History YMMV / TicTacDough

** Jim Caldwell. Wooden hosting, constant screwups, and an unhealthy obsession with the red boxes ([[MemeticMutation we'll explain those when we get to them]]). To his credit, he ''did'' get better as the season progressed, and was greatly improved by the time TNN's ''Top Card'' debuted in 1989.

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: A simple tic-tac-toe based quiz show may be a hard sell these days, especially in comparison to ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'' where celebrities are asked the questions. It also makes the show rather quaint in comparison to fast-paced quiz shows such as ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{The Chase|Game Show}}''. It doesn't help that the questions tended to be [[ItsEasySoItSucks easy]] and [[PurpleProse overly wordy]]. This may also be why the 2021 pilot flopped--a simple TabletopGame/TicTacToe-based trivia contest is a tough sell in this day and age.

** The 1990 revival changed the rules involving tie games. In all previous versions, when a tie game happened, the pot would carry over to the next round with the contestants playing nine new categories. In the revival, the money in the pot reset to 0 in the event of a tie, and the next round would be played for double the stakes. This is hated by fans because it means the second round can potentially be worth ''less'' than the first one. The first round can be worth at most $5000, but the second round can be worth at least ''$3000'', and that did happen a few times during the show.

** The 1990s revival '''reset the pot to $0''' after each tie (each box's value was doubled instead), and made other changes which many fans disliked (mostly the BonusRound, a harder variant of the CBS version, and theme music)...to say nothing of Wayne's hosting. But then about six weeks in, the Dragon and Dragonslayer started [[TotallyRadical rapping their purpose]].

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** A simple tic-tac-toe based quiz show may be a hard sell these days, especially in comparison to ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'' where celebrities are asked the questions. It also makes the show rather quaint in comparison to fast-paced quiz shows such as ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{The Chase|Game Show}}''. It doesn't help that the questions tended to be [[ItsEasySoItSucks easy]] and [[PurpleProse overly wordy]]. This may also be why the 2021 pilot flopped--a simple TabletopGame/TicTacToe-based trivia contest is a tough sell in this day and age.

** Patrick Wayne, he of [[NoIndoorVoice "YOU WIIIIIIIN!"]] infamy. Every bit as wooden when interviewing or reading the questions, but SuddenlyShouting when a contestant blocked or won. [[http://illustriousgameshowpage.com/winkconversation.html According to Wink Martindale]], he ''did'' study tapes of Wink's shows for weeks on end, and to his credit he did show some growth as a host while the series progressed. But the numerous other flaws with this version didn't help.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: These days, the show seems rather quaint in comparison to fast-paced quiz shows such as ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{The Chase|Game Show}}''. It doesn't help that the questions tended to be [[ItsEasySoItSucks easy]] and [[PurpleProse overly wordy]]. This may also be why the 2021 pilot flopped--a simple TabletopGame/TicTacToe-based trivia contest is a tough sell in this day and age.

* NightmareFuel: The Dragon was the source of many nightmares among fans who grew up with the show. He even roared whenever he was picked.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: These days, the show seems rather quaint in comparison to fast-paced quiz shows such as ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{The Chase|Game Show}}''. It doesn't help that the questions tended to be [[ItsEasySoItSucks easy]] and [[PurpleProse overly wordy]]. This may also be why the 2021 pilot flopped--a simple tic-tac-toe-based trivia contest is a tough sell in this day and age.

** Also that era's ThinkMusic, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkYwftHJx8g a groovy mix]] of clock-ticking and wah-wah pedal effects.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymR1rskk-_E "Crazy Fun"]], the theme song of the 1978-86 version, in all its handclaps-and-Moog Synthesizer glory.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: These days, the show seems rather quaint in comparison to fast-paced quiz shows such as ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{The Chase|Game Show}}''. It doesn't help that the questions tended to be [[ItsEasySoItSucks easy]] and [[PurpleProse overly wordy]]. This may also be why the 2021 pilot flopped--a simple tic-tac-toe-based trivia contest [[Series/TheHollywoodSquares without celebrities]] is a tough sell in this day and age.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: These days, the show seems quaint in comparison to fast-paced quiz shows such as ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{The Chase|Game Show}}''. It doesn't help that the questions tended to be [[ItsEasySoItSucks easy]] and [[PurpleProse overly wordy]].

