TV's Longest-Running Game Shows, 8-11
It's not a game show list without the remaining classics featured below.8. Concentration
The game show genre took a beating during the 1950s when it was revealed that several shows were rigged and contestants were given the answers in advance. Though they were later implicated in the quiz show scandals, producers Jack Barry and Dan Enright created a solid game with Concentration. The hit show survived the tumult of the scandals, airing from 1958 to 1973. The game was based on two concepts: a children's game known as "Memory," and a word puzzle that was revealed when matching cards were removed from the board. The show survived in syndication for some time and enjoyed a revival in 1987 that lasted approximately five years.
9. Let's Make a Deal
Monty Hall was the archetypal game show host in this long-running favorite that required contestants to have a little intuition and a lot of luck. The show involved contestants making a "deal" with Hall and selecting prizes that could be real or bogus. But what really made the show stand apart was the costumes that contestants wore. In the first days of the show, contestants wore everyday clothes until someone came to the show wearing a crazy costume to get the attention of producers -- immediately, a tradition was born. From then on, contestants on Let's Make a Deal wore nutty outfits in order to be singled out to participate. Several revivals have been attempted, but fans of the show seem to prefer reruns of the original, which ran from 1963 to 1977.
10. To Tell the Truth
On this show, a team of celebrity panelists heard a story and then had to determine which of three contestants was associated with the story. Payoffs were based on the contestants' ability to fool the panel and weren't large by today's standards: Each incorrect guess from the panel paid the challengers $250 for a possible $1,000. But if the entire panel was correct, the challengers split $150. The show's original run lasted from 1956 to 1968, and the game that asked, "Will the real John Doe please stand up?" has enjoyed several reincarnations.
11. You Bet Your Life
This unique program was modeled after Groucho Marx's radio series of the same name, in which contestants answered questions for prize money. The audience was clued into the "secret word," but the contestant was not. If the contestant could answer the questions and come up with the secret word, a duck (a nod to Groucho's classic film Duck Soup) would descend from the ceiling and deliver $100 in prize money. Marx hosted the show during its original run from 1950 to 1961. Later versions hosted by Buddy Hackett and Bill Cosby were unable to match the success of the original.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Helen Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz, Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi Stevens, and Steve Theunissen
