Poll of the Day > What is your opinion on game shows?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I used to be a lot more into them, but I feel like they haven't been the same lately. I remember when Who Wants to be a Millionaire was in primetime and it was such a huge event, but it's pretty unremarkable in hindsight. Almost all the prime time shows since have tried to use a similar studio and lighting setup, dramatic music and suspenseful pauses, but they fail at capturing the magic and all that is just cliche and annoying now.

Among the syndicated ones, I only like Jeopardy. Family Feud is trash. The Price is Right is too long and it's not the same without Bob. Wheel of Fortune is good as a game but the show itself sucks because it's so obviously catered to old people. I don't really know what other ones are still around

1) Needs a poll

2) Varies game show to game show. I love Jeopardy, enjoy Wheel of Fortune, and a few others I'll watch at times.
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I generally consider them to be trash TV. I feel like a lot of the appeal is just fantasizing about yourself being up there playing and saying shit like "Aw, man, I could do way better than them!" to the TV screen.

Hit and miss. The Price is Right and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire are no-goes for me anymore because of format changes to the game and the departure of their iconic hosts. The Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are okay, pretty much the same as they've always been. I really enjoy the newest iteration of Family Feud, with Steve Harvey as the host.
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they're decent filler tv but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch any.
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DistantMemory posted...

I generally consider them to be trash TV. I feel like a lot of the appeal is just fantasizing about yourself being up there playing and saying shit like "Aw, man, I could do way better than them!" to the TV screen.

Yeah, so? TV doesn't have to be scripted to be enjoyable. It's nice to have something you can watch sometimes but don't really need to follow. I think that's another failure of the Millionaire-influenced shows that try to focus on one contestant at a time and feature them across multiple episodes

DistantMemory posted...

I generally consider them to be trash TV. I feel like a lot of the appeal is just fantasizing about yourself being up there playing and saying shit like "Aw, man, I could do way better than them!" to the TV screen.

What on tv doesn't involve a conscious or subconscious fantasy?
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Jeopardy! is my favorite and the only one I watch regularly.
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family feud is allright I suppose. it has funny moments because I swear to god some of the questions are geared towards dirty minded answers. and steve harvey's reactions while i'm sure are over acted are still hilarious
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mooreandrew58 posted...

family feud is allright I suppose. it has funny moments because I swear to god some of the questions are geared towards dirty minded answers. and steve harvey's reactions while i'm sure are over acted are still hilarious

This is why it's stupid. They wrote some obviously suggestive questions when Steve Harvey started out and then everyone was convinced he was the best host in ages because he makes goofy faces at the responses. That got old pretty fast and I can't get over the fact that Steve Harvey is a mega douche outside of the show (hell, sometimes inside of it too when he brings in his stupid Christian moralizing)

Jeopardy is good because of how much interactive content it pushes out. You get about 60 questions that you can try to answer while you're watching. And it spends very little time on aspects that aren't part of the game.

Everything else is not that great though. Wheel of Fortune is still okay but the luck based aspect is annoying. Family Feud is awful, its based solely on the reactions which are forced and the difficult part is just based on how obscure people ended up being. And I completely agree on Steve Harvey being a douche, dude is a scumbag.
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The luck aspect of Wheel of Fortune is exciting! I do think the "win Round 3 to win the game" aspect is bad, though.
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Golden Road posted...

The luck aspect of Wheel of Fortune is exciting! I do think the "win Round 3 to win the game" aspect is bad, though.

Is WoF like that? I don't watch it much anymore, and I know they have changed up the dollar values over the years (like adding $1000 to the final spin), but I didn't think that always happens. But in Family Feud, the triple points round is literally all that matters. Whoever wins that wins the game or at least sends it to sudden death.

seems like the mobile version of family feud is even worse....they ask you questions like past and present nfl quarterbacks

and the only non retired one mentioned is tom brady
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Gameshow are great but the prizes are shit now.

Remember how Who Wants To Be A Millionare offered 1M when the pound was strong pre-recession?
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Rockies posted...

Golden Road posted...

The luck aspect of Wheel of Fortune is exciting! I do think the "win Round 3 to win the game" aspect is bad, though.

Is WoF like that? I don't watch it much anymore, and I know they have changed up the dollar values over the years (like adding $1000 to the final spin), but I didn't think that always happens. But in Family Feud, the triple points round is literally all that matters. Whoever wins that wins the game or at least sends it to sudden death.

