We all know that the OJ Simpson murder trial in the early 90's did irreparable damage to the soap opera industry. Was there anything that hurt game shows the same way?

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Brian, I often find myself wondering the same thing. When I was a kid, there were tons of daytime game shows on all three major networks, including the daytime Wheel of Fortune (NBC/CBS), Pyramid (ABC), Sale of the Century (NBC), Card Sharks (NBC), Classic Concentration (NBC), Family Feud (CBS), Scrabble (NBC), and Password (NBC). And those are just the ones I can remember without searching Wikipedia or Google!

Now these shows are all gone. What happened?

When I was a kid, they had game shows all over and they were good ones too. NBC of course had them each weekday morning. Then you had great syndicated game shows like Match Game, Joker's Wild and Tic Tac Doe. And who can forget Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game and The Dating Game. It seems like Wheel of Fortune,Jeopardy and Price is Right is all that is left.

It seems like Wheel of Fortune,Jeopardy and Price is Right is all that is left.
Even the daytime Wheel of Fortune has been gone for more than 20 years.

I think there are a couple of reasons why there haven't been any new daytime game shows in years, with the exception of Let's Make a Deal. First, there just too much competition from syndicated talk and court shows. second, the emergence of GSN and the proliferation of other cable channels have cut into the daytime audience.

In the 60's & 70's, the morning hours from 9 AM to noon used to be filled with game shows. If I recall, during those years CBS and NBC had most of the game shows, ABC not so much. In the 80's is when things gradually began to change, fewer game shows were on in the AM in favor of news and discussion related programming. The prime time variety shows pretty much came to an end when Carol Burnett went off the air. Different types of programs run their course, they have their time then they are gone. Someday, I think the morning game shows might have a resurgence. Prime time variety shows however, I think we've seen the last of them, those days are gone for good.

I think it was the rise of the talk shows. Donahue was the first (and best, IMHO) but you quickly had Oprah, Springer, Montel, Rikki Lake, Geraldo and tons of others horning in (sometimes literally). I really miss the classic game shows. Morning television (like all television I guess) has really gone down the tubes in regard to quality. Now you have the Today Show on for like 17 hours and groups of women talking over each other (and saying nothing) and that's about it. :(

I think there are several factors:
In general, the rise of Cable and Satellite, with more kinds of programming, and then more specifically 24/7 news formats, a la CNN and FOX. People often leave them on in the background while doing other things. Also, I think what's accelerated departure from traditional daytime programming, more than anything else, is the exponential increase in computer use over the last dozen years or so. I think many people would rather live more interactively than vicariously--hence boards like SO, email and computer social networking.

I dont even really think OJ killed the soap opera genre. I mean that was over 15 yrs. ago. I think that soap operas were dropped for reality tv and most of the writers on soap were hacks that killed there own genre. But thats for another thread.


I think the game show genre was killed again because of reality tv and talk shows. Ex. The Chew, The Revolution, The Talk etc. There was really no support for game shows. Executives or whatever, think that having all this reality stuff and 25 talk shows will make people watch. And there wrong.

As far as gmae shows go, I'd definitely have to say the combination of pointless talk shows and courtroom shows in daytime and garbage singing and dancing and other reality shows killed network primetime shows. Why you think Survivor came within an eyelash of nearly destroying the come back of game shows in the early part of the 2000s?

and the one hit gameshow in the 2000's was "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and ABC killed it by putting it on 4 or 5 times a week. That didn't help either.

I'd say Oprah did. Then Geraldo would make sure it'd never resurface.

The 80's had a lot of Game Shows, I'm glad that it's starting to come back again. Slowly, but surely.

Now...I hope The variety Show would return...and not like an American Idol-ish Variety Show!

You all give great reasons as to why this might have happened..

I also think as time went by the stakes got too high..

We can remember getting excited for some Columbus, Ohio lonely housewife winning a "Regina Steamer Carpet Cleaner"..

Now the prizes are tens of thousands of dollars to make the public remotely interested..

I have no basis.. This is just something that came to mind so who knows?

You all give great reasons as to why this might have happened..

I also think as time went by the stakes got too high..

We can remember getting excited for some Columbus, Ohio lonely housewife winning a "Regina Steamer Carpet Cleaner"..

Now the prizes are tens of thousands of dollars to make the public remotely interested..



Remember when State Lotteries made their Debut? The one in Michigan began with picking six numbers from 0 to 9. The Numbers were drawn in groups of three for example 821 and 406. If you got the first three or the last three you won $50.00 and a chance to win the yearly $1,000,000.00. If you got all six you'd win $10,000. When the "Lotto" began the minimum Jackpot was $1,000,000 If you got four of the six numbers youd win $30-$50, Five numbers got you $1,500 to $5,000. The first time a Jackpot broke $10,000,000 it made National News. (I won $31.00 on that drawing because I got four numbers. :D). Then thay added more numbers, and made the Jackpot Bigger Minimums rose from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 then even higher. (I believe $20,000,000 is now the Minimum). Today a Jackpot has to be AT LEAST $200,000,000.00 before I'll take a Shot at it. (I wouldn't mind winning a Smaller Jackpot, I just dont like the LOSING - Since Large Jackpots take place 2 or three times a year I spend less than $10.00 on it, an absorbable loss). :crazy: