Favorite game shows?
I just started watching Taskmaster after finding most TV right now pretty boring. I do like the silly challenges (and dry British humor in general lol). I never really watched game shows growing up, I'm aware of the bigger ones of course, (Jeopardy, Millionaire, etcetc.) but I wonder what I've missed in the meantime. I feel like sometimes game shows bleed into Reality shows a bit, which kinda turned me off from the genre until now. I do love trivia and seeing people solve problems in interesting ways though!
To throw in some of my favorites,
Game Changer on Dropout - My favorite at the moment, just because the cast is great and the tasks are great. Sam Reich is a great host too of course, and I just love the things they come up with.
The Mole on Netflix - Even though I don't loveeee reality shows for some reason this one got me. The players were super dumb but it was kinda interesting. I watched it a while ago though so my opinion might be different now.
Lateral (Podcast) - Tom Scott's trivia/gameshow podcast. It's really chill and I really enjoy the trivia I learn while walking my dog. The guests are (mostly) fun and interesting people too! The questions themselves are super "thinky" and playing along is fun.
I’m am also a fan of Game Changer and Task Master!
To complete the trio, I have to recommend Jet Lag. That link will take you to my favorite intro season, where the three main people play tag across Europe using the public transit system!
Each season (for the most part) is a different game! I especially like that they structure the games explicitly to avoid being rude/annoying to other travelers.
I was always worried about how Jet Lag would be annoying to strangers and encourage antisocial behavior, especially for me as someone who travels frequently. Thank you for easing my fear! Maybe I'll throw something on during lunch today!
Would I Lyie to You? But I'm a sucker for British humor, David Mitchell, etc so...
The thing I love about British shows too is that they're all on youtube, I just put it on the list!
WILTY, is great, definitely recommend it as well.
Here are a bunch more really fun tangentially related British shows, which aren’t all exactly game shows, but some or all of these might be up your alley:
As a Brit myself, I'm a bit tired of the panel show now, they all feel a bit samey to me. I prefer some of the actual game shows we have.
Only Connect is truly a game show that humbled me though haha, much more difficult than the others, closely followed by University Challenge.
The reasons of this with Sean Lock and Jon Richardson are amazing.
I dunno if it's the dry British humor, but panel shows are great coming out of the UK haha. Thanks for the list!
If you're enjoying UK taskmaster, make sure you check out the NZ one too. And if you enjoy that then you can check out Guy Mont Spelling Bee which features a lot of the same people as NZ Taskmaster. It sounds like a dumb idea - and it is - but also rather funny.
Not sure if it counts as a game show, but I've also really enjoyed watching Jet Lag
Ooh the Spelling Bee seems cool, is there a way to watch it in the US easily?
I do wanna get into Jet Lag, I've heard a lot of the guys voices on Lateral actually, I think they're friends with Tom Scott! I really should put that on at some point.
Also recommend Guy Mont Spelling Bee!
Looks like it’s on YouTube :)
Thanks for the link! I'll take a look!
My absolute favorite is the trivia show University Challenge on BBC 2, but then I love any form of trivia.
Trivia is great! there were a few trivia podcasts that I liked too, but if you like trivia, Lateral with Tom Scott is my favorite recently
Countdown! Cats Does Countdown is also good, but I prefer normal Countdown
Craig Ferguson had a good game show with The Hustler, but its over. The Traitor (UK) is great (two seasons so far.)
Oooh I'll add them to the list!
Countdown is such a relaxing show. You can watch it on the channel 4 website
Most the shows I would recommend you are already watching :) So I guess I am saying that I am eagerly awaiting suggestions from other people.
As you are already familiar with Later, I assume you also know Technical Difficulties as well? There are various "seasons" and it sits somewhere between being a game show and a bunch of friends just having a fun time.
I do second the suggestions about Jet Lag, it is enjoyable to watch.
I'm actually not familiar with technical difficulties! I know Tom has a couple of shows and Lateral is the one that grabbed me first, but I've since caught up so maybe I can pivot to the other one.
If you want a more survivor style show, my household loves MTVs the challenge. The basic premise is teams of 2 compete for a cash prize in a season-long competition. The competitors live in a house together during the show. The twist is the competitors had to be on other mtv shows before the challenge. This leads to tons of drama.
