The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Argo on September 06, 2012, 11:48:35 PM
-
Another survey that I'd just like to see the opinions on.
Just wondering when people started losing interest in a particular show and either watched less or just stopped watching altogether. Obviously some of the shows ultimately got canned, but do you think the shows should have continued on, or were they dead before they pulled the plug and why?
For me:
MG '7x - around the 79' mark when the show started getting more edited for time and less shenanigans happened. Richard leaving had very little effect on me, but by 79 (or sooner for some people) things started to get a lot less crazy. Don't know if it was the show, or just Gene and some of the celebs just running out of steam.
TPIR - around the mid 1990s. Audiences started getting crazier and louder. Bob was getting a standing ovation everytime, and contestants where getting dumber and dumber, or just not paying attention to anything. In later years when I would tune in Bob didnt look like he was enjoying himself and I wouldnt either if I was him. Contestants that 'watched all their lives" and never saw Any Number or Clock Game or something. When Bob would make a comment or a joke and they would have to edit in a laugh track because the audience wasn't paying attention.
Pyramid - No surprise the 70s version was a lot more laid back and full of energy than the 80s. The first few years of the 80s version weren't bad, but it felt like it was getting dull by the mid 80s.
Mark
-
I'm either at work or asleep at 10AM, so I don't watch Let's Make a Deal or The Price is Right a lot anymore. I'd watch LMAD more if they incorporated a few pricing games or the two-player Big Deal I grew up with.
As for Millionaire, the more they strayed from the original format, the less I tended to watch.
Lingo was great with Chuck, but with Bill, not so much.
-
Very interesting topic!
I stopped watching ABC Wipeout probably after Season 3, when they made the opening course pretty much impossible for anyone to get through without wiping out. I at least liked the feasible possibility that someone really good could get past all of the obstacles (and the show celebrated anyone who got past the Big Balls or Sucker Punch), but so many obstacles are just designed to force people to wipe out now that it's really not funny anymore.
The only other show I can think of that I don't watch anymore is WWTBAM, not because I don't think it's a solid premise, but it has just lost its luster to me. The top prize is pretty much impossible to get now, and I'm not a huge fan of the random questions or lack of a variety of lifelines.
I wish I could say Family Feud, but Steve Harvey can make me laugh, and it's hard to avoid the gazillion reruns of it on GSN (I typically leave GSN on when I'm getting ready for work in the morning, and so it's the first channel that I put on when I get home).
Anthony
-
I've always liked me some Family Feud. Steve Harvey is tied for second with Ray Combs on my "Favorite Feud Hosts" list, with Richard Dawson at the top. I've even learned to tolerate the raunchier surveys and answers.
-
but so many obstacles are just designed to force people to wipe out now that it's really not funny anymore.
Congratulations on discovering the premise of the show from Day One. It's Ow, My Balls! without intentional crotch shots.
and it's hard to avoid the gazillion reruns of it
There's a really easy solution to this conundrum.
(I typically leave GSN on when I'm getting ready for work in the morning, and so it's the first channel that I put on when I get home)
Again, how long has your remote been lost in the couch?
Don't blow smoke up our asses with "I wish I could say Family Feud," because clearly you *don't* wish that or else you'd do something about it. Nobody's telling you not to watch the garbage, but at least own it.
-
I stopped watching WWTBAM after Baltimore decided it would be better to run Jerry Springer, Steve Wilkos, and Judge Mathis twice a day.
Thankfully, they dropped a Jerry airing for Ricki Lake.
/I'd rather see Maury get a double run.
-
I lost interest in WoF sometime around the late 90's. First they got rid of "Changing Keys" (or at least remixed it beyond recognition), but I could tolerate that. Then they got rid of the classic puzzle board, but I understood why it made sense to do it, even if it reduced Vanna"s role to window dressing. But ever since then it's just been one flashy gimmick after another, to the point where one almost forgets there's an actual game in there.
Another interesting question would be the opposite: which game shows have never lost their luster for you? I, for one, have never really gotten tired of J!...the Clue Crew was a minor bump in the road, but they've grown on me.
-
I quit watching Wheel around 1995 when Home Improvement started airing off-network reruns. They aired in the time slot opposite Price in Cedar Rapids. Even when the reruns ended, I was watching other things by then.
-
Congratulations on discovering the premise of the show from Day One. It's Ow, My Balls! without intentional crotch shots.
