I don't have ten answers but I think I can answer most.
What particular time period/seasons of the following game shows are your personal favorites?
1. The Price Is Right
2. Jeopardy!
3. Wheel of Fortune
4. Match Game
5. Let's Make a Deal
6. Pyramid
7. Card Sharks
10. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
1. Late-70s/early-80s and early-90s. There's a very different energy in both eras that can't be matched. The former saw the show getting more contemporary and away from Eartha the Housewife debating how many cans of soup she should buy in Grocery Game. The latter saw the show becoming more youthful, but not the college-aged staple it did post-
Happy Gilmore. It was a very early-90s show, if that makes sense, while still looking like a relic from 1982 added a different charm. Could do without problematic Bob tho.
2. Warm take: whenever they got the first version of the current set (2009?), I think J! put out some of its best work. Thanks to the unlimited contestants rule, we saw the players shine more than ever and I think Alex really transitioned from the professor to a grandfather figure. Honorable mention: the checkerboard set era saw a similar transition and I think that's when J! really started reaching true icon status.
3. Mid-to-late-80s. I recently watched an ep. from about 1986 and it's crazy how unhinged and fun that era was. This past season we saw a return to that looseness.
4. 1990-91. I've become burned out on Gene's version, but Ross was a huge breath of fresh air.
5. I love all of Monty's versions for different reasons.
6. Mid-80s 25K Pyramid is hands down a masterclass on how to produce a game show. A very well-oiled machine.
7. Grew up on Eubanks, so I've always been partial to that version. It's been years since I watched, but I never got the smarmy vibe so many see.
10. Pre-celebrity era, pre-escalating jackpot era. I know we prolly don't get a resurgence of the genre without this becoming a regular series, but I think keeping it as a sweeps special might've been a better idea.
