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The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: gamed121683 on January 19, 2008, 02:59:46 PM

Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: gamed121683 on January 19, 2008, 02:59:46 PM
As most game show (and TV Trivia) lovers know, the longest running game show in American television is "The Price Is Right". Who's #2 on the list. I think it's either "Concentration" or "Wheel of Fortune" but I'm not too sure. Anyone here know?
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Robert Hutchinson on January 19, 2008, 03:06:45 PM
Even by the most generous accounting, Concentration was only continuously on the air for 20 years. Wheel has 25 continuous years in syndication, and 33 combined with daytime.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: SRIV94 on January 19, 2008, 03:12:07 PM
[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'175534\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 02:06 PM\']
Even by the most generous accounting, Concentration was only continuously on the air for 20 years. Wheel has 25 continuous years in syndication, and 33 combined with daytime.
[/quote]
Doesn't J! have that beat?  Just short of 11 years in its original format (March 1964 to January 1975), the five month revival (October 1978 to March 1979), and 24 continuous years in syndication.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Robert Hutchinson on January 19, 2008, 03:32:14 PM
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'175535\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 03:12 PM\']Doesn't J! have that beat?[/quote]
That's why I said "continuously". Going further, though, Wheel would (I believe) win back the 2nd place title if you count total number of seasons, counting daytime and syndicated separately.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: snowpeck on January 19, 2008, 03:36:07 PM
That wasn't a continuous run though.  At least one version of Wheel has aired every single weekday (save for pre-emptions) since 1975.

Greg
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: SRIV94 on January 19, 2008, 04:20:02 PM
[quote name=\'snowpeck\' post=\'175538\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 02:36 PM\']
That wasn't a continuous run though.  At least one version of Wheel has aired every single weekday (save for pre-emptions) since 1975.
[/quote]
At no point did the OP say the run had to be continuous.

And while I understand Robert's logic, you can't really say WoF's been on for 41 years if you combine the daytime run and nighttime run.  Then for TPiR you'd have to count James, Kennedy and Davidson's runs in with Barker, Carey and Cullen (plus the brief CBS Barker prime-time run).   By that count, TPiR's been on for 75 years.

/Not really.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: clemon79 on January 19, 2008, 05:06:33 PM
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'175541\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 01:20 PM\']
TPiR's been on for 75 years.
[/quote]
It just felt like it during those last 5 or so Barker years.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Jimmy Owen on January 19, 2008, 06:55:43 PM
With Wof and TPIR there are many rerun weeks, so I assume you're counting those.  Most network games didn't have "seasons." It was 52 weeks of original production.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on January 19, 2008, 07:00:27 PM
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'175541\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 04:20 PM\']
And while I understand Robert's logic, you can't really say WoF's been on for 41 years if you combine the daytime run and nighttime run.  Then for TPiR you'd have to count James, Kennedy and Davidson's runs in with Barker, Carey and Cullen (plus the brief CBS Barker prime-time run).   By that count, TPiR's been on for 75 years.[/quote]
More and more often, the terminology is getting blurred anyway.  I just heard that Survivor is about to start its seventeenth season.  Funny, I don't remember it debuting in 1991.

Ultimately, the most impressive count, and the best one to use as a comparison, is the total number of episodes produced.  Used to be that was pretty obscure information, but any more with all the resources at our disposal, we can make some pretty darned good estimates, if not know outright.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on January 19, 2008, 08:35:32 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'175552\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 07:00 PM\']Ultimately, the most impressive count, and the best one to use as a comparison, is the total number of episodes produced.  Used to be that was pretty obscure information, but any more with all the resources at our disposal, we can make some pretty darned good estimates, if not know outright.
[/quote]
Well, if you want numbers...Price hits 6,800 at the end of this coming week.

/That number used to be so obscure, the staff didn't know it.
//I'm not trying to be funny -- they really didn't.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: dzinkin on January 19, 2008, 08:39:25 PM
[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'175557\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 08:35 PM\']
Well, if you want numbers...Price hits 6,800 at the end of this coming week.

/That number used to be so obscure, the staff didn't know it.
//I'm not trying to be funny -- they really didn't.
[/quote]
And as everyone knows, the Jeopardy! staff lost count of the number of episodes in Ken Jennings's run.

