LoC 69: Top 51 Gameshows Countdown!

[Pak-Man]

I have a hard time thinking of reality shows as game shows. Sure there's a competition of sorts going on, but Game Shows should contain a game. That's how I voted.

[CJones]

#37 Bumper Stumpers - 29 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/d01Bv3Jwluk" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/d01Bv3Jwluk</a>

3 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #14 CJones

Bumper Stumpers was a Canadian game show produced jointly by Global Television Network in Canada, and the USA Network. It ran for 3 seasons, from 1987 to 1990.

The game was played with two teams of two contestants each. The main gimmick of the game was deciphering vanity license plates. Like GR8SC8R would mean "great skater", just as an example. During the main game they'd display two plates and ask the contestants which one belongs to so-and-so. Whoever rang in first would pick one, and if correct, their partner had to decipher what it said. Each time one of these "jump-in"s was done correctly, one character of the Super Stumper would be revealed and that team would have 5 seconds to guess what the plate said.

The remainder of the show was actually altered many times. Especially for a show that had such a short run. This video is from the original format. In any case, there was always some form of bonus round that involved solving multiple plates in under 30 seconds.

[CJones]

I have a hard time thinking of reality shows as game shows. Sure there's a competition of sorts going on, but Game Shows should contain a game. That's how I voted.

That was what I was really thinking of too when I first suggested it. But when people started asking if so-and-so show would count that I hadn't really thought of, I figured it would make for a more interesting list to make the definition of "game show" as broad as possible.

Also, I'd love it if someone could tell me why my quote button doesn't work any more.

[Tripe]

The main gimmick of the game was deciphering vanity license plates. Like GR8SC8R would mean "great skater", just as an example.

Oh Canada.

[Zombie Monty]

Also, I'd love it if someone could tell me why my quote button doesn't work any more.

Weird, cause mine does work.  Just used it to quote the above.

[CJones]

#36 The Crystal Maze - 30 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/73fS7Ux_9lY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/73fS7Ux_9lY</a>

3 of 9 Lists
Highest Rank #2 Tripe H Redux

The Crystal Maze was a very ambitious, very expensive obstacle course/logic puzzle game from the UK. The set reportedly cost a quarter of a million Pounds and was the size of two Soccer (ie Football) fields. It ran for six seasons, from 1990 to 1995.

Six contestants, all working together, played through 4 game zones, each with their own theme. Initially these were Aztec, Futuristic, Medieval and Industrial. The object was to collect Time Crystals. In each zone they played 3 or 4 individual games. The games came in four categories: Physical, Mental, Skill and Mystery. The team captain had to choose which type to play and who would play it, without knowing the specifics of what would be involved. The games were each played by one contestant at a time, who had 2-3 minutes to successfully find the crystal and get out. If they didn't make it out in time, or if they broke the rules of that particular game, they'd be "locked in", and were effectively out of the game, unless the team captain chose to sacrifice a crystal to get them back.  There are supposedly some games in the maze that were never once successfully completed.

At the center of the maze was the Crystal Dome. Each Time Crystal the team had collected gave the remaining contestants 5 seconds in the Dome (the record is ten Crystals). Once in the Dome, huge fans would be turned on, and hundreds of gold and silver "tokens" (actually pieces of foil) would be dropped in and blown around. In order to win, the team had to collect 100 gold tokens MORE than they collected silver tokens. Needless to say this rarely happened. Out of the 83 teams that played during the show's run, only 17 won the final prize.

Here's a winning team:

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

And here's how NOT to play The Crystal Maze:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/KAHG2zxX_rE" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/KAHG2zxX_rE</a>

 

[Mrs. Dick Courier]

sounds cool.  Like the Hunger Games minus kid murder

[ColeStratton]

#47 (Tie) Top Chef - 23 Points
1 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #3 Monty

Best cooking show on television, hands down.  Hugh Acheson (one of the judges) is my new culinary hero (well him and Marcus Samuelsson).  I really need to get up to Georgia to eat at one of his restaurants.

I spaced on Top Chef, a show I've seen pretty much every episode of. A buddy of mine is a manager at Border Grill here in LA, so we went to a Top Chef Masters screening a year or so ago, and Susan Fenniger and Mary Sue Milliken were there and brought out bites of the food that Mary Sue made on that episode when it was shown onscreen, which was pretty cool. I like that shows like Top Chef and Iron Chef have turned chefs into big time celebs.

[ColeStratton]

#45 (Tie) Estate of Panic - 24 points

1 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #2 ColeStratton

I'm probably the only one who watched this, BUT IT WAS FUCKING AMAZING. Especially the host, Steve Valentine, who totally camped it up playing an eccentric millionaire haunted house owner kind of character (like Vincent Price played in old B-Movies).

[CJones]

#35 (Classic) Concentration - 31 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/INOHmDZzUz4" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/INOHmDZzUz4</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ktSzbz7kggY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/ktSzbz7kggY</a>

2 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #9 Pak-Man

First off, let me say, I love the commercials in that first video.