Each episode, the teams play the first game. The losing team goes into the jungle.The winner of the game gets immunity from being voted into the jungle. Next there is a voting phase where they vote on the other team to go into the jungle.
What is the jungle? It's an elimination round, a new game they play where the loser goes home. The show often has themes like rivals or ex's.
Its a fun show.
Interesting! I feel like I'm not a fan of reality TV drama but I'll check it out :)
I was surprised to see the Mole on here as it was really the only reality show I ever enjoyed. (The other exception being a season of big brother where a coworker was a contestant)
I saw the orginal from way back. Didn't know they made a remake.
The mole was definitely interesting, I would recommend it. Honestly though in the remake the contestants weren't that great, I was basically yelling at the TV for a bunch of the time. It's a fun concept though!
If you enjoyed the Netflix version, give the old versions a try too. I prefer them for a few (non-spoilery) reasons:
The US seasons are available on YouTube, ripped from VHS recordings (i.e. low quality). I've only seen the US version, but I've heard good things about the international versions as well.
that's good to know, I feel like i remember the Netflix version where everyone tried to play a metagame but didn't fully understand the prisoner dilemma type of decisions they'd have to make, but it's been a while since I watched. I'll check out the old seasons, i think they're also on Netflix actually!
If you like UK comedy panel shows then I would suggest the original British comedy panel show, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which has been running for over fifty years now. The games are fun and you can play along or enjoy them with friends or family, you'll pick up the rules to games like Mornington Crescent in seconds..
There's a lot of great stuff on BBC radio: Dilemma (although the original podcast, Do The Right Thing, is funnier), The Unbelievable Truth (hosted by David Mitchell), Just a Minute (longer running even than Clue!), Heresy (hosted by the other Mitchell, Victoria Coren) and lots more. I love radio comedy.
Ooooh good shout outs for all the Podcasts/Radio shows, I feel like I've been getting bored of my current podcasts so it'll be nice to try a couple of more.
I'm not 100% sure but I think BBC Sounds is available worldwide so you can stream radio (live or on-demand) and BBC-exclusive podcasts from there. Someone from outside the UK would have to confirm that does actually work though.
It does seem to work without an account even! Thanks for letting me know :)
Excellent news! I am very pleased that my license fee money goes in some tiny way to letting the whole world enjoy BBC radio. That might be read as sarcastic but it really isn't. I am incredibly proud of what the BBC do, and radio most of all. (btw if you like music I'd definitely recommend 6 Music)
I really like Um, actually on dropout (a lot of them are on youtube as well). It's a high nerdity twist, but the byplay between the contestants has a similar energy to the panel shows. Spend some time looking at the stuff in the background on the set, something is wrong about every item.
Oooh I do watch Um Actually too! Even got the board game, I don't know why I skipped putting that down lol
I mainly watch for the comedy, so Taskmaster, 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Would I Lie to You? and Big Fat Quiz are my favourite British shows. I loved the American version of Whose Line is it Anyway? with Drew Carey back in the day.
Tangentially related, re: reality TV, there was a (scripted) series that parodied shows like The Bachelor called Burning Love starring Ken Marino that I thought was really funny. And I just found out it's also tangentially related to Dropout, as Ken's wife who wrote the show is Erica Oyama, Zac's sister!
oooh interesting, i'll have to take a look at that, hollywood is a small world!
I'm not too keen on gameshows these days outside of comedy ones, and those essentially don't exist in the US for some reason. We basically get Taskmaster officially available on YouTube and whatever other British shows don't get copyright striked off the platform. The reason why I don't care for them is that they have become lightweight reality TV. They spend more time talking about the contestants than they do actually playing the game. I watched the first episode of The Floor after seeing it lampooned on Saturday Night Live and skipped through everything that wasn't them explaining the rules or playing the game and it probably lasted 15 minutes out of the 45 minute runtime.
That being said, I used to really like Lingo. I just heard it is back and it looks like it's being hosted by RuPaul, so it might be a fun thing to revisit even if it is more reality TV than gameshow.
Yeah, American shows seem to skew towards reality shows and I feel like I could care less about them haha. They're fun to watch sometimes but shrug. I'll check out Lingo!