Favorite Game Shows of All Time (25-21)

25. What Would You Do? (1991-1993) NICK - What Would You Do? is the only show on the countdown that I was unsure if I should include on the countdown due to the fact that it is more of a variety show than a game show. After much deliberation, I decided that the kids on the show did, in fact, play games, so I allowed myself to include the classic Nickelodeon show that I adored so much. I have no idea why I was so addicted to it, but all I could think about while watching it was somehow getting a chance to be in the audience or on the show. I believe that my family and I went to Disney World two times while the show was airing, and since 11 year old Ryan had the attention span of a monkey, I completely forgot to hound my parents to take me to Universal Studios to fulfill my life dream.

24. Twenty-One (1956-1958, 2000) CBS/NBC - No, Twenty-One did not make the countdown just because it is my favorite number. I obviously never watched the 1950's version of the show, but the 2000 version was a huge hit with college Ryan. I obviously did not watch much TV during my college years, but I distinctly remember many of us piling into my tiny bedroom and finished off a few 30 packs while watching the hour long Twenty-One.
Twenty-One (the 1950's version) is responsible for one of, if not THE, most notorious controversy in the history of American television. It turns out that the game show was rigged and the incident nearly ruined the idea of American Game Shows. The movie Quiz Show is about the events of the 1950's Twenty-One bombshell.

I am not too sure why, but I find this terrifying.

23. Shop Til' You Drop (1991-1994, Lifetime 1996-1998, Family Channel 2000-2005 PAX)
Who doesn't love a great episode of Shop Til' You Drop? This is one of those shows that is so completely mindless that if you are lucky to be a contestant on the show and LOSE then you should be humiliated to show your face in public for at least a few years. How bad do you have to be at shopping and running up and down stairs to lose at Shop Til You Drop? Also, Shop Til' You Drop is responsible for what I consider to be the most humiliating contestant of all time. Once the couple beat their opponents by knowing that Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz was played by Judy Garland, they went on to the bonus round. Here, it was the HUSBAND that opened up the gift boxes and suggested to the wife if they should keep the gift or return. Then the WIFE had to run up and down the stairs and carry all the heavy boxes. Seriously, has anyone ever seen an episode of Shop Til' You Drop where the husband opens the boxes? Well, I have, and let me tell you, it was unbelievable.

This is not the husband opening the boxes episode, but they are quite possibly the most excited Drop contestants ever. And they are not a married or dating couple? In fact, she is married and he has a girlfriend. I had no idea that was even legal on Shop Til' You Drop.



22. STUDS (1991-1993) STUDS was The Dating Game for cool people. I remember it used to come on real late at night and it was probably a little inappropriate for me to be watching, but I suppose I turned out just fine, so whatever. The show featured two guys (The Studs) that each got to go on a blind date with the same three women (the studettes.) At the end of the game the girls picked a Stud, and each Stud picked a studette. I was always so embarrassed for the girl that nobody choose, but I am sure it was just because she was either annoying, obnoxious, or maybe even disgusting.
Not only was Tami from the The Real World: LA on the show (WHILE SHE WAS ON THE REAL WORLD) seriously, she was on a reality show and a game show at the same time, but also Ron Goldman was a Stud three years before some random man murdered him and OJ Simpson's Ex wife.

21. Tic Tac Dough (1956-1959 NBC, 1978-1986 CBS, 1990-1991) About 28 years ago my brother and I (then ages 4 and 7) were obsessed with Tic Tac Dough..... Let me rephrase that, we were obsessed with a contestant on Tic Tac Dough. At the ages of 4 and 7 we knew that this guy was something special. He is still, to this day, without question, one of the greatest contestants on any game show in the history of television; Kit Salisbury. Below is a clip of Kit and his final moment on Tic Tac Dough

This was, by far, the saddest moment in 4 year old Ryan's life up until this time. I had to say goodbye to my dear friend, Kit.

 

Kit Salisbury: A true game show legend.  



Favorite Game Shows of All Time #30 - 26

30. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (1991-1995) PBS - On air for a whopping five seasons, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? is the second longest running children's game show in U.S. television history (only Double Dare has it beat.) Not only did kids find the show entertaining, but tired, over-worked parents, could feel justified for plopping their children in front of a television and consider watching Sandiego learning (which reminds me, I need to go to ebay and buy every season of this show on DVD so I no longer have to teach Social Studies.)

