Over at what's left of what used to be Matt Ottinger's board, the posters discuss what was the best era for cable TV. It's a generalization of their usual commentary on what was the best era for GSN. Of course, all the posters agree that the present day is the very best for cable, compared to the useless trash from the past.
That's a joke, and a weak one. This board puts a photo of Bill Cullen in its title, so naturally the mid-1980s get the nod from most posters as the best era. The latest that anybody will venture is the early 2000s. Anything later than that might get you tossed off the board.
Nostalgia is a powerful force, even among folks who don't have much chronological reason to be nostalgic. (By far the funniest and most pointed exchange from the thread: "I would say cable television was at its best from 1980 to 1995." "How would you know? You weren't even born yet!") I wax nostalgic myself as my waistline expands and my energy shrinks.
But I try to be fair to the current day in our little genre. Some terrific game shows are running right now. And a lot of the shows from the past really were pretty bad. (See Game Show Garbage.) About the best I can do is disregard age when evaluating any game show.
Sure, technology moves inexorably forward, so some game show effects weren't even possible in the old days. But that's the only allowance I make in judging shows from different eras.
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