This house believes Countdown is the greatest gameshow of all time

[Adam S Latchford]

Inspired by this lovely bit of radio featuring Colin Murray, Jenny Ryan, Neil Delamere, Tom Stevenson and Coral Heath (start at 34:42):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jk07

What does everyone believe is truly the greatest game show of all time? Countdown for longevity? Bullseye for the legendary prizes? Red or Black because you didn't quite understand the question?

Probably threads like this exist before that I couldn't find, but good to add the fun radio in to this one too.

[Gavin Chipper]

I don't think that the ending of the Crystal Maze was a good example from Jenny Ryan. One of the worst endings for any gameshow.

[Philip A]

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - question and answer in purest form. Win lose or fold, the end result is always entirely your own responsibility even with the guidance of the lifelines.

[Gavin Chipper]

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - question and answer in purest form. Win lose or fold, the end result is always entirely your own responsibility even with the guidance of the lifelines.

It's only if interest because of the big money on offer. It would be pretty dull otherwise. Just see how far you can get with 15 questions and then go home. Not sure it's any purer than other quizzes anyway. Its thing is the money, not being a pure quiz anyway.

[Gavin Chipper]

It might be worth looking at this Apterous ticket as well (for those with access), about the greatest gameshow.

[Ben Wilson]

Question and answer in its purest form is surely fifteen to one, and the difficulty of the questions there must act in its favour.

Personally, my all time greatest is probably Blockbusters. General knowledge mixed with a good chunk of strategy is always a winner in my eyes.

[Dan Byrom]

Any general knowledge quiz isn't in the question for me. You either know stuff or you don't, and most of the time I don't. The 'skill' in quizzing is just knowing more stuff.

I'd give it to something that has elements of skill and strategy

I absolutely love the 1% club. Anyone can get any question right with a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. It's new but it beats anything else I've watched.

[Mark Deeks]

The 'skill' in quizzing is just knowing more stuff.

Eh, there's a fair bit more to it than that. Quizzing is the intersection of knowledge, logic and deduction.

[Gavin Chipper]

Question and answer in its purest form is surely fifteen to one, and the difficulty of the questions there must act in its favour.

Personally, my all time greatest is probably Blockbusters. General knowledge mixed with a good chunk of strategy is always a winner in my eyes.

There's no strategy in Blockbusters. It makes zero difference which letter you pick.

[Dan Byrom]

The 'skill' in quizzing is just knowing more stuff.

Eh, there's a fair bit more to it than that. Quizzing is the intersection of knowledge, logic and deduction.

I do appreciate this - I'm just bitter that I don't know anything except lots of obscure anagrams

[Rhys Benjamin]

Good idea for a Backbench Business Debate. I'll call the boss.

[Philip A]

All the shows mentioned are good in their own right, BUT…

Why is Millionaire the most successful game show format in the world? Over 120 countries have adopted this Great British export.

For sure, the jackpot is the main attraction, but it’s not won by picking lottery numbers. Answer 15 questions of increasing difficulty correctly in a row for life-changing sums of money looks simple on paper yet so hard to achieve! That’s why only 6 people have done it so far, in the UK version.

The uniqueness of Millionaire compared to so many quiz shows is the questions in the main game has no fine margins: no time limit (theoretically) which forces you to answer immediately, no buzzer race that denies you from a chance to answer by the barest of margins, and no adjudicator who might contentiously give a near miss answer wrong. Well, ‘Phone A Friend’ and ‘Ask The Audience’ have time restrictions, but all the lifelines are guidances rather than giveaways which, conversely, can misguide you. There’s always a correct answer available. Furthermore, you can even refuse to answer at no loss whatsoever, by walking away with the money you’ve earned. A lot of shows punish you for not answering at all as well as being wrong. You also can’t redeem yourself from a wrong answer. The game ending on one wrong answer adds jeopardy and tension, which increases as the contestants ascends the money tree. I love the extra tactic of setting of the second safety net in the current rules too. Technically, the main game itself puts you under no pressure at all. You call the shots. The only time when the pressure is on is qualifying through Fastest Finger First, a timed race to correct order 4 answers fastest and not just press a button. It’s a show that makes you want to support a player. It’s so good to watch.

For non-quiz game shows, my favourite is Robot Wars, which I think could have ran for longer if they haven’t made it so staged or “fixed”.

[Mark Deeks]

I don't think the answer to the question of Best Game Show should be a quiz show. They are distinct enough as a genre.

[Andres Sanchez]

I don't think the answer to the question of Best Game Show should be a quiz show. They are distinct enough as a genre.

I feel like a lot of people use the word game show and quiz show so interchangeably that it just loses all meaning, though.

