My wife Laura and I - August 2010
For those of you wondering, here is some information about me!
My earliest memories of game show viewing date back to the mid-80's. As a child, I can remember watching long-time favorite, The Price Is Right,
during the summer months, or on days with no school. I also have memories of watching Double Dare on Nickelodeon when my family first got
cable in 1986-87. Then came my favorite show of all time, Fun House. I first remember catching Fun House in late 1988 while channel surfing.
At seven years old, there was certainly no lack of programs to watch on TV, but Fun House caught my eye as a fun show to watch. I continued
watching it through its entire run. I can remember it being on a local WPIX station out of New York weekdays at 4:30pm. In 1989, episodes were
also aired at 7:30am, and I would frequently watch it before school. Fun House had such a wonderful impact on my childhood. In school, I'd
draw pictures of various stunts in art class. After school, when I wasn't outside, I'd turn our basement into a Fun House studio. While the
actual Fun House was too hard--and too large--to recreate, I was quite handy at making stunts. "Dump-o" was a long-time favorite, as was the
often recycled concept of picking one of eight buckets, hoping there would be water instead of glop. Instead of glop, I'd use cut up pieces
of paper, small plastic balls, and whatever else I could find that wasn't messy and would't cause serious injuries when dumped on someone's
head! What great memories. In the early 90's, it was Family Double Dare, and repeats of other Nick game shows, such as Finder's Keepers and
Think Fast. And of course when Legends of The Hidden Temple arrived, it was the greatest thing ever. Let's not forget What Would You Do
and Wild & Crazy Kids, which I watched for many years as well.
The USA network was a great source of game show repeats. In the summers of 1991-1994, I can remember spending a few hours each day in front
of the TV watching such gems as Name That Tune, Scrabble, $25,000 Pyramid, Let's Make A Deal, The Joker's Wild & Tic Tac Dough '90, and
Press Your Luck. I do not remember watching Sale of the Century, All-Star Blitz, and I'm sure there are more I'm missing. Whether they didn't
interest me at the time, or possibly the fact that I just didn't tune in at the right times, I can't remember. And how can I possibly forget,
"Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego" every afternoon at 4:30 on PBS!
In the mid 90's, after school it would be FAM AFTV's lineup. That consisted of Family Challenge, Wild Animal Games, then a year later, Small
Talk, Wait 'Till You Have Kids, and Shop Till You Drop. Some others I don't want to miss are Supermarket Sweep, Rodeo Drive, and reruns of
Classic Concentration and Win, Lose, or Draw.
By late 1998, Game Show Network had now occupied the airways for 4 years. I'll never forget, Christmas Eve, December 24, 1998 was when I first discovered our cable
provider started carrying Game Show Network. Needless to say, in addition to enjoying Christmas, GSN was on for most of the day! It was wonderful to see older episodes of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and of course, The Prce Is Right.
I met my friend Bob Staub in the spring of 1999 through a mutual friend. He lived close by, was an alumni of the high school I went to, and
came to find out that he was also a huge fan of many game shows. Bob, my friend Jim Tighe (Jimmy T.) who introduced us, and I were mostly
interested in wrestling at the time. But after talking with Bob and sharing similar stories, we both had a big interest in game shows, and
possibly someday collecting them. After being a member of alt.tv/gameshows for a time, and seeing the many traders out there with great
collections--Chuck Donegan, Robair Mackey, Brad Francini, and others--I decided to start my own collection. With a great selection of shows
on GSN, it was easy to set the VCR and record several shows throughout the day. The fall of 1999 was my first year in college (King's College
in Wilkes-Barre, PA), and it was also the birth of our collection. The very first show I remember recording was on Sunday night, September 26,
1999. It was an episode of "Choose Up Sides" which aired as GSN's "Game of the Week." (How I miss those days!) As a side note, it disappointed
me that I was just one week late on getting the "Eye Guess" episode hosted by Bill Cullen. At any rate, I recorded away, taping every episode
of The Price Is Right I possibly could, as well as Blockbusters, Combs Family Feud, Card Sharks, Wheel, and others. I realized I had a
monumental task ahead if I one day wanted the collection that I'd seen others acquire. But I was persistent.
After nine solid months of recording, and Bob's interest in starting to trade, we got our first one with "Senor" Jon Wood in June 2000. I'll
never forget our first tape trade viewing on July 5, 2000. It was awesome to once again see so many shows we'd grown up with. We ended up
getting, among other things, two episodes of Fun House, which I hadn't seen in over nine years. Also among the haul was an episode of
Classic Concentration, Double Dare, Finder's Keepers, Michael Larson's two-episode run on Press Your Luck, and other greats.
To this day, I'm very glad to have started this collection when I did. While not as active in trading as I once used to be, I still enjoy it
on occasion and hopefully will never stop. It has allowed me to see shows I had never seen, as well as relive many childhood memories in
watching shows I had seen. Not only that, but there are several others classic shows and specials I've acquired, keeping classic TV viewing
alive and well. Thanks for reading.
Where to?
Home
Collection #-C
Collection D-G
Collection H-M
Hollywood Squares
*Over 130 episodes*
Collection N-R
Press Your Luck
*Over 525 episodes*
The Price Is Right
*Over 600 episodes*
Collection S-T
Collection U-Z
Other: GS and Non GS Related Material