** Averted in the 1990 version. Despite being composed by Music/HenryMancini, it sounds more like the cheesy theme to some bad 1980s children's show.

** The 1990s revival '''reset the pot to $0''' after each tie (each box's value was doubled instead), and made other changes which many fans disliked (mostly the BonusRound, a harder variant of the CBS version, and theme music)...to say nothing of Wayne's hosting. But then about six weeks in, the Dragon and Dragonslayer started ''[[TotallyRadical rapping their purpose]]'' and made the show nigh intolerable.

** Many fans' opinions of the Caldwell season. The numerous red boxes that dragged the gameplay down by this point didn't help. Inverted with the redone set and recolored logo--those are often seen as nice and less harsh on people's eyes (it's been stated that the new set was needed because Wink's set was falling apart by the time he left).

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: These days, the show seems quaint in comparison to fast-paced quiz shows such as ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{The Chase|Game Show}}''. It doesn't help that the questions tended to be [[PurpleProse overly wordy]] and [[ItsEasySoItSucks rather easy]].

* WhatAnIdiot: On the only surviving Jay Jackson episode, the show starts with an interrupted game. The champion has X's in the left corners and the opponent has an O in the center box. One would think that the champ would go for the easy victory by picking "Pot Luck" in the middle left, but he goes for a "Civil War" question in the lower right instead. He gets his turn back and ''again'' ignores the same spot to choose a square that blocks his opponent. Had this version not been rigged, Jay would have at least tried to talk him out of both selections.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymR1rskk-_E "Crazy Fun"]], the theme song of the 1978-86 version.

** Averted in the 1990 version. Despite being composed by Creator/HenryMancini, it sounds more like the cheesy theme to some bad 1980s children's show.

** Averted in the 1990 version. Although Henry Mancini composed the theme, it sounds more like the cheesy theme to some bad 1980s children's show.

** Jay Stewart previously announced for ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'' from 1964 to 1977, and later went on to announce for ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury'' from 1983 to 1988 and ''Series/{{Scrabble}}'' from 1984 to 1986. Incidentally, original ''Deal'' host Monty Hall previously worked for Barry & Enright as host of ''Series/TwentyOne'' during the Summer of 1958, and later returned to the conpany in 1987 to host an unsold pilot for a revival of ''Series/QueenForADay''.

WTHCastingAgency:
** The replacement of Wink Martindale with Jim Caldwell, an infomercial host with no prior game show experience; Caldwell would frequently mis-gender upcoming contestants, mispronounce or misread questions requiring a correction from the off-screen judge, and on one occasion, had to be reminded to shuffle the categories before the game by ''one of the contestants.'' While he did improve somewhat as his season went on, the show was already on its way out.
** Patrick Wayne as host of the 1990 version, who to this day is the go-to example of "bad game show host" among fans[[note]]although in fairness to Wayne, there have been plenty of hosts who were even worse both before and since[[/note]]. Wayne's NoIndoorVoice style of hosting--shouting "IS RIGHT!", "YOU BLOCK!", or "YOU WIN!" after virtually every correct answer--quickly became grating.

* WhatAnIdiot: On one of the surviving episodes hosted by Jay Jackson, the show starts with an interrupted game. The champion has X's in the left corners and the opponent has an O in the center box. One would think that the champ would go for the easy victory by picking "Pot Luck" in the middle left, but he goes for a "Civil War" question in the lower right instead. He gets his turn back and ''again'' ignores the same spot to choose a square that blocks his opponent. Had this version not been rigged, Jay would have at least tried to talk him out of both selections.