I am quite aware of the premise of the show, thank you very much. Like pretty much anyone that watches or has ever watched it and liked it, I will not deny that I enjoyed people getting whacked in the face or bouncing off a big red bouncy ball. My concern dealt with the fact that, originally, yes; there were tons of people who couldn't make it past the obstacles, but it was always possible to do so (and, on occasion, you'd see someone pull it off). Now, so many obstacles in the opening course are designed to be impossible to pass without wiping out that the gag just isn't funny anymore (to me, at least). A competent contestant has virtually no shot of escaping unscathed.
Hey; I have no problem with a show built on the premise of people getting hurt (looking at you, AFV), but at least don't force the gag. That's what I feel like the show has become now.
and it's hard to avoid the gazillion reruns of it
There's a really easy solution to this conundrum.
(I typically leave GSN on when I'm getting ready for work in the morning, and so it's the first channel that I put on when I get home)
Again, how long has your remote been lost in the couch?
Don't blow smoke up our asses with "I wish I could say Family Feud," because clearly you *don't* wish that or else you'd do something about it. Nobody's telling you not to watch the garbage, but at least own it.
While these may not be good reasons to you, had you completely read my reasons, I did also say that Steve Harvey makes me laugh. There are plenty of problems with the show and the questions, of course, so that's why I said that "I wish I could," but Harvey's humor does keep me coming back.
And, I'll add another one: Lingo. Fun game, fun premise, but I just couldn't get into the Engvall version. Engvall as host was fine, but I didn't like the increased emphasis on the words and major de-emphasis on what gave the show its name. I will still occasionally watch the Woolery reruns, though.
Anthony
-
"Wheel": when they started adding all the gimmicks in the early-2000s. I honestly find the game boring now.
"Price": around the same time when Bob started treating everything as an historic, monumental event.
"Feud": the "Double The Points!!!" era.
NBC's D/ND: when it turned into nothing more than the goofiest stunts they could think of.
-
NBC's D/ND: when it turned into nothing more than the goofiest stunts they could think of.
Seconded.
-
Wheel: When I got married and my wife wanted to watch Entertainment Tonight.
J!: In the fall after the UTOC, I noticed that my response to every other question was, "Who cares?" I decided it was time to stop.
-
but it was always possible to do so (and, on occasion, you'd see someone pull it off).
Yeah, but that was never the point. Which is why they fixed that.
the gag just isn't funny anymore
Insofar as it was ever funny in the first place, but I allow that that is a totally subjective opinion.
Hey; I have no problem with a show built on the premise of people getting hurt
We'll be back with the second half of What's Wrong With America after this short break.
While these may not be good reasons to you, had you completely read my reasons, I did also say that Steve Harvey makes me laugh.
I actually did read your reasons, and I allow that I may have been a wee bit harsher than I intended, so I will offer an apology there. At the same time, though, you say Steve Harvey makes you laugh, but it seems that Steve Harvey is spending a disproportionate amount of time making people laugh at his reaction to dick jokes. So what does that say?
So I posit this: Harvey's getting a talk show, yes? Ostensibly you would be able to get your Recommended Daily Allowance of Steve Harvey in that fashion with, oh, let's call it 90% less schlong. Do you still watch Feud then?
-
"Feud": the "Double The Points!!!" era.
For me, it was around 2000/1, when Louie Anderson came off as going through the motions. When in LA in 2001, I wanted to see a Feud taping badly because Louie was my favorite stand-up comedian since the mid-80s. When someone (Randy Amasia?) told me Louie was there for the paycheck and interacted with people as little as possible, it left a sour taste in my mouth. I returned to the show when John O'Hurley started hosting, though it wasn't appointment TV since I'm usually at work or asleep when Feud airs in this area. And no, I didn't deem it worthy of recording on the DVR.
Unrelated to the show itself, the Cleveland market playing Musical Chairs with Feud doesn't help. In the 13 years since Feud's return (wow, that long?), Feud has been on three channels at time slots ranging from 9 AM to 3:30 AM. Feud not airing in Cleveland, where Steve Harvey was born and raised, this season is a downer, especially since the show has shown a resurgence since Harvey has started hosting.
NBC's D/ND: when it turned into nothing more than the goofiest stunts they could think of.
Taking this a step further, when they forced getting a million dollar winner down our throats.
