. I agree with everyone who gave props to the old panel shows like What’s My Line. The Name’s The Same is another good one that GSN used to show. I wish GSN would bring back more of the old b/w shows and not relegate them to 3 AM. I’d love to see You Bet Your Life again; I have fond memories of catching it semi-regularly on IIRC WGN when I was growing up. I wish they’d bring back Scrabble as part of their Woolery worship too. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/30 "2006-03-08T05:50:45Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > I loved _Remote Control_! It also had a pre-SNL Adam Sandler as cousin Stickpin the thug. IIRC, the category you mentioned was actually “Dead or Canadian?” “Yvonne DiCarlo: Dead or Canadian?” It was both. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/31 "2006-03-08T06:20:15Z")
It didn’t last very long, but I enjoyed “Win, Lose, or Draw.” ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/32 "2006-03-08T10:59:21Z")
I’m only the fan of _Match Game 76, 77_ etc.? Yes, I realize it’s politically incorrect and some of the questions were too topical to do well in reruns, but it’s still a good, dumb show, with good, dumb, double-entendres. I particularly remember an episode where the audience survey question was “Oral \_\_\_\_\_”. The most common answer was, of course, “hygiene”. CJ ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/33 "2006-03-08T11:42:58Z")
How about _Scrabble_? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/34 "2006-03-08T12:37:08Z")
**jackelope** – amazing analysis of _Family Feud_ – you’ve really seen into the dark heart of a show I watched avidly, without ever knowing quite why. ---
**Author:** ![haardvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@haardvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haardvark)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/35 "2006-03-08T13:12:47Z")
No love for **Pitfall**? 😃 This was one of my favourite things about staying home from school. Loved it. And I look back on it now, and can’t for the life of me think WHY. I guess I just loved watching those platforms go up and down. (I was excited by the sliding doors on Star Trek, too…nascent automation fetish, I suppose). Oh, and who remembers Ed Grimley auditioning for **Wheel of fortune** [/slight hijack]? ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/36 "2006-03-08T14:15:23Z")
I remember a kid’s gameshow from the 70’s. There was a giant gameboard and the contestants moved along the board. I loved the show but can’t rmember the host or the name of the game. Help! ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/37 "2006-03-08T14:23:24Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > I’m only the fan of _Match Game 76, 77_ etc.? Yes, I realize it’s politically incorrect and some of the questions were too topical to do well in reruns, but it’s still a good, dumb show, with good, dumb, double-entendres. I particularly remember an episode where the audience survey question was “Oral \_\_\_\_\_”. The most common answer was, of course, “hygiene”. > > CJ A couple of us mentioned Match Game, if you look carefully. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/38 "2006-03-08T14:41:27Z")
Double Dare I saw Starcade recently on G4TV. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/39 "2006-03-08T14:50:27Z")
**You Bet Your Life** Who cares about the game, just listen to Groucho. **Let’s Make a Deal** The original version with Monty and the miniskirted Carol Merrill. Loved the contestants’ costumes. **Everything Goes** From the early days of Playboy Channel / Escapade. Male vs. female, loser got down to a g string. Sometimes the winner would too, just to be a good sport. **Greed** Might have been the hardest show to get the top prize. **What’s My Line** **Jeopardy** Though it was better in the Art Fleming days. No silly video questions and the contestants’ podiums looked nicer. **Weakest Link** Anne was everybody’s schoolmarm from hell. But interesting strategy and a nice mix of questions. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379/40 "2006-03-08T15:02:24Z")
I loved Greed. I thought it was MUCH better than Millionaire. I liked the multi-part answers. I’ve always been a big game show fan. I used to tell people I wanted to be a game show host. Jeopardy is far and away the best ever. But there are some other gems. I always enjoyed **Sale of the Century** for some reason. **The Joker’s Wild** was enjoyable, though I often confused it with **Card Sharks** which I enjoyed as well. One show I enjoyed as a kid was **Double Dare.** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-best-game-shows-ever/347379.md?page=3)