I never watched Scrabble, but I really like Chuck Woolery as a host. Did you ever catch the Love Connection?Chuck hosted that, as well as Wheel of Fortune. What a young pup he was in the you tube clip you sent.

I did watch Password, back in the day. (That was a long time ago!)

I still watch Jeopardy!, not that I am very good at it. But, I do enjoy it. That is the only game show I watch with any regularity.

Good topic. I look forward to seeing what others watched or watch currently.

I like watching repeats of Match Game from the '70s on GSN. That's one game show that I'm surprised hasn't ben revisited lately. They did a version in the '80s that I recall (wasn't quite as much fun as the '70s version, I think) but I don't recall anything more recent than that.

At this point, the only daytime game shows I can think of are Let's Make A Deal and The Price Is Right (I don't really think of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune as daytime game shows even though they air before primetime...I do love Jeopardy! though) and I'm not a fan of either. I used to watch The Price Is Right when I was a kid during summer breaks, but the show isn't as enjoyable to me as an adult as it was when I was a kid. Oh and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire still runs too...but the daytime version barely even resembles the old primetime format and even that got old once they finally gave away their first million.

It's funny, the networks complain about the cost of aired daytime serials and have cut that genre down to a measely 4, but rather than fill those empty hours with something like game shows like they once would've done, they now are filling those hours with endless talk shows and court shows - all of which are starting to resemble each other. Granted, they're cheap to produce but when the whole daytime lineup is talk show after talk show with all the same guests or court show after court show with the same basic issues being dealt with, they start to get very boring. At least game shows would offer some variety and fun in the middle of the day and they don't all have the same formats.

@ Cindy: I have some vague memories of Love Connection, but from what I remember of it that was another show that suited his style. And yes, he did host roughly the first decade of Wheel of Fortune in its daytime run (if I have my facts right, he left because of a contract dispute in 1981).

@TES: Wheel really isn't a daytime show anymore, I agree with that. Hasn't been since Bob Goen's version (which was repeatedly slammed for "cheapening" the wheel despite the fact that by this time the game was played for cash, not prizes necessarily) closed up shop. Deal was far better when Monty Hall was making the rounds, and I just never got into Price...I just didn't.

Regarding Match Game: Rayburn's version was arguably the best -- he ruled the '70s game show world like a party host -- but there were two revivals. If you'd like to compare, here are two episodes:

Here's an episode of Rayburn's version from 1976:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSuOtES0avE

And here's an episode of the 1990 revivial, which was hosted by Ross Shafer (to its credit, I did like the Match-Up round here, which gave you a chance to catch up if the normal rounds gave you trouble):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ite705aGUQ

There was also another revivial in 1998, but that one was...just awful. Won't even mention it here.

I'm actually surprised Shafer got a shot at 1990 Match Game revival after some of what he had to go through previously...more on that later.

Okay, so about Ross Shafer's other adventures...imo this was not his fault by any means, but some game shows were just never meant to be aired. Take this one that he hosted that aired briefly on USA Network, "Love Me, Love Me Not":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iVX9LHwyu8

Part of the intro is missing from this obscure Canadian show that tested contestants' knowledge of love and romance that aired on USA Network for six months. This game was seriously broken, as you can tell from this 1986 episode; if you knew a few things about that topic you could end the match in a hurry, which is exactly what happens here. In fact the only really interesting aspect was the run around the daisy at the end. Watch this one at your own risk; it might scar you for a while.

@Journey, you are right, I got scarred. I was expecting that two people were going to go out for a date, like in the old Dating Game. Anyway, I am surprised this show lasted 6 months. Thanks for sharing it.

Hope you are having a good turkey day. :)

@ CindyLJ: Well..said turkey day is going about as well as it can considering that my birthday is two days away and I am totally NOT excited about it. But anyway...

...yeah, I should at least cover that scar. This next one is how games involving love and romance should be done. From 1978, here is an episode of The Dating Game; the version Jim Lange hosted that was by far the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-4ckfO35sU

Journeyman, I had no idea there was another go at Match Game in '98. Must've been pretty bad!