I would be great at this show today seeing as I have a degree in Social Studies, and have taught Middle School Geography for years, but I'm pretty sure 11 year old Ryan would not have answered one question correctly unless it was "This is the home of Mickey Mouse."


29. Fear Factor (2001-2006, 2011) NBC - Much like Wipeout, Fear Factor is a show that gets pretty old after a while. Fear Factor, however, was the very first show of its kind and deserves recognition for that. How many times though, are we expected to watch someone eat a scorpion or drive a car over a ramp and have the car land upside down? I have to admit after the show had been off the air for almost 6 years I was a tiny bit excited for its return in December of last year. I successfully watched one episode and the same feeling of "been there done that" returned as if the show never left. I am now fairly confident that I will never watch another episode of Fear Factor for the rest of my life unless someone I know is on the show or one of the tasks revolves around physically injuring Joe Rogan.

You have to be in some deep credit card dept to do something like this for $25,000

28. Legends of the Hidden Temple (1993-1995) OK, I will now admit that I am actually a tiny bit embarrassed about having this show so high on my list. Looking back at the days when I use to literally run to the television to tune in, I imagine me being a hell of a lot younger than 13-15 years old. Apparently I was taking drivers ed while still loving Legends of the Hidden Temple. What in the world is wrong with me? Seriously?

Whatever. I never claimed to be perfect. Everyone has their guilty pleasure and apparently mine was being half way through high school and watching 11 year olds compete on a Nickelodeon game show. I often get mad at myself for how pathetic I was as a kid, and this is one of those times. I think I may need to start thinking about quitting this blog.

Since I have had an unhealthy and (to be quite honest) abnormal obsession with the color blue for just about my entire life, I obviously rooted for the Blue Barracudas to win every single episode, and more often then not, they were eliminated on the very first event. In that instance, the Orange Iguanas were my trusty backup, and if they got eliminated I just cheered on whoever was up against the Red Jaguars because I hate the color red. I know, I was as strange as a child (well, apparently teenager) as I am today.

*** Just found this interesting fact****

A journalist at West Boca Raton High School wrote an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about how high school students had fond memories for Nickelodeon shows including Legends.^[31] According to a 2007 poll in the Springfield, Illinois State Journal-Register, ten percent of respondents said that Legends was their "favorite 'old school' Nickelodeon show."^[32] Legends served as a theme for Cornell's 2008 Greek Week.^[33] In April 2009, Walnut Creek, California made Legends the theme of its "Kids' Night Out" program.^[34]

So, I suppose I am just as mature as ten percent of the high school students in Springfield, IL. I'll take it.

An uncharacteristically good "Blue Barracuda" team. And let me just say if my child was on the "Silver Snakes" in the trivia round I would be humiliated by them, and punish them severely.

27.Deal or No Deal (2005-2009) NBC - For most of this countdown I have had extreme opinions on how successful I would be if I were to be a contestant on any given game show. I am fairly confident that Deal or No Deal would be my least successful attempt on any game show. There is not a chance that I would ever take the deal. I would be the least interesting contestant the show has ever seen because I would more than likely wear a shirt that had a "21" on it (my favorite number) and would not even care what case I opened because I would never not take whatever was in case 21. I may even just open box 1-26 in order, or simply tell Howie that I am going to take case 21 no matter what you offer me, just open the box now.

I have had the pleasure of playing Deal or No Deal at various casinos, and let's just say, that I am a pretty good case picker. There is one major issue on the gambling machines, however, and that is that the games usually only go up to 20 and I am forced to choose either case 5 or case 18 (my second and third favorite numbers respectively.) Talk about stress. So much for my favorite numbers of all time countdown:(

Deal or No Deal.

26. Finders Keepers (1987-1989) NICK - No, I am not embarrassed about placing Finders Keepers at number 26, and the reason is that I was 7-9 years of age when it was on, and that is quite age appropriate if you ask me. I do have to admit that I would probably still tune in every now and then if Finders Keepers was still available for our viewing pleasure.

The game show pitted teams of 2 children against each other and they had to find things. I suppose I didn't care too much for the beginning of the game, but let me tell you, nine year old Ryan would do some awful things if he had to in order to participate in the final round; the "Room to Room Romp." Some kids have all the luck.

I am actually laughing out loud right now because I just got an imagine of myself, as a grown man, playing Finders Keepers and completely destroying the house. A man can dream, can't he?