Play it Back: 90’s Game Shows: Review

Finally got a chance to review this, sorry about the delay.

Anyhow… I must say this was pretty okay.

I wasn’t too big a fan of the dating segment. I mean, I don’t blame them for being apart of the show, they really first took off in this decade, but I just don’t see Studs as much of a game show, and I repeat what I said about Love Connection in the ‘80’s special here. And for what it’s worth, that barking guy on Love Connection was just creepy to me -- I NEVER want someone to snarl at me like that during anytime on a date.

I did enjoy the parts about Hollywood Squares, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy!. Although it’s my favorite version of the show, It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen really early episodes of Bergeron’s Hollywood Squares, so I don’t remember any Baldwin brothers appearing. And of course, the "YOU FOOL!" clip surfaces again, except on this special, no celebrity faces are blurred like on Most Outrageous Game Show Moments. It’s been played before several times but still worth a laugh -- as I mentioned before, the repeating is inevitable in most cases. It was nice seeing clips from the earlier days but I wish we had seen a bit more.

Good for them for remembering a very important element of Wheel of Fortune -- the puzzle board change. I remember when it first happened. It’s hard to believe that was almost 12 years ago. And I couldn’t believe that they even referred to the late ’90’s set of Jeopardy! as what the more hardcore members of the game show community always called it -- the sushi bar set! I found that to be quite funny for some odd reason.

And of course, you can’t have a ‘90’s retrospective without the mention of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. It was only on for a few months in 1999, but this show had managed to become a huge hit very quickly. I remember very well how much this impacted the country. With parodies everywhere and my own self annoying my mother by asking "Is that your final answer?" over and over. I liked this part, although I’m not a fan of John Carpenter. Sorry, I just found him to be a bit cocky.

Pretty decent overall but I do think the 1980’s was the best special. This one I would rate second, with the ‘70’s retrospective last. I found the 1970’s one to be rather disappointing.

Play it Back: '80's Game Shows: Review

I do like this special in particular better than last week’s.

As usual, I love the trivia element. I also learned a couple things. For one thing, I didn’t know Bob Eubanks recorded a song.

We do see some of the same clips again -- which I mentioned last time is pretty much inevitable -- but at least it’s nice seeing some fresh material. And I didn’t know Mark DeCarlo was a contestant on Sale of the Century, and it was nice seeing some clips. It's a shame that Fremantle probably doesn't even let them air part of an episode. It looks like the clips shown were from a personal collection. Again, a little bit more fresh material could have been used. But I thought this was a bit better. I’ve seen Pat Sajak kiss Vanna White on his last daytime Wheel of Fortune show, but I’ve never seen it be featured in some sort of documentary. Same with the France-French moment on Password Plus.

Not liking the fact that Love Connection made this special much at all. It’s not that I have a serious problem with this show; I just don’t see much of a gaming element in it. But it was a big part of the ‘80’s and provided decent fodder for the show, and it’s not as if the show was bombarded with Love Connection clips… despite the fact that I hardly think of it as a game show, I can deal with it.

Loved the Betty White part. It’s so true. Betty is a very important part of our game show culture. From being on every incarnation of Password, to Pyramid, and other game shows, especially in the 1980’s… to even hosting a show of her own, albeit short-lived, Just Men!, in 1983. And can’t forget about Vicki Lawrence. Another great and very entertaining game player. Her walking out on The $100,000 Pyramid after a bad week is probably one of my favorite memorable game show moments. I also loved Vanna White’s mention earlier in the show. You can't have an '80's game show special without mentioning her.

Caroline I thought was better on this show too. And it was nice seeing Wink again, and Chuck Woolery this time around. The other commentators I thought were pretty decent again as well.

Play it Back: 70’s Game Shows: Review

GSN debuted a new decade documentary series Play it Back, on Sunday. And this episode focused on the game shows of the 1970’s. I must say, I was rather disappointed in this.

I think by now, with the amount of game show documentaries and specials that have been done over the years, it’s just inevitable to see something repeated. I mean, Match Game was one of those shows that defined the 1970’s, so it’s expected to see some of the same clips again (i.e. “boobs”, School Riot, et. al.). And I knew we couldn’t spend the hour without having discussion about the Newlywed Game’s “In the butt, Bob” moment, no matter how overplayed it is. But when most of the show is the same stuff we’ve already seen several times before, I can see how that can be annoying. The 1970’s had near 70 game shows throughout the course of the decade, so I was expecting much more material than what we saw. Though there was some fresh stuff shown, well, at least for a documentary it was fresh. I never thought I’d see someone comment about the $38,750+ win on Jackpot!, and I’ve never seen Billy Crystal’s record win on $20,000 Pyramid mentioned in a documentary. But still, I was expecting more than what we saw.

I did like the trivia questions between breaks. I mean, I’m a bigger fan of the genre than the average viewer, so I pretty much knew that 1975 had the most game shows that aired. And I’m sure not every fan knows the exact date of the premiere of Split Second.

Caroline Rhea -- who I do love, by the way -- I really wasn’t feeling that much here. The commentators I had no real problem with. I really liked seeing Bob Goen, Bob Eubanks, and Wink Martindale.

I just hope the ‘80’s and ‘90’s episodes are better. But if they’re not, we’ve still got the marathons at least, right? I still cannot wait for $25,000 Pyramid.