Shark Bytes

The Downs/Clayton versions never jumped. But for reasons that those above have well described, the sequels were not nearly as good. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

The show jumped as soon as NBC denied GSN the rerun rights to the versions that do exist.

Yet another Goodson-Todman game show that will be resurrected by Fremantle, possibly with bigger cash prizes. It'll likely be more faithful to the NBC version than to the original, with the emcee going to commercial before the viewers find out if the two numbers the contestant selected were matches! Heaven help us all if FOX or TBS bring back the show this way!

I used to love this show and it does remind me of my youth much the same way as Match Game and Beat the Clock does.

Given that so many game show are now on at night during the early prime time viewing hours and having some success, it would be nice if the networks would consider dumping all of the daytime talk and court shows and replace them with game shows. Preferably the same game shows from the past with the same rules without any tweaking of the rules.

All of todays daytime talk and court shows seem to be so mean spirited and I am frankly sick of them all. I don't get any joy out of other peoples humiliation or degradation. I pity those that do.

The original CONCENTRATION was one of the best shows on television. It was played straight forward all the time and for the challenge of game play, unlike the sydicated version and CLASSIC CONCENTRATION, which was played for speed. I always got the Milton Bradley game every year and have been collecting the ones I did not have before. The original 1958-1973 show was the best way to play the game with the electronic game board, thirty numbers, and the white outlined rebuses on the brown background. I hope these shows still exist and will be shown or released later on, maybe for the fiftieth anniversary of the show's debut in 2008. I have the Dorothy vs. Clara 1967 Challenge of Champions episode and watch it quite often to remember how much fun it was growing up with the show. I was only eight when CONCENTRATION left NBC in 1973 and depsite the reincarnations, it was never as good as it was back then.

The original Concentration never jumped. It had all the elements needed for a successful game show. A simple format that involved the home audience and outstanding hosts in Hugh Downs and Bob Clayton. Some of the prizes were gag prizes such as a wet noodle and a cup of coffee. Interesting fact: Norm Bluementhal, the show's producer, designed all the rebuses used in the show's 15 year run. It was unfortunate that the original version was killed by The New Price is Right in 1973 but a new version ended up in syndication that fall with Jack Narz hosting. He was also a very good host. But the producers couldn't leave a good thing alone when they came up with ways to speed up the game including head starts, three call games and Free Look spaces. The only change that was good was the addition of the Double Play bonus round.

"Classic Concentration" (the one with Alex Trebek) jumped when its "second season" consisted of reruns from its first season!

I agree, this was just a good, wholesome game that people of all ages could enjoy. I still have 3 home games from when me & my family would play during the holidays. I have a trading tape with shows hosted by Hugh Downs, Bob Clayton and a brief showing of Jack Narz. Alex Trebek was refreshingly less strict like he was on other shows and joked around with the players (I tried out for that version in '91, but the show was killed right after). Personally, I liked Narz the best of the bunch, he had a great voice, was down-to-earth and really looked like he had fun. And while Narz's double-play bonus round was good, I thought the match-the-car one on Trebek's version was intense! It'd be awesome if Game Show Network ever got the rights to air existing reruns of this show, it'd be a heckuva lot better than this boring videogame preview on now. If a new version ever starts, let's hope they don't twist it terribly like the recent Card Sharks. If I can't host it, then let Marc Summers. He's really matured as a host, and is funny, but not obnoxious, he'd "respect" the game.

Concentration is the greatest game ever... While the insufferable Alex Trebek tried his best to kill it, he just couldn't! The format of this game left Alex too much time to ad-lib and generally be annoying. I started watching with the volume down, but I never stopped watching! I did like the bonus round of the Jack Narz version the best... 10 seconds, 2 fully-revealed puzzles, get 'em both, win a car! I had a number of editions of the home game, but I hadda play the games by myself. Nobody who knew me would play me, 'cuz they knew they had NO shot!

I was too young to watch the Hugh Downs NBC version so the only version I know is the syndicated Jack Narz kind. I grew up in the SF Bay Area and it ran there on the Group W-owned CBS affiliate (KPIX 5) along with other CBS network games like Gambit, The Price Is Right, Match Game, Tattletales, etc...and I think it ran before prime time for a little while as well...CBS was the BEST network in the mid 70's by far!!! My mother bought me the Milton Bradley home edition and I played along with the show EVERY DAY. I despised the '80's NBC daytime revival with a passion.

Frankly, not only do I consider this the best game show of all time, I consider this to be one of the best dozen or so TV shows of all time! As a game show, it worked on two levels: first, you had to match the prize puzzle pieces; once they were matched, then you had to solve the puzzle. I vaguely remember the Hugh Downs years, but I do remember the Bob Clayton years. The greatest day every year for me as a kid was getting the new Concentration board game (Milton Bradley). I wish I had been smart enough to save them. I didn't realize what I was contributing to when I switched from Concentration (9:30 central time on NBC) to the first year of The New Price Is Right which came on at the same time on CBS. The later incarnations of the show ('74 in syndication and late '80's on NBC) left me rather flat: 25 puzzle parts vs. 30 on the old show, plus if a puzzle wasn't solved at the end of the original show, it carried over to the next day's broadcast. One thing people forget: the cheesy organ music.

For me, the original Concentration in the 60s was one of the defining moments in childhood. But when the new versions came out, there were only 25 boxes instead of the traditional 30. What they would do was have only one "wild card" and show the matching number and then turn over all three numbers. No more gag gifts, no more "take" or "forfeit" boxes.

"Concentration" is one of those icons of game-showdom. The game play is rather simple, just like the children's game. Only this time, you could win lots of prizes for guessing the slowly-revealed rebus hidden beneath the numbers. Furniture, kitchen appliances, television and stereo equipment, jewelry, furs (long before the animal rights groups), trips and cruises (including the "Trip Around the World" given away during the annual Tournament of Champions), boats, camping trailers (I even heard they once gave away a modular lodge) ... even cars. The worst thing that could happen? You're rooting for someone to win a certain prize and then his opponent matches a TAKE card on the board; at that point, the player could snatch that desired prize away. Or (during the original NBC run), if your favorite player found a pair of FORFEIT cards, he had to give up one of his prizes to his opponent; you just hoped he had one of those gag prizes (the banana peel, the ice cube, etc.) to give so that's all the opponent got. I never saw the syndicated version, and even the original NBC version was a little before my time; I was just 1 when the 3,796th and final show was aired. However, I very much enjoyed the 1987-1991 Alex Trebek version. Just as fast-paced and fun to play as ever, IMHO. It's just too bad we don't see "Classic Concentration" or the syndicated "Concentration" on Game Show Network; the head hierarchy at NBC ought to give up on the rights to this show, as they did to "Little House on the Prairie" and "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." I feel sorry for the guy who couldn't guess the rebuses, no matter how hard he tried; it goes to show that rebus-solving isn't a talent everyone has.

I watched this show what seemed like forever. I don't ever perceive it really "Jumping the Shark." I had no success at it, I must of been the dumbass of the century, because I couldn't solve a single puzzle, but yet my other family members did just fine. Then later on in life, a friend told me that you use the "n" letter to connect things and symbols meant odd things. Didn't matter, I JUST PLAIN COULDN'T DO IT! So anywhoo's, did anybody really win big money on this show? I work in a body shop.

I thought Jack Narz was the original host of Concentration. I watched this show as a kid and just loved it.