50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time (TV series)

For TV Guide's list, see 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time (TV Guide).

For The Game Show Channel's list, see Viewers Choice for Game Show Winners of All Time.

50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time
Format	Game Show/Countdown
Created by	Rich Cronin
Presented by	Bil Dwyer
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	21
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	GSN
Original run	July 18 – August 31, 2006

The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All-Time is a series that aired on GSN from July 18 to August 31, 2006 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 10:00 PM Eastern Time. Hosted by Bil Dwyer, the series counted down the 50 greatest American game shows of all time as chosen by GSN executives, who voted on the best game shows from a list of programs nationally broadcast in the United States since the 1940s.

Episodes airing in the countdown usually were rarely seen, classic, or notable episodes of those shows of which episodes still exist, and which GSN had the rights to air. Three shows GSN programmed at the time of their presentation in the countdown—Beat the Clock, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune—were not represented by an episode, while an episode of Shop 'til You Drop was featured, even though the program had never appeared on GSN before.

Each installment of the countdown featured either a single episode of an hour-long game show, or two half-hour episodes. Starting with number eight on the list, half-hour shows took the whole hour with two episodes. Shows that were not represented with actual airings of episodes were instead featured during the bumpers in the countdown, which displayed still production photographs of these series as Dwyer described them and their prominence.

GSN repeated this list starting May 5, 2007 on a once-a-week basis normally presented in two-hour installment episode blocks on Saturday nights, and ended as scheduled after eleven weeks on July 14, 2007.

