3/13 Blockbusters on GSN

[Winkfan]

In case you may forget, this coming Saturday's edition of Blockbusters (3/13/04 on GSN) will feature the 'swan song' of Liz & Pat McCarthy.

Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Nanette Fabray of the Big Board!'

[mctoyboy]

Very excited.....i was worried GSN would end up pulling the show before Pzt & Liz finished their run! Looks like we'll see even more of the series though......=)
j

[CaseyAbell]

According to the Adlink schedules, Blockbusters keeps it twice-a-week showings (10:00 AM Eastern Sat-Sun) as long as the schedules run. Which is through the end of April.

Not to get an argument going (who, ME?) but what's so great about Blockbusters, anyway? It's a pretty routine quizzer, kinda slow, not particularly suspenseful. Mr. Cullen still launches a zinger or two, but the gameplay just sort of moseys along. An okay time-filler on GSN weekends but hardly a gem of the genre, IMO.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 06:21 AM\'] Not to get an argument going (who, ME?) but what's so great about Blockbusters, anyway? It's a pretty routine quizzer, kinda slow, not particularly suspenseful. Mr. Cullen still launches a zinger or two, but the gameplay just sort of moseys along. An okay time-filler on GSN weekends but hardly a gem of the genre, IMO. [/quote]
 It's got that old time 70s/80's feel to it, a game board that isn't computer generated, neat strategy as they have miniaturized Hex to work on a game-show-sized board, and an endgame you can play along with and is fast-paced.

What's so great about Lingo, anyway?

[CaseyAbell]

What's so great about Lingo, anyway?

Apparently the ratings ain't too awful. It's one of the Three Musketeers that rescued GSN's prime time numbers from the oblivion of last August and September. Somehow, I don't think Blockbusters would have done quite so well.

It's kind of funny, but your main praise of the show relates to what it's not. I'll agree the show's not computer-generated, and its 80's feel means it's not like shows nowadays. Which, in fact, is probably Blockbusters' main attraction. It's a slow-pokey, old-fashioned show that some viewers feel comfortable with.

Like I said, a nice filler for GSN weekends. But not exactly a candidate for the top twenty game shows of all time.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 09:30 AM\'] Apparently the ratings ain't too awful.
 [/quote]
Yeah, and most television viewers are idiots, what's your point? C'mon, you started this, don't dodge the question by saying "well, lots of people watch it, so it must be good." Tell me what it has that Blockbusters doesn't.

(I'll start: A ditzy co-host, a Chyroned game board (yawn, though I admit there isn't much way around it in this case), a broken scoring system slapped on in an effort to self-contain a show that wasn't originally, and a bonus game that can often be more than a little anticlimactic.)

But not exactly a candidate for the top twenty game shows of all time.

Then we agree to disagree (hey, what's new), because I'm pretty sure it would make my Top 20 rather comfortably.

[Jimmy Owen]

Great theme, great host, great game.  I also liked the computerized Rafferty version with the new theme, so the game was the constant that proved the show was solid.  I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but I would schedule my classes at Michigan around the show.  I would get up for 8 am classes, watch the clock for a couple hours and make sure I was at the dorm's TV lounge by 10:30 to watch the show (usually I was the only one there) and rush to get back to class around 11:05.  This routine ended in April of 82 with the show but the dorm got cable in early 83 and soon thereafter there were crowds of kids in the lounge all the time to watch this newfangled MTV.  No more game shows in the lounge

[CaseyAbell]

Well, okay, if you insist. But first, since when are most television viewers idiots? My guess is that most television viewers have just as much good sense as television viewers Casey Abell and Chris Lemon...if not more.

Anyhoo, Lingo offers the best play-along value of any game show I've seen, with the possible exception of Jeopardy. At least, it gets me talking to the screen more than any show except the Trebek epic. The scoring system is  well designed to allow comebacks and tight games, especially since they went to five and sometime six puzzles in the first round for the third season. The bonus round is very fast-paced and ranks well in the history of the genre. Not quite the Winner's Circle, but not very far away. (It's anti-climactic no more often than the last twenty seconds and the post-mortem of the Winner's Circle are anti-climactic.) The icon host keeps things light but doesn't step on the gameplay.

The routine trashtalk about Stacey has been hashed over so often on the GSN boards that it's hardly worth another look. She handles some bookkeeping and smooths transitions between puzzles and on the judging decisions. I don't mind her at all, but her role is so minor that complaints about her always strike me as not so much wrong as just beside the point. She certainly hasn't affected gameplay in the third season.

By the way, since you put Blockbusters in your top twenty, I'll give you my Select Score:

Match Game
Lingo
Family Feud
Jeopardy
Millionaire
Pyramid
Wheel of Fortune
Russian Roulette
I've Got a Secret
Newlywed Game
Cram
Greed
Win Ben Stein's Money
You Bet Your Life
Love Connection
Scrabble
Remote Control
Dating Game
Name That Tune
Beat the Clock

Easy to see that my tastes run toward quizzers, interview shows, word games and stunt shows. Comedy is always helpful, which means Match Game and Family Feud get in, though they don't quite fit into any of these categories. FWIW, I voted the top dozen for the recent GSN Feast of Faves, and saw six come home winners.

