The Top 11 of 2011 - The Year's Best Game Show Moments

One of the biggest stories in the game show world this year has been Watson and his performance on Jeopardy! - the computerized contestant won a two-game match against notorious champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. The show drew a huge audience and the buzz was incredible, but most importantly, the three episodes that featured the mini-tournament made for some great television viewing. Jennings' scrawl on his final answer, "I for one welcome our new computer overlords," put the icing on the cake for viewers.

No other game show has quite the longevity that is enjoyed by The Price is Right, and the show kicked off its 40th season on September 19th, 2011. The very first game was a bonanza: Race Game was played with four cars as the prizes, and the contestant won all four of them on her first try. What an amazing start to what has been a great season so far!

Two big game shows welcomed new announcers this year. First, The Price is Right announced that George Gray would join the cast on a permanent basis. A couple of months later Wheel of Fortune officially named Jim Thornton as their new announcer. Both slots were filled after a succession of guest announcers, with Gray taking over from Rich Fields who was let go in 2010, and Thorton stepping in after the sad passing of Charlie O'Donnell.

Jeopardy! delivered a terrific Tournament of Champions this year, bringing back some highly competitive contestants. After his inital record-breaking three-day run on the show, Roger Craig beat out the rest of the competition to take away this year's title - and the $250,000 in prize money.

This year ABC brought us a new game show, Million Dollar Mind Game. While the show was stuck in an unpopular time slot, it proved to be an exciting and challenging game. One team, dubbed the "Video Game Geeks," worked their way up to the $600,000 question and nailed it. Most of the team wanted to take the money and run, but with one single vote to keep playing, their game continued. Sadly they lost their $600,000 and walked away with nothing - it was heartbreaking to watch, but an excellent example of just how riveting this show can be.

The rumors were getting pretty rampant already when NBC finally made it official: Fear Factor is back and better than ever. With most of the crew returning and Joe Rogan at the helm, Fear Factor 2.0 both picks up where they left off in 2006, and evolves into a more thrilling ride for contestants and viewers alike.

Okay, this isn't technically a "game show moment" but it involves one of the best known hosts on the planet, and it's a great story. Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek was in San Fransisco earlier this year when he was awoken in his hotel room by a thief. The woman made a run for it, but Trebek jumped up, donned some pants, and ran after her. He injured his Achilles tendon and appeared for the premiere of Jeopardy in a cast - though he shunned the cane he'd been using to help him get around. We all knew that Trebek was kick-ass, and now here's proof.

In June, beloved game show hosts Pat Sajak and Alex Trebek were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 2011 Daytime Emmy Awards. The awards were presented by Vanna White and Peter Marshall, and the segment was both touching and funny. Both men are very much deserving of the honor.

After the heartbreaking loss of the Video Game Geeks on Million Dollar Mind Game, the show went on to finish with a bang. The Pub Quiz group, which included Brad Rutter, won $600,000 - and they did it without using any of their helps and only giving one incorrect answer throughout their game. Perhaps learning a lesson from the video gamers (or maybe they didn't feel the risk was worth the payoff), they decided to stop there and walk away. Million Dollar Mind Game wasn't given much respect by ABC, but it turned out two of the top 11 moments of the year - not bad by any standards.

Hot on the heels of a resurgence in popularity, Family Feud made it even easier for families who want to play the game to apply for the show. After announcing that they will now accept video applications, the fine folks at Feud also offered another way to get on the show: Facebook auditions. We applaud any efforts that make it easier for people to become contestants, and love that Family Feud is looking for new ways to welcome more families on board to play.

2011 marked the first year that we participated in the annual About.com Readers' Choice Awards, and participation was terrific. One show stood out above all the rest with a complete sweep of wins in every category they were eligible for. Wheel of Fortune took top honors for Best Host, Best Announcer, Best Twitter Feed, Best Website, and Best Online Game. The Readers' Choice Awards will be back in 2012, and it'll be fun to see how things turn out then!