My television cable company has added the Game Show Network (GSN). This isn’t very interesting, but it is diverting. It turns out GSN is actually helpful for short breaks during the day. Ten minutes of an old game show, and a few new ones, can help clear a cluttered mind. Remember "Match Game?" Yep, still totally corny, even more so thanks to the passage of time, but the absurdity of it helps the brain forget work for a while and refresh. Unfortunately, GSN wastes too much time with bad game shows like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," "Greed," "Press Your Luck," and "Card Sharks"–I can’t even leave these on for ten minutes.
My favorite of the old games GSN shows is "Password" and its multiple variations, including "Password Plus" and "Super Password." I don’t really know why I enjoy this, but it’s fun to see the celebrities, some good at the game, some awful, trying to win money for contestants. I don’t turn on the TV during the morning, but I don’t think we have game shows with celebrities any more, do we? I guess they’re too worried about looking like fools and won’t participate. This didn’t stop them in the past…
Image borrowed from "Password" and GSN.
This low-quality picture is from a 1964 or 1965 edition of "Password" that GSN aired last night. Yep, that’s Allen Ludden as the host with celebrities Lauren Bacall and Jack Palance. Yep…Lauren Bacall played "Password" on national TV! And both she and Jack were good players. Can you think of any big star that would appear on a similar game show today? I can’t.