/it has to be true
//my bowling buddy told me
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Robert Hutchinson on January 19, 2008, 10:14:03 PM
I abandoned it after a few minutes when I was writing my last response, but some thumbnail math gave me 9000-something total episodes ever of Wheel of Fortune, against 8000-something total episodes ever of Jeopardy!

. . . but J! is gaining on Wheel by 35 episodes a year (6 vs. 13 weeks of reruns).

(Wheel still has 13 weeks of reruns, right?)
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Mr. Armadillo on January 19, 2008, 11:08:11 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'175552\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 06:00 PM\']
[quote name=\'SRIV94\' post=\'175541\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 04:20 PM\']
And while I understand Robert's logic, you can't really say WoF's been on for 41 years if you combine the daytime run and nighttime run.  Then for TPiR you'd have to count James, Kennedy and Davidson's runs in with Barker, Carey and Cullen (plus the brief CBS Barker prime-time run).   By that count, TPiR's been on for 75 years.[/quote]
More and more often, the terminology is getting blurred anyway.  I just heard that Survivor is about to start its seventeenth season.  Funny, I don't remember it debuting in 1991.[/quote]
Yeah...Survivor considers every thirteen-episode 'game' to be a season.  They just happen to run two of those a year.  (Yes, I'm sure you know that.)  

/While I'm here...Matt Ottinger is the game show host I would most emulate.
//And the super-human crime fighter.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on January 19, 2008, 11:52:28 PM
[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'175563\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 10:14 PM\']
I abandoned it after a few minutes when I was writing my last response, but some thumbnail math gave me 9000-something total episodes ever of Wheel of Fortune, against 8000-something total episodes ever of Jeopardy![/quote]
Pretty good thumbnailing when it comes to Jeopardy.  As I said, we have resources, and in this particular case we have:

Don Pardo telling us on the last episode that there were 2,753 shows produced, which probably did not count the one season of weekly syndication, so let's add 26 more.

Twenty-two weeks of the 1978-79 version, which were unlikely to have had any repeats.  Even though one or more may have been preempted, let's call it 110.

Friday's episode of Jeopardy was #5380 (http://\"http://www.j-archive.com/showseason.php?season=24\").  Since the 65 season one repeats were given different episode numbers, the actual number of new episodes produced is 5315.  (Technically, one of those episodes was a retrospective and not a game.)

Add 'em up and Monday's episode will be the 8,205th episode of Jeopardy ever produced, give or take a very, very few.  If you count Bill's nine years of day & night episodes, Price probably still has more, but with fewer repeats, Jeopardy is gaining on it each season as well.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Jimmy Owen on January 20, 2008, 06:04:04 AM
May we add the 13 or so ABC "Super Jeopardy" episodes to the total?
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Dbacksfan12 on January 20, 2008, 07:33:21 AM
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'175582\' date=\'Jan 20 2008, 06:04 AM\']
May we add the 13 or so ABC "Super Jeopardy" episodes to the total?[/quote]And, for that matter, Jep!.  (Yes, I realize it was a poor version of the franchise, but still...)
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Jay Temple on January 20, 2008, 12:01:12 PM
Before I'd add Jep!, I'd add Rock and Roll Jeopardy!
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: GS Warehouse on January 25, 2008, 12:55:06 AM
Time to find out what we messed up:
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'175552\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 07:00 PM\']More and more often, the terminology is getting blurred anyway.  I just heard that Survivor is about to start its seventeenth season.  Funny, I don't remember it debuting in 1991.[/quote]
The upcoming Fans vs. Faves is the 16th season, not 17th.