The list

Rank	Show	Airdates	Featured	Notes
50	Three's a Crowd	SYN 1979 - 1980	July 18	The episode aired was the September 17, 1979 premiere (and aired pilot), which featured the infamous "Edible Spaghetti" answer.
49	Treasure Hunt	ABC 1956 - 1957 NBC 1957 - 1959 SYN 1973 - 1977 SYN 1981 - 1982	July 18	This 1974 episode featured one of the show's ten $25,000 wins. This was only the third time GSN aired The New Treasure Hunt, and the first time this episode has aired.
48	Blockbusters	NBC 1980 - 1982 NBC 1987	July 19	This November 1980 episode featured contestant Larae Dillman, one of the biggest winners during the first version of the show. Dillman later appeared on The New $25,000 Pyramid and Russian Roulette.
47	Studs	SYN 1991 - 1993	July 19	This episode is from 1992.
46	Hollywood Showdown	PAX (ION) 2000 GSN 2000 - 2001	July 19	This episode featured a $16,000 Box Office win.
45	Shop 'til You Drop	LIFE 1991 - 1994 FAM 1996 - 1998 PAX (ION) 2000 - 2005	July 20	This episode was from the Pat Finn-hosted PAX version and is the first episode ever aired by GSN. This episode featured a winning score of 950 in the Shopper's Challenge Round.
44.	Truth or Consequences	CBS 1950 - 1951 NBC 1954 - 1959 SYN 1966 - 1975 SYN 1977 - 1978 SYN 1987 - 1988	July 20	This episode featured an episode from 1966.
43.	Tattletales	CBS 1974 - 1978 SYN 1977 - 1978 CBS 1982 - 1984	July 20	This 1974 episode featured William Shatner and Marcy Lafferty, George Hamilton and wife Alana, and Scoey and Claire Mitchell.
42.	Queen for a Day	NBC 1956 - 1960 ABC 1960 - 1964 SYN 1969 - 1970	July 20	This episode is from 1963.
41.	$1.98 Beauty Show	SYN 1978 - 1980	July 25	This episode was the premiere from September 4, 1978.
40.	Twenty One	NBC 1956 - 1958 NBC 2000	July 25	This Jack Barry episode is from of 1956.
39.	G.E. College Bowl	CBS 1959 - 1963 NBC 1963 - 1970 DISNEY 1987	July 25	This episode was from the NBC premiere
38.	Whammy!	GSN 2002 - 2003	July 25	This episode was from the first season.
37.	Greed	FOX 1999 - 2000	July 26	This 2000 episode featured Curtis Warren's $1,000,000 win.
36.	Remote Control	MTV 1987 - 1990/1991 SYN 1989 - 1990	July 26	This 1989 MTV episode featured a sketch comedy from SNL's Adam Sandler.
35.	Beat the Clock	CBS 1950 - 1958 ABC 1958 - 1961 SYN 1969 - 1974 CBS 1979 - 1980 PAX (ION) 2002 - 2003 Universal Kids 2018 - Present	July 26	This episode featured the $64,000 win.
34.	Sale of the Century	NBC 1969 - 1973 SYN 1973 - 1974 NBC 1983 - 1989 SYN 1985 - 1986	July 27	This episode featured a syndication episode from 1973 with host Joe Gargaiola. This is the first episode GSN aired in 2006 and 2007.
33.	Dog Eat Dog	NBC 2002 - 2003	July 27	This episode featured the strip putting challenge.
32.	Tic-Tac-Dough	NBC 1956 - 1959 CBS/SYN 1978 - 1986 SYN 1990 - 1991	August 1	This 1980 episode featured Thom McKee's last win.
31.	You Bet Your Life	NBC 1950 - 1961 SYN 1980 - 1981 SYN 1992 - 1993	August 1	This episode is from the ninth season.
30.	Card Sharks	NBC 1978 - 1981 CBS 1986 - 1989 SYN 1986 - 1987 SYN 2001	August 1	This was Norma Brown's $28,800 win playing the Money Cards, the only maximum win the show had (aside from one of the pilot episodes). This episode aired in November 1978.
29.	Scrabble	NBC 1984 - 1990/1993	August 1	This episode featured a funniest moment of Terry Ray. He was saying something funny to host Chuck Woolery.
28.	The $64,000 Question	CBS 1955 - 1958	August 2	This episode is from the first season.
27.	Win Ben Stein's Money	COM 1997 - 2003	August 2	This episode from Jimmy Kimmel's tenure as co-host featured the only contestant to get a perfect score of 10 in the final round.
26.	Deal or No Deal	NBC 2005 - 2009 SYN 2008 - 2010	August 2	No Episode Aired
25.	Password Plus/Super Password	NBC 1979 - 1982/1984 - 1989	August 2	An episode of Plus from June 1979 aired featuring future GSN president Rich Cronin as a contestant, who won a total of $3,300.
24.	Win, Lose or Draw	NBC 1987 - 1989 SYN 1987 - 1990 DISNEY 1989 - 1992	August 3	This episode was from the first week of the syndicated Bert Convy version, featuring celebrity guest (and executive producer) Burt Reynolds explaining the origins of the show.
23.	The Joker's Wild	CBS 1972 - 1975 SYN 1977 - 1986 SYN 1990 - 1991	August 3	This episode was from early 1984 towards the end of Jack Barry's tenure.
22.	Weakest Link	NBC 2001 - 2002 SYN 2002 - 2003	August 8	An episode from the George Gray version aired, in which the "chain" reached the top and was won and doubled in the second-to-last round. Also featured George doing an Anne Robinson imitation when a British-born contestant was voted off.
21.	I've Got a Secret	CBS 1952 - 1967 SYN 1972 - 1973 CBS 1976 OXY 2000 - 2003 GSN 2006	August 8	An episode was featured from the syndicated run with Amarillo Slim and Milton Berle.
