Your hottest game show takes

[chad1m]

So even if there weren't Roseanne questions, there were certainly going to be Roseanne questions.

I'm well aware of Roseanne's place in pop culture at that time. My point is that I see a parallel to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky questions on Match Game '98, but only one gets criticism for doing it.

[Eric Paddon]

Nixon questions and Howard Cosell questions I get and Nixon Watergate questions were completely fair game in the Zeitgeist.   I just never liked it when Patty Deutsch gave answers attacking Nixon family members which came off as totally mean-spirited no matter what your political beliefs.    Bash Nixon, but leave his family which suffered a great deal alone.

One of the most obscure topical events I remember coming up on Match Game happened in 76 when there was at least one question in the period when Evel Knievel got into trouble with the law for assaulting someone with a baseball bat (and thus the Evel Knievel question was designed for the answer "baseball bat".    The contestant needless to say didn't get it)

[alfonzos]

Your show is doomed if the title contains the word "Machine."

Not The George Michael Sports Machine.

"The George Michael Sports Machine" was not a game show.

[alfonzos]

"Double Dare" was Goodson-Todman's best short-lived show. "Mindreaders" and "Showoffs" tie for last place.

[Loogaroo]

The 1990 Fun House looks more fun to run through than any Double Dare obstacle course configuration.

Unless you go second and you get to watch your partner get swallowed up by the tubular tunnel for 90 seconds.

Codicil: College Mad House had the better rules for the house run, with each team member getting 30 seconds each to grab as many tags as they could rather than having to come back out after grabbing three.

[SuperMatch93]

Family Feud is more entertaining with Steve Harvey as host than at any other time in its history.

[BillCullen1]

I actually liked the format for the 1978 version of Jeopardy, including the bonus game.

[Jamey Greek]

I have never found What's My Line anything other than boring. To be fair to the show, this is partially because I don't have any nostalgia for it (I was born in 1989).

I also found the show boring and I was born in 1986 and do not have nostalgia for it.  I did enjoy watching both pilots for the 2000 attempt with Harry Anderson though.

[Jamey Greek]

The Price is right was getting stale with Bob in the late 90s. Bob stopped being fun, his age was showing, and the set and props were looking outdated compared to the international versions.
Ryan Secrest made Wheel of Fortune more enjoyable.
Doug Davidson wasn't a bad host at all.

I agree about Doug.  I wish he would have been Bob’s successor.  Roger Dobkowitz stated in an interview that he improved from when he hosted it in the 1990s.  Guess him hosting the live version helped some.  I used to watch TNPIR ‘94 everyday after school.  Followed by Dawson’s return to Feud at 3 and 3:30 central respectively on one of two CBS stations as a third grader.  Everyday when 3 and 3:30 roll around I still think of both of them.

[PYLdude]

I actually liked the format for the 1978 version of Jeopardy, including the bonus game.

I’ll go one further:

I think they could have found a way to incorporate Final Jeopardy into the game and still have enough space for Super Jeopardy.

And I liked the round from the pilot a little better, when it was played against the clock.

[Dbacksfan12]

Since I don't know and I don't recall:  Were the questions in the Super Jeopardy round stacked like a normal round?

If so, why wouldn't you just try and clear the top row of boxes every time?
If not, please disregard this comment.

[SuperMatch93]

From what I've seen, they did increase by difficulty as one went down each category.

I think the mindset on behalf of each player was to pick their best category of the five and try to run it. Failing that, they could pick their second best, and I feel like I've seen at least one player with two strikes go for the horizontal win on the top row.

[PYLdude]

I don’t disagree with the idea of just playing the top row, but then again, how do you know for certain you’ll get them all right? Especially if you have a weaker category as one of the five you’re given. If Opera or The Bible would be on that board, I’d have to be somewhat wary.

SuperMatch’s point is probably the best of those strategies; of the five, pick what you think is your strong suit and go from there.

One thing I would wonder is if they ever gave thought to giving a bonus for a diagonal line.

[Jamey Greek]

I happened to have enjoyed TTD 90 and TJW 90.  The latter was where I was first introduced to the TJW franchise from reruns on USA., I watched Barry JW when I got GSN on my grandmother’s Primestar in 1997.

As for TTD, I remember as a toddler watching reruns of it on USA.  But I remember watching TTD 90 when I was four years old on one of my local ABC affiliates.  It came on after Match Game 1990 which was also the first time I was introduced to the franchise and that version is and always will be my favorite as a result.  Watched TTD 90 again when it reran on USA and liked it then too.