TVSquad

Game shows have been an important part of television since the late 1930s. In 1938, the BBC aired Spelling Bee, a show that is believed to be the world's first game show. In July 1941, CBS Television Quiz made history by becoming the first television game show to broadcast regularly. Since then, U.S. viewers were treated with all sorts of game shows such as To Tell the Truth, Beat the Clock, Concentration, Name that Tune, The Price is Right, Jeopardy, etc.

Jeopardy!, which premiered in 1964, is one of the most successful and popular game show in U.S. TV history. Its challenging questions and format helped make it a household name. This is why we named our "Primetime game show requiring the most skill" category after it.

In this category, we include 2007-2008 season game shows that air/aired in primetime (Jeopardy! is out of the running since it doesn't air in that block) and that are not reality-type game shows such as Survivor and Big Brother. Shows that come to mind are Duel, 1 vs 100, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, and the primetime edition of The Price Is Right. Personally, I don't think Deal or No Deal or The Moment of Truth qualify since they don't require much skill.

Which shows do you think should be nominated for The Jeopardy Award? List your suggestions below!

• At 8, NBC has a new 1 vs. 100 then new episodes of Friday Night Lights and Las Vegas.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, followed by new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• Sci-Fi has a new Flash Gordon at 8.
• At 9, Lifetime has a new How To Look Good Naked.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• Lifetime has two new episodes of Top This Party at 10.
• USA has a new Psych at 10.
• Sci-Fi has a new Stargate Atlantis at 10.
• There's a new Paula's Party at 10 on Food Network.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
• Also at 10: Comedy Central has two new episodes of Comedy Central Presents.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, NBC has a new 1 vs. 100, followed by new episodes of Friday Night Lights and Las Vegas.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, then new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• There's a new Flash Gordon on Sci-Fi at 8.
• G4 has a new X-Play at 8.
• At 9, USA has a new Monk, followed by a new Psych.
• Lifetime has a new How To Look Good Naked at 9.
• Hallmark has the new movie Daniel's Daughter at 9.
• At 9:30, HBO has a new In Treatment.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
• Lifetime has two new episodes of Top This Party at 10.
• Sci-Fi has a new Stargate Atlantis at 10.
• Also at 10: Comedy Central has two new episodes of Comedy Central Presents, with Eugene Mirman and Jordan Rubin.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher.
• At 12:05am, HBO Family has the reunion movie The Odd Couple: Together Again.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, NBC has a new 1 vs. 100, followed by new episodes of Friday Night Lights and Las Vegas.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, then new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• Sci-Fi has a new Flash Gordon at 8.
• At 9, CBS has the special Garth Brooks: Live in L.A.
• There's a new How To Look Good Naked on Bravo at 9.
• USA has a new Monk at 9, then a new Psych.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• Bravo has two new episodes of Top This Party starting at 10.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
• Sci-Fi has a new Stargate Atlantis at 10.
• Also at 10: Food Network has a new Paula's Party.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher.

Check your local TV listings for more.

It was NBC's turn today to announce what its winter schedule would look like. The press release states that "NBC's first-quarter primetime schedule is slated to deliver significantly more hours of original programming than was ever the case in the first quarter of 2007." Besides the expected crop of reality and game shows, NBC's winter schedule will be filled with new episodes of series like ER, Friday Night Lights, Las Vegas, Medium, Scrubs and all three versions of Law & Order. Also added to the lineup will be Lipstick Jungle, a new dramedy starring Lindsay Price, Kim Raver and Brooke Shields.

Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier (Mon., 9PM ET, History)
Space ... it's still the final frontier. Watching this special celebrating 40 years of Star Trek, I'm struck by how forward-looking the show was. Sure, the uniforms were totally '60s and the plots were super cheesy, but the concepts were light years ahead of their time. Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, narrates, with stars William Shatner, Patrick Stewart and Kate Mulgrew sharing insights into their various incarnations of Trek. Plus, see footage from last October's auction of Trek memorabilia.

American Idol (Tue., 8PM ET, Fox)
Is it just me or are this year's top 24 contestants almost completely unmemorable? Looking over their photos, I strained to recall each one. Actually, one did stand out -- the beatboxing guy, Blake. But can he sing? I think the judges were right in saying this season is more up for grabs than any since season one. This week, experience six hours of Idol overload, with the top 12 boys performing tonight, the girls taking their turn tomorrow and a two-hour results show Thursday. Phew!

