LoC 69: Top 51 Gameshows Countdown!

[Johnny Unusual]

I should clarify: it's not like I love either of these shows, but they had to be ranked somewhere.

Hey, I get you.  Nick Arcade made my list after all.  Still, I didn't include a certain overproduced Paul Ruebens hosted game show that was more ambitious and interesting, but not that good.

[CJones]

I'm afraid that's going to have to be it for tonight. I got kind of tied up earlier today, and I need to go to bed early. I'll try to make up for it tomorrow, and I hope to have this list wrapped up by the end of Sunday. BTW, it's not too early to start sending me nominations for the next LoC. I've already received two.

[CJones]

#25 Beat the Geeks - 38 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MonjLugEiFQ" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/MonjLugEiFQ</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/46dRK1r_cD8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/46dRK1r_cD8</a>

4 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #2 Johnny Unusual

Appropriate that this show would be popular around here. Not that I can talk, I voted for it too. Strangely I couldn't find an episode on Youtube that wasn't split apart.

Beat the Geeks ran on Comedy Central for two seasons, 2001-2002. It featured three regular Geeks: TV, Movie and Music, and one guest Geek. The one in this video is the Michael Jackson geek. The Movie and TV Geeks were played by Marc Edward Heuck and Paul Goebe respectively for the whole run. Andy Zax was the Music Geek for most of the episodes, though there were two others who filled in occasionally.

There were three rounds and one bonus round. Originally three players played against each other in the first round. In the second season the geeks also played and could subtract from players scores. Second round, the two remaining players played against a geek of their choice to try and win their medal. The specifics of how this worked varied. They did this twice for each player, with the second time worth more. Third round was the Geek-qualizer, where the host would rattle off titles and the contestants had to identify them as movies, TV shows or songs.

In the bonus round, both the player and the geek had to choose between 1,2 or 3 point questions, with the geeks nearly always choosing 3 pointers to"show off". First player to 7 wins.

The geeks were effectively panelists, much like in the many British panel shows, though they didn't get as much air time. They would frequently interject random facts or answer questions much more in depth than was actually necessary. Which made it all the more amusing when they were actually wrong, a la:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/FbErHAXXVmo" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/FbErHAXXVmo</a>

There's also this:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TGuY9cIFXps" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/TGuY9cIFXps</a>

The Movie Geek got shit on a lot.   

[CJones]

BTW, I was surprised at how few Beat the Geeks clips there are out there. I looked around, and not just on Youtube, and I could only find a couple more in addition to the ones I posted.

[CJones]

#24 You Bet Your Life - 39 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8V1jfGG4G9A" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/8V1jfGG4G9A</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/AhSwyOX6GXQ" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/AhSwyOX6GXQ</a>

2 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #5 Johnny Unusual

#5, Johnny 5, Johnny Unusual... That's weird (bonus points if you have any idea what I'm talking about).

You Bet Your Life started out as a radio show in 1947, then began airing on NBC-TV in 1950, and continued until 1961. It was ostensibly a quiz show, but it was primarily intended to showcase Groucho Marx and his ad-libbing abilities. At least half of the show was dedicated to him interviewing and conversing with the contestants. In fact, the show was later renamed, The Groucho Show, but only lasted a year longer after that.

Two to three couples, usually selected from the audience and not necessarily related, would appear on stage with Groucho in succession, and after a lengthy interview, would answer questions from one of twenty categories. The couple that scored the most would go on to a Jackpot round with one bonus question.

The actual game part of the show went through many scoring formats. Up through 1953, players started with $20 and had to wager some or all of what they had with each of up to three questions, hence the title of the show. However, this was later done away with because too many people were betting all their money and losing, thus ending their time on the show. In the Jackpot round the bonus question was worth $1000, plus $500 for each episode the bonus question was missed. If you really care out the scoring, check out Wikipedia. There were about five different versions of the game.

There was, of course, also the famous Secret Word, which was always a common word, announced at the start of the show. If a contestant said it, a Groucho-duck would drop down and they'd win $100.

The main draw of the show was naturally Groucho Marx. The show also had many famous or later to become famous people on it, such as Ray Bradbury, Phillis Diller and Harland Sanders (aka The Colonel who founded KFC). Several attempts were made to revive the show after Marx quit, with little or no success. Later hosts included Buddy Hackett, Richard Dawson and Bill Cosby. 

[Johnny Unusual]

I'm in a bit of a rush to get to Seoul, but I love Beat the Geeks.  I actually corresponded with the TV Geek, Paul Goebel, a few times (I convinced him to give American Dad another try and that after the first couple seasons, it really comes into it's own).  He's a cool guy.  I also want to recommend his podcast, but he's just announced it will end soon (though he and his co-hosts are starting new podcasts soon).  Still, I recommend checking it out while you can.  Also, I never realized until twitter how hilarious Blaine Capatch was.  He was a good host, but his work really undersells his joke writing abilities (apparently he's also on a podcast where he and other comedians play Dungeons and Dragons with Brian Posehn as host.