The third round is the prize puzzle, which always gives away a prize just for solving the puzzle, worth around $6,000-$12,000, in addition to anything else won during the round. It could be helped a little by moving the express wedge to Round 1 instead, since the express wedge turns Round 3 from "usually wins the game" to "always wins the game" if someone has a successful express run, as well as making Round 1 more meaningful.
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DrPrimemaster posted...

Jeopardy is good because of how much interactive content it pushes out. You get about 60 questions that you can try to answer while you're watching. And it spends very little time on aspects that aren't part of the game.

Everything else is not that great though. Wheel of Fortune is still okay but the luck based aspect is annoying. Family Feud is awful, its based solely on the reactions which are forced and the difficult part is just based on how obscure people ended up being. And I completely agree on Steve Harvey being a douche, dude is a scumbag.

Also my favorite part of Jeopardy. It's more interactive because of the pacing whereas Wheel of Fortune you might solve then get stuck waiting several minutes more for the contestants to finish.

Golden Road posted...

The luck aspect of Wheel of Fortune is exciting! I do think the "win Round 3 to win the game" aspect is bad, though.

Golden Road posted...

The third round is the prize puzzle, which always gives away a prize just for solving the puzzle, worth around $6,000-$12,000, in addition to anything else won during the round

The prize puzzle is round 5 and it doesn't always guarantee the game, although it has the largest advantage.

The show's format is:
1- $1k Toss-up (right to start interview)
2- $2k Toss-up (right to spin first on next puzzle)
3- Puzzle
4- Puzzle
5- Prize Puzzle
6- $3k Toss up
7- Puzzle/final
8~10 - If the buzzer hasn't rung yet, there can be additional puzzles. It's very rare to hit 9 or 10 rounds and I don't think I've seen it go over 10

Then the winner goes to the bonus round.

*If* there are fast solvers, the added rounds diminish the prize puzzle. *If* the person just solves the prize puzzle without a spin, it's only good for $5-8k. The average prize value is around $6-7k.

However, it's worth noting that if somebody wins both halves of the car, that's usually $14-18k. There's a $10k spot on the wheel AND a normal vacation package on the wheel, often worth as much or more than the prize puzzle's vacation.

Granted, I'm not sure statistically how often the prize puzzle winner is the big winner. I tried googling it, but couldn't find it =x

Golden Road posted...

It could be helped a little by moving the express wedge to Round 1 instead, since the express wedge turns Round 3 from "usually wins the game" to "always wins the game" if someone has a successful express run, as well as making Round 1 more meaningful.

Eh, hadn't noticed it was prize puzzle only.
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I like Jeopardy because it's based mostly on smarts. The only aspects of luck are finding the Daily Doubles and maybe a little bit on pressing the button at the right time. I hate anything that relies too much on luck.

Jeopardy is quite hard to get on, so they have an actually smart contestant base. People who play WoF and FF are fucking morons. I don't know about the current primetime game shows, as I haven't watched them closely in a long time, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's like reality competition shows where you'll only get on if you had cancer or your husband died in Afghanistan

Broken_Zeus posted...

Granted, I'm not sure statistically how often the prize puzzle winner is the big winner. I tried googling it, but couldn't find it =x

I just did a manual count. So far this season, 26 out of 30 winners won the prize puzzle. That's really high for a bonus that's guaranteed every episode. Of the 4 who did not win, 3 of them lost to someone who got really lucky in another round (one won the wheel prize and a $3500 landing, one won the car in Round 2, and the third milked $20,000 out of the $5,000 space). Only one lost due to a thousand papercuts by another contestant.
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wheel of fortune i don't watch unless nothing else is on since it's cbs
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PKMNsony posted...

I like Jeopardy because it's based mostly on smarts. The only aspects of luck are finding the Daily Doubles and maybe a little bit on pressing the button at the right time. I hate anything that relies too much on luck.

idk, a lot of it seems like luck given the category selection, daily doubles, and opponents' betting. The biggest amount of luck comes in the final, especially given that Admiral Idiot won a few days ago simply because the leaders were tied and, as a result, were enticed to bet everything (which is usually the smart strategy since, if you get it right, you want to win; however, it gives a pretty big advantage to third since they don't really need to bet anything).

Rockies posted...

Jeopardy is quite hard to get on, so they have an actually smart contestant base. People who play WoF and FF are fucking morons. I don't know about the current primetime game shows, as I haven't watched them closely in a long time, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's like reality competition shows where you'll only get on if you had cancer or your husband died in Afghanistan

I know the tests are kinda hard -- mostly because you're trying to spell and there a *lot* of sports questions -- but most of the contestants don't seem that bright since oftentimes they'll botch something easy (kinda makes it look rigged, honestly)

Golden Road posted...

