movies/tv What are your top 3 game shows?

[qqq 218]

Are you a fan of Gameshows? Or do you dismiss them as evil? Tell everyone your favourite 3 gameshows.

 

Personally mine are:

Goldenballs: I just love it when people amass a huge amount of prize money and then nobody takes anything home.

 

Deal or no Deal: The only programme on TV where you are remembered for winning 1p.

 

Cash Cab; It is such an innovative idea and a good test of on the spot knowledge.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Coffee123
Added prefix tag "TV" for media discussion.

[SCS 7,537]

I like Cash Cab too, but I got a little bored of it after awhile. I'm not a huge fan of game shows, not that I have anything against them, I just usually watch something else. But, I'll list the one game show I do like a lot.

 

The Price is Right - I have many fond memories of watching this with my dad at 11 am while we ate breakfast. It's a fun, diverse show, and even more fun to watch with someone else, so you can both guess on how much items cost.

 

 

[Key Gear 6,664]

Hello Coffee123, 

 

Because your thread pertains to the discussion of a type of TV media, I have moved it to the media discussion area. This particular category is where discussions regarding games, tv, and movies takes place.

 

I hope you don't mind.

 

With that said... Now, to say something on topic.

 

I like The Price is Right and Family Feud. I just started watching them because they are the only thing that plays in the break room at work during lunch, and I find them to be an amusing way to spend an hour. I've seen a lot of the others as well, but I don't get to laugh as much, it seems. 

[Mr Dash 1,820]

I don't game shows anymore, but I use to when I was younger. The Price is Right was always my favorite when growing up. I always dreamed of being on it. Haven't really watched it since Drew Carey took over.

 

Then there was Double Dare. Me and my brother would always watch that when it would come on. Of course I can't really remember much now since that was so long ago.

 

Finally I would put Wheel of Fortune up here. I always enjoyed trying to guess the puzzles. I also had a Wheel of Fortune computer game that I liked to play.

 

Ahh....Such fond memories.

[Retro*Derpy 3,197]

1. Minute to win it. Fun since it doesn't evolve around luck, but rather useless skills.

2. Deal or no Deal. Its even fun to play the game for tickets. (Which I actually won the jackpot once   )

3. 101 ways to leave a gameshow. Epic.

[Bonevelous 12]

Not much into TV, but I like:

 

1. The Price is Right. It always seems different everytime

2. Family Feud. Sometimes you just need simplicity.

3. Cash Cab. It's the most unique gameshow I've seen, and it doesn't use gimmicks like "fall through a platform" or "jump of a building on a bungee" to try to be unique. All it needs is its setting.

 

I also like action-gameshows like Wipeout a lot. They are very amusing

[An Old Head 4,816]

Are you a fan of Gameshows? Or do you dismiss them as evil? Tell everyone your favourite 3 gameshows.

 

Personally mine are:

Goldenballs: I just love it when people amass a huge amount of prize money and then nobody takes anything home.

 

Deal or no Deal: The only programme on TV where you are remembered for winning 1p.

 

Cash Cab; It is such an innovative idea and a good test of on the spot knowledge.

 

I used to LOVE Deal or No Deal. You said "1p" so I can assume you're talking about Noel Edmonds' one, right? Well, he's become such a horrible guy! When someone's in danger of blowing the lot, or dealt at the wrong moment, he makes no hesitation to rub it in their faces, going "You could have had that holiday you wanted... but you just didn't have enough courage!" Now I don't like the show so much. :\

 

And then he thinks there's "strategy" involved. Umm, no, it's just picking red boxes. :3

 

Regardless, I still think Deal or No Deal is a great show, cranks up the tension tons of times.

 

I think my favourite would have to be ITV's "The Cube". The Cube is the very definition of game show. It's official, it's intimidating, and it's downright badass. Players are made to complete challenges, such as building a tower out of bricks in a time limit, or counting an amount of squares on the floor. Except, they're in a giant 4x4x4 Perspex cube, which adds an enormous amount of pressure to the players, and soon it doesn't become just a simple sequence of challenges, but an enormously tense fight for your life (not literally, but when the money prizes become big, the pressure is on baby). The Cube absolutely drains everyone that goes into it.