For Wipeout, when Jill Wagner left. Since Wagner is returning (http://"http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/abc-renews-wipeout-for-sixth-season-former-co-host-jill-wagner-returning-1030939.php"), I will give Wipeout a second chance.
-
I stopped watching Wheel right around the time that they did 2 weeks worth of shows from the Ohio State Fair (the debut of the touch-screens, IIRC). I had seen the taping of a couple of episodes and tried out for the Wheel "cattle call" a few weeks prior, which was a total joke, IMHO (1 mile back-up on I-270 to the exit where the auditions were).
After the "audition" day and seeing the show in person (and sneaking up to spin the wheel after the tapings) and after seeing a good representation of the "typical Wheel Watcher" at both locations, I had had my fill of Wheel.
-
I was not aware that people are getting hurt on the Wipeout course. Sure, they're falling off of the obstacles, but into a tank of water, which is there to cushion the blow.
/And provide splashies.
//Maybe the American Gladiators revival wasn't so far off-base.
-
Unrelated to the show itself, the Cleveland market playing Musical Chairs with Feud doesn't help. In the 13 years since Feud's return (wow, that long?), Feud has been on three channels at time slots ranging from 9 AM to 3:30 AM. Feud not airing in Cleveland, where Steve Harvey was born and raised, this season is a downer, especially since the show has shown a resurgence since Harvey has started hosting.
Something similar happened in the Norfolk market. Its first season, it had a pretty comfy 10:30 am slot on WTKR, then it moved to noon on WVBT in 2000, and they moved the show all over the place for 2-1/2 years, including at 6:30 am and 2:30 am.
WTVZ got it in spring 2003, and has kept it visible during daytime hours in various spots between 11 am and 6 pm. It now airs from 5-6p. Like you, I can't believe the current version premiered 13 years ago. I've got the first episode somewhere on tape...
Taking this a step further, when [D/ND] forced getting a million dollar winner down our throats.
This as well...you know how you knew a million dollar win was coming up? Joe C. wouldn't shut up about "Will ___ win the million? Find out in ___ minutes!" Thanks, Joe...I'll set my alarm and turn back then!
The syndie version was pretty tolerable.
-
The syndie version was pretty tolerable.
It really wasn't. They got the pacing all wrong. What the syndicated version did was cause me to have a greater appreciation for how well the Australian version handles the same amount of content (and more, really, if you allow for guessing of each case and the bonuses at the end of some episodes). The US version would drag out the first rounds where people aren't supposed to deal, and then rush the part of the show that might have a modicum of excitement to it.
-
Unrelated to the show itself, the Cleveland market playing Musical Chairs with Feud doesn't help. In the 13 years since Feud's return (wow, that long?), Feud has been on three channels at time slots ranging from 9 AM to 3:30 AM. Feud not airing in Cleveland, where Steve Harvey was born and raised, this season is a downer, especially since the show has shown a resurgence since Harvey has started hosting.
Its one of the things I don't miss about Cleveland TV. Pittsburgh tends to pick up everything. Cleveland stations have a perpetual obsession with talk shows, extra news programs and judge shows. We only got the first 2-3 months of Hollywood Squares.
Back on topic:
I watched TPIR around the season premieres at 25, 30 and 35. During Bob's last season I watched maybe 3 episodes. I was really, really tired of the bland showcases, the set that had no changes or updates, the focus only on bob, and the fact that they werent doing anything new. I did pick up with the primetime shows, and the model search. (Jeannie and Alicia for the win). I watched a lot in Drew's first year, and on average a few times month.
I don't mind Steve Harvey Feud, but I keep forgetting to watch it, lol.
I'm one of apparently the six people that have no problems with Wheel of Fortune.
-
The syndie version was pretty tolerable.
It really wasn't. They got the pacing all wrong. What the syndicated version did was cause me to have a greater appreciation for how well the Australian version handles the same amount of content (and more, really, if you allow for guessing of each case and the bonuses at the end of some episodes). The US version would drag out the first rounds where people aren't supposed to deal, and then rush the part of the show that might have a modicum of excitement to it.
The awkward pacing did give it a very generic feel, not surprising considering Endemaul's assembly line way of game show production. Being it wasn't the literal dog-and-pony show that NBC aired made it an inoffensive way to kill time, but not necessarily something I went out of my way to watch.
-
I'll still watch Wheel, but I think the early to mid-90's were the best era overall. There weren't too many gimmicks to keep track of back then. There were just two wheel prizes, a Surprise and a Free Spin, and the layout of the wheel changed between rounds.
