Article: "8 Game Shows That Were Devastatingly Bad"

[Matt Ottinger]

More accurately, "The First Eight Shows We Could Think of Something Bad to Say About"

Another painfully bad example of this awful genre of list writing.  Starts out promising with its first two selections, before picking a bona fide success that has no business being on anybody's "worst" list, and then getting bogged down in newer shows and UK entries that were hardly worst-ever material either.

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/09/25/worst-game-shows-of-all-time

[clemon79]

I cannot say this content surprises me, coming from the same media umbrella that employs Nancy Grace.

[TLEberle]

A previous acquaintance didn't care for $25,000 Pyramid for whatever reason. I cannot stand Dating Game or Newlywed Game, but I can recognize whatever cultural impact they had, either in longevity or in being the progenitor of the long form dating-reality format.

Entry number three is Scrabble, a show that lasted six years and was highly rated for some of it. I read the list so you don't have to. There is no new content or thinking there. Please, I entreat you, do not give them any more clicks so they can pull in ad money to create more content of this low level.

[PYLdude]

Silly rabbit, article writing is for professionals.

[BrandonFG]

I see a few familiar names already set the record straight about Scrabble. Like Matt said, that list could've been decent, but that's just lazy.

{shakes fist at BuzzFeed for popularizing this trend of cobbling a random number of random thoughts, and calling it an "article"}

[Fedya]

Another painfully bad example of this awful genre of list writing. 

At least it didn't fall into the trope of splitting the content between two pages, or worse, setting the content up as a slideshow list.

[aaron sica]

or worse, setting the content up as a slideshow list.

The singlemost reason I instantly lose interest if one of the "lists" is housed at answers.com.

[Matt Ottinger]

The singlemost reason I instantly lose interest if one of the "lists" is housed at answers.com.

I also avoid the answers.com ones, but mainly because, in this horribly genre, they distinguish themselves at being the absolute worst.  Not just bad choices, which is common, but really, really bad writing.

I decided to bring this list to our collective attention just because when I saw it, and saw that the first entry was Yahtzee, I held out the briefest of hopes that this could have been a decent, well-researched list.  I admit not being real familiar with the second choice, but thought it sounded pretty stupid as an idea.  Then the list went south in a hurry.

[clemon79]

I also avoid the answers.com ones, but mainly because, in this horribly genre, they distinguish themselves at being the absolute worst.  Not just bad choices, which is common, but really, really bad writing.

In the case of answers.com, that's because it's community-driven, though, isn't it? Any jackoff can write a listicle and get it published, and so any jackoff does?

This one's appalling because ostensibly this pinhead is actually drawing a paycheck.

[Matt Ottinger]

I also avoid the answers.com ones, but mainly because, in this horribly genre, they distinguish themselves at being the absolute worst.  Not just bad choices, which is common, but really, really bad writing.

In the case of answers.com, that's because it's community-driven, though, isn't it? Any jackoff can write a listicle and get it published, and so any jackoff does?

This would be new information to me, but it would certainly explain a lot if true. 

[TLEberle]

I admit not being real familiar with the second choice, but thought it sounded pretty stupid as an idea.  Then the list went south in a hurry.

"Harmless fluff" is a good explanation, and very charitable. The fact that harmless fluff charted on a list of worst ever when Moment of Truth, The Chamber and Set For Life are sitting on the bench is telling.

And yes, someone could quibble that they liked or even enjoyed any of that trio of awful television. That said, I don't think you can dig much farther down the hole of suckitude than where those three programs reside.

[DoorNumberFour]

"Is it fun to watch people roll dice on a national television show? No. No, it isn't."

Of course it isn't.

[BrandonFG]

From what I remember, My Dad... was like a family version of American Gladiators, and both were hastily-compiled filler material during the 2007-08 Writer's Strike, when NBC decided to fill the lineup with more primetime game shows. For we geeks, it was an awesome idea, but it was also NBC.

The show wasn't terrible, it just wasn't much to write home about. Wiki says one of the contestants suffered a heart attack during taping, but I can't find any further evidence to confirm that.

Like Travis said, there were plenty of other options from that same time frame that I'd put in place of My Dad... one short-lived flop does not a worst game show make.

[TLEberle]

A search for "Dan Cortese" will bring up a thread about the show; and reading it jogged my memory a little bit. It was absolutely innocuous filler, but also better than Three's a Crowd. I guess there's no longer just three shows fighting on the medal podium of suckery.

[PYLdude]

"Is it fun to watch people roll dice on a national television show? No. No, it isn't."

Of course it isn't.

Yeah, that was particularly badly chosen phrasing. Especially considering High Rollers made four separate series out of it (2 network, 2 syndicated).

So they obviously must've been doing something right, no? Especially considering that no High Rollers series made it to three years. (Always found that strange for some reason)