 

Not to mention that Philip Schofield is one of my favourite TV personalities.

 

Here's an example of one of the challenges, where one guy has to slide a metal bar through two rings, avoiding contact with either of them, and touch the end panel. He has five attempts, and if he fails on all of them, he loses the £10,000 he earned on his previous challenge. Winning guarantees him £20,000 - so bring in the apprehension, man. See if he does it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBFpmNVIqKI

Edited January 21, 2013 by Flipturn

[qqq 218]

I think my favourite would have to be ITV's "The Cube". The Cube is the very definition of game show. It's official, it's intimidating, and it's downright badass.

 

I've seen The Cube and as good as it is, it isn't one of the best. In fact, I would say that it is worse than Takeshi's Castle. Any gameshow in which one single game has broken 73 ribs and 15 legs in mental in my books (Got to love the Japanese!)

[Scootalove 10,689]

I'd have to say Deal or No Deal because, its a good game show about risking everything.

To get such high rewards in return. Pretty good game show if you ask me.

[An Old Head 4,816]

I've seen The Cube and as good as it is, it isn't one of the best. In fact, I would say that it is worse than Takeshi's Castle. Any gameshow in which one single game has broken 73 ribs and 15 legs in mental in my books (Got to love the Japanese!)

 

Takeshi's Castle is great for raw challenge and action. For subtle tension and nail-biting moments, however, The Cube is your best bet. I love the Japanese, but they can go seriously overboard with a few things. Breaking ribs isn't just "mental" it's not at all what I'd want to watch. I do love their Lotion Stairs game anyhoo.

[qqq 218]

Just watched "Lotion Stairs". What is being thrown that makes things that slippery? I need some of that for next time I see a Lino floor. The clip I watched was funny, but nowhere near "Takeshi's Castle". If these things are gameshows, I wonder what Japanese comedians are like?

[SrFrog 927]

It's gotta be Jeopardy!, if only because it's been running for all this time and I've yet to get tired of the thing. Also there used to be some game shows from Spain that I enjoyed watching back in the 90's, can't remember the names though. There was just so many of those for some reason.

[Victor van Dort 202]

None of you have probably heard of this, but from like 2005-2008 I'd watch a Filipino game show with my grandparents called Pilipinas, Game KNB? Of course, it was in a Filipino language so I couldn't really understand what the show was about. Then it'd be Wheel of Fortune, next would be jeopardy.

Edited January 22, 2013 by Azurepony4269

[Evilshy 5,090]

Just watched "Lotion Stairs". What is being thrown that makes things that slippery? I need some of that for next time I see a Lino floor.

 

Sexual lubricant. Not joking. They call that particular type of lube "lotion" in Japan.

 

 

Anyway, Jeopardy is the only one I watch regularly. I watch Cash Cab from time to time, but not as often. I only really like quiz shows, because I can play along with them, and they make me feel smart.

[EldarSteve 119]

Well firstly there is Family Fortune. Followed by Family Feud, and then last but not least THERE IS NO THIRD BECAUSE I RAN OUT OF FAMILY FORTUNE SPIN OFFS.

I don't watch any other game show. ever.

[XxSAINExX 29]

I am not a big fan of game shows, but if I were to have a top 3 it would look an awful lot like this.

1- The Price is Right

2- Family Feud

3-Deal or no Deal

 

(I hate wipe out... profusely) 

[Dark Qiviut 22,491]

My top three game shows today are more on the classic side, two of which don't even air anymore. So, with that, I'll explain the game shows and rules a bit, too.

 

My all-time favorite game show: Classic Concentration. This game show was based of the first generation that aired in the 1970s through early 1980s.

 

Hosted by Alex Trebek, NBC revived the show with some differences. The big difference was the computer-generated puzzle board and the number of spaces.

 

 

Each puzzle had twenty-five sections, usually containing a total of prizes ranging from $7,000 to $15,000 and an occasional cash pot (beginning at $500 and increasing by $100 every time it wasn't collected). The prizes ranged in price, the biggest one usually being an international trip or cruise (costing somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000, very expensive at the time). The main puzzle will have one or three Wild Cards (get one, and you get an automatic match; two in one turn equals a $500 bonus, all three gives you a total bonus of $1,000 [$1,500 in later seasons]). Starting later in the first season, a green "take" (an element from the first generation) was included — match or get a Wild Card, and you get the take, which can give you the opportunity to take one prize from your opponent's side of the board. Later on, a red take was included, requiring you to match the "take" in that same color.

