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Longest Running Game Shows On US Television
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sharing the rules of the program as well as commentating and narrating where necessary.
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sharing the rules of the program as well as commentating and narrating where necessary.
The history of game shows dates back to the invention of television as a medium. On most game shows, contestants either have to answer questions or solve puzzles, typically to win either money or prizes. Game shows often reward players with prizes such as cash, trips and goods and services provided by the show’s sponsor.
Over time, many game shows have been cancelled and then revived multiple times, and a handful has stayed on air since their initial debut. RNN would be highlighting a number of TV game shows that have been running for the longest time.
1. The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart, Mark Goodson, and Bill Todman where contestants compete by guessing the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes. Contestants are selected from the studio audience: the announcer calls their name, invoking them to “Come on down!”, the show’s famous catchphrase.
At 58 years on air and counting, The Price Is Right currently holds the record for the longest-running game show of all time. It had an original 9-year run from 1956 to 1965. Add that to the current version of the show that has been airing since 1972, The Price Is Right has been on the air far longer than most television shows regardless of genre.
The Price Is Right is always full of overly-enthusiastic contestants who play a wide variety of mini-games revolving around modern-day commerce. The most notable host of the show was Bob Barker, the face of The Price Is Right since the 1972 revival until his retirement in 2007. He was replaced by Drew Carey, who still hosts the show today.
2. Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question.
A trivia game for the smartest of people, it too has seen one of the longest-running hosts in television history with the beloved Alex Trebek, who was the star of the show until his death in 2020. Jeopardy! originally ran from 1964 to 1979, but it wasn’t until the 1984 revival did the show started making an impact on audiences, likely thanks to Trebek’s debut with the revamp.
The show has seen a slew of hosts since Trebek’s passing including Blossom star Mayim Bialik and LeVar Burton, whose Geordie LaForge was one of the most awesome Star Trek: The Next Generation characters, but has yet to name an official, long-term replacement.
3. Wheel Of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (often known simply as Wheel) is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 1975. It features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The current version of the series, which airs in nightly syndication, premiered on September 19, 1983. It stars Pat Sajak and Vanna White as hosts, who have hosted the nighttime version since its inception.
Wheel Of Fortune isn’t quite the longest-running game show of all time, its co-hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White hold the record for longest-running television show hosts of all time, game show or not, at 39 years. With Wheel Of Fortune still on the air, these two will likely continue to increase their record in the near future.
Wheel Of Fortune currently sits at over 7,000 episodes and counting which is the most episodes any game show has ever seen. The show debuted in 1975, but it really took off in 1982 when Sajak and White joined the team. Wheel Of Fortune is one of the easiest game shows to play along with at home, likely contributing to its continual success.
4. Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. Since its debut in 1976, the show has managed to stay consistently popular with audiences despite it being off-air for a handful of years. The original run went on until 1985, was revived again in 1988 and lasted until 1995, then was finally revived again in 1999 and has been airing ever since.
Richard Dawson was the first beloved host of Family Feud and his presence was surely a major contributor to the show’s initial success. Today though, ratings have been higher than ever with Steve Harvey as the host. The show even has an acclaimed celebrity version that sees various stars go head to head in the trivia game rather than the everyday American families.
5. Let’s Make A Deal
Let’s Make a Deal (also known as LMAD) is a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, the latter serving as its host for nearly 30 years.
Audience members come dressed in crazy costumes in hopes to be called onto the stage where they can make deals to win a variety of prizes. The show has been cancelled and revived many times over the years, but in total has collected over 6,000 episodes throughout its 35-year lifespan.
The original Let’s Make A Deal was wildly popular from 1963 to 1977. After that, the show saw many short-lived revivals between 1981 to 2003 until 2009, when it got its footing on air once again.
6. Pyramid
Two contestants are paired with celebrities in Pyramid, a word association game based on various categories that are shown in the shape of a pyramid. There have been many versions of Pyramids since its debut, each one with a different amount of grand prize money that has increased over time.
The show originally ran from 1973 until 1988 and was initially called The $10,000 Pyramid, which was usually hosted by the iconic Dick Clark. Over the course of its initial 15-year run, the show ran many versions all at once, with prizes varying from $20,000, to $25,000, to $50,000, all the way up to $100,000. Other instalments came in 1991, 2002, and 2012, and the most recent in 2016 is still airing today. Pyramid has aired over 1,000 episodes and is currently hosted by the funny and multi-talented Michael Strahan.
7. What’s My Line?
What’s My Line? is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, starting in black and white and later in colour, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panellists to question contestants in order to determine their occupation (i.e., their “line” of work). The majority of the contestants were from the general public. However, there was one weekly celebrity “mystery guest” for which the panellists were blindfolded.
One of the earliest televised American game shows, What’s My Line? is also one of the longest-running despite being off the air for close to 50 years now. The game involved a panel of celebrities who had to guess the job occupations of contestants through a series of questions, clearly a predecessor to other popular game shows such as, To Tell The Truth, and Figure It Out.
What’s My Line? has 2,196 episodes total spanning over 24 years. It had a nearly consecutive run, but two separate iterations; one from 1950 to 1967, and another from 1968 to 1975. The original iteration is an Emmy and Golden Globe winner and a pioneer in incorporating celebrities into the game show format.
8. Password
Password is one of the many game shows that has seen a plethora of revivals and remakes. A word association game in which contestants are paired with celebrities, Password’s heyday was between 1961 to 1982. The face of the show was host Allen Ludden, who was active on Password for the majority of its most successful run. Ludden’s wife, the beloved comedian and still active actress Betty White, was often a featured player on the show as well.
Two separate instalments of the original Password ran from 1961 to 1967 and again from 1971 to 1975. After that, Password began getting revamps, the first being Password Plus from 1979 to 1982. Super Password aired from 1984 to 1989, and the most recent edition called Million Dollar Password had a short stint from 2008 to 2009. Altogether, Password ran for a total of 23 years with 2,855 episodes.
9. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire often informally called Millionaire is an American television game show adapted from the same-titled British program created by David Briggs, Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill and developed for the United States by Michael Davies. The show features a quiz competition with contestants attempting to win a top prize of $1,000,000 by answering a series of multiple-choice questions, usually of increasing difficulty. The program has endured as one of the longest-running and most successful international variants in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is a game show that has made quite a ripple in pop culture since its American debut in 1999. There have been many international versions of the show, such as the Indian version that is the subject of the 2009 Best Picture Winner Slumdog Millionaire. The show is originally from The United Kingdom, but no version has found as much success as the American iteration of Millionaire.
Though sometimes there can be an exciting win, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire often sees big failures due to the major stakes involved, making for some intense entertainment. The show has been on the air fairly consistently since its 1999 debut and has gone through a series of hosts including Regis Philbin, Terry Crews, and Jimmy Kimmel.
10. Truth or Consequences
The show was created by Ralph Edwards for the radio. And, it was adapted on television in 1950 to run till 1988. 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.
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