[Mark James]

I don't think the answer to the question of Best Game Show should be a quiz show. They are distinct enough as a genre.

I feel like a lot of people use the word game show and quiz show so interchangeably that it just loses all meaning, though.

But those people are wrong. Jenny Ryan did a piss poor attempt at differentiating them and subsequently lost the debate for me. Countdown wins best game show for me on the strength of longevity and play-along-ability and the fact that is a game show.

The Chase for me is the best quiz show, narrowly beating 15 to 1. You could argue the Chase is a bit of both. You're playing a game against the chasers but it's still just questions and answers whereas Countdown is definitely not a quiz show.

[Mark James]

Actually, having thought about it a bit more, it's probably the case that all quiz shows are game shows but not all game shows are quiz shows. Which means the Chase is the best overall for me. I wonder would it survive without Bradley though in the way Countdown did without Richard?

[Gavin Chipper]

I find The Chase annoying. It's more about Bradley Walsh and stupid noises and having to win the money three times than being a quiz. And why not have a different stupid noise for right and wrong answers (in the second round)?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was of its time. That time was 1998. I just don't think it has enough to keep the excitement over a long period of time.

[Marc Meakin]

University Challenge.
60 years and still going
My favourite word based game was Catchword but it could never dethrone Countdown which is words and numbers anyway

[Mark James]

Round Britain Quiz on the radio has been going for 76 years.

Has any other quiz had a host wake up naked and terrified in a hotel having had their clothes, wallet and the answers to their next quiz stolen by a one night stand?

[Philip A]

Actually, having thought about it a bit more, it's probably the case that all quiz shows are game shows but not all game shows are quiz shows. Which means the Chase is the best overall for me. I wonder would it survive without Bradley though in the way Countdown did without Richard?

I still love The Chase and much prefer it to Pointless, and Bradley Walsh is a great presenter in my view. Everything he touches turns to gold.

[Philip A]

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was of its time. That time was 1998. I just don't think it has enough to keep the excitement over a long period of time.

I think in any country it’s shown, a first jackpot win is a conclusion to the anticipation and makes the show less and less relevant.

It did used to be event TV. They made a mistake when they changed it from being a once-in-a-while event running from 7-14 consecutive nights roughly once every 4 months, to 3 times a week on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, for about 30 weeks. Overexposure hastened its demise. The American version demised similarly. ITV then made it just a Saturday night show. Then they screwed up the format with erratic money leaps, and then a clock and doing away with Fastest Finger.

The current version is even better than the original because of the extra lifeline and the setting of the second safety barrier. Contestants now have more control of the game.

The format remains king, though. You can only lose money by an unforced error.

[Marc Meakin]

Actually, having thought about it a bit more, it's probably the case that all quiz shows are game shows but not all game shows are quiz shows. Which means the Chase is the best overall for me. I wonder would it survive without Bradley though in the way Countdown did without Richard?

I still love The Chase and much prefer it to Pointless, and Bradley Walsh is a great presenter in my view. Everything he touches turns to gold.

I do like The Chase.
It does irritate me that MORE people don't go for the lower offer as the extra point gained in the final chase is the difference to winning and losing

[samir pilica]

Radio 4’s Brain of Britain gets my vote for it’s quality and diversity of questions. Long running, never changed the format and consistent in applying 5 year rule re reappearances.

[Philip A]

consistent in applying 5 year rule re reappearances.

I wish Countdown was like that, as I expressed elsewhere.

[Martin Long]

What I like about Countdown is that I can put it on every weekday and see a unique show without fail. Put on Pointless or The Chase and there's always a chance it could be a repeat.

[Philip A]

What I like about Countdown is that I can put it on every weekday and see a unique show without fail. Put on Pointless or The Chase and there's always a chance it could be a repeat.

I do find this repeat trend very irritating. It’s even more irritating when there are more repeats than new episodes. Some shows also stop and start the latest series at random points (Pointless does this) so you never hear, “Welcome to a brand new/the last show of the series.”

The Chase has a more consistent new episode/repeat structure but it’s messed up with ITV deliberately shuffling episodes of their daytime quiz shows instead of showing them in order they were recorded. The Chase even jumps across series. I notice changes in set design, which were more noticeable during the Covid lockdowns.

Countdown makes about 240 shows per year which fills up almost all the weekdays. The other quiz shows make between 20 and 200 shows per year depending on popularity and demand, as they have to go away and do lots of research to make new questions.

[Gavin Chipper]

I suppose with most shows they exist in isolation and are just part of the unchanging dystopian hellscape that is our daily lives, whereas Countdown wouldn't make sense with random repeats thrown in.