(S01E01) The latest in the ever increasing line of game shows is upon us. With Penn Jillette hosting, NBC unveiled Identity last night. After one episode, the show has a lot going for it. To start, Jillette was a great choice for the host. He's good with the guests, manages to keep the show moving along, and a pretty funny guy. The line of the night came when he said of the shark attack victim, "If she didn't have that top on our ratings would be a lot better."

The game itself is rather simple. The contestant is presented with 12 strangers and a list of twelve identities. For each correct guess they move up the money ladder. Correctly identifying all twelve strangers is a $500,000 payoff. They have one mistaken identity in their pocket, so the first miss is a freebie. But a second miss sends them home with no cash.

To aid them in their quest there are two helper options. With "tridentity" they can pick one of the identities and the field will be narrowed down to three potential correct answers. There is also a panel of experts that includes a body language expert, a psychologist, and an fbi agent.

Did you watch the premiere of The Rich List, hosted by Eamonn Holmes (pictured), on Fox this week? If you did, you may now be able to tell people that you saw every single episode of the show. I read over on Digital Spy that Fox had pulled the show from the schedule. There hasn't been any official word from the network as to what their plans are for the future of the show. However, given the fact that it no longer appears in the list of shows on the official Fox site, and the page for the show has now disappeared, the chances of a return don't look very good.

The quick cancellation, if that's what it turns out to be, surprises me. Did anyone think the numbers were going to be huge when stepping into the middle of the Criminal Minds vs. Lost battle? I did see the show, and while it wasn't anything great, it was in the same ballpark as Deal Or No Deal and 1 vs. 100. I actually preferred the listing aspect to the random guessing of Deal, or the multiple choice questions of 1 vs. 100.

ABC has a bit of a problem. Dancing with the Stars is going to end soon, they are down to the final four now, and with that it will lose two of the top five shows on TV. They've announced their plan for Wednesday. Beginning November 22, the results show will be replaced with a new game show from Endemol USA called Show Me The Money. Contestants will be presented with 13 dancers on stage and each of the dancers will have a scroll. As they answer trivia questions, dollar amounts from the scrolls will be added to or subtracted from their total. The press release also says that the 13 dancers will be ready to break into any style of dance at any time, "while audacious master of ceremonies William Shatner spontaneously boogies with the beauties on stage." Shatner... boogies with the beauties.

Ken Jennings recently conducted an interview with himself on his blog about his appearances on the first episodes of NBC's new game show, 1 Vs. 100, and offered a gentle critique of the show and how it could be made better. Apparently, being a member of the studio "Mob" isn't the most pleasant experience in the world. Folks aren't even allowed to sit down, though they do have a nice piece of plywood they can sorta lean against. By the end of a long day of shooting, many people actually got up and left. Jennings also said it's too easy for a contestant to build up a lot of money with the early, easy questions and just take off, which doesn't exactly make for compelling television. Jennings doesn't completely write the show off, but he does see a lot of room for improvement.

Given his penchant for trivia and his personable style, I wonder if we'll ever see a game show in the future hosted by Ken Jennings. I don't know what it would consist of, but I do know it should end with a boxing match against a kangaroo. That's the essential element missing from game shows these days.

NBC thinks it has a hit on its hands with the new game show, 1 Vs. 100, which is hosted by comedian Bob Saget. As Joel explained before last week's series premiere, the show requires very little skill. Contestants face 100 other people in a pop culture quiz. The idea is to knock off as many members of the 'mob' by answering questions correctly ('mobsters' have to answer a question incorrectly to be booted). The dollar amount goes up as the contestant gets questions right and each 'mobster' is ejected from the game. Eliminating the entire 'mob' wins the contestant $1 million.

NBC has ordered 10 more episodes of 1 Vs. 100, which brings the total to 15 so far this season. When it debuted last week, the game show had 12.6 million viewers, which is not too shabby for flailing NBC. For the curious, the next episode airs on Friday at 9 pm, which pushes the season premiere for Las Vegas back one week.

(S01E01) If you're a fan of the risk-takers on Deal or No Deal, you may be a fan of NBC's new game show, 1 Vs. 100, which airs tonight at 9. Like DoND, 1 Vs. 100 is a worldwide hit produced by game-show conglomerate Endemol. Also like its game show cousin, it has a well-known stand-up comedian, Bob Saget, as the host. But unlike DoND, this show requires a little more skill from the contestant than just picking numbers at random. The problem: despite the lights, the imposing "mob" and the catchphrase -- "The money? Or... the mob?" -- 1 Vs. 100 moves too slowly, and the questions are too easy, to keep a person's interest for an entire hour.