That said, though, some of today's gimmicks, like the toss-ups, the Wild Card, the Bonus Wheel and the 1/2 Car tags, are welcome additions.
-
A couple of reasons to possibly stop watching a show is either because of a scheduling conflict or possibly the same episodes air after a few weeks (or days). This is really true for shows with a double run. I could remember watching an episode of Harvey Feud for the first half hour and then a couple of weeks later it comes on for the second run.
I still watch (and record) Price on a daily (first-run) basis. Harvey Feud is a close second and Brady Deal is third. All the other game shows I watch on an occasional basis.
I actually stopped watching these shows for various reasons:
Deal or No Deal: When it takes an hour or two to play one game with stories and padding and other giveaways and padding. By the time it came to syndication, I only recored a few episodes but didn't really watch them. The same can be said for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and Don't Forget The Lyrics!.
Wipeout: Sometimes ABC would always conflict this with a show I watch and I keep missing it. By the third season, I gave up.
Minute to Win It: At first, I thought this would be a modern take on Beat the Clock, but when they started with the cuts during the game, the padding, the stories, padding with Guy, the tag teaming pairs and whatnot, and knowing they're going to keep their money or bust in the end made it unwatchable to me.
-
Hmmmm....well, I only catch CBS Daytime when I'm going to work just before (I otherwise tend to be an oversleeper when I go in later, unfortunately) so I'm hit and miss there.
I'm on and off with Feud, usually I'll watch the first couple of months of the new season before it doesn't become appointment watching. I missed the end of Anderson's run, and really didn't watch Karn when they switched sets. Despite the Buzzerblog hype I've falled out of habit of watching Harvey episodes, for fear that they are heading down the MG98 path as far as spoiling the show's content.
Bergeron HS when they switched to the double or nothing bonus game, only watched when they changed to H2 when they had Game Show Week.
-
I agree with everything the OP said about latter-day Barker TPIR, along with a few others:
* Bob having increasing numbers of senior moments, and coming off as increasingly testy. He also seemed to phone it in a lot of the time (e.g., the constant "historical moment" non-joke).
* Rod sounding bored and lifeless, which seemed to have started ca. 1990 (to be fair, I do remember a few episodes in 2002 where he sounded like he did in the 80s).
* That fugly Hollywood mural set clashed so badly, and the purple/blue/pink was hardly any better.
And finally, there's the loss of the "family" feel the show had when Bob stopped chatting with the models, and moreso when Rod stopped appearing on-camera. IMO, that last semblance of the "family" feel went when Rod died. Since Rich never appeared on-camera in the Barker era, I never felt that he really fit in due to his lack of interaction. At least that was taken care of in the Drew era, but by then, Rich was so freaking loud and shrill that it was hard to sit through a full episode.
Also, other shows:
* WWTBaM? when it moved to syndie with Meredith, simply because I don't like her hosting style (for reasons I've stated previously).
* DoND when the novelty just wore off. It's entirely spectacle to dress up a "game" so flimsy it makes Newlywed Game look like a Jay Wolpert creation.
* 1 vs. 100 when they decided to change the money ladder and rules on every freaking episode.
* Feud when Karn obviously stopped trying. I was surprised to watch some middle-era Karn episodes and actually see him get in a decent ad-lib, but after a while, he somehow thought that repeating the answer four or five times while laughing awkwardly constituted a joke. And I barely watched the O'Hurley era since by then I'd just lost interest in the Feud as a whole. (But having seen a few O'Hurley episodes on YouTube, I think he was a little too slick.)
* J! sometime in the sushi bar era. Alex just seemed so much more cold and impersonal than I remembered from my childhood (granted, I watched some early-90s episodes, and he seemed stiff and distant then, too). He did seem to relax a little once the sushi bar set disappeared, and I really began to notice it when Ken's run started. (In fact, I'm pretty sure Ken was what got me back into becoming a regular J! watcher.)
And on the flipside, count me in as someone who likes modern-day Wheel as it is. When it's just puzzles, and there's nothing more exciting than the prize wedge, it can get a tad repetitive. Particularly if, as was quite often the case until around 2000, Round 1 was an extremely short puzzle with few common letters (and sometimes the last round too — I actually saw one game where the last round was PAYDAY, and there were so many wrong letters that they actually edited out a few turns before it finally went to Speed-Up).