20.	Concentration	NBC 1958/1961 NBC 1958 - 1973 SYN 1973 - 1978 NBC 1987 - 1991	August 9	This episode featured the final episode of Jack Narz.
19.	To Tell the Truth	CBS 1956 - 1968 SYN 1969 - 1978 SYN 1980 - 1981 NBC 1990 - 1991 SYN 2000 - 2002 ABC 2016 - Present	August 9	This episode from the 1977-1978 syndicated Joe Garagiola version features Frank Abagnale, a world-renowned con artist. He was the subject of the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can, which featured a re-creation of this episode's opening sequence.
18.	Love Connection	SYN 1983 - 1994 SYN 1998 - 1999 FOX 2017 - Present	August 9	This 1990 episode featured a divorced contestant. When he was married, he had appeared on The Newlywed Game. Chuck Woolery, the show's original host, stated on an episode of Biography that he does not believe Love Connection was a game show.
17.	Name That Tune	NBC 1953 - 1954 CBS 1954 - 1959 NBC 1974 - 1975/1977 SYN 1974 - 1981 SYN 1984 - 1985	August 10	This episode featured an episode from 1977.
16.	Lingo	SYN 1987 - 1988 GSN 2002 - 2007/2011	August 10	Two episodes were aired. One was the premiere of GSN's version from August 2002, where two Canadian-born contestants won only $500. The other episode (originally aired in 2006) featured Shandi Finnessey as co-host, the largest jackpot won in Season Five, and an appearance by Chuck's son Sean. No mention was made of the 1980s series.
15.	Password	CBS 1961 - 1967 ABC 1971 - 1975	August 15	This 1967 episode featured Tony Randall (one of the series' best players) and Polly Bergen.
14.	What's My Line?	CBS 1950 - 1967 SYN 1968 - 1975	August 15	This episode from 1973 featured then-Governor of Georgia and future president Jimmy Carter. The mystery guest was Joan Fontaine.
13.	Press Your Luck	CBS 1983 - 1986	August 16	The two episodes featured from June 8 and 11, 1984 were the infamous Michael Larson appearance. He won $110,237 in his one appearance on the show, which had to be split into two episodes due to its length.
12.	The Gong Show	NBC 1976 - 1978 SYN 1976 - 1980 SYN 1988 - 1989 GSN 1998 - 2000 ABC 2017 - Present	August 17	This episode featured Steve Martin as a judge.
11.	Hollywood Squares	NBC 1966 - 1981 SYN 1971 - 1981 SYN 1986 - 1989 SYN 1998 - 2004	August 17	A syndicated episode from 1972 aired, hosted by Peter Marshall. This was the first time in three years that GSN aired a Marshall-era episode.
10.	The Dating Game	ABC 1965 - 1973 SYN 1973 - 1974 SYN 1978 - 1980 SYN 1986 - 1989 SYN 1996 - 1999	August 22	This Jim Lange episode featured Andy Kaufman (using an alias) as a bachelor. He spoke and acted like his Taxi character Latka.
9.	The Newlywed Game	ABC 1966 - 1974 ABC 1967 - 1971 SYN 1977 - 1980 ABC 1984 SYN 1985 - 1989 SYN 1997 - 1999 GSN 2009 - Present	August 22	The 1977 maternity episode featuring the infamous response of "In the ass".
8.	Pyramid	CBS 1973 - 1974 ABC 1974 - 1980 SYN 1974 - 1979 SYN 1981 CBS 1982 - 1987/1988 SYN 1985 - 1988 SYN 1991 SYN 2002 - 2004 ABC 2016 - Present	August 23	Two episodes were aired. One was from The $20,000 Pyramid in May 1979 featuring Sal Viscuso and Billy Crystal. This episode showed a clip of Crystal's record Winner's Circle victory, and was chosen for the countdown as the original episode was destroyed by ABC. The other was an episode of The $100,000 Pyramid from November 1986 with Shelley Smith and LeVar Burton plus a tournament win.
7.	Let's Make a Deal	NBC 1963 - 1968 ABC 1968 - 1976 SYN 1971 - 1977 SYN 1980 - 1981 SYN 1984 - 1986 NBC 1990 - 1991 NBC 2003 CBS 2009 - Present	August 24	Two nighttime episodes aired - one from 1972, and the other featuring the first Super Deal win from 1976.
6.	Wheel of Fortune	NBC 1975 - 1989 SYN 1983 - Present CBS 1989 - 1991 NBC 1991	August 29	An episode from 2003 featured the third $100,000 winner.
5.	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire	ABC 1999 - 2002 SYN 2002 - Present ABC 2004	August 29	This episode featured David Goodman's $1,000,000 win.
4.	The Price Is Right	NBC 1956 - 1963 ABC 1963 - 1965 CBS 1972 - Present SYN 1972 - 1980 SYN 1985 - 1986 SYN 1994 - 1995	August 30	An episode from CBS featured a Double Showcase Winner in television history. This episode is hosted by Bob Barker.
3.	Family Feud	ABC 1976 - 1985 SYN 1977 - 1985 CBS 1988 - 1993 SYN 1988 - 1995 SYN 1999 - Present NBC 2008 ABC 2015 - Present	August 30	The first episode was from July 1976, featuring the famous questions and answers "Name a time when most people get up: Morning" and "Name a time when most people go to bed: Night". The second episode was from 1980.
2.	Jeopardy!	NBC 1964 - 1975 SYN 1974 - 1975 NBC 1978 - 1979 SYN 1984 - Present ABC 1990	August 31	This episode featured Ken Jennings in 2004.
1.	$1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime	SYN 1986-1987	August 31	These three episode featured Cheryl and Bill Gilmore winning 3 games and $1,000,000