 

Each time you don't match a pair, then your opponent gets the chance to match him or herself. Get a Wild Card or a match, the panels you selected will open up to reveal pieces of a rather complicated rebus puzzle (a word, phrase, place, celebrity, or event). The second you successfully match, you have a chance to guess. If you don't guess (or if you guess, and you're wrong), then you can select again and keep your turn as long as you match the prizes. But if you guess, and you're correct, then (if there are doors left, fly open to reveal the rest of the puzzle) the contestant walks to the board and dissects the puzzle for the audience.

 

During the first few seasons, two contestants would battle. Early on, the winner of the first game wins and goes to the Winner's Circle to play for one of the eight cars you see in the first picture behind you (can stay up to five times till defeated, then altered to where winning a car retires you). Starting in the second season, the two players play in a two-out-of-three match, where the third match is sudden death with the doors revealing one at a time from top to bottom, but guess incorrectly, and your opponent has a chance to guess the puzzle fully revealed. The winner of the two-out-of-three-falls match will play for the car. Near the end of the run, you can stay as long as you like as long as you don't get two strikes against you and not win the car.

 

In the Winner's Circle, there are eight cars that you play for. Like the main game, there are panels. Instead of twenty-five, there are fifteen: seven pairs, one dud. And there is a specific amount of time for the contestant to match them all before the clock runs out. If the car was won in the previous game, the new contestant starts with thirty-five seconds. Each time the car isn't won, five more seconds are added onto the clock and will continue to increase until a car is won. But if you match the last pair before the buzzer goes off, you win that car. (There was one exception: One time, a woman went to the Winner's Circle, but the producers backstage had constant trouble with the board, clock, and monitors showing the board, confusing the contestant. Therefore, Trebek awarded her the car of her choice. She would go on to beat the bonus round legitimately later in her run.)

 

Two reasons why I absolutely love this game show are the following:

1. It really requires you to think and concentrate on both the puzzle and match the prizes. It's a game that plays with your short-term memory, and it forces you to remember where the items were hidden and revealed. It's even more difficult when you have to solve a tough rebus puzzle, with the difficulty multiplied by three when it's not all revealed (and some of the words meshed together by the pictures and arrows).
2. Nostalgia. This was one of the first game shows I ever watched, and I absolutely loved it immediately. Each time I watch a game, it brings back fond memories of my childhood, and makes me wish GSN got permission from FremantleMadia (who now owns the franchise) to air it.

Here's an episode of the show:

 

—

 

My second-most favorite game show is Scrabble.

 

 

Hosted by Chuck Woolery from 1985 to 1990 (and revived for a brief run in 1993 to pair with Scattergories), there have been several changes in the way it's played. But the most well-known and longest came from the middle to end of its first run.

 

The most well-known format was self-contained with two main rounds (each a three-out-of-five, although they will go longer if both contestants don't solve at least one puzzle puzzle), two speed-up rounds called Scrabble Sprint, and the bonus round (the Bonus Sprint) at the end of the show.

 

In the first set, two contestants (the returning champion and challenger) would play in the first set. The contestant and challenger would tell something about themselves, and then the main game would be played. The board is your traditional scrabble board, but the pink and red squares are all pink, and the light and dark blue squares are blue in one color. Like your traditional game, words go horizontal and then vertical (in the show, seven to nine letters horizontally, five to seven vertically in response to the Standard Definition camerawork). In the center, a letter is revealed with a funny clue that hint to the contestants of the word to solve (i.e., ----A---- and nine letters: "Tammy Baker has a pair of big ones."

 

The answer is "EYELASHES.")

In this game, every letter can get revealed until the last one to make it fair to the other contestant.

 

Sometimes, the word to solve will include pink or blue bonus squares. Blue squares can give you $500 and the pink ones $1,000. The way to get the money is if the latter lands in the square, and you solve it right then and there. Pass that up disqualifies you from earning that money. (There have been many times where a contestant has two stoppers against him/her, but now the word, and will keep going until that letter drops in the bonus square.

