Mark Goodson
Biography
It may say UK Gameshows over the door, but we're not too proud to admit that one of the most influential figures in the genre was an American who never worked in Britain at all. If anyone deserves to be called the father of the TV game show, it's surely Mark Goodson, who as the creative half of the Goodson-Todman partnership was responsible for... well, shift your eyes a little to the right and see for yourself.
Goodson's credo was that the public were the stars, and a good game show should be playable at home. The early Goodson-Todman shows tended to be panel game adaptations of old parlour games, and a fair number of them were taken up by the BBC. What's My Line? was a huge hit; other titles in the same vein less so. Later on, Goodson's formats became more glitzy, some might say tacky (but in a good way), with shows like The Price is Right and Play Your Cards Right (the latter being titled Card Sharks in the US).
Goodson died in 1992, leaving a son who has followed him into the business. The Goodson-Todman formats catalogue is now owned by Fremantle Media, who have licensed many of them for interactive DVD games.
