Todd Wacha's All-Time Favorite Game Shows
These game shows are on my list of all-time favorite game shows in my honest opinion. I love game shows!
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- StarsAllen LuddenJack ClarkJohn HarlanTwo celebrity-contestant teams compete to guess words by giving one-word clues in this all-time classic game show.The best word-association game show ever!
- CreatorMerv GriffinStarsArt FlemingDon PardoMel BrooksA quiz competition in which contestants are presented with general knowledge clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses in the form of questions.Even though I was a baby when this show was first on, I loved watching it. Art Fleming was the original answer man of this quizzer from 1964-75 and again from 1978-79 Alex Trebek hosted the show from when it returned in 1984 until his death in 2020. You get the answer, you give the question. Wrong responses cost you money. Great format.
- StarsHugh DownsBob ClaytonPaola DivaTwo contestants revealed pieces of a rebus-like puzzle by matching 15 pairs of cash amounts and prizes, then tried to solve it before the other.Combining memory skills (matching prizes and other cards) and rebus puzzles (pictures and words made up to say the name of a person, place, thing, etc.), Concentration is an all-time classic and a longtime favorite of mine.
- StarsBob BarkerJanice PenningtonDian ParkinsonContestants compete for prizes and cash, including cars and vacations, in games that test their knowledge of consumer goods pricing.I've loved this show which began in 1972 from the beginning.
- CreatorMerv GriffinStarsSusan StaffordCharlie O'DonnellChuck WooleryDaytime version of the game show in which contestants guess letters in order to complete a word, phrase or name.I've always been crazy about this show. The Hangman-like game of spinning a wheel and guessing letters in a puzzle is always challenging.
- CreatorMark GoodsonStarsRichard DawsonGene WoodJohnny GilbertTwo families compete by trying to outguess the opponents about survey results.Another favorite of mine, with the humor of the host and those surveys, it's a true classic.
- StarsAllen LuddenTom KennedyBill CullenRevised version of the verenable Goodson-Todman game show, where celebrity-contestant teams try to convey passwords.I have always been crazy about this version of Password that ran from 1979-82 on NBC. The first Password format where the passwords themselves were clues to an overall puzzle.
- StarsBert ConvyGene WoodJamie FarrSecond revised version of the classic Mark Goodson game show, where celebrity-contestant teams conveyed passwords using one-word clues.This version of Password ran from 1984-89 on NBC. It was a remake of Password Plus, but after the second puzzle, the team that got it right got to play a Cashword where they had to get it right in three clues or less to win a jackpot. I loved this show!
- StarsAlex TrebekGene WoodMarjorie GoodsonRevival of the classic NBC game show in which two contestants, one a returning champion, faced a computer-generated board of 25 numbered squares.This revival of Concentration is a favorite in my book. Two players still made matches to reveal parts of a rebus puzzle which they must solve to win. This time, there were 25 numbers on the board instead of 30, and no Forfeit 1 Gift cards, just different colored Takes. The winner got to try for one of eight new cars by matching up their names on a 15-box board. Seven cars had pairs that matched, while the eighth car had no match to throw the player off. If all seven cars were matched in the allotted time, they won the last car that they matched.
- StarsJim PerryJanice BakerGene WoodHosted by Jim Perry, were contestants are asked questions about how 100 people answered a poll question then played a card game where they tried to guess whether the next card drawn from a deck in a sequence would be higher or lower.I love this game of high-low, calling cards to see if the next one in line is higher or lower than the one before it, the toss-up high-low survey questions, and the Money Cards, where a fortune can be won, is a personal favorite of mine.
- StarsJim PerrySummer BartholomewLou MulfordUpdated version of the 1969-1974 NBC game show. Three contestants competed to answer trivia questions, with scoring in dollars. The game was interrupted at certain intervals for Instant Bargains, which allowed the player in the lead to buy a prize at a discounted prize (e.g., a $795 stereo color TV for $6), always at the risk of later losing the game; and a new feature, the "Fame Game," where the host read first-person clues leading to the identity of a person, place, thing, etc., with the winner having a chance to earn cash, a bonus prize or add to his score with the choice of one of nine numbers. The player with the highest score could elect to use his score money to buy specially-discounted luxury items (e.g., a $4,500 diamond-studded Swiss watch for $120), or accumulate his score money by winning future games and having access to either a luxury car, an escalating jackpot which began at $50,000 and increased by $1,000 per show until won, or everything on stage. Later in the show's run, the endgame's format changed, where champions chose prizes via a matching game; and again later by solving phrases within 30 seconds to win a cash bonus.The original version of this knowledge and prize game ran from 1969-73 on NBC, but the 80's version topped it big time. I loved the 80's version of this show.