 

However, this game doesn't come without a catch. In each word, there are three duds called stoppers. Whenever someone chooses a "stopper" letter, he or she loses his turn. If all three stoppers are selected, then it turns into a "speed-up" game called "Speed Word" for the rest of the word, with a letter revealed one at a time, but not revealing the last one.

 

If you think you know the answer, the buzzer is pressed, and guess. If the answer is correct, the word is revealed. If you're wrong, you lose your turn. During a round of Speed Word, if you guess incorrectly, then your opponent has the chance to guess all on his own. (If he doesn't know or guesses wrong, the word is revealed, and the next word is hinted.)

 

The person who answers three words correctly will advance to the next stage called a Scrabble Sprint. Here, the person will be given four words, one at a time, with a clock (in tenths of seconds) timing him. No stoppers. All the letters are hidden and then revealed. Once the spaces are revealed, Woolery gives the contestant the clue, and s/he is given two letters to choose from a pool, choosing one at a time. Once he chooses the letter, it goes up on the board. (The last letter isn't revealed at all.) If he knows the answer, he must hit the plunger to stop and then guess. If he's correct, the word's revealed, and we move on to the next word. If he's wrong, ten seconds are added onto the clock as a penalty. Once all four words are revealed or guessed, the round ends, and the opponent in round two of the Main Game (two challengers) must guess the same four words and beat the clock, the clock going down. If the contestant is able to solve all four words before the clock hits 00.0, then he wins the game. If not, the first contestant wins. (If the second contestant guesses wrong, then ten seconds drop from the clock as a penalty.)

 

The bonus round is the Bonus Sprint for the Scrabble Jackpot. It starts at $5,000 and is increased by $1,000 each time it isn't won. There are two words, six and then seven, and the contestant has ten seconds to solve both before the clock runs out. If the contestant solves both, he wins the Jackpot, and it'll reset to $5,000. If not, it'll increase by $1,000.

 

Besides nostalgia, why I love this game are as follows:

1. The way of thinking and solving the puzzle. Like Classic Concentration, these clues and words hint and sometimes make it difficult to solve, so you're required to think.
2. The funny moments, either in the contestants or the way the clues are written. These little humorous moments tend to stick in your head and remember for a while. Scrabble had plenty of those, and they just give you a laugh.

Here's an episode to show you an average game of Scrabble from late in its run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bInM2CJ4igc

 

-

 

Lastly, Match Game from 1973 to the early 1980s.

 

In the first generation of Match Game, it was the typical matching style. With Gene Rayburn hosting, two contestants will have to match as many celebrities as possible within two rounds (a total of six stars). They had to fill in the blank in accordance to a word or phrase. There were two questions, labeled "A" and "B," with the contestants choosing one of the cards and the other getting one.

 

In the second generation, CBS and its staffers wanted to boost the ratings of the show, so they hired comedy script writers to write the questions. So instead of filling in the _____ for a phrase, there are actual lines of humorous dialogue that poke fun at pop culture, play with events (several times, the questions poked fun at Richard Nixon and Watergate), and constantly use their own fictional characters getting involved in some ridiculous scenarios (i.e., Old Man Periwinkle and Dumb Dora). So instead of "_____ blue," the questions were like this:

"At the police station, one cop said to the other, 'Hey, let's say we go down to the fingerprint department? They just arrested Lola the Stripper. And instead of taking her fingerprints, they're taking her _____ prints.'"

Like the previous generation, the contestant is supposed to fill in the _____ and hope the panelists matched her. Whoever matched the most stars wins the game. If it's tied after regulation, two tie-breaking questions are shown with the hopes of breaking the tie. The daytime version of Match Game was straddled, spanning the show continually from one episode to the next. In 1975, Match Game PM began airing during the nighttime hours to a contained format in order to offer more money, more questions, and to write lewder questions.

 

(BTW, Family Feud with Steve Harvey is rather risque in itself, but Match Game aired in the 1970s, and these questions were EXTREMELY lewd during their time.)

