Game shows of the 1970s are iconic. In addition to Soap Operas, nothing made an afternoon home sick from school entertaining quite like Game Shows. If you are anything like me, you could plan your entire sick day around the Game Shows that aired. Sleep in a little, watch a game show, and get lunch right around the time the Price Is Right was on. Most importantly, I had to stop watching the tv roughly 30 minutes before Mom came home so when she felt the top of the tv it wasn’t still warm and she’d believe you when you said you hadn’t watched any tv all day. My sister taught me that trick. She also taught me to hold the thermometer up to the light bulb to heat it up and show you have a fever. She didn’t teach me how to read the thermometer however, and so my mom knew I was up to something when I had a 104 temperature. Dang it!
While not a huge fan of Richard Dawson, I did like a show that he was on. Now, nothing against the man, but he was a little creepy with the excessive female attention. Turns out, people back in the day agreed with me, kinda. Apparently the executives of the Family Feud tried to get “The Kissing Bandit” to back off which caused him to appeal to the masses. The masses said, continue on with the PDA. Seriously, the good folks of the 70’s actually liked all the kissing!
The Richard Dawson show that I loved, however, involved no kissing, it was Match Game. It involved a celebrity panel of 6 celebrities. They would be asked to fill in the blank of very leading questions and the answers were often adult and naughty. I didn’t get the jokes they made but I knew they were naughty and that made it fun! At the end of the game the winning contestant would choose one famous person to match with them. It turns out that was almost always Richard Dawson. This happened with such regularity that they had to change the rules of the show. He was just that good at Match Game! I loved it.
Match Game
An Article on the Genius of Match Game
Speaking of game shows that were naughty, how about The Newlywed Game, do you remember that one? This game, hosted by the popular Bob Eubanks pitted newly married spouses against each other. Again as a kid, I understood the naughtiness of “making whoopee” and so many of the other questions. I thought it was just so funny to see the answers that the spouses got wrong and how mad they would get at each other. Thinking back, I can’t believe I was allowed to watch it! I wasn’t allowed to watch Three’s Company because of all the innuendos but I could watch the Newlywed Game where the sex comments were much more in your face? It was no Jack Tripper but it was still such a great show!
The Newlywed Game
There are so many other fantastic game shows of the time that I thought about not writing anything and just making a list of the shows and pictures to help take you back. Much to your chagrin, I’m sure….that’s not the way I went with this, obviously. It doesn’t mean that we might not revisit this incredible topic later!
I am going to cover one more game show, it was one of my childhood favorites. If you asked me to name the best game show of the 70’s, I would immediately blurt out, Card Sharks. I will be honest, I don’t really remember all that much about the game. What appealed to child me was the super huge cards that they moved around the board and the audience screaming at the contestants “Higher” and “Lower”! What could be more fun for your afternoon viewing pleasure than that?!?!?! Jim Perry was the host that I remember but after him was the previously mentioned Bob Eubanks. What a way to make a living, as the consummate game show host. In case you never had the chance to drown yourself in 30 minutes of game show nirvana, I’ll provide you a recap. Two contestants did their best to answer a survey question (100 men were asked) to determine who gets to go first. They would then have to predict if the next giant card flipped would be higher or lower than the current one. As mentioned above, with lots of audience assistance. I have included a snippet of the show below in case I have peaked your interest or reminded you of the best game show ever!
Card Sharks
There are so many more to choose from. Hollywood Squares, Password, the list goes on and on. Quite a few of them have recently been recreated for watching in modern times. I have seen some of these but I have to be honest, they typically make me miss the joy of the originals. Grainy footage and slick hair-doed hosts on bad sets, ah, how I long for you….
