Write Back Weekend "The Top Nine Answers Are On the Board"
For ages, scholars have pondered what one unifing factor will finally bring the masses together. Well I think I found the key. The one common link between the young and old, poor and rich is the love of the game show genre.
Now when I say factor, that doesn't necessarily mean Fear Factor. In fact, I hope it doesn't. The fact remains though, it doesn't matter who you are or from what walk of life. At some point, some show you have watched could be considered to be of the game show variety.
To understand your own favorite game shows you need to understand what a game show is. First there are the traditional old-school game shows where there are three or four contestants or maybe even two teams, competing for prizes. On Let's Make A Deal it was Halloween meets Atlantic City. With The Newlywed Game you had a game within a game, drinking (or snickering) every time they said "making whoopee".
But in the past decade or show, the game show genre has evolved into something much more. Today's game shows, for the most part, are of the "reality" variety. The stakes are even higher now, too. No longer are your lovely parting gifts a poultry 500 dollars. Nowadays it's a cool million, a chance to work with Donald Trump or even a brand-new bride!
Yet if there's one thing I've noticed that all types of game shows have in common, it is an element of ridiculousness. Whether you made a fool of yourself in front of many on The Gong Show or you had a breakdown in front of millions on Survivor, generations will gather 'round in droves to see it happen. I even went through brief periods of wanting to be on a game show or two. The day I noticed they all seemed to be filmed on a sound stage out in Burbank California, that dream quickly died. But as instantly as one game show thrives, the success seems to burn out quickly. I guess Fleetwood Mac was right after all, players only love you when they're playing.
Here are, in no particular order, my list of favorite game shows through the years. And if you don't like any of my choices be kind. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
Behind Door Number One...Love Connection-First of all let me start off by saying that in my day, Chuck "back in 2 and 2" Woolery was the man. If a game show premiered that had Woolery at the helm, you knew it was quality stuff. Even now he remains me favorite game show host, ever. When I think of Love Connection I think of staying home sick from school or being home in the summer. Although it was far from the first dating show of its kind, it was great the way it blended real life people dating and audience input. My favorite dates were the ones that went horribly wrong. For the next few minutes they would hurl insults back and forth. It would be a few years before a dating show would be wise enough to actually show the dates and what people were thinking without actually saying it. That came in the form of another classic, Blind Date.
Behind Door Number Two...Press Your Luck- It's funny but I wouldn't remember the premise of Press Your Luck if my life depended on it. I just remember how the contestants always wished they wouldn't get a whammy while the viewers wished for the exact opposite. Why? Because what the whammies did was always such fun. On Jess's blog a commenter linked to a guy who managed to hack Press Your Luck back in the eighties. No more Whammies? Stop!
Behind Door Number Three...Card Sharks Apparently Card Sharks was one of those great game shows that simply would not die. It premiered in the late 70's and then was reincarnated yet again in the mid eighties. Obviously, the mid eighties edition, hosted by Bob Eubanks, is the one I remember. It was essentially a card game played out in front of a studio audience. Oddly enough the "big" prize was apparently only $5,000 in its heyday. Then again, $5,000 probably went a lot further back then, right?
Behind Door Number Four...Rock & Roll Jeopardy If there was one game show that I wanted to be on more than any other it had to be VH1's Rock N' Roll Jeopardy. As some of you have commented, why they would cancel this, I'll never know. Then again, I can think of one person who was probably glad the show ended when it did, future Survivor host, Jeff Probst. Rock & Roll Jeopardy had the same format of your favorite, original Jeopardy, only without all the boring categories and needless stuffed shirts. Rock & Roll Jeopardy had categories worth caring about whose answers were things like "What is Men Without Hats". It's a shame too because I would have rocked Rock & Roll Jeopardy.
Behind Door Number Five...Big Brother I had to throw a few of the name game shows into the mix and what better way to do that then to talk about a few of my favorite reality shows. The American version of Big Brother premiered in the year 2000, but I didn't start tuning in until season five. Taken from the term, Big Brother is watching, contestants are locked in a house and cutoff from friends, family and any outside communications. Together they will live in isolation and compete in various tasks, nominating eachother for eviction until there is ultimately one reigning champ. Shows like Big Brother aren't nearly as great to me because of skillful events, as it is to watch the human relationships that form (or disintigrate) right before our eyes. Last summer it was my biggest guilty pleasure to watch the evil puppetry of the marvelous Dr. Will Kirby. I was enthralled at his ability to mastermind, and his obviously mutual attraction with blonde bombshell, Janelle.
Behind Door Number Six...American Idol What do you get when you combine The Gong Show and Star Search? American Idol! In fact, these days I don't know how you talk about the reality show genre without mentioning American Idol. In case you were living under a rock the past few years, American Idol is the show that scours the country looking for the best, unsigned singers there are there today. Then week after week they compete for the grand prize of American Idol. The winner gets a cheesy song and even cheesier record deal. The runner-up gets the good stuff. Call it what you want, but without it we wouldn't have the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood or Chris Daughty. Oh yeah, and Taylor and Ruben, too.
