Those unfamiliar with TV and radio before 1960 might be puzzled by the big bottle of the tonic Geritol. Back then advertisers directly paid for each program, making the term "sponsor" literally true. Not only were their products shown (and often used) during the program, they had even more control over a show's content than the network. The quiz show scandal had a much bigger impact on US television than just the downfall of game shows. It was the first crack in direct advertiser power and the networks were happy to fill the void. They also increased in-house content production instead of simply outsourcing to independent producers.
"Watching a game show might not be that much different from actually playing one." Well, yeah. Who doesn't answer (or rather question) along while watching _Jeopardy!_ or guess the prices along with the contestants while watching _The Price is Right_? Watching game shows wouldn't be nearly as much fun if you didn't play along.
GCSE Media student just come across this video while looking for a new crash course to start binging, definitely going to be coming back to this video during my revision since our exam topic this year is game shows-
Mr. Meadows, I would like to thank you for this interesting history lesson. This was a quick but I am certain well research video. It might not seem important with the larger picture, but these shows are a part of many people's lives.
I've always had a hard time calling shows like Survivor and Big Brother actual game shows, since they are far less focused on competition and more on fostering a soap opera-like drams and plotline. Will A betray B? Will C vote off D? It's more about the people, less about the competition. I feel that shows like The Amazing Race and The Mole are much closer to actual game shows, since they based their elimination scheme not on votes, but on whoever failed their competitions. Additonally, the competitive sections were a larger focus of the show as a whole, not the lives and interactions of their contestants. They were much more like a traditional "game show" as we know it. I also feel like American Idol, AGT, etc. are an entirely different genre on their own. The "talent show" more akin to American Bandstand and Star Search.
If you want to watch a quiz show that could give you a big boost in self-esteem, or the opposite, is University Challenge, normally filled with Britain's students from top Universities. in teams of 4, Oxford and Cambridge is split into their colleges. When you get a question right that an Oxford team got wrong, it's really fun.
hi crash course games it's nice to see the black nerd in a different format it's my first time catching the show/ by the way one of my favorite game shows was Groucho Marx What's My Line.
Here in Mexico the price is right had a lot of sucess in the time. Some stunt shows also had a brief sucess like "people with spark" about eating weird foods or making athletic activities. But one of the most sucessfull ones is "100 mexicans said", in wich before the show 100 people choosen at random was asked a few questions, then the participants had to give they answers as well. If they answer was the most popular answer on the poll, they won.
I assume you have a dedicated episode planed, but I was surprised you didn't mention Let's Plays at least on the sidelines. The Game Theorists actually recently made a really grate video on Let's Plays and their origin.
The Arcade Pit is my favorite game show although it's done entirely on Twitch by a guy named Smite (later uploaded to TH-cam naturally.) It's pretty entertaining, and kind of fits with Crash Course: Gaming.
One little factoid from the Quiz Show Scandal that didn't make this video, though it is kind of a side note and it sounds like this video was squeezed a bit: In that era, basically every show was DIRECTLY sponsored by a company (for example, "soap operas" are so named because soap companies sponsored them), and the company's executives were directly involved in the production of the show. So, part of the fallout from the scandal was banning that sort of involvement. Companies could no longer place their names in shows or be directly involved with their production. But how would TV networks afford to produce their shows without companies basically buying them? The idea was hatched to take the small advertisements that would happen during shows for that company's products, offer them to several companies at once, and air them during the programs. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the Quiz Show Scandal led to the birth of commercials.
Really surprised that there was no mention of the more imaginative and physical category of game shows, i grew up watching shows like the Crystal Maze, where the contestants moved from room to room solving various types of puzzles with the risk of getting locked in the room if they fail and exceed the time limit .. there were also competition shows where two or more teams of players compete in various physical tasks and activities earning points in every round till one team reigns supreme, there was a show in the 80s or 90s not sure that was pretty elaborate and a lot of fund to watch but i forgot what it was called, but i'm pretty sure it was European.
I understand why they didn't mention the movie Robert Redford made about the quiz show scandal starring Ralph Fiennes, but I was still kinda hoping they'd give it a drop as a "It was such a big deal that Hollywood made a movie about it" sort of thing. But scripts need to be short, I get it ^_^ I enjoyed this video more than I thought I would despite a lack of video games haha
Just a minor correction: Survivor was not inspired by Experdition Robonson, Experdition Robonson was the first edition (the Swedish edition) of what would become the global TV franchise of Survivor (source: i am a huge fan of Survivor).