I'm a big fan of the panel game shows they do in the UK...mainly where there are two teams with regular team captains and rotating celebrity guests making up the teams and there's questionable scoring but it doesn't matter because there are no real prizes. They're usually quite entertaining, especially when they have multiple comedians involved. They're tried on a handful of occasions to bring the format over here but for whatever reason they don't seem to work here. Not quite sure why...perhaps people think they are meant to be actual game shows that have winners and give prizes and not comedy shows or they just don't get the right people on the panels...

(Side note: Happy Birthday in advance, Journeyman! Sorry to hear you're not excited about it though...)

I think I might know what TES is referring to...could this be one of them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jABnDqXTNt0

This link is for an episode of Mike Reid's Pop Quiz, a UK game from the early 1980 that was all about music and featured popular rockers of the time as team captains (the rest were for the most part noted British celebrities). Phil Collins is one of the captains here.

* that should be early 1980s sorry for the typo there

@Journeyman, you totally redeemed yourself with the video of The Dating Game. On the first segment, bachelor #3 was a kick. I had to chuckle about the fashions, especially Jim Lange's outfit. I watched a lot of that show, back in the day.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane...

No problem Cindy. :) So here's a thought for everyone following this thread: If there's an episode of a particular game you want to see, feel free to drop me a request here. Or add some of your own. YouTube has oodles of them all told.

And yeah, Lange's outfits on the Dating Game were laughable compared to what he would wear a few years later on Bullseye (US version) and the 1984 revival of Name that Tune. But that was part of the appeal of The Dating Game; it was meant to be silly and irreverent and just a lot of fun, which just seems to me to be a lost art now.

Journeyman, you really reached back for that pop quiz show, but yeah, right track.

Here are some more recent ones:

Nevermind The Buzzcocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6sW0QOnxH4&list=PL58SMID8DZ2Yu0_noxERCpUX3zcsUykjx&index=13&feature=plpp_video

Big Fat Quiz of the Noughties ('00s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTMCy6wIvlk&feature=related

8 Out Of 10 Cats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvMilRs1i_s

Have I Got News For You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-itXDyoj6DU


Here in the states, they have tried to do versions of Nevermind The Buzzcocks (which by the way is the name of a band, not meant to be a vulgar term or anything so hope no one takes it wrong) but they've never worked out. BBCAmerica made an attempt at a panel show last year with Would You Rather? hosted by Graham Norton, but I guess that failed as well since there doesn't seem to be any plan to make more of them, which is a shame because it was enjoyable.

I concede that Mike Reid's Pop Quiz was a shot in the dark TES, because that one and A Question of Sport were the only two that I was aware of. Obviously we now know there were many more than that.

For a long time game shows in the UK were known for something else: Very limited commercial breaks. Try finding that on a US game show. Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq1I3jYumM0

In the UK, The New Chain Reaction was known as Lucky Ladders...basically the same game, but this program showed both the good and the bad side of most UK game shows at the time: The bad was that the intros was the start, by comparison, was overlong. The good was that once you got into the gameplay, the presenters -- that's what hosts are called there -- had a knack for keeping the proceedings moving, save for the roughly 3-4 minute commercial bumper in the middle (cut from these clips).

Part 2 of this 1991 airing can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8JE5TjGSo0&feature=relmfu

Journeyman, if I'm not mistaken, anything that airs on any of the BBC channels in the UK runs without commercials...since the networks are funded via tv licensing fees and not via ads. Non-BBC channels run ads, but their ad breaks tend to be shorter than here in the states...not sure why that is (maybe a law, who knows), perhaps it's just perception though since I find their ads to be less grating on the nerves and more enjoyable to actually sit through than most anything we have here.

Oh and I would imagine that they have had a lot of similar game shows with different names over there...like our Family Feud is their Family Fortunes. It sure makes it sound nicer their way than ours...

As for other US game shows... How about a couple more that were strangely fun and not from the main broadcast networks:

Supermarket Sweep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CFCbmnKy2U

Shop Til You Drop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2kf-zHbAjw

Remote Control (this is classic MTV...back when MTV was cool)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OLcvfVmws

Double Dare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSr83hgmv4U