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Five years ago, we wrote a piece on this site that began with the phrase, "A lot can happen in 10 years." And as much as a lot happened in the first 10 years of Game Show Newsnet's existence, a lot more happened in the next five. The game show became a lot more global, the audience became a lot more sophisticated.

We bore witness to a silent passing of the torch from the old generation to the new with "The Price Is Right" finding a new audience for a new generation.

A revival of a classic 15 years ago would transform from "doing just well enough to perform under Louie Anderson" to "challenging the syndicated game show throne under Steve Harvey".

The talent show that changed the way America watched - and participated in - talent shows had to cede its critical throne to a talent show that changed the way talent shows were judged.

Fifteen years ago, the start and finish of food competition on television was a dubbed-over import from Japan. That begat a schedule dominated by and inundated with them.

Fifteen years ago, Julia Collins, Ken Jennings, John Carpenter, Arthur Chu, and even the mighty Mark "The Beast" Labbett were just faces in the crowd, quiz fans no more distinguishable than you or I.

Fifteen years ago, poker on television was something ESPN aired to fill in the spots that weren't occupied by SportsCenter or exercise shows. That was before Steve Lipscomb came around and saw it as part sporting event, part game show, all money machine. The World Poker Tour was the beginning of a renaissance.

The last 15 years in game shows have also seen a change in the way media is presented - harder, faster, and often with more of an impact. Through the changes, we have stuck to our guns, saying defiantly, "We would much rather be late and correct than first and wrong." This is the sort of independent spirit that has enabled us to thrive for so long. For an independent blog, devoid of any advertising whatsoever, to last more than five years is impressive. To last 15 is borderline unreal.

We've gone through a lot of semi-professional and personal changes as we carried on with this site. We've made friends on both sides of the industry - producer and player - that we are proud to say are still our friends in spite of it all. We've made friends that are sadly no longer with us.

Take a moment to think about where we were back then and where we are today. And yet one thing has not changed. At the heart of this site is the same thing at the heart of the game show: ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Regular folks using what knowledge and skills they possess to win millions of dollars in cash and prizes. Even more important, though, in a world where anyone with a camera and a few hours to kill can become "stars in a day", they had their time in the limelight and the imagination - not merely the attention, mind you - of a nation cheering for them.

Our story is the story of the genre. Our story is the story of humanity. Our story is your story. And as long as the internet will let us, we will continue telling our story. We will continue telling YOUR story. The story of the next Ken Jennings, the next Richard Hatch, the next Kelly Clarkson making their first step towards glory. The story of the next Michael Davies, the next Bob Boden, the next Mike Richards getting an idea that will revolutionize the genre as we know it. The story of the next Steve Harvey, Wayne Brady, or Drew Carey, taking a chance and making history. Because theirs is our story - the story of all of us.

Of course, we couldn't tell you the entire story - without favor or bias, slant or agenda - without a great few, both online and off. At the risk of repeating ourselves, they changed the way we saw game shows and, in turn, the way we saw ourselves. That sort of thinking has given us pause and made our product better, and for that, we cannot be thankful enough. So on this season of Thanksgiving, we give thanks to these people for allowing us to exist for 15 years (and if we forgot anyone, we'll get you on the next shot)...

Andy Aaron, About.com Game Shows, Dave Adams, Quisla Alexander, Steve Altes, Cory Anotado, Randy Amasia (RIP); Atlantic City, NJ; Dan Avila, Paul Bailey, the BBC, Tom Beals, Dan Berger, Steve Beverly, Christopher Bligh, Jason Block, Bob Boden, David Bodycombe, Buzzerblog.com, Jennifer Campbell, Joe Capitano, CBS Sports, Chris Cheatwood, Carl Chenier, CLW83.com, the College of New Jersey, Tim Connolly, Philip Cousin, Alex Davis, Lee diGeorge, James Dinan, Travis Eberle, Jason Elliott, Autumn Erhard, ESPN, Harry Friedman, the Futon Critic, Nick Gates, "Uncle" Tom Gauer, Rebecca Golden, Golden-Road.net, Marc Green, Travis & Sallan Griffin, Carrie Grosvenor, GSN, Josh Halbur, David Hammond, Don Harpwood, Bob Harris, Phyllis Harris, Anne Hegerty, Jason Hernandez, Hitfix, Home Game Enterprizes, Horrible Folks Productions, Dr. Tim Hsieh, Aaron Huertas, Jason Huhn, Heather Hurley, IHOP, Mandel Ilagan, Ineligible Productions, International Quizzing Association, Izze Soda, Rachel Kadushin, Pierre J. Kelly, Mike Klauss, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Chris Lambert, Jay Lewis, David Livingston, Sarah Manchester, Bobby McBride, Bill McDonald, Joe Mello, Alan Mitsugi (RIP), Brian Moore, Doug Morris, Chad Mosher, Chris "Wolvie" Motherway, Kim Mundhenk, Ethan Musulin, Adam Nedeff, 1&1 Internet, Dave & Bev Peffer; Andy Pei, Bonnie, Jessie & Stacey Pepper; Kevin Pereira, Eric Pierce, Gus Polly, Ivy Reisner, Dustin Riley, Anthony Rojas, Brad Rutter, Pat Sajak, Brian Sapinski, Ryan Savage, Rob Seidelman, Jeremy Soria, Tim & Erika Sternberg, Phoenix Stone, the Suchard family, 1010 WINS, Erskine Thompson, Jim Thornton, Eddie Timanus, Ed Toutant, Ben Tritle, Chris Tufts, the Underground Bowling Association, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, J. Keith van Straaten, Joe Van Ginkel, Ryan Vickers, Aldo Villalona, "Agent Josh" Wheeler, Vanna White, Jim Williams, Williams Street Productions (GrizzleBEES!), WRALSportsFan.com, Jason Wuthrich, Yahoo!, Josh Yawn, Zap2it, Benjamin Ziek, David Zinkin (RIP), our families and friends, countless PR folks from the various networks who have been gracious enough to allow us access, all the hosts, producers, contestants, and companies for giving us something to talk about over the years...

And last, but by no means least, we want to thank you, the audience. Thank you for your continued patronage, your continued support, and your time. Jason Elliott created this site in 1999 for you, and we continue this work for you, and we're continuing this work because of you. Again, at the risk of repeating ourselves and sounding cliché, without you, we're nothing.

 



Chico Alexander & Gordon Pepper
co-editors, GSNN