You forgot to mention kid's game shows. The most popular which is Double Dare. There is also Nick Arcade, Nickelodeon Guts, and Legends of the Hidden Temple.
Is there a correlation between "Pot of Gold's" Tuesday night time slot and movie theatres offering cheap tickets on Tuesday nights? An effort to get people back in theatres?
I'm a little surprised that they left out two things from this episode: 1. The role and celebrity status of the hosts like Alex Trebec and Pat Sajak/ Vanna White as that's a pretty strange phenomenon 2. A more in depth discussion of the winnings for example Ken Jennings and especially Watson and how that was such a huge thing as it was done. They had mentioned Deep Blue and the robot that beat a human on "Go" in a previous episode and I am a little surprised they didn't at least mention that here.
My family is very competitive when it comes to watching Jeopardy at home, but in the classroom I hate playing Jeopardy because I retain nothing. Also, I think that Dancing with the Stars is a much better reality competition show than the others mentioned, as the contestants are continuously learning and improving their abilities.
I can't agree with most of the comments here. Although the topic is somewhat unusual for the series, this was one of the most interesting episodes so far. For example, I like how we got into the cultural studies' question of an active or passive audience and the influence of pop culture on our lives here.
G'day, In the late 1970s my High-School English Textbook quoted the Program Director of Channel 9 (Sydney NSW, Oz), who stated that, "Game Shows are popular because they offer the Proletariat an attainable Fantasy, wherein they can compete from their Living-Room Couch and imagine what it might be like to be instantly showered with everything which the Advertising Moguls have taught them they will need to be fully-Human...; they're graduated for the Intelligence-Level of the intended Target Audience from 'Come On Down !' through 'Sale Of The Century !' up to 'Mastermind...', so that every kind of Consumer can find a Show which challenges their personal ability to compete from the Couch, and engage with the Fantasy...". I found that once I knew how the Programmes were intended to manipulate me I was vastly less interested in watching them. Such is Life, Have a good one... ;-p Ciao !
I was going to say i know for a fact that the UK is HEAVY into game shows.. then he mentioned the first televised game show was actually from the UK..sounds highly accurate.. lol
Is there possibly a Crash Course art history course in the making? If not, I think it would be cool if it was taught by Sarah Green. (I didn't know where else to ask this question.)
I wonder why, when they amended the telecommunications act after the 21 scandal, they ONLY targeted "intellectual" competitions. After all, even in the 50s the fact that pro wrestling was scripted was becoming a poorly-kept secret, and other competitions - like boxing - could just as easily be rigged even if it wasn't totally endemic. (Probably.) Yet they only went after quiz shows, specifically, even when a "no rigging in ANY competition" law would have been just as easy. Funny about that. (And by "funny" I mean "someone likely got paid off and/or had their kneecaps threatened.")
Interesting. It makes sense that game shows should be here, but I would have spread it across 2 parts. I would have liked to seen the way a similar show has different impacts around the world. Like how Japanese games shows propel contestants to celebrity while a similar show in Wipeout barely makes a blip. Also the rise of game show competitions that look for excellence like American Ninja Warrior. Or how success in a game show elevates our opinion of someone. Celebrities on Wheel of Fortune? meh. Celebrities on Jeopardy? I need to reassess my view of Aisha Tyler. One bonus level would be artificial intelligence in playing these games versus video games. The computer can beat me and dozens of players in chess, WoW or CoD, but Watson winning on Jeopardy generated a months worth of tech stories. One is a big deal, but another is so commonplace it is routine. There is a lot of material there. Too much for one episode.
![[Sub Thai] APT. - ROSÉ & Bruno Mars](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bYjhzP8x_uc/mqdefault.jpg)
As a former Jeopardy! contestant, I want to thank you for covering game shows this week!
What is the prize for answering correctly?
A) Money B) Mercy
C) New Car D) More Questions
D) More Questions
"Correctly". Final Answer.
I'll take my four prizes now.
I agree to participate in your game show only if my friend Alphys can be in the audience.
E.) All of the Above
The answer is in the question.
