Longest Running Game Shows on US Television

Created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, this show was created in 1972 as the reincarnation of the original 1956 version, retaining some elements. The programme revolves around contestants selected from the audience, who compete to identify the accurate price of merchandise, and take home cash and prizes. Bob Barker was the show’s first and longest running host. Drew Carey took over in 2007 and has been running the show. Several famous models and announcers have appeared on the show which is the longest running game show with 8000+ episodes in 42 seasons.

Game shows have always caught our imagination. They not only let the contestants walk home with great prizes or even money, but also allow those sitting on the other side of the television have a fun time guessing answers or get the feel of the game as they enjoy the show.

Created by Merv Griffin, the original version was aired from 1964 to 1975, including a one-year run of a night-time syndicated edition. Then, The All-New Jeopardy ran from 1978 to 1979. The current daily syndicated version, started in 1984, features Alex Trebek as host. This is a unique quiz show where general knowledge clues are presented to the contestants in the form of answers, and they have to phrase the responses in the form of questions. The number of episodes is close to 7000 in 31 seasons. The show has won several accolades and awards, including 31 Daytime Emmy Awards.

The show was created by Ralph Edwards for the radio, and it was adapted on television in 1950 to run till 198. It has had several runs and completed 24 seasons. It was a quiz competition with a twist. The contestants would be asked questions that were often obscure and tricky, and if they would not be able to answer, they would have to suffer the ‘consequences’, i.e. perform wacky stunts. The show reached its peak of popularity when Bob Barker hosted it from 1956 to 1975, after which it never got back the former glory, and was briefly revived for short periods in the 80s.

Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions created this unique show whose first run was aired from 1950 to 1967, but had several brief revivals until 1975. In this game show, a panel of four celebrities would be given game tasks, and the panellists had to ask “yes” or “no” questions to guess the occupation, i.e. ‘line’ of work of a fifth contestant whose identity would be kept a secret. The Mystery Guests would be paid for appearing on the show. The show was moderated by John Charles Daly, and several celebrities were featured in over 2000 episodes over 25 seasons.

Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill created the show as a derivative of What’s My Line? In this show, the celebrity panellists had to guess the secret of the contestant. The fun element of the game was that this secret, which was something that ranged from amazing to embarrassing, from humorous to intense. It was aired in 1952 and ran till 1967, and was revived repeatedly in the 70s, and 2000s. They had a revolutionary revival with an all-gay panel. Having started in Black and White, it switched to colour broadcast in 1966. 350+ episodes were aired over 15 seasons of the show.

This panel game show was created by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley and was aired from 1966 to 1980. It revolves around a game of tic-tac-toe where contestants could play with celebrities. The show was a combination of games and comedy. Joke answers and plausible incorrect bluffs would often be given by the celebrities, supplied by the show’s writers along with question subjects, as per the show’s scripting. But, the gameplay was scripted differently, and they only got the questions in the show. The show had 3500+ episodes over 14 years.