50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time (GSN)
The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All-Time was a series on GSN airing from July 18 2006 through August 31 2006, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 10 PM Eastern Time. Hosted by Bil Dwyer, the series counted down the 50 greatest American game shows of all time as chosen by GSN executives, who voted on the best game shows from a list of programs nationally broadcast in the United States since the 1940s.
Episodes airing in the countdown usually were rarely seen, classic or notable episodes of those shows of which episodes still exist, and which GSN had the rights to air. Two shows GSN programmed at the time of their presentation in the countdown—Beat the Clock and Jeopardy!—were not represented by an episode, while an episode of Shop 'til You Drop was featured, even though the program had never appeared on GSN before that point.
Each installment of the countdown featured either a single episode of an hour-long game show, or two half-hour episodes. Starting with number eight on the list, half-hour shows took the whole hour with two episodes. Shows that were not represented with actual airings of episodes were instead featured during the bumpers in the countdown, which displayed production photographs of these series as Dwyer described them and their prominence.
__TOC__
The list
Rank |
Show |
Airdates |
Featured |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
50. |
3's a Crowd |
SYN 1979 - 1980 |
July 18 |
The episode aired was the 1979 premiere. |
49. |
Treasure Hunt |
SYN 1973 - 1977 |
July 18 |
This 1974 episode featured one of the show's ten $25,000 wins. This was only the third time GSN aired The New Treasure Hunt, and the first time the episode has aired. |
48. |
Blockbusters |
NBC 1980 - 1982 |
July 19 |
The episode featured contestant Larae Dillman, one of the biggest winners during the 1980 iteration of the show. Dillman later appeared on game shows The New $25,000 Pyramid and Russian Roulette. |
47. |
Studs |
FOX 1991 - 1993 |
July 19 |
No Episode Aired |
46. |
Hollywood Showdown |
GSN 2000 |
July 19 |
This episode featured a $16,000 Box Office win. |
45. |
Shop 'Til You Drop |
LIFE 1991 - 1996 |
July 20 |
This episode was from the Pat Finn PAX run and marks the first time that GSN has ever aired Shop 'Til You Drop. The significance of this episode is that one of the contestants is named Elvis since his mother wished to name him after The King. This was also an episode with a very high score of 950 points. |
44. |
Truth or Consequences |
NBC 1954 - 1965 |
July 20 |
No Episode Aired |
43. |
Tattletales |
CBS 1974 - 1978 |
July 20 |
This 1974 episode featured William Shatner and Marcy Lafferty, George Hamilton and wife Alana, and Scoey and Claire Mitchell. |
42. |
Queen for a Day |
NBC 1956 - 1960 |
July 20 |
No Episode Aired |
41. |
The $1.98 Beauty Show |
SYN 1978 - 1980 |
July 25 |
This episode was the First One to be broadcast. |
40. |
Twenty-One |
NBC 1956 - 1958 |
July 25 |
No Episode Aired |
39. |
G.E. College Bowl |
CBS 1959 - 1962 |
July 25 |
No Episode Aired |
38. |
Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck |
GSN 2002 - 2003 |
July 25 |
This episode from the first season was fairly run-of-the-mill. |
37. |
Greed |
FOX 1999 - 2000 |
July 26 |
This episode featured Curtis Warren's million dollar win. |
36. |
Remote Control |
MTV 1987 - 1990 |
July 26 |
No Episode Aired |
35. |
Beat the Clock |
CBS 1950 - 1958 |
July 26 |
No Episode Aired |
34. |
Sale of the Century |
NBC 1969 - 1973 |
July 27 |
No Episode Aired |
33. |
Dog Eat Dog |
NBC 2002 - 2003 |
July 27 |
This episode featured the strip putting challenge. |
32. |
Tic Tac Dough |
NBC 1956 - 1959 |
August 1 |
This episode featured Thom McKee's last win from the 1978-1986 rendition of the show. |
31. |
You Bet Your Life |
NBC 1950 - 1961 |
August 1 |
No Episode Aired |
30. |
Card Sharks |
NBC 1978 - 1981 |
August 1 |
This was Norma Brown's 1978 $28,800 win playing Money Cards, the only maximum win the show had (aside from the pilot episode). |
29. |
Scrabble |
NBC 1984 - 1990 |
August 1 |
No Episode Aired |
28. |
The $64,000 Question |
CBS 1955 - 1958 |
August 2 |
No Episode Aired |
27. |
Win Ben Stein's Money |
COM 1997 - 2003 |
August 2 |
This episode from Jimmy Kimmel's tenure as co-host featured the first contestant to get a perfect score of 10 in the final round |
26. |
Deal or No Deal |
NBC 2005 - present |
August 2 |
No Episode Aired |
25. |
Password Plus |
NBC 1979 - 1982 |
August 2 |
An episode of Password Plus aired, in which featured future GSN President Rich Cronin as a contestant. |