Behind Door Number Seven...Double Dare When I think back to the game shows I have fond memories of from my childhood, instantly Nickelodeon's Double Dare came to mind. Double Dare managed to combine everything that was great about being a kid into one, action packed half hour. On this show, teams of teens competed, answering pop culture related trivia questions. If one team couldn't answer the question, they could dare the opposing team. But if they couldn't answer the question they could double dare the first team, thus the title. That team then had to decide whether or not to answer the question or take the physical challenge. The physical challenges were, hands down, the best part of the show. They were almost always cool and they were almost always messy. The winners of the Q&A round would then proceed to every kid's dream, the obstacle course. It was good, clean fun without being exceptionally good, or even clean. Ironically ultra clean host, Marc Summers would go on to reveal he had OCD in the years to come.
Behind Door Number Eight...Liar's Club Liar's Club is an old school choice I got into when they played it in reruns during my childhood. I get nostalgic for Liar's Club because I remember watching it with my mom who remembered watching it when it was first on. Liar's Club featured a panel of "celebrity" guests who would have to pretend to speak with some authority on a random object. The catch was only one of them would have the true story of what the object really was. It was up to the regular Joe contestants to figure out who was lying and who was telling the truth. I'm not gonna lie to you now. It wasn't the best show in the world, but something about it appealed to me and has stayed with me all this time. Now that's the truth.
Behind Door Number Nine... Remote Control Before there was Rock & Roll Jeopardy, there was MTV's Remote Control. Custom-made for random trivia buffs like me, Remote Control The three contestants would select categories by "changing" the channels. The choices were always random, light and fun. Some required brief acting scenes from regular contributors such as Adam Sandler and the never funny, even back then, Colin Quinn. The hostesses also were a big mainstay of many game shows and Remote Control was no exception. Technically it also launched the careers of former hostesses, B-movie actress, Kari Wuhrer and Alicia Coppola who would go on to be one of my favorite characters on the defunct soap, Another World.
Going Home With Wonderful Parting Gifts Are: Jeopardy, Blind Date, Hollywood Squares, Wheel of Fortune, Family Fued, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (in its heyday that is), Average Joe, Bachelor/Bachelorette, The Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars, Last Comic Standing, The Mole, RW/Road Rules Challenges and Finders Keepers.
Now when I say factor, that doesn't necessarily mean Fear Factor. In fact, I hope it doesn't. The fact remains though, it doesn't matter who you are or from what walk of life. At some point, some show you have watched could be considered to be of the game show variety.
To understand your own favorite game shows you need to understand what a game show is. First there are the traditional old-school game shows where there are three or four contestants or maybe even two teams, competing for prizes. On Let's Make A Deal it was Halloween meets Atlantic City. With The Newlywed Game you had a game within a game, drinking (or snickering) every time they said "making whoopee".
But in the past decade or show, the game show genre has evolved into something much more. Today's game shows, for the most part, are of the "reality" variety. The stakes are even higher now, too. No longer are your lovely parting gifts a poultry 500 dollars. Nowadays it's a cool million, a chance to work with Donald Trump or even a brand-new bride!
Yet if there's one thing I've noticed that all types of game shows have in common, it is an element of ridiculousness. Whether you made a fool of yourself in front of many on The Gong Show or you had a breakdown in front of millions on Survivor, generations will gather 'round in droves to see it happen. I even went through brief periods of wanting to be on a game show or two. The day I noticed they all seemed to be filmed on a sound stage out in Burbank California, that dream quickly died. But as instantly as one game show thrives, the success seems to burn out quickly. I guess Fleetwood Mac was right after all, players only love you when they're playing.
Here are, in no particular order, my list of favorite game shows through the years. And if you don't like any of my choices be kind. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
Behind Door Number One...Love Connection-First of all let me start off by saying that in my day, Chuck "back in 2 and 2" Woolery was the man. If a game show premiered that had Woolery at the helm, you knew it was quality stuff. Even now he remains me favorite game show host, ever. When I think of Love Connection I think of staying home sick from school or being home in the summer. Although it was far from the first dating show of its kind, it was great the way it blended real life people dating and audience input. My favorite dates were the ones that went horribly wrong. For the next few minutes they would hurl insults back and forth. It would be a few years before a dating show would be wise enough to actually show the dates and what people were thinking without actually saying it. That came in the form of another classic, Blind Date.
Behind Door Number Two...Press Your Luck- It's funny but I wouldn't remember the premise of Press Your Luck if my life depended on it. I just remember how the contestants always wished they wouldn't get a whammy while the viewers wished for the exact opposite. Why? Because what the whammies did was always such fun. On Jess's blog a commenter linked to a guy who managed to hack Press Your Luck back in the eighties. No more Whammies? Stop!
