I rarely come this way, but I felt the need to after my conversations elsewhere.
For the past several years, I've found myself reading and listening to countless fans of the genre at what feels like constant war with each other over the shows of today versus the shows of yesteryear. Be it here, Game Show Forum, Game Show Follies (Steve Abell's place), or wherever, there's always someone ready to seriously trash anyone who likes something they feel should be totally hated. And out of anything, such trash-talking most often skews toward glorfiying the classic shows and faces (ex: Bob, Roger, Richard, Monty, Gene) versus their modern day counterparts (ex: Drew, Mike, Steve, Wayne, Alec).
Now, I don't have a problem at all with anyone saying that the original version or host or whatever was the best version. And to also be fair, there are people who have low opinions of some things today who do engage in constructive conversation, so I want it clear that I'm not making a blanket statement. However, given the times many of us here grew up in, we've just been conditioned to expect our shows, hosts, producers, etc, to be cut from a specific mold that doesn't exist anymore. And for some, it just feels like when you read their comments, you get the impression that since almost nothing from today comes from those classic philosophies, it automatically stinks and deserves to be burned to the ground.
The times have changed, and our shows have done their best to adapt with them. And between forum conversations, my time doing the Game Show Talk & Fun podcasts, and Facebook when I still had it, I always tried very hard to look at the hosts and games of today and ask myself "Does the show work in today's world?" Because, to take an example from here over the years, I realized a long time ago that if I always look at Price saying "Bob/Roger would never allow this to happen", then I'm never going to be satisfied. But looking at Drew on Price today, I feel that he is an excellent host deserving of being considered main event talent across all of the hosts in Price's history. Yeah, he had to learn how to do this right, it took some time, but he was committed enough to this that he did what he had to do and it shows. He just happened to have to do it on one of THE most iconic shows ever. And several of today's hosts of classic shows, mostly of the comic world, I feel are deserving of that same elite credit. And even when I look at original modern day shows (DOND, The Chase, The Wall, Cash Cab, etc.), I continue to ask myself that question, "Does this show work in today's world?"
So to all of you here, I ask three questions:
1) Is there anything in today's game show world anywhere that you truly enjoy and/or have good/great acceptance with?
2) How do you find that balance of enjoying what's on today while always revering the classics that got us here?
3) Do you actually find anything from today to be BETTER than what came before?
I'm very interested to hear what people say.