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Remember all those fights over What Is And Is Not A Game Show? Well, if you don't hang out on Internet game show boards, you probably don't remember them. But there have been a few knock-down-drag-outs.



I should know because I've been one of the bloodied but unbowed. Generally, I've been an inclusionist (Wikipedia speak!) in the battles. I don't mind a pretty expansive definition of "game show", though I get suspicious of reality TV territory. See my post on Take the Money and Run, for instance.



But I've argued that poker shows belong on GSN because they feature people playing a game for money, and not much else. We don't follow Doyle Brunson out into the supposedly "real world."



Another area of contention is sports. The Encyclopedia of Game Shows actually included the 1960 Home Run Derby as a game show. This project featured genuine-article baseball players - many of them now Hall of Famers, in fact - belting home runs out of Los Angeles' ancient Wrigley Field (no, not the one in Chicago).



If you're going to count that as a game show, you're pretty close to including the World Series and Super Bowl. Which does seem extreme. But some game shows, particularly the stunt shows, do test genuine athletic abilities. Do you include American Gladiators in the genre?



I mention all this because Carrie Grosvenor commented on American Ninja Warriors at her game show site. Is this going too far afield? Maybe a little, depending on how inclusionist you are. As always, everybody has to decide for themselves.



Now I will admit that Jeopardy is a game show. Though the buzzer does test the contestants' reflexes. Ask Watson.