Where did all the ITV Gameshows go?

I just saw the end of an episode of Bruce's Price is right on Challenge and it made me think. Where did all the ITV gameshows go? Apart from Millionaire there aren't any others. I used to love all the sound effects in lots of them eg Family Fortunes and the theme tune to Price is Right.

I remember Family Fortunes, Catchphrase, Bruce's Play Your Cards Right etc. When did they all vanish and why?

I think you've answered your own question - Challenge TV!

Bruce's Price is Right- 2001
Wheel of Fortune- 2001
Play Your Cards Right- 2002 (after a gap of a few years)
Catchphrase- 2002
Family Fortunes- 2002
Blind Date- 2003

Funny how they were all axed around virtually the same time period...

They found out that soaps get more viewers, so fill 2 hours up with these for most of the week, then with dramas at 9 and soaps even taking over sundays, there's no prime time space.

The were doing them for a daytime audience, making them cheap (and wrong), yet now they've found that hey can get more viewers with Paul O Grady, Des & Mel and the proposed Sharon Osbourne Show, there's no room in the 5pm slot either.

Its a big shame, but then it's ITV. If it isn't soap or drama they don't want to know.
I can understand in a way, but they treat things like rubbish.

Look at comedy, in fact look at Dead Man Weds, a fantastic new comedy, very funny on ITV1, and after next week they're moving the last episode to 11pm.

It's just not right, but that's the way the world goes.

Personally I'd prefer it if say a quarter of the license fee was spread across ITV, channel 4 & five so that everything isn't based on ratings.

Ratings that are most probably wrong anyway as they take such a tiny sample of the amount of people watching TV!

Actually I do remember a quote by someone on the ITV Evening News on Feb 2nd 2004 when it was said that the new ITV would not be about making game shows for coach potatoes.

Also, looking at them now, some of them do seem a bit cheesy. and with Millionaire giving away such big prizes, the prizes on the older shows were in the end left looking very small and silly.

I guess that chapter of ITV is over.

I think every chapter of ITV is well and truly over.

Though I have read on TV Plus on Teletext a couple of times that they're after people to take part in a new quiz.

I know that the channel isn't the place for cheesy gameshows, but things along the lines of the people verses, russian roulette and even bognor or bust should be the way that they should keep going.

Though then again they'd still axe them half way through their run. Look at judgement Day with Brain Conley from 2003, it was new different, and I thought tremendously funny and perfect for a saturday night, but as the ratings weren't good they got rid of it never to be seen again!

I just wish that they would get behind a programme rather than axing it as soon as it dips below 3 million, and as I said before, 3 million on barb ratings may equal 11 million who are really watching, we will never know!

No doubt also due to the Millionaire/Weakest Link factor. People no longer wanted to see hosts being nice and giving people fridge freezers as prizes, and nobody going away empty handed.

I have just got one thing to say...

Come and have a look at what you could've won!

What happened to Blockbusters? I haven't seen it since 1993.

It's worth mentioning that the former Central TV studios in Nottingham (where many of the quizzes were made) is closing for good next Friday.
The site's been bought by The University of Nottingham.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4212401.stm

Well it disappeared from ITV at that time, but AFAIK Central were still making it for Sky One for a couple of years. Then in 2000 Sky One brought it back, but with Liza Tarbuck as host, though she wasn't too bad, but nowhere near good as Bob. And I'm not even going to mention the BBC2 version! But if you keep your eye out Challenge TV might be showing it, well they were late last year.

Shame Central Nottingham is going to become a University campus, though we all knew this day would come. For some reason in the late 1980's until the mid 1990's Central made loads of programmes for ITV and then the amount started to dwindle into nothing, now many would put the finger on Carlton, but TBH I don't think it was their fault. Now I can't remember who said it on here, but someone said that many of the shows that disappeared (such as Bullseye or The Upper Hand) didn't have any replacements to follow suit and IMO I think thats where things started to go wrong.

As for ITV gameshows, in one way I'm glad there isn't as many as there once was, remember in the 1980's and the 1990's, ITV had them morning, noon and night, and to extent Channel 4 did too, some of them had their day years ago. Though they proved there was variety in the schedules. But times have changed for ITV, it has to compete with 200 channels and frankly a Soap will get more ratings than a gameshow, which is good for ITV as a whole, as it gets higher ratings, meaning more money etc.

Though I with they'd bring back The Krypton Factor, certainately the best ITV Game show ever.

Indeed, and I'm sure it would be quite cheap to make. All you need is some questions, some blocks to fit together, a bit of a short story and to hire a flight simulator and an asault course!
In the current *realistic* line up of ITV i'd say it could fit quite nicely Sunday at 6.30