/America's Next Top Model calls them "cycles"
//only current prime time shows with more seasons than Survivor: the original Law & Order, Cops, America's Most Wanted, 60 Minutes, America's Funniest Home Videos, and The Simpsons
///Cops was borne of the 1988 writers' strike
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: lobster on January 25, 2008, 01:29:46 AM
[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' post=\'176196\' date=\'Jan 24 2008, 11:55 PM\']
//only current prime time shows with more seasons than Survivor: the original Law & Order, Cops, America's Most Wanted, 60 Minutes, America's Funniest Home Videos, and The Simpsons
[/quote]

If I may double-nitpick :D .. Does 60 Minutes technically count as primetime even though it starts an hour before the standard 8/7c - 11/10c?
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Jimmy Owen on January 25, 2008, 03:22:11 AM
[quote name=\'lobster\' post=\'176205\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 01:29 AM\']
[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' post=\'176196\' date=\'Jan 24 2008, 11:55 PM\']
//only current prime time shows with more seasons than Survivor: the original Law & Order, Cops, America's Most Wanted, 60 Minutes, America's Funniest Home Videos, and The Simpsons
[/quote]

If I may double-nitpick :D .. Does 60 Minutes technically count as primetime even though it starts an hour before the standard 8/7c - 11/10c?
[/quote]

Primetime starts at 7pm.  That's why WOF and J! are in what is called "primetime access."

I think "Survivor" should only be credited with the TV seasons it ran, not the short flights within the seasons.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: clemon79 on January 25, 2008, 04:07:47 AM
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'176215\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 12:22 AM\']
[quote name=\'lobster\' post=\'176205\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 01:29 AM\']
If I may double-nitpick :D .. Does 60 Minutes technically count as primetime even though it starts an hour before the standard 8/7c - 11/10c?[/quote]Primetime starts at 7pm.[/quote]
The East and West Coasts disagree with you. "Prime access" <> "prime time."

Anyhow, per the Wiki article (apply usual caveats, especially since there are no sources cited), it says that Sunday night prime time does in fact begin at 7, so 60 Minutes would count.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Chuck Sutton on January 25, 2008, 08:04:13 AM
[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' post=\'176196\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 12:55 AM\']
//only current prime time shows with more seasons than Survivor: the original Law & Order, Cops, America's Most Wanted, 60 Minutes, America's Funniest Home Videos, and The Simpsons

[/quote]

First, you forgot 20/20, 48 Hours,  Dateline, and maybe Prime Time(on hiatus but supposed to return), depends on if you count the years it was called 20/20.

Second if you are going to compare longetivity of shows you have to count year or TV Seaons either wheather a show aired somtime between  Sept to Sept or May to May like the Emmys,

I just don't buy Survivor has had more "seasons" than than King of the Hill or ER!
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: sshuffield70 on January 25, 2008, 09:27:17 AM
I'd say for purposes of counting, 2 seasons equals one year for Survivor.  Then again, that's still 8 years.  And each year is well over the standard 22 eps.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on January 25, 2008, 10:30:34 AM
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'176218\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 04:07 AM\']Anyhow, per the Wiki article (apply usual caveats, especially since there are no sources cited), it says that Sunday night prime time does in fact begin at 7, so 60 Minutes would count.[/quote]
We don't have to trust Wiki on this one.  Anyone who's taken TV 101 knows that network prime time television is 8-11 (ET) Monday through Saturday and 7-11 (ET) on Sunday.  One only has to look at the programming to see that.  (FOX only programs through 10pm and the smaller netlets may do even less, I'm not sure.)

For the record, in its first few seasons 60 Minutes aired as early as 6pm and alternated with another news program week to week.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on January 25, 2008, 10:39:17 AM
[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'175582\' date=\'Jan 20 2008, 06:04 AM\']May we add the 13 or so ABC "Super Jeopardy" episodes to the total?[/quote][quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'175586\' date=\'Jan 20 2008, 07:33 AM\']And, for that matter, Jep!.  (Yes, I realize it was a poor version of the franchise, but still...)[/quote][quote name=\'Jay Temple\' post=\'175593\' date=\'Jan 20 2008, 12:01 PM\']Before I'd add Jep!, I'd add Rock and Roll Jeopardy![/quote]
I had considered and decided not to include Rock & Roll Jeopardy, but had completely forgotten Super Jeopardy and Jep.  Of course even adding all three doesn't dramatically change our total (maybe a hundred more?)

