Game Shows That Should Come Back

Ten formats sitting in a vault somewhere, waiting for a network to run out of ideas again.

Entries
10
Category
TV
Updated
  1. A game show podium covered in shredded credit card bills and past-due envelopes, a stage spotlight on the pile.

    10. Debt

    Wink Martindale · 1996

    Contestants needed at least $6,000 in real debt to qualify, and played pop-culture trivia to get it paid off. Critics called it tacky. It became Lifetime's top show with men anyway. Every new consumer report suggests the contestant pool is in excellent shape.

  2. A glowing blue chroma-key stage with a joystick on a pedestal, pixelated fireballs projected across the empty space.

    09. Nick Arcade

    Phil Moore · 1992

    Kids moved a cartoon named Mikey around a game board, then stepped into the Video Zone, a bluescreen game level, to fight wizards. It was the first U.S. show to regularly mix live action and animation that way. It lasted one year. VR headsets exist now. Do the math.

  3. A city sidewalk at noon with a lone microphone on a stand and a clipboard of trivia questions on a bench.

    08. Street Smarts

    Frank Nicotero · 2000

    Contestants won money predicting whether random people on the street could answer basic trivia. The people on the street usually could not. It ran in syndication until 2005 and spun off versions in Canada, Germany and the UK. The street has only gotten richer since.

  4. A big rotating game board of numbered tiles, a few flipped to reveal pieces of a picture puzzle, a row of shiny new cars below.

    07. Classic Concentration

    Alex Trebek · 1987

    Match prize pairs on a big board of numbered tiles to uncover pieces of a rebus puzzle, then match the cars in the bonus round. Alex Trebek hosted it while also hosting Jeopardy!, which seems like a lot of answers for one man. It has not come back since 1991.

  5. A tall jagged artificial mountain lit in glowing neon colors in an arena, fake rocks and spotlight beams.

    06. Nickelodeon Guts

    Mike O'Malley · 1992

    Three kids competed in extreme versions of real sports at Universal Studios Florida, refereed by Moira Quirk, then raced up the Aggro Crag, a 28-foot glowing fake mountain. Winning the Crag was worth 725 points, which made everything before it a formality.

  6. A giant foam nose on a stage, dripping with green slime, an orange flag sticking out of one nostril.

    05. Double Dare

    Marc Summers · 1986

    Trivia, physical challenges, and an obstacle course where kids dug through a giant nose for a flag. It ran until 1993, Nickelodeon's longest game show, and a Liza Koshy revival ended in 2019. It made green slime a television format. The slime is still waiting.

  7. A runaway shopping cart overflowing with hams and turkeys in a bright supermarket aisle, a giant inflatable soda bottle overhead.

    04. Supermarket Sweep

    David Ruprecht · 1990

    Teams answer grocery trivia for time, then sprint the aisles grabbing hams and hunting cash bonuses stuck to giant inflatables. It aired on Lifetime and PAX, then ABC brought it back with Leslie Jones and shelved it in 2022. Grocery prices alone make it urgent.

  8. A carved stone head with glowing eyes overlooking a jungle temple of colored stairs and a small silver monkey statue in three pieces.

    03. Legends of the Hidden Temple

    Kirk Fogg · 1993

    Kids crossed a moat, climbed the Steps of Knowledge, and ran a twelve-room temple while a talking stone head named Olmec judged them. The Shrine of the Silver Monkey defeated a generation. The 2021 CW adult version lasted one season. Give it back to the kids.

  9. A cluttered basement game show set with three recliner chairs, a washer and dryer, and a giant novelty candy dispenser.

    02. Remote Control

    Ken Ober · 1987

    MTV's first non-music show: a pop-culture quiz in a basement set with a giant Pez dispenser, where losers were yanked backward through a breakaway wall. Colin Quinn announced, and Adam Sandler and Denis Leary turned up. Every streaming service should own one recliner.

  10. A plain wooden desk with an old bank passbook and a neat stack of cash, a tweed jacket over the chair and a pair of eyedrops beside the buzzer.

    01. Win Ben Stein's Money

    Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel · 1997

    Contestants on Comedy Central tried to take $5,000 directly out of the host's bank, and if they failed, he kept the leftovers. Jimmy Kimmel co-hosted the first three years. It won six Daytime Emmys. Nobody has made losing money look this enjoyable since.

Honorable mentions

  • A flashing game board of colored squares with lights racing around it, a single cartoon red devil-tailed shape on one tile.

    Press Your Luck

    Elizabeth Banks · 2019

    Already back, and the proof this works: ABC revived it in 2019 with Elizabeth Banks and it's now into a seventh season. The original's legend is Michael Larson, who studied the board on tape and won $110,237 in 1984. CBS let him keep it. Whammies remain undefeated.

Dishonorable mentions

  • Eight identical empty stools lined up on a dim stage, a large prize check face down on the floor.

    Who's Your Daddy?

    Fox · 2005

    An adopted adult had to pick their biological father out of eight men for $100,000, and a wrong guess paid the impostor. Adoption groups protested and a Raleigh affiliate refused to air it. Fox shelved the other five episodes. Leave this one exactly where it is.

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