I once commented that almost any list of the very top game shows will overlap a lot with any other list, unless the listmaker is trying to make some silly point. Sure enough, the linked TV Overmind list overlaps plenty with the list of top game shows I made a while ago. Twelve of the their top twenty land in my own top twenty, and five more of their selections appear in my top fifty sooner or later.
Only Amazing Race, Gong Show and Love Connection make the TV Overmind list but don't land anywhere in my own top fifty list. While Amazing Race may be the most respectable reality show in the eyes of many critics, I just don't think it's a game show. The season-long structure and heavy emphasis on personal relationships nudge it over the line into the reality kingdom.
I really don't think Gong Show is a game show either, just a talent contest gone berserk. But it's been grandfathered into the genre, so I'm not going to argue its place as a game show. I will argue that the Chuck Barris opus was too tacky and sometimes cruel to deserve a place in the top fifty, much less the top twenty. Love Connection is a more reasonable choice, but I already had Dating Game in my top twenty and that was all the dating hijinks I wanted. Sorry, Chuck.
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