- CreatorMerrill HeatterBob QuigleyStarsPeter MarshallKenny WilliamsCliff ArquetteContestants guess the correctness of celebrities' answers in order to win spaces in a tic-tac-toe game.The classic comedy/tic-tac-toe show. Best version: the original with Peter Marshall, the Master himself.
- StarsGene RayburnJohnny OlsonBrett SomersThe five-day-a-week syndicated successor to the popular CBS game show, where two could compete to match fill-in-the-blank phrases with those of the celebrities.Another of my all-time faves, I craved Match Game in the 70's, and I tried not to miss it after school.
- StarsDick ClarkBob ClaytonJack ClarkTwo contestants, each with a celebrity partner, must guess words from their partners' clues; then the roles are reversed. Winners face the pyramid.Another great word association game show that I've always liked. The Winner's Circle end game is a classic.
- StarsJack BarryJohnny JacobsBill CullenA long-running quiz show hosted by TV veteran Jack Barry, and later by Bill Cullen. In this show, contestants would have to answer questions on a wide variety of topics, with the prize money determined by a slot machine-style device. The winning contestant could then move on to a bonus round, where they would play a slot machine for a chance at even bigger prizes, but with the risk of losing everything.I love this show! I've always been crazy about it. The best versions were the 1972-75 and 1977-86 runs.
- StarsWink MartindaleJay StewartThom MckeeContestants play Tic Tac Toe by answering questions in order to secure squares on an electronic game board.Although I have seen clips of the original show from the 1950's on YouTube, the 1978-86 version of TTD was my introduction to this show. I loved TTD!
- StarsJohn DalyArlene FrancisBennett CerfFour panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.The original and best panel game show. Guessing a person's occupation or a mystery guest has always been fun.
- CreatorPolly CowanStarsBergen EvansFrancis CoughlinToni GilmanA viewer would submit a word or phrase that the panelists had to guess based on a few cryptic clues that were given by the host.I love this precursor to shows like Wheel Of Fortune. On this show, celebrity panelists had to guess letters, and eventually the phrase that the letters were in. The phrase always had cryptic clues to them, and if a panelist gave a wrong letter or phrase guess, then they were out for the rest of the round. Hence, Down You Go.
- StarsBud CollyerJohnny OlsonKitty CarlisleClassic game show in which a person of some notoriety and two impostors try to match wits with a panel of four celebrities. The object of the game is to try to fool the celebrities into voting for the two impostors.Another of the greatest panel game shows, the panel had to figure out which one of three people was the real person that was the main subject.
- StarsGroucho MarxGeorge FennemanMelinda MarxGroucho Marx hosts a quiz show which features a series of competitive questions and a great deal of humourous conversation.The best version of this classic quiz was hosted by Groucho Marx and George Fenneman. Say the secret word and a duck comes down and awards $100. The quiz had some tough questions to it. Other versions with Buddy Hackett and Bill Cosby were pretty good, but the original was the best.
- StarsDon GallowayBob HiltonDavid A. BoehmEach week, several great achievers would attempt to break a world record on the show. Before each feat was attempted, three contestants would place bets on whether or not the person would do it successfully or not. The records were typically not of the outstanding kind. Examples included longest time walking on a rolling log, most quarters flipped off an elbow, skate-boarding in a U-channel the longest, and various track-and-field type actions.I loved this weekly game show where three players predicted the outcomes of attempts to break world records. Too bad it lasted a single season.
- StarsMonty HallCarol MerrillJay StewartAudience contestants picked at random, dressed in ridiculous costumes, try to win cash or prizes by choosing curtain number 1, 2 or 3. Hilarious situations occur, from winning a rotten prize to jackpot.One of my favorite game shows. Monty Hall was and is the Big Dealer. He masterfully guided his way through the audience of traders by offering them money, the box, the curtain, and eventually, a door. Hopefully, there weren't any Zonks for the traders, but it happened many times.
- StarsRobert EarleAllen LuddenJohn BellairsTwo teams each representing a college or university and composed of four students answered questions rooted in the liberal arts in a battle for scholarship money and prestige.Perhaps one of the most intelligent game and quiz shows ever, G. E. College Bowl was appointment TV. I loved this show.
- StarsAlex TrebekKenny WilliamsSuzanne SomersGame show which involved luck and a pair of REALLY big dice. Hosted by Alex Trebek, before he got popular and famous from Jeopardy.I have been crazy about this show ever since it began in the 1970's. I love dice games and this is one of them.
- CreatorJerry PayneStarsJack ClarkAlice GhostleyMeredith MacRaeTwo three-member teams compete to fill a crossword puzzle.I was crazy about this show when it first came on in 1975. Celebrities and players solved clues on a crossword puzzle and the clues themselves related to a person, place, thing, etc.