Had a phone conversation with one of our astute members several years ago, and some of the things he said really rang true and stayed with me. Like some of us, I used to have a feeling of embarrassment over liking game shows while growing up. He mentioned that one of the attractions of most early game shows was entering a world of civility. People got together, looked good, were polite, won with excitement, losers were good losers...at least on screen, anyway. The games and the hosts knew they were guests in your home and wanted to keep making themselves welcome. By keeping the game simple and the stakes moderate, competition was friendlier. Now granted, in many ways it was like a fantasy world, but it was one a lot of us used to (and some of us still do) wish existed outside our front doors. And back in the day, you could still find some of that if you (a) looked, and (b) was proactive (greeting and acknowledging people, helping as you could). We all have a dark side brewing under the skin, and it takes effort to keep it under control. Since today control doesn't seem to be worth the effort or isn't as entertaining, producers tapped into it to create "excitement" television. Take Survivor. Being able to take pride in sabotaging others' efforts and eliminating your enemies/competitors was seen as good. Then transfer that concept to The Weakest Link, Greed, Friend or Foe and many others. Being able to put the hurt on others kinda took some of the fun out of watching. To screw people just for the sake of screwing them. You could be a lousy game player, but if you get lucky enough to get the vote to eliminate those who threaten you or are better than you (current political discourse, anyone?), what's the message there? Losers win. That's just one of the reasons most new shows sour me (along with the fake suspense and padding to turn a 10-minute game into an hour show). Note to those producers: Jeopardy, Wheel, Price and Feud have maintained those classic values and have run longer than any of these high-concept, raw emotion-driven, race to the bottom of civility projects. Or just plain silly ones. That's my vent for the day. Now I gotta air out the room. Thanks for the insight, Mr. T.