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'175557\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 08:35 PM\']Well, if you want numbers...Price hits 6,800 at the end of this coming week.[/quote]
In a Golden Road thread, I came up with about 2500 Cullen episodes day and night.  So if we're combining all versions and looking at sheer tonnage we've got about 9300 Price to 8300 Jeopardy.  So even though Jeopardy is making a few more weeks of shows than Price each season, it would still be a few decades before they caught up.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: uncamark on January 25, 2008, 12:12:19 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'176234\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 09:30 AM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'176218\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 04:07 AM\']Anyhow, per the Wiki article (apply usual caveats, especially since there are no sources cited), it says that Sunday night prime time does in fact begin at 7, so 60 Minutes would count.[/quote]
We don't have to trust Wiki on this one.  Anyone who's taken TV 101 knows that network prime time television is 8-11 (ET) Monday through Saturday and 7-11 (ET) on Sunday.  One only has to look at the programming to see that.  (FOX only programs through 10pm and the smaller netlets may do even less, I'm not sure.)

For the record, in its first few seasons 60 Minutes aired as early as 6pm and alternated with another news program week to week.
[/quote]

And in the mid-70s, before the changes were made to prime access that started prime time at 7 p.m. on Sundays, "60 Minutes" aired at 6 p.m. on Sundays, leading most people to think that the show was on its way to death, like so many similarly-scheduled news programs.  Little did they know...
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: clemon79 on January 25, 2008, 01:58:23 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'176234\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 07:30 AM\']
We don't have to trust Wiki on this one.  Anyone who's taken TV 101 knows that network prime time television is 8-11 (ET) Monday through Saturday and 7-11 (ET) on Sunday.[/quote]
I agree with you, but at the same time I wanted to do a little better than "Well, any idiot knows that. Why? Just 'cuz."

And yeah, CW (I almost called it WB) and MyNetwork both close up shop at 10:00P too.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on January 25, 2008, 08:06:06 PM
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'176238\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 10:39 AM\'][quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'175557\' date=\'Jan 19 2008, 08:35 PM\']Well, if you want numbers...Price hits 6,800 at the end of this coming week.[/quote]In a Golden Road thread, I came up with about 2500 Cullen episodes day and night.  So if we're combining all versions and looking at sheer tonnage we've got about 9300 Price to 8300 Jeopardy.  So even though Jeopardy is making a few more weeks of shows than Price each season, it would still be a few decades before they caught up.[/quote]
On top of that, I was only counting the daytime show...there's also the (at least) 300 episodes of the '70s nighttime show, the 170 Kennedy episodes, the 80 Davidson episodes, the 31 primetime specials, and the three intentionally unaired shows, taking it to 9,884, give or keep a few hundred.

...so yeah, Jeopardy!'s still got a ways to go to beat it.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Fedya on January 25, 2008, 11:26:15 PM
Steve Gavazzi wrote:
Quote
and the three intentionally unaired shows
I'm curious about this.  Why were they intentionally unaired?
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Matt Ottinger on January 25, 2008, 11:31:24 PM
[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'176314\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 08:06 PM\']On top of that, I was only counting the daytime show...there's also the (at least) 300 episodes of the '70s nighttime show, the 170 Kennedy episodes, the 80 Davidson episodes, the 31 primetime specials, and the three intentionally unaired shows, taking it to 9,884, give or keep a few hundred.[/quote]
Yowza, I didn't realize that.  How about that, they're probably getting reasonably close to producing the 10,000th episode of The Price Is Right in television history, and the only ones who know (or care) are us!
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: DoorNumberFour on January 25, 2008, 11:32:04 PM
[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'176323\' date=\'Jan 25 2008, 11:26 PM\']
Steve Gavazzi wrote:
Quote
and the three intentionally unaired shows
I'm curious about this.  Why were they intentionally unaired?
[/quote]
He's probably talking about the new host auditions.

Mark Steines, George Hamilton, and Todd Newton, IIRC.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: JasonA1 on January 26, 2008, 09:48:04 AM
From the G-R timeline, I would assume he's talking about the "real" third episode that had to be dumped because one contestant was ineligible, a nighttime show that was rendered useless because of a production problem in the showcases, and another show that got its episode number marked with an X because contestant's row got shuffled without anybody noticing.

