Game Show Moments Gone Bananas

Five hour-long specials aired by VH-1 from May 21-June 18, 2005 consisting of Game Show footage from the Fremantle Media archives. During each show was a "Top 5" countdown, presented by such notables as Chuck Woolery and Ed McMahon.

Oh, you want us to list the games included? Yeah, why not...

• Beat the Clock (the "clown-through-suit" stunt from the original series, and nothing else)
• Blind Date (UK), plus the Australian Perfect Match
• Blockbusters (America and UK)
• Card Sharks
• |Childs Play (American and UK children)
• Distraction (UK only)
• Double Dare
• Family Feud (America and Australia), plus the UK Family Fortunes
• I'm With Stupid (unsold 2003 ABC pilot taped on Richard Karn's Feud set)
• Ive Got a Secret
• Match Game (America) and the UK Blankety Blank
• The Name's the Same ("A. Mattress" {October 1, 1952} and "A. Maid" {March 17, 1953})
• Password CBS, Password Plus, and Super Password
• Press Your Luck and Whammy!
• The Price Is Right (America and Australia), plus the Mexican Atinale al Precio. Notable for two clips of Dennis James' super-scarce nighttime version.
• Puzzlers (unsold pilot taped March 15, 1980 and hosted by Pat Sajak)
• Sale of the Century (America and Australia), plus the German Hopp oder Top.
• Say When!! (a portion {not the whole existing clip} of the Peter Pan peanut butter incident)
• Scrabble
• Showoffs (clip of the 1975 pilot)
• Tattletales
• To Tell the Truth
• What's My Line
• Your Face Or Mine?

Released on DVD in September 2008 by BCI, then reissued in 2010 by Mill Creek.

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The following Game Show tropes appear in Game Show Moments Gone Bananas:

• Personnel:
  • The Announcer: Randy West, a well-known announcer in the genre, as 1980s toy "Mr. Game Show".
  • Game Show Host: Ben Stein, once an emcee in the genre.
  • Studio Audience: Of which a few would play Family Feud, Match Game, or Beat The Clock for a cheap grocery "prize". Instead of, you know, just letting Ben and Randy co-host and not have an audience.
• Prize Letdown: The aforementioned grocery "prizes".

Tropes used in Game Show Moments Gone Bananas include:

• Loads And Loads Of Game Shows: A staggering 34 Fremantle-owned games are seen across the five episodes, some of which are their only face time in years...or at all (and especially when the specials reran on GSN).
• Pilot: I'm With Stupid (hosted by Graham Norton), the 1990-91 Match Game (hosted by Bert Convy), Puzzlers (hosted by Pat Sajak), and Showoffs (hosted by Larry Blyden).
• Wardrobe Malfunction: Subject of a Top 5 countdown, which culminated in Rip Taylor showing his baldness on Super Password.