Act of congress

Hardcore game show types like me are vaguely aware of Game Show Congress, a nostalgia-fest held every year to celebrate the genre's history. This year Congress convenes on July 8-10 in Las Vegas, in association with the Trivia Championships of North America, a quizzer extravaganza for the trivially minded from across the continent.

As anybody can see from a glance at its website, GSC is heavy on the past...as in ten tons of heavy. From the programs for the previous seven congresses, you'd think that game shows stopped dead in 1980 or so.

Which is my problem with the effort. I don't mind a little nostalgia now and then. I post a few look-back-in-fondness items on this blog, and even cull some grainy black-and-white screenshots to accompany them. The glasses on my crotchety old eyes get more rose-colored every year. I'm certainly not as hostile to game show history as, say, BuzzerBlog's Alex Davis. He once tweeted his withering contempt for older game shows: "I don't watch classics or cover them really so you're barking up a dead, wilted tree."

But when the look back gets to be the only look, I get antsy. I've gotten into plenty of trouble on the GSN Classics board with folks who seem to think that the only good game show is a dead game show. I've seen posters even go ballistic because GSN ran one season of Match Game instead of another.

That's when nostalgia gets overbearing and really pretty silly. Game Show Congress may not be all the way there yet, but it's getting a little too close for my comfort. Game shows didn't expire thirty years ago, no matter what some people think.