My biggest blind spot is probably shopping games, which leads to my biggest heresy, the omissions of TPiR and LMAD. No offense to Messrs. Barker and Hall, who ran (and run) these shows as well as anybody's ever run any show. But relentlessly shopping for bargains and deals has never fascinated me in real life or video life.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 11:55 AM\'] No more game shows in the lounge [/quote]
 I remember having my lunch break from 11-12 back in '95 when I was in college...If I got to the TV lounge first, TPiR would go on, if not, there was a large group of people watching The Jerry Springer Show.....

TPiR actually did attract a good amount of people if it was on....Which may have attributed to the fact that another talk show (The Jenny Jones show) aired at 10 on the same station...

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 11:19 AM\'] I remember having my lunch break from 11-12 back in '95 when I was in college...If I got to the TV lounge first, TPiR would go on, if not, there was a large group of people watching The Jerry Springer Show.....
 [/quote]
The student union was where I got my first exposure to PYL (a few weeks after Randy had appeared--which I never saw because the Indianapolis CBS affil only cleared PYL during "standard" time).  Granted, I didn't think much of it--but I was so used to watching $otC in that time slot anyway that I let that cloud my judgement.  Pretty soon I realized it was a neat little game (I had never seen SECOND CHANCE, so I had no basis for that comparison).  But given the choice in my dorm room, I usually watched $otC.

Thank G-d Springer's show wasn't on in those days--I don't think any game show would have been on the student union television opposite him.

EDIT:  And to bring this back to the topic of BB, I always considered BB very underrated myself.  Good play-along value, great host.

Doug -- soon to celebrate 400 posts (last time I'll be writing that)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 10:17 AM\'] By the way, since you put Blockbusters in your top twenty, I'll give you my Select Score:
 [/quote]
 And this proves we're arguing from completely different universes, because I simply can't fathom anyone who would include Love-friggin'-Connection in their Top 20, especially to the exclusion of Concentration, Password, TPiR (you DID explain that, tho), Whew!, or Joker's Wild.

To each their own, tho. I'm thinking it's best to agree to disagree here and move on.

[joshg]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 08:22 AM\']What's so great about Lingo, anyway?[/quote]
I have at least 2500 reasons why I think "Lingo" is great...

JOSH

[Fedya]

[quote name=\'matchgame\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 01:41 PM\'] [quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 08:22 AM\']What's so great about Lingo, anyway?[/quote]
I have at least 2500 reasons why I think "Lingo" is great...

JOSH [/quote]
 What about that Croton watch?  :-)

[CaseyAbell]

Fair enough, though I simply don't like the pace of Concentration, Password or TJW. If a show is going to concentrate (sorry) on the gameplay, move the gameplay along a little quicker or make the gameplay a little more suspenseful.

Never saw Whew. The show's thirteen months brushed past me.

Interview shows that actually tend to leave the game show premises are a weakness of mine. Ever since I was a kid and watched Groucho basically ignore the "gameplay" to spar with the contestants, I've liked shows that allowed a talented host to play off the surroundings while letting the less than all-important game slide.

Woolery was perfect for Love Connection, and he's the only reason the show lasted over a decade. His persona - part serious, part goofy, part horndog - couldn't have been better for the datefest. He kept the show from total sleaze but allowed enough naughtiness to tease the viewer. And he rightly and obviously regarded the "gameplay" as an afterthought.

I'll admit the host (or panel) is crucial here. A computer could host great gameplay like Jeopardy's...and some people say that's exactly what we have. But as I look over the interview shows on my list - IGaS, Newlywed Game, Love Connection, You Bet Your Life - the critical importance of the personalities becomes clear. Really, it's not much of an extension to include my fave game show ever, Match Game.

None of these are really game shows in the sense that the game is all-important, or even the most important. And without the right people in front of the camera, these shows would fail with a thud. Maybe that's why I'm not nearly as upset as some others about GSN's timid move into non-traditional shows.

Of course, I'm not bothered by the hobgoblin of little minds, either. So I've included lots of shows where the game's the thing: Lingo, Millionaire, Pyramid, Jeopardy, etc.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'matchgame\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 01:41 PM\'] [quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Mar 9 2004, 08:22 AM\']What's so great about Lingo, anyway?[/quote]
I have at least 2500 reasons why I think "Lingo" is great...

JOSH [/quote]
 True, but what did you think about Naturally Stoned? :-)

I don't want to read too much into what you said but you did say "at least 2500 reasons".  Does this mean you took part in the Tournament of Champions?  If you can't expound on that, I fully understand.