Those unfamiliar with TV and radio before 1960 might be puzzled by the big bottle of the tonic Geritol. Back then advertisers directly paid for each program, making the term "sponsor" literally true. Not only were their products shown (and often used) during the program, they had even more control over a show's content than the network. The quiz show scandal had a much bigger impact on US television than just the downfall of game shows. It was the first crack in direct advertiser power and the networks were happy to fill the void. They also increased in-house content production instead of simply outsourcing to independent producers.
"Watching a game show might not be that much different from actually playing one."
Well, yeah. Who doesn't answer (or rather question) along while watching _Jeopardy!_ or guess the prices along with the contestants while watching _The Price is Right_? Watching game shows wouldn't be nearly as much fun if you didn't play along.
1. Open the video in fullscreen
2. Type awesome
3. Enjoy
+
+
Oh my goodness! How cute! How did they do this??
Whoa... I like pie
that's so old
One of the best quiz shows going is Only Connect. It's absolutely devious!
I've never played poker, but I have been on Jeopardy.
It is an interesting experience being on a game show: for me, it was Fear Factor.
GCSE Media student just come across this video while looking for a new crash course to start binging, definitely going to be coming back to this video during my revision since our exam topic this year is game shows-
I was honestly not expecting them to do an episode on Game Shows, they really cover their bases.
Mr. Meadows, I would like to thank you for this interesting history lesson. This was a quick but I am certain well research video. It might not seem important with the larger picture, but these shows are a part of many people's lives.
Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What do they know? Do they know things?? Let's find out!
Congrats on 5 Million subscribers!! and thank you for everything.
I just watched the movie "Quiz Show" on Netflix which covered the show 21 Questions. Really worth watching if you haven't.
I watch As Schools Match Wits and played the Let's Make A Deal handheld game
My favorite series! Keep making these!
Hey CrashCourse, The Morden Jeopardy and Price is right were REBOOTS From 1984 and 1972 respectively.
I've always had a hard time calling shows like Survivor and Big Brother actual game shows, since they are far less focused on competition and more on fostering a soap opera-like drams and plotline. Will A betray B? Will C vote off D? It's more about the people, less about the competition.
I feel that shows like The Amazing Race and The Mole are much closer to actual game shows, since they based their elimination scheme not on votes, but on whoever failed their competitions. Additonally, the competitive sections were a larger focus of the show as a whole, not the lives and interactions of their contestants. They were much more like a traditional "game show" as we know it.
I also feel like American Idol, AGT, etc. are an entirely different genre on their own. The "talent show" more akin to American Bandstand and Star Search.
Favorite Gameshow: Press Your Luck
Good job not getting your series cancelled Aundre.
Why no mention of family feud it's the only show to play on the game show channel
If you want to watch a quiz show that could give you a big boost in self-esteem, or the opposite, is University Challenge, normally filled with Britain's students from top Universities. in teams of 4, Oxford and Cambridge is split into their colleges. When you get a question right that an Oxford team got wrong, it's really fun.
This thing is going way beyond what I thought it would, nice!
What is this "radio" you speak of?
That's the radio tab on your pip-boy
mutopis It's what you get when you divide one number by another. Or is that a ratio?...
4:34 There's no way it's him, but the guy on the left looks EXACTLY like Pat Sajak. Funny considering he hosts a game show too.
6:25 That, however, is DEFINITELY Hogan from Hogan's Heroes.
hi crash course games it's nice to see the black nerd in a different format it's my first time catching the show/ by the way one of my favorite game shows was Groucho Marx What's My Line.
Here in Mexico the price is right had a lot of sucess in the time. Some stunt shows also had a brief sucess like "people with spark" about eating weird foods or making athletic activities. But one of the most sucessfull ones is "100 mexicans said", in wich before the show 100 people choosen at random was asked a few questions, then the participants had to give they answers as well. If they answer was the most popular answer on the poll, they won.
thanks Andre!
I assume you have a dedicated episode planed, but I was surprised you didn't mention Let's Plays at least on the sidelines.
The Game Theorists actually recently made a really grate video on Let's Plays and their origin.
7:59 The game show Million dollar chance of a life time aired in the 80s, and had 9 1,000,000 dollar winners
HAHA TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCE they even named a town in New Mexico that
The Arcade Pit is my favorite game show although it's done entirely on Twitch by a guy named Smite (later uploaded to TH-cam naturally.) It's pretty entertaining, and kind of fits with Crash Course: Gaming.
