A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a host, who explains the rules of the game as well as commentating and narrating where necessary. The history of the game shows dates back to the late 1930s when both radio and television game shows were broadcast. The genre became popular in the United States in the 1950s, becoming a regular feature of daytime television.
Hollywood Squares is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show piloted on NBC in 1965 and the regular series debuted in 1966 on the same network. The board for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants. The stars are asked questions by the host and the contestants judge the truth of their answers to gain squares in the right pattern to win the game.
Match Game is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelists to fill-in-the-blank questions. Beginning with the CBS run of the 1970s, the questions are often formed as humorous double entendres.
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes.
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, the latter serving as its host for nearly 30 years.
Pyramid is an American game show franchise that has aired several versions domestically and internationally. The show was developed by Bob Stewart. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted on March 26, 1973, and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series. Most later series featured a full title format matching the original series, with the title reflecting an increasing top prize. The game features two contestants, each paired with a celebrity. In the game, the contestants and celebrities attempt to identify words or phrases through clues given by their teammates. The title refers to the show's pyramid-shaped gameboard, featuring six categories arranged in a triangular fashion. The various Pyramid series have won a total of nine Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show, second only to Jeopardy!, which has won 13.
The Newlywed Game is an American television game show that puts newly married couples against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know or do not know each other. The program, originally created by Robert "Nick" Nicholson and E. Roger Muir and produced by Chuck Barris, has appeared in many different versions since its 1966 debut. The show became famous for some of the arguments that couples had over incorrect answers in the form of mistaken predictions, and it even led to some divorces.
Name That Tune is an American television music game show. Originally created and produced by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, the series features contestants competing to correctly identify songs being played by an on-stage orchestra or band.
To Tell the Truth is an American television panel show in which four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual occupation or experience has been read aloud by the show's moderator/host. When the panelists question the contestants, the two impostors may lie whereas the "central character" must tell the truth. The setup adds the impostor element to the format of What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret.
Password is an American television game show in which two teams, each composed of a celebrity player and a contestant, attempt to convey mystery words to each other using only single-word clues, in order to win cash prizes.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television game show based on the format of the same-titled British program created by David Briggs, Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill and developed in the United States by Michael Davies. The show features a quiz competition with contestants attempting to win a top prize of $1,000,000 by answering a series of multiple-choice questions, usually of increasing difficulty. The program has endured as one of the longest-running and most successful international variants in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise.
Gameshow Marathon is an American television program which aired on CBS from May 31 to June 29, 2006. It is based on the United Kingdom series Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon which aired on ITV in 2005. It also aired in Canada on CTV.
You Don't Say! is an American television game show that had three separate runs on television. The first version aired on NBC daytime from April 1, 1963, to September 26, 1969, with revivals on ABC in 1975 and in syndication from 1978 to 1979. The last two incarnations were executive produced by Ralph Andrews and produced and directed by Bill Carruthers.
The Price Is Right is an American game show produced by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, wherein contestants placed successive bids on merchandise prizes with the goal of bidding closest to each prize's actual retail price without surpassing it. The show was a precursor to the current and best-known version of the program, which premiered in 1972 on CBS's daytime schedule. It makes The Price Is Right one of only a few game show franchises to have aired in some form across all three of the Big Three television networks.
The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed media, and board games. The franchise began in 1956 as a television game show hosted by Bill Cullen and was revamped in 1972, initially as "The New Price Is Right." This version was originally hosted by Bob Barker. Drew Carey has hosted the program since 2007.
Weakest Link is an American television game show that made its debut in 2001. It is an adaptation of the British television series of the same name.
Don't Forget the Lyrics! is an American television game show in which contestants compete to win $1 million by correctly recalling song lyrics from a variety of genres. The program originally aired on Fox from July 11, 2007, to June 19, 2009, hosted by Wayne Brady and produced by RDF USA, part of RDF Media. The premiere of the show prompted NBC to move up the premiere of their similar game show, The Singing Bee.
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 1975. It features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The current version of the series, which airs in nightly syndication, premiered on September 19, 1983. It stars Pat Sajak and Vanna White as hosts, who have hosted the nighttime version since its inception. The original version of Wheel was a network daytime series that ran on NBC from January 6, 1975, to June 30, 1989, and subsequently aired on CBS from July 17, 1989, to January 11, 1991; it returned to NBC on January 14, 1991, and was cancelled that year, ending on September 20, 1991.
Celebrity Name Game is an American syndicated game show that premiered on September 22, 2014. Based on the board game Identity Crisis, the series was developed by Courteney Cox and David Arquette's Coquette Productions, and was originally pitched as a primetime series for CBS with Craig Ferguson as host. The series was later picked up by FremantleMedia and Debmar-Mercury as a syndicated series for 2014 with Ferguson, who left The Late Late Show on December 19, 2014, remaining as host as well as an executive producer. The series marks Coquette's first foray into game shows. The show was subsequently renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 21, 2015.
