I Love a Good Show

The last couple weeks, the GSN board has had a conversation about people who only give praise to older shows, or something like that. Well, I'll state my opinion on what I like about the genre.

Well, there's new shows, and well... older shows. I will admit most of my collection includes, well, majority older shows. There are many on the internet who clamor for older shows to be in abundance on the airwaves. Unforutately time is moving on, and it will keep going on. My favorite game show is turning 40 in July. Wow, I'm only 17, maybe I should re-evaluate my life. But they're getting older, and people want newer stuff. That's what the casual viewers want. That's why Steve Harvey is on 6 times a day, because the young casual audience (or even old) wants Steve, because he's new.

Then you have a small group of people that are complete purists. Yeah, there are some out there. If Richard Dawson is not hosting the Feud or if there's color in the picture (Other than black or white), then it's considered trash and therefore deserves no attention at all. I'm sorry but I don't buy that. I believe that both eras are great. (Note: I know some people on the GSN boards appreciate both, and I'm not attacking you).

I appreciate both eras, old and new. Today I love shows such as  The Price is Right with Drew Carey, Wayne Brady's Let's Make a Deal, Steve Harvey's Family Feud, and of course Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! I loved the revival of Pyramid with Mike Richards. However that didn't fly with the audience. Within the last 10 years I've enjoyed stuff such as Deal Or No Deal, 1 vs. 100, Catch-21, Lingo even Bill Engvall's too, The Power of 10, Family Feud, Catch-21, Whammy!, Russian Roulette and countless others. However, there's still some crap among there. Who's Still Standing and Take it All are awful. I understand getting new concepts out there, but they aren't working. So I enjoy many newer shows, and kind of don't mind over abundance of them, because I know more people like them.

However when we cross the timeline, I do have some favorites over there too. Match Game, Card Sharks (except Eubanks doesn't count as a favoite) Family Feud (Dawson), The Price is Right, Press Your Luck, Pyramid, Password and many others. There are multiple episodes made for each, some have several incarnations. However stuff like Ray Combs Family Feud, To Tell the Truth except for Moore Ward and Trebek, and even older episodes of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! just don't appeal to me. OK, I like some older WOF episodes. Somethings are forgettable like Gambit or The Dating Game. Which also don't appeal that much, even though some absolutely adore.

So, when I was younger I used to openly like Game Shows, however, I keep it private now, as it seems weird to enjoy older shows. I still do, but now no one knows. If the show's good, I watch it. If it sucks, I don't bother. I don't care if it was 1974 or 2004, if it's good I'm watching. That's how every game show should be treated. Not based on age. I'm grateful GSN even still shows older programming in a time where it's becoming less popular. I don't care if it's only 50 episodes, or if the credits are being crunched, or if there's ads on the screen. We should be grateful we're seeing them.