One little factoid from the Quiz Show Scandal that didn't make this video, though it is kind of a side note and it sounds like this video was squeezed a bit: In that era, basically every show was DIRECTLY sponsored by a company (for example, "soap operas" are so named because soap companies sponsored them), and the company's executives were directly involved in the production of the show. So, part of the fallout from the scandal was banning that sort of involvement. Companies could no longer place their names in shows or be directly involved with their production. But how would TV networks afford to produce their shows without companies basically buying them? The idea was hatched to take the small advertisements that would happen during shows for that company's products, offer them to several companies at once, and air them during the programs.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the Quiz Show Scandal led to the birth of commercials.
I love Crash Course Games. Y'all are doing a great job! ☎
Congrats on 5 million subs!
Really surprised that there was no mention of the more imaginative and physical category of game shows, i grew up watching shows like the Crystal Maze, where the contestants moved from room to room solving various types of puzzles with the risk of getting locked in the room if they fail and exceed the time limit .. there were also competition shows where two or more teams of players compete in various physical tasks and activities earning points in every round till one team reigns supreme, there was a show in the 80s or 90s not sure that was pretty elaborate and a lot of fund to watch but i forgot what it was called, but i'm pretty sure it was European.
Yeah. I loved Nickelodeon's old such game shows like Double Dare, Global Guts, and Legends of the Hidden Temple.
I understand why they didn't mention the movie Robert Redford made about the quiz show scandal starring Ralph Fiennes, but I was still kinda hoping they'd give it a drop as a "It was such a big deal that Hollywood made a movie about it" sort of thing. But scripts need to be short, I get it ^_^ I enjoyed this video more than I thought I would despite a lack of video games haha
Just a minor correction: Survivor was not inspired by Experdition Robonson, Experdition Robonson was the first edition (the Swedish edition) of what would become the global TV franchise of Survivor (source: i am a huge fan of Survivor).
You forgot to mention kid's game shows. The most popular which is Double Dare. There is also Nick Arcade, Nickelodeon Guts, and Legends of the Hidden Temple.
No mention of the best quiz show of all time, "Only Connect", is disappointing
I would also like to thank Mike Hunt!
You, Andre Meadows, are the best Crash Course host evar! Would love to see you host Sci Show sometime. :D
Nice to see Michael Hunt still there.
Is there a correlation between "Pot of Gold's" Tuesday night time slot and movie theatres offering cheap tickets on Tuesday nights? An effort to get people back in theatres?
you should do a video about the history of table-top RPG's/ wargames (D&D, Warhammer 40k, Star Wars X-Wing, Infinity, etc)
I'm a little surprised that they left out two things from this episode:
1. The role and celebrity status of the hosts like Alex Trebec and Pat Sajak/ Vanna White as that's a pretty strange phenomenon
2. A more in depth discussion of the winnings for example Ken Jennings and especially Watson and how that was such a huge thing as it was done. They had mentioned Deep Blue and the robot that beat a human on "Go" in a previous episode and I am a little surprised they didn't at least mention that here.
The episode was 13 minutes long already.
The show is called CRASH COURSE after all.
My family is very competitive when it comes to watching Jeopardy at home, but in the classroom I hate playing Jeopardy because I retain nothing. Also, I think that Dancing with the Stars is a much better reality competition show than the others mentioned, as the contestants are continuously learning and improving their abilities.
Happy 5 million subscribers
I can't agree with most of the comments here. Although the topic is somewhat unusual for the series, this was one of the most interesting episodes so far. For example, I like how we got into the cultural studies' question of an active or passive audience and the influence of pop culture on our lives here.
2:14 i'm gonna stop you right there. YOU USE A STUDY OF 11 SAMPLES?
Cash Cab was the best
I LOVE CRASH COURSE GAMES
I can't believe you didn't atleast give an honourable mention to Hugo the TV Troll.
NPR has some good quiz shows
good episode
The only thing I miss about TV is Jeopardy. I wish it could be a TH-cam channel.
I love this game shows in Britain!
Saw you on GT Live!
