ABC's Fun and Games Brand: The History

Yesterday, ABC announced their annual Summer Fun and Games lineup, a brand they started over five years ago when they started diving into game show reboots. Since then, the brand has continued to expand and only a few game shows have fallen victim to cancelling. ABC had mentioned in the past that they were committed to the fun and games brand. That seems obvious considering the sheer amount of game shows they have (mostly reboots).

ABC has kept the aired the majority of its game shows in the summer, thus the Summer Fun and Games branding. However, they have kept the Fun and Games branding going into the regular broadcast season almost every year. This broadcast season (Fall 2019-Spring 2020) is the one exception. Besides Millionaire, none of the shows have aired in during the regular broadcast season. Typically, Match Game or even Tell to the Truth gets a winter run in the new year, but this year, it hasn't. 

This upcoming fall season might be different though. With three of ABCs game shows unable to tape due to the pandemic, its possible that one or more of those may not be ready in time for a summer one. And even if they all were...that would leave ABC with 8 summer shows spanning THREE nights of television....is that overkill? There has long been the history of "overexposure" from networks when shows have high ratings, and that was originally thought to be the case when the Fun and Games brand was launched. So could the Fun and Games brand continue on Sundays in the fall. 

At the time of it's inception back in 2016, ABC already had one game under it' belt, Celebrity Family Feud. It aired in the summer of 2015 and was a huge hit. NBC had previously tried a version of this back in 2008 that was a tournament style, but it only last one season. Since it's return in 2015 on ABC, the show has a been a staple of the Fun and Games brand and continued to draw off the success of the syndicated half hour version. 

ABC also had already commissioned a six episode run of a re-imagined To Tell the Truth in 2016 as well. Tagging Anthony Anderson as host, the show has been an overall success and is a fun take on the classic show.

Later that spring, ABC officially launched the Fun and Games brand when they announced revivals of The $100,000 Pyramid and Match Game. Set to air on Sundays in the summer, ABC was planning three full hours of game shows with Feud, Pyramid and Match game back to back to back. It worked. While Match Game was the weakest of the three Sunday shows, ABC had enough faith in it to continue on and it's been a solid performer since.

The fun rolled on in 2017 when ABC commissioned a revival of The Gong Show and a new Steve Harvey show called Funderdome, a Shark Tank style show. Funderdome was unsuccessful, lasting just one season. The Gong Show did get a second season but didn't catch on like it's predecessors.

2018 saw a show called Child Support. A show that saw Americans answer trivia questions with help from smart kids. This show was THE only Fun and Games show to not air in the summer. It did air two seasons, but ironically both seasons aired entirely in 2018.

Last year in 2019 saw revivals of Press Your Luck and Card Sharks. Surprisingly, ABC only commissioned eight episodes of each. Press Your Luck was the better of the two shows but both got renewed. ABC also picked up Holey Moley, an extreme mini-golf show. This is basically mini golf mixed with Wipeout.

Then this year, ABC was set to launch a revival of Supermarket Sweep as well as the 20th anniversary of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Sweep is currently on hold as it's been unable to tape episodes while Millionaire is currently airing. 

So ABC wasn't kidding when they said they were committed to the brand, and most of the shows have stuck around. However, some of those may be seeing the end of their life. That will be assessed in Part 2, which will come tomorrow as we look to the future of the shows currently in the brand.