YMMV / GamesMaster

• Ass Pull: So, which department at Channel 4 did GamesMaster fall under the jurisdiction of? Sports, because it was pitched as "a competitive event programme".
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The Cold Open of the first episode of Series 2 — the show began originally as in Series 1, except it was "plagued" by numerous apparent "technical faults", with the first challenge being a Marble Madness challenge. As the challenger was coming to the podium, the program "crashed", "rebooted" with the new series opener, and a Street Fighter II challenge, with the cast acting like the short segment preceding the new challenge had not happened.
• Growing the Beard: Series 2 very much so as this was undoubtedly the golden age of the show after a pretty successful first series (and sadly never reached those heights again even after Dominik returned).
• Heartwarming Moments: For the final episode of the original, the end credits ran in silence and listed everyone who had ever worked on the show by name and with no mention of what position they held on the show.
• More Popular Spin-Off: Up until the show's reboot, the GamesMaster magazine, which launched in 1993 to complement the show. While the the show ended in 1998, around the time the Sega Dreamcast was launching, the magazine had remained in publication until late 2018. For those wondering, that's nearly 20 years longer; or to put in comparison to the console generations, the show ended at the start of The Sixth Generation of Console Video Games whilst the magazine would last several years into The Eighth Generation of Console Video Games before being cancelled. Ironically the show was rebooted not long after, thus eventually subverting this.
• Periphery Demographic: The show was originally aimed at children, but had a teenaged following due to it being the first instance of a show based around video games; as the show moved on, the target audience was shifted from children to teenagers (or rather, it retargeted the original demographic which were now teenagers), but had children watching it because it was a show about video games.
• Questionable Casting: Who do you cast as the snarky Games Master? Famed astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, host of The Sky At Night. The man known for using a typewriter all through his life and refusing to use computers.
• Replacement Scrappy: Dexter Fletcher in Series 3. Not helped by one of his first lines being a shot at Dominik.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Jonathan Ross' wife Jane Goldman was one of the reviewers.
  • One of the reviewers was Nick Pickard, who later went on to play Tony Hutchinson on Hollyoaks.
• Seasonal Rot: Series 3 certainly had its flaws, such as host Dominik Diamond leaving because of the McDonald's sponsorship and being replaced by Dexter Fletcher as host, as well as the challenge format being changed to the Games World-esque Team Championship. On the face of it, as this series still stayed true to the competitive gaming nature of the program, it wasn't actually this one but rather Series 5, 6, and 7 which all marked the slow death of the show's original run. These series focussed less about video games and more about Dominik's comedic talents, frequent innuendos, constant flirting with female celebrities, and getting his friends on TV. However... one could argue that for Series 3, had either Dominik stayed (easily achievable by simply rejecting McDonalds sponsorship) or a better suited presenter been hired, Channel 4 would have given them less creative control, thus limiting the damage on this. As it was, for Series 4 Dominik was begged to come back, therefore from then on he said "jump" and Channel 4 said "how high?". Thankfully it (eventually) got better as...
• Signature Scene: The infamous Super Mario 64 challenge in Series 6, and Dave Perry’s reaction to losing.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The 2021 reboot is widely this as the new hosts (not least new Games Master Trevor McDonald) brought a new lease of life to the show. Not quite the imperial quality of Series 2 of the original but both the back to basics format and the more collegiate dynamic between the hosts made a welcome change from latter day Dominik's self indulgent goofing around.
• Tear Jerker: Dominik's final line from the last episode of the original.
  So, I guess really now with the last link of the last series, I should come up with the funniest gag in the history of GamesMaster, but... I can't.

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