 

The winner of the head-to-head match would go on to a bonus round called Super Match, where the studio audience was polled to fill in the _____ to a phrase. There are three tiers with money on the side:

 

The response with the most answers is the $500 tier, the one with the third-most responses is the $100 tier, and $250 is in between. The contestant chooses three panelists, and the contestant can either choose one of their answers or make one of their own. If her answer isn't located in the tier, then the bonus round ends. But if her answer is somewhere in the tier, then the contestant can play for ten times the amount ($1,000, $2,500, or $5,000). The contestant chooses the star and must fill in the ____ on his own. (Most of the contestants chose one of the regulars, Richard Dawson, for he was the most intelligent.) Late in the 1977-78 season, the Star Wheel was added with the potential of doubling the amount (i.e., from $5,000 to $10,000). Wherever the wheel lands, that's who the contestant must match the answer.

 

What makes this so great isn't really the concept. On its own, the concept is lame and boring. But what made the game show interesting was the humor and constant laughs. Gene Rayburn, the stars (Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson), and the hilarious banter that didn't make the show boring. It made the game show so interesting to watch and laugh from. The humor in the banter, questions, actions from the stars, and bloopers are its selling point and reason why I love this game show so much. Without the humor, this second generation would've failed before its first year. Instead, the daytime and nighttime incarnations lasted a combined ten years, and it still doesn't get old. It took a stupid concept and make something memorable out of it.

 

Here's a link to an episode:

[AegisReflector 886]

I watch Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy. I pretty much favor the quiz show format like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and hate game shows that take a lot of time and are confusing, like Double Dare.

[HallowsEve 52]

Hm. My top three game shows? 

 

My first one would have to be Deal or No Deal. I just can't stop watching it for some reason.

 

Second one would have to be Lingo. I love trying to figure out what the words are or yelling at the tv when the contestants are being stupid. 

 

The same reasons for Chain Reaction. 

[qqq 218]

My top three game shows are more on the classic side.

 

Nice to see a fan of older things. I particularly liked the programme Catchphrase. Hosted by Roy Walker (Triple Irish Hammer Champion), the game consisted of various different turns of phrase (eg. One armed bandit) portrayed as an animation which at the time was ground breaking. Anyone who guessed a Catchphrase first got to remove a square from a larger Catchphrase. If they guessed this Catchphrase correctly, they won a larger amount of money. If they didn't, play carried on with guessing and removing. Who ever had the most money at the end of 3 or 4 rounds played the Super Catchphrase.

 

To win here, you were given 1 minute to answer remove squares from a 5x5 grid and answer as many Catchphrases as possible. You got £50 for every correct answer and £100 for every fifth answer. If you managed to answer 5 correctly going in a line through the centre square then you won a round the world

holiday.

[Betez 1,734]

I think Wheel of Fortune is rigged, so I don't really watch it.

 

1. Deal or No Deal - I like that show, and I really wanna know who the Banker is.

 

2. Whiteout! - this show's just hilarious.

 

3. Those obscure Japanese shows - even though I can't understand what they're saying, it's still really entertaining to watch.

 

No, I've never appeared on a game show.

[~TheStealthyPony~ 166]

I can't believe jeporady isn't an option,i guess that is why others is in the top.but i chose family feud cause i always play in my head when the question is asked

[Chocolate 109]

I see there is no option for the world's toughest competition in town, MXC.

 

 

It's the only 'game show' I watched religiously because it was so funny. It's also what Wipeout is based off of. Don't get eliminated!

[Thaliel 116]

3 Wanna bet (average ppl trying to prove they can do something really well)

2 Beat the host (an average person going against a host/incerrdibly enthusiastic sportsman) in 15 different challenges

1 Who wants to be a millionaire (I play the questions from the show online while it is running, lots of ppl on another forum I am on do so and post their score to decide who gets the virtual trophy

[Tacodidra 61,447]

My favorite would have to be BBC's Pointless. Fun to watch, enjoyably difficult (the contestants are expected to give a less well-known answer) and with a wide range of categories (I tend to do well in the music-related questions). Also an entertaining pair of hosts with great chemistry! Some of the questions can be a bit UK-centric for a foreign viewer like me, but that's inevitable to an extent.

I don't really watch other game shows at the moment. I used to enjoy the local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire years ago, but I don't like the current version of the show (too much low-brow humor and other unnecessary stuff, and the difficulty of the questions is too inconsistent).