Concentration was a game show version of the children's card matching game of the same name (also known as Memory) that ran on NBC from 1958 to 1973. 30 numbered cards were arranged into a 5x6 rectangle. Players took turns guessing pairs of cards. Those cards were turned over revealing prizes, often joke prizes, or certain special squares, such as "Forfeit one gift" or "Wild". If they matched, what was underneath was revealed. Behind the cards was a rebus puzzle. After each successful match, the contestant was given a chance to try and solve the rebus. If they failed to do so, they got to pick two more numbers. Solving the puzzle won them that match, along with whatever prizes they had accumulated during that match, or $100, whichever was worth more.

Classic Concentration was a remake of the original game that ran from 1987 to 1991, hosted by Alex Trebek, who was also hosting Jeopardy! at the time. There were 25 cards instead of 30, and a bonus round was added. In the bonus round, the board was reduced to 15 cards, 14 of which had pairs of cars on them. The 15th didn't match anything. The contestant had 35 seconds to match all 7 cars, and whichever one they matched last, they won. Every time the bonus round was failed, the time limit would be extended by 5 seconds.

[CJones]

#45 (Tie) Estate of Panic - 24 points

1 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #2 ColeStratton

I'm probably the only one who watched this, BUT IT WAS FUCKING AMAZING. Especially the host, Steve Valentine, who totally camped it up playing an eccentric millionaire haunted house owner kind of character (like Vincent Price played in old B-Movies).

I remember seeing the ads for Estate of Panic, and it looking really interesting. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to actually watch the show, and I'd never seen or heard of it again until now. So thanks for reminding me of that show. I'll have to check out some whole episodes in the near future.

BTW Imrahil, you were right, turning off Quick Reply made the quote button work again.

[CJones]

#34 The Amazing Race - 32 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/eUvZk38AC40" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/eUvZk38AC40</a>

2 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #2 Mrs Dick Courier

The Amazing Race is a CBS reality show that started in 2001, and is still on the air. In just recently finished airing season 22, back in December.

It involves 10-12 (usually 12) teams of 2 people (except the family edition season which had teams of 4) who have some kind of preexisting relationship. They race around the world, usually quite literally as most of the routes used circumnavigate the globe. The race is split up into legs. The team that finishes a leg last is usually eliminated, or at the very least eliminated. They usually have to find their own means of transportation, and they're given a limited budget for things like air-fare, taxis, buses etc. Each race typically takes about a month to complete.

Beyond just the racing aspect, there are also tasks that must be completed by one or both team members before they can move on. They're often also given clues as to where to go next, but not necessarily how to get there. OTOH, sometimes they are required to use a particular mode of transportation. There were also Detours, where they had to chose between a harder, but potentially fast route, and an easier slower one.

Contestants could also find/earn special obstacle yards that they could use to screw over another team. A Yield could be used to stop another team of the owner's choice to have to wait a predetermined amount of time before proceeding. And a U-Turn, could force a team to go back to a previous Detour and complete the alternate route as well.

The Amazing Race has won every every Primetime Emmy award since 2003, with the exception of 2010 where it lost to Top Chef. Another interesting factoid: Besides the US, the two most frequently visited countries so far are China and India. There are 13 international versions of the show, including the US.

[CJones]

That's going to be it for tonight. It's 2am here. Tomorrow we get to see five more shows, none of which I'd heard of before 

[CJones]

#33 8 Out of 10 Cats - 33 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/q0nAanFvZDM" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/q0nAanFvZDM</a>

2 Out of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #7 Imrahil

I have never heard of this, so I'm going by what Wikipedia says. Imrahil, Monty, feel free to add any thoughts you might have.

This is a British panel show about statistics and opinion polls. The title comes from the tagline of a Whiskas cat food commercial. There are two teams of three, consisting of two regular team captains and four celebrities. There would usually be 3 to 4 games per episode, with each game involving the panels trying to guess something concerning the result of the poll. Sounds like Family Feud, but it's really more of an excuse for the panelists to have humorous conversations. It started in 2005 and is still on the air. It's hosted by Jimmy Carr, whom Americans might recognize from the short lived US version of Distraction, another British game show he hosts.

Also, there's this:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/VR09Ks1f2gE" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/VR09Ks1f2gE</a>

That was just plain bizarre.

[CJones]

# 32 (Tie) Liar's Club -  34 Points

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RhoYu9A2B_g" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/RhoYu9A2B_g</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y8JYJnEG0fc" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Y8JYJnEG0fc</a>

2 of 9 Lists
Highest Ranking #4 Pak-Man

A pun on Friar's Club, Liars Club has seen several iterations. First in 1969 with Rod Serling (of Twilight Zone fame), only two episodes of which are still known to exist. Then again from '76-'79 (first clip). And finally the short lived New Liars Club in 1988 (second clip). A 1996 pilot for a new series was produced, but not picked up.

The premise of the game was that four celebrity panelists would be given an unusual object and be asked to explain what it was. Only one of them would be telling the truth. The other three explanations were complete fabrications. This aspect of the show stayed constant. The contestant portion varied widely, with 2,3 or 4 contestants depending on the era, and either flat out cash prizes, or one of a couple of point based wagering systems. In 77-79 there was also a bonus round where three of the panelists were telling the truth and only one was lying.