You Bet Your Life... this is one I feel a Poseur about, but I knew that if it made it low on the list it would be a crime.  I had listened to a really good radio broadcast I picked up from the library on CD and it was great.  I only saw a few episodes recently, but it was really great.  Having the show without a wit like Groucho was a big mistake.  Buddy Hackett?  Fuck no.  Bill Cosby?  Not in the late 80's or early 90's.  Who would make for a great YBYL host in this era?  The only guys I can think of: Stephen Colbert (sans famous persona) or Conan O'Brien.   Ooh, oh, oh, and as a dark horse, Paul F Tompkins (a great improviser).

[Tripe]

apparently he's also on a podcast where he and other comedians play Dungeons and Dragons with Brian Posehn as host.

So it's basically a radio panel game then?

What is this thing called?

[Johnny Unusual]

Nerd Poker.  It is the same crew each time though, since that's how D&D campaigns work.  They are up to episode 20.

[Tripe]

Found and bookmarked, thanks.

[CJones]

#23 (Tie) Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - 42 points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/uDOOcugOSoc" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/uDOOcugOSoc</a>

2 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #3 Imrahil

Why are more Americans surviving traffic accidents than ever before? Because we're fatter than ever - Something I learned from the most recent episode.

WWDTM is a Chicago Public Radio panel/quiz show about current events and recent news, recorded in front of a live audience, usually at Chase Auditorium in Chicago. It's been on the air since 1998 and is broadcast nationwide through NPR. It features regular host Peter Sagal, judge, scorekeeper and announcer Carl Kasell (former long time newsreader for Morning edition), three guest panelists and call in listeners/contestants.

The call-in contestants play one of a variety of different games, often to which they must answer two out of three questions correctly to win. The prize for winning is usually to have Carl Kasell record the greeting for the contestant's answering machine or voice mail. The game isn't taken too seriously though, and contestants are often given multiple guesses or hints from panelists.

In between the call in games, the panelists will also be quizzed by Sagal. Like most panel games, it's done more for entertainment value than to actually win. Other than on the radio, the episodes can also be listened to or downloaded as podcasts from http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/

Here's a short bit I particularly liked:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-vJNBojUoLs" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/-vJNBojUoLs</a>

   

[CJones]

#23 (Tie) Starcade - 42 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-tQfDPTFzV4" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/-tQfDPTFzV4</a>

2 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #3 CJones

Being a big time arcade gamer back in the day, I was a huge fan of this show as a kid. Do watch this whole video, it is hilarious.

Yep, it's another game show about video games. More specifically arcade games. It ran for two seasons in 1982 and 1983 (this gives you some idea how old I am). Each episode showcased 5 arcade games, and the show was used by arcade game manufacturers to promote new games, like Dragon's Lair, and the proundly awful Cliffhanger.

The contestants, either two, or in some cases two teams of two, would be asked a multiple choice question about, what else, video games, whoever got it right got to pick the first game. Both contestants would play it for a set amount of time, or until they got a game over. Then they do the same thing again. Whoever was in the lead played a bonus game where they had to identify four games from their screens. Then they did the question/game thing a third time. Whoever had the highest combined score from all three games played (yes, this was from back when all games actually kept points) went on to the final round.

For the final round, the contestant chose one last game, that they would play for 30 seconds. The producers had previously had 20 people play that same game for 30 seconds and averaged their scores together. If the contestant beat the average they won the grand prize: their very own arcade cabinet!

Now stay tuned for Girls Gone Wild 

[CJones]

Only 2 of us like Wait Wait?!

Well, us and Darth Geek apparently. Too bad he didn't submit a list.

[CJones]

#23 (Tie) Let's Make a Deal - 42 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pvNXm_5kLmo" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/pvNXm_5kLmo</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/sZCpXz9tk_o" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/sZCpXz9tk_o</a>

4 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #6 Mrs Dick Courier

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Let's Make a Deal. The original run of the show, starring Monty Hall, started in 1963 and ran until 1977. The show has been on and off the air since then with multiple different hosts, including the current host Wayne Brady (of Whose Line is it Anyway? fame). The original premise for the show was that Hall would go up to random people and ask then for various items, or ask then various questions and give them cash or prizes. Then he'd ask people if they want to trade what they have to risk winning something else, which may or may not be worth more than what they already have. And if they make a particularly bad deal, they may win one of the joke prizes, which have come to be referred to as Zonks. the show has become a lot more extravagant since then, but the premise is still the same.

The show usually ended with the Big Deal. Hall would ask the previous winning contestants if they wanted to risk their winnings for one of the famous Doors #1,2 and 3. One of them contained the highest value prize of the show. The other two also contained prizes, but they may be worth less than what the contestant had already won.

One of the most recognizable aspects of the show is how the audience members dress up, hold up signs and otherwise try to get the host's attention. The first video I posted is from the pilot, and you may notice that this isn't the case. The producers never actually asked people to do this. It just so happened that one day, someone did, and it worked. Since then, more and more people started doing it, and eventually it became a show tradition. The show has never provided contestants their costumes.

[CJones]

I've always hated that show.

To be honest, so have I. I don't like games that are nearly pure luck.

[Darth Geek]

Yeah, I do like 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me'. I am enjoying the final list write-ups, I just didn't submit a list because it woul have been so short.

I do remember liking Beat The Geeks, but mainly thinking that the name was EXTREMELY poorly chosen.