Popular Culture Archive

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
“We surveyed 100 people. The top six answers are on the board…”
You probably easily guessed those iconic lines come from Family Feud. But have you ever wondered who those 100 people are?
Writing material and building each episode is plenty of work for any game show. When Family Feud started production in 1976, the staff took on an even bigger challenge. Not only would they write the material (the […]

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December 9, 2024

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
It seems strange that game shows have a signature microphone. If you watch a comedy sketch spoofing game shows, then the host character is usually holding a long, pencil-thin microphone. Watch reruns of classic game shows, or even the game shows of today, and you’ll see that same long, thin microphone. What happened? Why did the game show genre develop an affinity for such a specific microphone design?
The early […]

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October 30, 2024

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
The National Archives of Game Show History has been fortunate to have many eager contributors donate their prized possessions to be preserved. Among the many treasures that have been donated: set pieces, handheld props, question cards, photographs and slides, tickets, and scripts.
“Wait a minute, scripts? Game shows have scripts?” you might be asking.
Game shows do have scripts, but not in the sense you’re thinking. It’s important for everyone […]

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September 27, 2024

By Bob Boden, co-founder of the National Archives of Game Show History
On September 4, 1998, ITV network in the United Kingdom premiered a one-hour primetime game show called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It featured one contestant, sitting across from host Chris Tarrant, answering up to 15 multiple choice general knowledge questions of increasing values, from £100 to a top prize of £1 million. As long as the player answered questions correctly, they could remain in the “hot […]

Continue Reading about Birth of the Modern Game Show Published on:
July 30, 2024

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
Board games and television don’t seem like they would go together. It would be hard to imagine millions of viewers tuning in regularly to watch people play a game of Risk or Settlers of Cattan. But 40 years ago this month, viewers across the country had a six-year-long daily habit of watching people play Scrabble every day on NBC.
The Scrabble game show originated with Exposure Unlimited, a prize […]

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June 27, 2024

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
With host Pat Sajak’s departure from Wheel of Fortune after more than 40 years as host, one can’t help but reflect on the impact that Wheel of Fortune has left on popular culture. The average American knows how the game is played, whether they watch it or not. Our language itself has been influenced by the show. The consistency and simplicity of the game has led to many […]

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May 28, 2024

Back in 2019, Dr. Sami Schalk contributed a piece to Inside Higher Ed titled “Lowbrow Culture and Guilty Pleasures? The Performance and Harm of Academic Elitism.” The article was in response to Times Higher Education reporter Jack Grove’s tweet, which put out a call to “some scholars who would write for THE about their guilty cultural pleasures/unashamed love for supposedly ‘lowbrow‘ subjects/activities.” Dr. Schalk argued that the uncritical use of term “lowbrow” ignored the biases embedded in such a word, […]

Continue Reading about One Person’s Trash is Another’s Treasure: Garbage Pail Kids, Gross Bears, and Trash Can Trolls Published on:
May 10, 2024

 By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
The Exorcist is one of the most chilling horror films of the 20th century. Pea soup, flying furniture, and the terrifying guttural voice emitting from a 12-year-old girl came together to create a disturbing and impossible-to-forget experience for moviegoers.
And we have Groucho Marx to thank for it.
Groucho Marx’s comedy quiz show, You Bet Your Life, was firmly an institution by the start of 1961, having already logged more […]

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April 29, 2024

By Adam Nedeff, researcher for the National Archives of Game Show History
More than two decades after the final episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood aired in 2001, the legacy of Fred Rogers has endured. Rogers has been the topic of a major feature film, It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood starring Tom Hanks, and a documentary film, Won’t You Be My Neighbor. His namesake company, Fred Rogers Productions, has produced numerous public television series, including the spinoff Daniel Tiger’s […]

Continue Reading about Mister Rogers’….Game Show Published on:
March 28, 2024