Broken_Zeus posted...

Granted, I'm not sure statistically how often the prize puzzle winner is the big winner. I tried googling it, but couldn't find it =x

I just did a manual count. So far this season, 26 out of 30 winners won the prize puzzle. That's really high for a bonus that's guaranteed every episode. Of the 4 who did not win, 3 of them lost to someone who got really lucky in another round (one won the wheel prize and a $3500 landing, one won the car in Round 2, and the third milked $20,000 out of the $5,000 space). Only one lost due to a thousand papercuts by another contestant.

I might try using that same data set to run some tests. While I can't recall if any winners this season *only* won the prize puzzle, I'm also curious as the overall influence; ie, how dominant the winners were without winning the prize puzzle.
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I used to watch the Gameshow network incessantly back when they had the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's game shows on. I don't know what it was about them, I just loved watching them. I never got into the newer stuff though.

I still like Jeopardy, but I haven't watched it in a very long time.
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They're an okay time waster. I associate them with being sick and watching TV in bed
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Broken_Zeus posted...

PKMNsony posted...

I like Jeopardy because it's based mostly on smarts. The only aspects of luck are finding the Daily Doubles and maybe a little bit on pressing the button at the right time. I hate anything that relies too much on luck.

idk, a lot of it seems like luck given the category selection, daily doubles, and opponents' betting. The biggest amount of luck comes in the final, especially given that Admiral Idiot won a few days ago simply because the leaders were tied and, as a result, were enticed to bet everything (which is usually the smart strategy since, if you get it right, you want to win; however, it gives a pretty big advantage to third since they don't really need to bet anything).

Rockies posted...

Jeopardy is quite hard to get on, so they have an actually smart contestant base. People who play WoF and FF are fucking morons. I don't know about the current primetime game shows, as I haven't watched them closely in a long time, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's like reality competition shows where you'll only get on if you had cancer or your husband died in Afghanistan

I know the tests are kinda hard -- mostly because you're trying to spell and there a *lot* of sports questions -- but most of the contestants don't seem that bright since oftentimes they'll botch something easy (kinda makes it look rigged, honestly)

Golden Road posted...

Broken_Zeus posted...

Granted, I'm not sure statistically how often the prize puzzle winner is the big winner. I tried googling it, but couldn't find it =x

I just did a manual count. So far this season, 26 out of 30 winners won the prize puzzle. That's really high for a bonus that's guaranteed every episode. Of the 4 who did not win, 3 of them lost to someone who got really lucky in another round (one won the wheel prize and a $3500 landing, one won the car in Round 2, and the third milked $20,000 out of the $5,000 space). Only one lost due to a thousand papercuts by another contestant.

I might try using that same data set to run some tests. While I can't recall if any winners this season *only* won the prize puzzle, I'm also curious as the overall influence; ie, how dominant the winners were without winning the prize puzzle.

I should've said plain, dumb luck. Category is luck based as well, but the wider your knowledge the less luck based that becomes. What I hate is how someone on WoF can call out all the letters, but if they have terrible luck and only land on low money then that sucks. I hate seeing things like that. I want to see people win based on their merits, not by how lucky they are. While there is luck in Jeopardy, if you're an idiot then you're not winning.

Broken_Zeus posted...

I might try using that same data set to run some tests. While I can't recall if any winners this season *only* won the prize puzzle, I'm also curious as the overall influence; ie, how dominant the winners were without winning the prize puzzle.

I decided to look up some stuff. Not counting the bonus round puzzles:

*In 13 out of 30 episodes so far this season, the prize puzzle winner solved more puzzles than either of the other two contestants, and won all 13 times.
*In 10 out of 30 episodes, the prize puzzle winner solved at least 4 puzzles, and won all 10 times.
*In 9 out of 30 episodes, someone else solved the most puzzles. The prize puzzle winner still won 5 of those 9 times, including an episode where they solved fewer puzzles than either of the other two contestants, and two episodes where they solved two fewer puzzles than the contestant who solved the most.
*In 3 out of 5 episodes where someone other than the prize puzzle winner solved at least 4 puzzles, the prize puzzle winner still won the game. The only non-prize puzzle winner to solve 5 puzzles did win, though.
*Only one episode had the prize puzzle winner solve no other puzzles besides the prize puzzle. That contestant did not win. In the other three episodes, the prize puzzle winner only solved 2 puzzles. The prize puzzle winner won in every episode where they solved at least 3 puzzles.
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