David's Reviews > This Day in Game Show History- 365 Commemorations and Celebrations, Vol. 1: January Through March

Just finished reading volume one (“January Through March”) of Adam Nedeff’s massive “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and Celebrations” four-volume series (Bear Manor, 2014), checked out from my local public library, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library, who added them to their circulating collection upon my request (although they are also available on Kindle from Amazon and I’m assuming also eBook format from the other usual retailer sites).

I first heard about “This Day in Game Show History” while recently listening to old episodes of Stu Shostak’s “Stu Show” podcast.

This is a treasure trove of tv history for aficionados like myself. Since it’s one entry per day of the month for three months, the bill entires (or chapters) are almost all very short. Most are two to three pages, some a bit longer.

The entry are generally of two basic types: dates on which a notable game show first aired, last aired, or had some other significant moment like changing its name, format, or network it was airing on, or a significant change in its host or announcer. And the other being significant game show figures’ “born on this day” (or “died on this day”) entries (some clearly to round out the days of the month not already filled).

The game show program specific entries give details of how that show got on the air, who the notable people working on that show were, the rules of the game, how long it ran for, and any subsequent revivals of that show. The “born/died on this date” entries generally give a broad overview of that person’s entire career (focusing on the game shows if that person was also an actor or had some other field he or she is just as well known for), although some of the figures entries are very short because their time in game shows was likewise short.

There are a few entries that don’t fit either of those two types like an entry on game shows that won Emmy awards, game shows and their hosts who showed up on scripted television shows (like “Let’s Make a Deal” on “The Odd Couple”, “Family Feud” and memorable episodes of “Mama’s Family”, “The Golden Girls”, and “Cheers” where characters appeared on “Jeopardy!” (“Mama’s Family” also on “Family Feud”, in one of my favorite episodes.)

If you are into game shows, or television history of the 1950s to today (but especially 1950s-1980s), I highly recommend this book and its other three volumes. (There is quite a bit also about the infamous game show fixing scandals of the 1950s that nearly killed the genre.)

The only caveat is that it probably is a bit better to have all four volumes at the same time rather than one at a time like I am from the library because Nedeff often has notes within or at the end of an entry saying “See November 11” (or some other date) for a related other entry.

Also, due to the format, the entries jump all of the place in terms of what decades the events happened in. One entry 1950s, the next entry 2000s, the next 1960s, the next about someone born in the 1920s, and so on. That’s just the nature of these calendar style “what happened on this day” books. Which is fine, especially for reading only one or two entries a day. Me, I’m a very chronological thinker. So, if I had one suggestion it would have been for Nedeff to have included among the works cited and index sections in the back also an entries in chronological order guide so that a reader could read all of the 1950s entries, then the 1960s, etc. Of course, that would still be just for the entries in this one particular volume, not all four, so maybe not very many other people would find that all that useful.

Anyway, I gave “This Day in Game Show History: 365 Commemorations and Celebrations” Volume 1: “January Through March” four out of five stars on GoodReads, and have Volume 2 “April Through June” already waiting among those in my “to read next” pile.