For me it is an old game show called “Press Your Luck”. A modest bit of strategy, a whole lot of luck, and LOADS of whammies! Have to love the whammies! Normally, when I watch a game show (if I am sick or something) I want the contestant to win. But when I watched “Press Your Luck” I used to cheer for the Whammies.
Host: Monty Hall. Now THAT is a game show host! The man was a master. He is so good that his name is almost synonymous with game show hosting and giving away prizes. So much so that in role playing games they coined the term “Monty Hall Campaigns” where lots of loot is given away at little risk. He has been attached to a math problem called the Monty Hall Problem or Paradox.
“I’ll give you $100 for some nailclippers.”
“Glitch … Window, large icons.” - Bob the Guardian
I think I’m kinda obligated to list Match Game as my favorite (seein’s how they gave me $11,000 and all). And of course, Gene Rayburn’s the host with the most (a bit of a letch, but I expected that)!
StoryTyler Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. C’mon up and see me sometime.
I am an old game show JUNKIE, and thought I’d died and gone to heaven when the Game Show network came on Direct TV. I love lots of shows, but I think my favorite (because of memories of watching it with my late Grandma) is “Jokers Wild”. Loved the music, the questions, the jokers, and the “devil”. “Joker, Joker, JOKER!”…I love that show. Wink Martindale was a great host.
Also loved Card Sharks. Great game of strategy, wit and luck. My sisters and I used to set up cards just like on TV and play Card Sharks at home. We also had the real home versions of “The Price Is Right” ,“Family Fued”, and “Hollywood Squares”.
Zette
Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high.
Jeopardy, hands down – the perfect game show. I prefer the Art Fleming version (the lower prizes made for more interesting games), but Alex Trebek acquits himself quite well.
Best game show host is also easy – Groucho Marx. At least he takes his cigar out of his mouth every once in awhile.
Best game show announcer was, of course, Don Pardo. Best game show writer was Dick DeBartolo of The Match Game and Mad Magazine.
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Reality got it half right…Groucho Marx.
Get it all right…“You Bet Your Life.”
Actually, it wasn’t really a game show. It was an excuse to get Groucho to ad lib for half an hour.
I guess that’s one reason there didn’t need to be a Game Show Channel and Groucho was in reruns, anyway.
Favorite host is of course the sorely missed Gene Rayburn – RIP.
Close seconds:
Ben Stein’s $$$ (including both Jimmy and Ben in the host category).
To Tell the Truth (although Gary Moore doesn’t make the host list) (a tangentially related question: What the hell did Kitty Carlisle ever do besides game shows? An IMDB search isn’t very helpful. Was she the Jaye P. Morgan of the '50s and '60s?)
Another favorite host (in a perverse sort of way) is Wink Martindale. He’s always seemed just a little smarmier than is normally humanly possible.
Of course, ya gotta love Bob Barker and TPIR. I watched their 25th anniversary special a couple of years ago, with clips from shows going waaaay back. Funniest thing I’ve seen in years.
What happened to daytime game shows? Is it just cheaper (or more profitable) to make sleazy talkshows and soap operas? I watched game shows during the day in all my summer vacations as a kid. Now, you can’t let your children watch broadcast TV during the day (thank god for Nickelodeon). And apparantly, the game shows still appeal to kids – my 8 year old loves Game Show network – especially (like father, like daughter) Match Game!
I can’t stand that pompous ass Alex Trebek. I like Jeopardy, and can kick ass at the questions, but Alex annoys me.
Whenever somebody misses a question, Alex puts on his condescending voice. “Oooh, I’m sorry, the answer is Feta Cheese…(stupid)” Like that glorified cue card reader would know any of the answers. It’s mighty easy to be knowledgable when the answers are on a card in front of you.
Another Jeopardy thing – Celebrity Jeopardy. Apparantly, in order to become a celebrity you must have an IQ under 60. I mean, they dumb the questions down for 'em, and the poor dolts still can’t get any answers. It’s fairly disappointing when you discover that an actor you’ve always admired for his intellectual image proves himself to be about a sharp as a bowling ball.
I’ve always liked Jeopardy (in spite of Alex Trebek) because it is pretty challenging.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Wheel of Fortune, because my kids LOVED it as pre-schoolers. (How many preschoolers can add $350 x 3 R’s to $550 & come up with the right answer)
But my all-time favorite game show (early 70’s) was called Split Second. Like Jeopardy, it was a trivia/facts kind of show, but very fast-paced, and was among the first to routinely offer a car as the winner’s prize. I can’t remember who hosted it though.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
I wold like to nominate Bob Eubanks of the Newlywed Game as most annoying host. He is followed closly by Kip Adotta, who was host of a show that lasted about a week. I can’t remember the name of it.
The original Gong Show, hosted by Chuck Barris, stood the genre on its ear.
Wild, zany, madcap (there’s a word you only see describing TV); I used to schedule college classes so as not to miss the afternoon airing. I heard Jaye P. Morgan recently turned 68(!!!)
TT
“Believe those who seek the truth.
Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide