The questions on the new generation of game shows are easy by comparison with yesteryear. “Many of the quiz shows that riveted the nation in the 1950s were positively Einsteinian compared with today’s. It was a different era, of course. TV was a new medium, and trying very hard to prove it was respectable, even educational. So shows such as “The $64,000 Question,” “Dotto” and “Twenty-One” rewarded those with encyclopedic knowledge in such categories as opera, science and Shakespeare.”