G'day,
In the late 1970s my High-School English Textbook quoted the Program Director of Channel 9 (Sydney NSW, Oz), who stated that,
"Game Shows are popular because they offer the Proletariat an attainable Fantasy, wherein they can compete from their Living-Room Couch and imagine what it might be like to be instantly showered with everything which the Advertising Moguls have taught them they will need to be fully-Human...; they're graduated for the Intelligence-Level of the intended Target Audience from 'Come On Down !' through 'Sale Of The Century !' up to 'Mastermind...', so that every kind of Consumer can find a Show which challenges their personal ability to compete from the Couch, and engage with the Fantasy...".
I found that once I knew how the Programmes were intended to manipulate me I was vastly less interested in watching them.
Such is Life,
Have a good one...
;-p
Ciao !
great video
I felt like you left out the awesome game shows on Nickelodeon in the 90's. I feel they helped break my generation of game show watchers.
bring*
Double Dare, What Would You Do, Wild & Crazy Kids - those were my life
I was going to say i know for a fact that the UK is HEAVY into game shows.. then he mentioned the first televised game show was actually from the UK..sounds highly accurate.. lol
5:17 Nineteen "fitty" six? Go shorty, it's your birthday . . .
I watch this in school!
5 MILLION!
Blank? Blank?!!! You're not looking at the big picture!
You left the controller episode description in this description.
I'm disappointed you didn't mention the groundbreaking BBC panel show "How Many Hats?".
I love this show
0:27 South America represent!!
"Modern examples of panel shows include 'Match Game' and 'Hollywood Squares'" -- both of which date to the mid '60s. Modern indeed.
first! great video, love this channel :)
well, there was nobody in the comment section when i first posted this comment XD
And then TV died out in favor of on demand content on youtube and this entire CC episode was made irrelevant. Well a decent history lesson at least.
Is there possibly a Crash Course art history course in the making? If not, I think it would be cool if it was taught by Sarah Green. (I didn't know where else to ask this question.)
You can't seriously say that handhelds may not have a bright future without saying that game shows are falling out of fashion
total drama island................ awesome
Why did you remove Human Geography?
Could anyone imagine taking TV and radio at face value
I wonder why, when they amended the telecommunications act after the 21 scandal, they ONLY targeted "intellectual" competitions. After all, even in the 50s the fact that pro wrestling was scripted was becoming a poorly-kept secret, and other competitions - like boxing - could just as easily be rigged even if it wasn't totally endemic. (Probably.) Yet they only went after quiz shows, specifically, even when a "no rigging in ANY competition" law would have been just as easy. Funny about that.
(And by "funny" I mean "someone likely got paid off and/or had their kneecaps threatened.")
MMOMG mmmMMM oh my god I love this reference
Do an episode on fetch
What video was deleted?
I don't think of something like Survivor as a game show.
Lol, i just notied what they used soviet RASSVET-3071 tv set in their mock-up tv.
12:20 is that Bart de Wever undercover?
Interesting. It makes sense that game shows should be here, but I would have spread it across 2 parts.
I would have liked to seen the way a similar show has different impacts around the world. Like how Japanese games shows propel contestants to celebrity while a similar show in Wipeout barely makes a blip. Also the rise of game show competitions that look for excellence like American Ninja Warrior. Or how success in a game show elevates our opinion of someone. Celebrities on Wheel of Fortune? meh. Celebrities on Jeopardy? I need to reassess my view of Aisha Tyler.
One bonus level would be artificial intelligence in playing these games versus video games. The computer can beat me and dozens of players in chess, WoW or CoD, but Watson winning on Jeopardy generated a months worth of tech stories. One is a big deal, but another is so commonplace it is routine.
There is a lot of material there. Too much for one episode.
TIME!
Blank? BLANK?!!!
Disappointed you didn't talk about Britain Got Talent and its numerous spin-offs.
Please cite research at beginning of video, please :)
Did crash course remove human geography? I can't find it.
0:41 Heidi Romanova is a time travler!?
Is it me or did they remove crash course geography?
Yes, they did. There's now a video up on the channel explaining the decision.
Does anyone else agree that they should make a crash course music theory?
5 Million!!!
What is time?
RIP the 21 meme.
"Earned ABC AN estimated $300 million[...]" -- that's a pretty shameful mistake there, guys...
where is 24? The series skips from 23 to 25.
Uhhh, where's #24?