Author Topic: Game Show Terrors (Read 31064 times)

chris319 · « **on:** January 28, 2013, 06:09:05 PM »

What GS-related things have terrified you, made you cry, hide behind the La-Z-Boy, or have otherwise caused you to lose your composure, either as a youngster or a not-so-youngster? The Penny Ante or Big Wheel sound effects? The slide whistle theme to Concentration? Smashing your iThing over Losing Horns after Range Game and posting the video on YouTube? Come on, spill. I know you\'re out there.

Me? Nothing game-show related, but when Nikita Khrushchev proclaimed \"We will bury you\" I thought he was literally going to travel down our street and place every American in a grave (Khrushchev visited San Francisco, not far from our home, in 1959).

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2013, 06:26:02 PM »

The Minor Chord of Doom from WWTBAM made me cringe the first time I heard it.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 28, 2013, 06:26:16 PM »

This happened when I was about six. An episode of The Joker\'s Wild (Finn) had a game show category that mentioned \"Dead or Alive\", with the answer being \"Remote Control\" (no one got it right). I then immediately thought once a contestant was sent through the wall they didn\'t get to leave the studio.

Chief-O · « **Reply #3 on:** January 28, 2013, 06:31:58 PM »

The Penny Ante sound, yes. Also--

-The \"Scrabble\"/SOTC win sirens [if these turn up clean, let me know and you\'ll be my new best friend]

-The \"Classic Concentration\" losing horn

-The time up buzzer from \"Talkabout\"

Brig Bother · « **Reply #4 on:** January 28, 2013, 06:51:09 PM »

Cliffhanger on The Price is Right was absolutely terrifying to the five year old me.

SuperMatch93 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2013, 07:21:21 PM »

I was scared of the WoF Jackpot fireworks when I was little.

J.R. · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2013, 07:29:18 PM »

When I was a child, Martindale\'s TTD Dragon absolutely terrified me.

gameboy2000 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2013, 07:35:16 PM »

For me, it was the dragon roar on TTD.

Jeremy Nelson · « **Reply #8 on:** January 28, 2013, 07:53:46 PM »

The Reg Grundy logo and sting was a definite. The original Wheel of Fortune buzzer was a close second.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #9 on:** January 28, 2013, 07:57:50 PM »

The Tic Tac Dough theme song gave me the heebie-jeebies as a kid, prolly because of the squiggly Moog sound. When it aired on USA, I avoided the show because of that theme. Now I love it.

The wall behind the contestants on Remote Control also scared the crap out of me, esp. when they\'d have the cast members \"welcoming\" the contestant backstage. Can\'t remember what he said, but my older cousin used to make up some lie about what kind of torture those poor contestants endured once they got backstage.

ETA: It never bothered me on USA, but the SANDY FRANK PRESENTS Scanimate graphics at the beginning of Face the Music creeped me out when it aired on the Family Channel.

Shows that superimpose eggcrates for win totals/countdown clocks still creep me out a bit. Not to the point of where I cover my eyes, but just the whole tackiness of it all. I think Dawson\'s Feud is the one exception.

tvmitch · « **Reply #10 on:** January 28, 2013, 08:06:04 PM »

The stinger from $1M Chance of a Lifetime.

Also, unrelated to game shows, but people getting pies in their face terrified me. My folks would watch Three\'s Company reruns and they would throw pies in each others\' faces every so often. I would hide in the closet.

dale_grass · « **Reply #11 on:** January 28, 2013, 08:19:36 PM »

The wall behind the contestants on Remote Control also scared the crap out of me, esp. when they\'d have the cast members \"welcoming\" the contestant backstage. Can\'t remember what he said, but my older cousin used to make up some lie about what kind of torture those poor contestants endured once they got backstage.

This, this, a thousand times this. And I was none to thrilled the first time Barker walked onstage with white hair.

TimK2003 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 28, 2013, 08:34:43 PM »

As mentioned on the other thread, that Time\'s Up/Tacky Buzzer used on the syndicated Hollywood Squares was at the top of my list.

And, while not really a Game Show specific, I give you \"The S From Hell\":

That creepy music and snakelike logo formation scared the crap out of me when I was little. And I wasn\'t the only one if the \"S from Hell\" moniker can easily be googled on the internet.

DoorNumberFour · « **Reply #13 on:** January 28, 2013, 08:45:04 PM »

The Whammy and his blood-curdling voice SCARED ME TO DEATH when I was 4 or 5.

So did the Vin Di Bona Productions closing logo on America\'s Funniest Home Videos -- it was accompanied by the scariest, creepiest, most foreboding synth. It still gives me shudders to this day, for some odd reason.

aaron sica · « **Reply #14 on:** January 28, 2013, 09:20:56 PM »

I\'d often watch the showcase reveal on TPIR from a distance when I was little - the clangs, whoops and \"DOUBLE SHOWCASE WINNER\" flashing on the screen terrified me.