-Jason
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on January 26, 2008, 11:36:34 AM
Jason's exactly right.

Incidentally, the nighttime show (which, coincidentally, was that run's original third episode) is what prompted the creation of the double overbid rule.  Prior to that episode, if both contestants overbid, they'd have both of them rebid until at least one of them was under.  This was the first time it occurred on either run, and Roger somehow got the calculators that they used to figure out the differences screwed up so badly that nobody could figure out how to fix them.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Unrealtor on January 26, 2008, 03:23:42 PM
[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'176358\' date=\'Jan 26 2008, 10:36 AM\']
Jason's exactly right.

Incidentally, the nighttime show (which, coincidentally, was that run's original third episode) is what prompted the creation of the double overbid rule.  Prior to that episode, if both contestants overbid, they'd have both of them rebid until at least one of them was under.  This was the first time it occurred on either run, and Roger somehow got the calculators that they used to figure out the differences screwed up so badly that nobody could figure out how to fix them.
[/quote]

Was there some reason (either technical or S&P) that they couldn't just use a pencil and paper to calculate the differences?
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Steve Gavazzi on January 26, 2008, 08:57:45 PM
[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' post=\'176375\' date=\'Jan 26 2008, 03:23 PM\'][quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'176358\' date=\'Jan 26 2008, 10:36 AM\']Jason's exactly right.

Incidentally, the nighttime show (which, coincidentally, was that run's original third episode) is what prompted the creation of the double overbid rule.  Prior to that episode, if both contestants overbid, they'd have both of them rebid until at least one of them was under.  This was the first time it occurred on either run, and Roger somehow got the calculators that they used to figure out the differences screwed up so badly that nobody could figure out how to fix them.
[/quote]
Was there some reason (either technical or S&P) that they couldn't just use a pencil and paper to calculate the differences?
[/quote]
Hell if I know.  I don't completely understand the story, either, but the records I've seen from that era seem to indicate that it, or at least some version of it that makes more sense, is true.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Jimmy Owen on January 26, 2008, 09:52:24 PM
[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'176392\' date=\'Jan 26 2008, 08:57 PM\']
[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' post=\'176375\' date=\'Jan 26 2008, 03:23 PM\'][quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'176358\' date=\'Jan 26 2008, 10:36 AM\']Jason's exactly right.

Incidentally, the nighttime show (which, coincidentally, was that run's original third episode) is what prompted the creation of the double overbid rule.  Prior to that episode, if both contestants overbid, they'd have both of them rebid until at least one of them was under.  This was the first time it occurred on either run, and Roger somehow got the calculators that they used to figure out the differences screwed up so badly that nobody could figure out how to fix them.
[/quote]
Was there some reason (either technical or S&P) that they couldn't just use a pencil and paper to calculate the differences?
[/quote]
Hell if I know.  I don't completely understand the story, either, but the records I've seen from that era seem to indicate that it, or at least some version of it that makes more sense, is true.
[/quote]
 
That day will go down in history as the day the Dob was stopped.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Gus on January 26, 2008, 09:58:34 PM
If I may jump back a little bit, to the debate about the "season" terminology -- it *used* to be that a season and a production cycle were invariably one in the same, but that just hasn't been the case in the past few years. So why not use something like the British terminology, where that's *never* been the case? There, a production cycle is a series. Survivor is going on its 17th series. Countdown is in its 56th series.
Title: Who's the #2?
Post by: Jimmy Owen on January 27, 2008, 06:50:01 AM
[quote name=\'Gus\' post=\'176395\' date=\'Jan 26 2008, 09:58 PM\']
If I may jump back a little bit, to the debate about the "season" terminology -- it *used* to be that a season and a production cycle were invariably one in the same, but that just hasn't been the case in the past few years. So why not use something like the British terminology, where that's *never* been the case? There, a production cycle is a series. Survivor is going on its 17th series. Countdown is in its 56th series.
[/quote]


You could also make the case that each individual "series" is a spin-off of the original "Survivor."  So "Survivor: Marquesas" ran one season, "Survivor: Palau" ran one season, etc.  With the exception of Jeff, the cast changes every "series," so each series ran a total of one season.