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ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
From The Price Is Right to Queen For A Day, game shows have been a staple of television ever since the invention of the medium, getting their start on radio. Now ABC is readying a four-part special on the history of TV game shows, called "The Game Show Show." Maybe not the most inspired title, but it definitely tells you exactly what it is.
So when does the first episode air? I'll take 'save the date' for $300 Alex. The answer is: May 10th at 10 PM, with another segment to follow each week.
You can read the full description of all four parts here. 
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
This airs Wednesday night. I certainly hope they don't just restrict it to ABC shows, but actually covers all networks and genres. And then there's the stuff you never knew as it gets "into stories that even a game show super fan might not know — from how many different dresses Vanna White wore over 41 years as co-host of “Wheel of Fortune” to what "Fear Factor" challenge producers found so disgusting its episode never aired."
It appears they'll get into stranger aspects like "The Gong Show" and other weirdness, but I also hope they spend a few minutes examining absolutely shameful quiz shows like "Queen For A Day."
In case you never saw this horrendous nightmare, it aired in the early 50s, and essentially was a misery contest. A group of poverty-stricken women would be in the audience and several would be chosen as contestants. What did they have to do to win? Tell a tale of terrible woe, like one of their kids died, their husband left them, they're living in squalor and they just lost their job.
The audience would vote on whose story was worse and deserved to be named "Queen For A Day." And what did the winner get for sharing the most intimate and awful details of their lives? A new washing machine or some appliance they probably didn't really need.
"Queen For A Day" was once named one of the worst TV shows in history. And indeed, it earned the title.
TV critic Bill Brioux suggests the documentary series is worth watching, especially consider his own past involvement with these competitions.
It starts on ABC at 10 PM, with three more episodes to follow every week. Interestingly, it was produced by Cream Productions - a Toronto-based company.
ABC: How America became obsessed with game shows
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
Queen For A Day really was a dreadful game show, but boy was it popular. It had a 12 year run on radio from 1945-57. NBC picked it up for its daytime lineup in 1956. It proved so popular the show was increased from 30 to 45 minutes and was getting $4000 for a 60 second commercial. In 1960 the show jumped to ABC where it remained until October 1964. Several episodes can be viewed on the Uncle Earl's site.
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
I think Howie Mandel is involved with this - creator or producer?
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
Marsden wrote:
I think Howie Mandel is involved with this - creator or producer?
According to IMDB.com, he's in it as an interviewee, but there's no record of him having any involvement as a producer.
The Game Show Show IMDB Full Credits
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
I watched episode one. They went into great detail on the Quiz Show scandal. I did not know that the $64,000 Question actually beat I Love Lucy one season in the Neilsen Ratings. 64K doesn't sound like much money today, but Jay Leno put things into perspective when he revealed that his parents paid 19K for their first home in the 1950's. It was also fascinating to see What's My Line clips from 1956 of 96 year old Samuel J. Seymour who was the last surviving witness to the Abraham Lincoln assassination.
- MJ Vancouver
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
I watched episode one. They went into great detail on the Quiz Show scandal. I did not know that the $64,000 Question actually beat I Love Lucy one season in the Neilsen Ratings. 64K doesn't sound like much money today, but Jay Leno put things into perspective when he revealed that his parents paid 19K for their first home in the 1950's. It was also fascinating to see What's My Line clips from 1956 of 96 year old Samuel J. Seymour who was the last surviving witness to the Abraham Lincoln assassination.
I watched this last night and really enjoyed it, and was particularly impressed ABC didn’t focus exclusively on their own network, with a lot of CBS, NBC, and syndicated shows profiled. They left their own hit, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to the end.
I was surprised the part about Goodson-Todman didn’t touch on The Price is Right, but I suspect a future episode will cover that and other audience participation shows.
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
I find it interesting how they mentioned Family Feud. They gave good mention to the original host
(Richard Dawson) kissing every woman, but then they skipped right over to Steve Harvey.
I don't think they talked about Ray C. committing suicide, or how about the town drunk, Louis Anderson hosting?
I wouldn't mind knowing why Richard Karn was let go. I thought he was a good host.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
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Re: ABC's "The Game Show Show" Is A History Of One Of TV's Oldest Genres
I thought episode 2, which included behind the scenes looks at The Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune, among others, was even better than the first. Not only the hosts but some of the winners were interviewed and talked about how being on a high stakes game show changed their lives.
There were segments about how poorly some of the models were treated, as well as recalling that Meghan Markle was one of the original "ladies" on Deal or No Deal - followed by what she really thought of being there.
But my favourite part by far was the story of the guy who kept records on the merchandise on The Price Is Right for years and was able to correctly get the exact price of everything offered on the show down to the dollar. Producers went crazy and thought there was cheating going on. But there was nothing wrong in knowing the prices of things, which, after all, is what the show was about.
This wasn't the first time a game was accused of being fixed, many years after the Quiz Show scandals of the 50s. The most famous instance had to be on the CBS show "Press Your Luck," when an unemployed ice cream truck driver named Michael Larson went on and just kept winning against all odds. He wound up with over $100,000 by the time he was done, a record amount at the time, and it took so long, they had to interrupt the show and continue it the next day.
But was he cheating or just exploiting a loophole? A few years ago, the Game Show Network in the U.S. produced a documentary about the "scandal" and it revealed how he did it - and why the producers couldn't ultimately lay a finger on him. You can see it in the video below and you don't even have to like game shows to enjoy it. A fascinating recap of a singular moment in TV history.
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