24. |
Win, Lose or Draw |
NBC/SYN 1987 - 1990 |
August 3 |
This episode was from the first week of the syndicated Bert Convy version. It featured celebrity guest (and executive producer) Burt Reynolds explaining the origins of the show. |
23. |
The Joker's Wild |
CBS 1972 - 1975 |
August 3 |
This episode apparently dated from 1982 or 1983. |
22. |
Weakest Link |
NBC 2001 - 2002 |
August 8 |
An episode from the George Gray version aired, in which the "chain" actually reached the top in the second-to-last round. Also featured George doing an Anne Robinson imitation when a British-born contestant was voted off. |
21. |
I've Got a Secret |
CBS 1952 - 1967 |
August 8 |
An episode was featured from the 1972 - 1973 syndicated run with Amarillo Slim and Milton Berle. |
20. |
Concentration |
NBC 1958 - 1959 |
August 9 |
No Episode Aired |
19. |
To Tell the Truth |
CBS 1956 - 1968 |
August 9 |
This episode from the Joe Garagiola era features Frank Abagnale, a world-renowned con artist. He was the subject of the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can, which featured a re-creation of this episode's opening sequence. |
18. |
Love Connection |
SYN 1983 - 1994 |
August 9 |
This 1990 episode featured a divorced contestant; when he was married, he had appeared on The Newlywed Game. Chuck Woolery, this program's host, has publicly stated on Biography that he does not believe Love Connection was a game show. |
17. |
Name That Tune |
NBC/CBS 1953 - 1959 |
August 10 |
No Episode Aired |
16. |
Lingo |
SYN 1987 - 1988 |
August 10 |
Two episodes were aired. One was the first episode ever aired of GSN's version, the other featured Shandi Finnessey as co-host, the largest jackpot won of season five, and an appearance by Chuck's son, Sean. No mention was made of the original 1987 series. |
15. |
Password |
CBS 1961 - 1967 |
August 15 |
This episode featured Tony Randall, one of the series' best players. |
14. |
What's My Line? |
CBS 1950 - 1967 |
August 15 |
This episode from 1973 featured then-governor of Georgia and future president Jimmy Carter. The mystery guest was Joan Fontaine. |
13. |
''Press Your Luck |
CBS 1983 - 1986 |
August 16 |
The two episodes featured were those of Michael Larson's appearance. He won $110,237 in his one appearance on PYL. Even though only one game was played, CBS split the game into two episodes due to its length. |
12. |
The Gong Show |
NBC/SYN 1976 - 1980 |
August 17 |
This episode featured Steve Martin as a judge and one of the most raucous audiences and group of acts ever. |
11. |
Hollywood Squares |
NBC 1966 - 1981 |
August 17 |
A typical episode from 1972 aired. |
10. |
The Dating Game |
ABC 1965 - 1973 |
August 22 |
This episode, hosted by Jim Lange, featured Andy Kaufman (using an alias), as a bachelor. He spoke, and acted, like his Taxi character Latka. |
9. |
The Newlywed Game |
ABC 1966 - 1974 |
August 22 |
This episode featured the infamous "In the butt, Bob" response. |
8. |
Pyramid |
CBS 1973 - 1974 |
August 23 |
Two episodes were aired; One was from The $20,000 Pyramid featuring Sal Viscuso and Billy Crystal playing against each other. That episode showcased the clip of Billy Crystal's record Winner's Circle win, as the original episode was destroyed by ABC. The other was an episode of The $100,000 Pyramid which featured a $100,000 tournament win, with celebrities Shelley Smith and LeVar Burton. |
7. |
Let's Make a Deal |
NBC 1963 - 1968 |
August 24 |
Two nighttime episodes aired: one from 1972, and the other featuring the first Super Deal win from 1976. |
6. |
Wheel of Fortune |
NBC 1975 - 1989 |
August 29 |
No Episode Aired |
5. |
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire |
ABC 1999 - 2002 |
August 29 |
This episode featured David Goodman's $1,000,000 win. |
4. |
The Price is Right |
NBC 1956 - 1963 |
August 30 |
No Episode Aired |
3. |
Family Feud |
ABC 1976 - 1985 |
August 30 |
The first episode was from the first broadcasted month of the Dawson run. This featured the famous questions and answers, "Name a time when most people get up: Morning" and "Name a time when most people go to bed: Night" (which earned two points). The second episode was another Dawson episode, this time featuring a big winning family. |
2. |
Jeopardy! |
NBC 1964 - 1975 |
August 31 |
No Episode Aired |
1. |
Match Game |
NBC 1962 - 1969 |
August 31 |
The first episode was from 1978 featuring the star wheel and the first $10,000 win. This was also the last episode with the predominantly orange set before the change to the mostly blue set. The second episode featured the infamous 1977 "school riot." |