A few weeks ago I started to get into this show on Travel Channel (Which has deviated it's roots quite a lot...), which is, to put it simply, a glorified poker game. The reason I'm talking about this is because my onscreen guide on my satelitte lists it as an "Game Show".

If you've seen it, do think this program qualifies to be called a "Game Show" ?
-Joe R.

If the players have to answer a question posed by Wink Martindale before they are dealt the cards, yes.

or Mary Lou Basaraba giving away crockpots to the audience....

Charles

QUOTE (JRaygor @ Jul 17 2003, 10:26 AM)

If you've seen it, do think this program qualifies to be called a "Game Show" ?

No more so than when poker (or Magic: The Gathering) runs on ESPN2 at four in the morning.

I actually somewhat consider these poker tourneys to be more of a sporting event, but that's just me. Maybe I'm just completely wrong.

The problem with classifying anything as a game show is that there will be something that will either:
a. match most of the rules but contain something that disqualifies it.
b. totally not qualify but match one rule.

So what rules are we talking about? Well, there are a few that have been suggested:
1. It must have a game. Well, duh! (As opposed to a sporting event.) The game should be specifically created for the show.
2. Someone must win something.
3. It must appear on television/radio and be made for television/radio.

So let's look at some borderline cases:

Survivor, and its ilk. It's made for television, includes games, and somebody must win something. But there's a ton of folks who refuse to call it a game show.
The difference may be that the game is a minor part of the program, and the bulk of it is observation of
The Gong Show: It wasn't a game, really, but it's considered a game show. It was a competition. But not all competitions are games hows; you would likely not, for example, consider "American Gladiators" a game show, although someone else might.
Truth or Consequences: People get prizes, but the show is more an observation of humans in silly situations than a contest. (And those reunions have more in common with "This Is Your Life" than a game show.

Which leads us to the World Poker Tour (which I also really enjoy, BTW). The main strike against it is that, while it has a game and people win money, the competition could be done without a TV show (even though the tour was basically put together for TV). By contrast, I don't see too many people going out and playing Concentration or The Magnificent Marble Machine at clubs.

So is it a game show. By our standards, no. But then again, what is?[/B]

If it's got Jack Clark in a powder-blue tux and Jane Nelson in a Suzy Creamcheese gown dealing out the cards, then I'd consider it.

QUOTE

Which leads us to the World Poker Tour (which I also really enjoy, BTW). The main strike against it is that, while it has a game and people win money, the competition could be done without a TV show (even though the tour was basically put together for TV). By contrast, I don't see too many people going out and playing Concentration or The Magnificent Marble Machine at clubs.

Not that we haven't already hashed this out hundreds of times, but the thing you left out of your analysis is whether the average viewer has a reasonable opportunity to participate. I'm not familiar with this World Poker Tour, but I assume it's made up of pretty serious poker players. A true game show needs true contestants, not skilled pros who've spent years honing a specific skill.

QUOTE (Matt Ottinger @ Jul 18 2003, 09:26 AM)

Not that we haven't already hashed this out hundreds of times, but the thing you left out of your analysis is whether the average viewer has a reasonable opportunity to participate. I'm not familiar with this World Poker Tour, but I assume it's made up of pretty serious poker players. A true game show needs true contestants, not skilled pros who've spent years honing a specific skill.

The average viewer has an extremely reasonable opportunity to participate. I could take a hundred bucks and enter myself in one of these tournaments... although that would declassify it as a game show because you can't pay to be on a game show.

It has pros, but it has many, many, many amateurs.

It's no game show; it's a mindsport. Near-sadly, I watch the two-hour show weekly, and it exceeds my intake of GSN.

QUOTE (davemackey @ Jul 18 2003, 09:19 AM)

If it's got Jack Clark in a powder-blue tux and Jane Nelson in a Suzy Creamcheese gown dealing out the cards, then I'd consider it.

How can I get tickets? Sounds too good to be true. :)

For me to see it as a game show, we'd need Sonny Fox to host it.

SONNY: "Congratulations! You've got four of a kind!!! Huh? What? Oh, sorry. It's only two pair".

QUOTE

I could take a hundred bucks and enter myself in one of these tournaments... although that would declassify it as a game show because you can't pay to be on a game show.

Well, there you go then.

QUOTE (Dan Sadro @ Jul 18 2003, 07:43 AM)

It has pros, but it has many, many, many amateurs.

In the world of money poker, though, even an amateur is plenty good enough to whale the living TAR out of any single member of this board, I don't care HOW good a poker player you think you are.

"Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker."

-- Mike McDermott, "Rounders"

I fell in love with the World Poker Tour around when Gus Hansen won his 2nd event, and since then I watched it every week(Until they went into reruns). I also see that I am not alone on this. I think it isnt a game show, but is a show that Game Show fans tend to like.(Like Candid Camera and Whose Line) If you would like to take place in an event easily, all you haqve to do is register in the www.partypoker.com and they have a tournament that is run online as well, and is part of the WPT as well. You can enter with only 25 dollars or something, so it isnt much of a loss.

QUOTE (Don Howard @ Jul 18 2003, 10:29 AM)

SONNY: "Congratulations! You've got four of a kind!!! Huh? What? Oh, sorry. It's only two pair".

Bugs Bunny: Does that beat me? All I got is two pair, a pair of ones and another pair of ones.

QUOTE (clemon79 @ Jul 18 2003, 10:39 AM)

In the world of money poker, though, even an amateur is plenty good enough to whale the living TAR out of any single member of this board, I don't care HOW good a poker player you think you are.

I'm not disagreeing, but the opportunity is there.

If I wanted to appear on Jeopardy! against someone like Myron Meyer, I'd get creamed, but I'd still have the opportunity.

(What tar?)

QUOTE (Matt Ottinger @ Jul 18 2003, 10:36 AM)

Well, there you go then.

Precisely.