Behind Door Number Three...Card Sharks Apparently Card Sharks was one of those great game shows that simply would not die. It premiered in the late 70's and then was reincarnated yet again in the mid eighties. Obviously, the mid eighties edition, hosted by Bob Eubanks, is the one I remember. It was essentially a card game played out in front of a studio audience. Oddly enough the "big" prize was apparently only $5,000 in its heyday. Then again, $5,000 probably went a lot further back then, right?
Behind Door Number Four...Rock & Roll Jeopardy If there was one game show that I wanted to be on more than any other it had to be VH1's Rock N' Roll Jeopardy. As some of you have commented, why they would cancel this, I'll never know. Then again, I can think of one person who was probably glad the show ended when it did, future Survivor host, Jeff Probst. Rock & Roll Jeopardy had the same format of your favorite, original Jeopardy, only without all the boring categories and needless stuffed shirts. Rock & Roll Jeopardy had categories worth caring about whose answers were things like "What is Men Without Hats". It's a shame too because I would have rocked Rock & Roll Jeopardy.
Behind Door Number Five...Big Brother I had to throw a few of the name game shows into the mix and what better way to do that then to talk about a few of my favorite reality shows. The American version of Big Brother premiered in the year 2000, but I didn't start tuning in until season five. Taken from the term, Big Brother is watching, contestants are locked in a house and cutoff from friends, family and any outside communications. Together they will live in isolation and compete in various tasks, nominating eachother for eviction until there is ultimately one reigning champ. Shows like Big Brother aren't nearly as great to me because of skillful events, as it is to watch the human relationships that form (or disintigrate) right before our eyes. Last summer it was my biggest guilty pleasure to watch the evil puppetry of the marvelous Dr. Will Kirby. I was enthralled at his ability to mastermind, and his obviously mutual attraction with blonde bombshell, Janelle.
Behind Door Number Six...American Idol What do you get when you combine The Gong Show and Star Search? American Idol! In fact, these days I don't know how you talk about the reality show genre without mentioning American Idol. In case you were living under a rock the past few years, American Idol is the show that scours the country looking for the best, unsigned singers there are there today. Then week after week they compete for the grand prize of American Idol. The winner gets a cheesy song and even cheesier record deal. The runner-up gets the good stuff. Call it what you want, but without it we wouldn't have the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood or Chris Daughty. Oh yeah, and Taylor and Ruben, too.
Behind Door Number Seven...Double Dare When I think back to the game shows I have fond memories of from my childhood, instantly Nickelodeon's Double Dare came to mind. Double Dare managed to combine everything that was great about being a kid into one, action packed half hour. On this show, teams of teens competed, answering pop culture related trivia questions. If one team couldn't answer the question, they could dare the opposing team. But if they couldn't answer the question they could double dare the first team, thus the title. That team then had to decide whether or not to answer the question or take the physical challenge. The physical challenges were, hands down, the best part of the show. They were almost always cool and they were almost always messy. The winners of the Q&A round would then proceed to every kid's dream, the obstacle course. It was good, clean fun without being exceptionally good, or even clean. Ironically ultra clean host, Marc Summers would go on to reveal he had OCD in the years to come.
Behind Door Number Eight...Liar's Club Liar's Club is an old school choice I got into when they played it in reruns during my childhood. I get nostalgic for Liar's Club because I remember watching it with my mom who remembered watching it when it was first on. Liar's Club featured a panel of "celebrity" guests who would have to pretend to speak with some authority on a random object. The catch was only one of them would have the true story of what the object really was. It was up to the regular Joe contestants to figure out who was lying and who was telling the truth. I'm not gonna lie to you now. It wasn't the best show in the world, but something about it appealed to me and has stayed with me all this time. Now that's the truth.
Behind Door Number Nine... Remote Control Before there was Rock & Roll Jeopardy, there was MTV's Remote Control. Custom-made for random trivia buffs like me, Remote Control The three contestants would select categories by "changing" the channels. The choices were always random, light and fun. Some required brief acting scenes from regular contributors such as Adam Sandler and the never funny, even back then, Colin Quinn. The hostesses also were a big mainstay of many game shows and Remote Control was no exception. Technically it also launched the careers of former hostesses, B-movie actress, Kari Wuhrer and Alicia Coppola who would go on to be one of my favorite characters on the defunct soap, Another World.
Going Home With Wonderful Parting Gifts Are: Jeopardy, Blind Date, Hollywood Squares, Wheel of Fortune, Family Fued, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (in its heyday that is), Average Joe, Bachelor/Bachelorette, The Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars, Last Comic Standing, The Mole, RW/Road Rules Challenges and Finders Keepers.
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