These were the rules in use during the 2001 Tournament.

The Nomination Process

To start off, everyone is invited to send a list of their 20 favorite shows, ranked in order. The higher a show ranks on your list, the more points it will be given. Points are doled out as follows:

Other notes on the nomination methodology:

• Feel free to nominate fewer than 20 if you feel it necessary, but I will only accept ballots with 10 or more shows. Also, any shows beyond 20 that are listed will not count. In other words, I'll score your top 20, and ignore anything past that.
• Shows that have had multiple runs are treated as a single franchise. A vote for Password is a vote for all forms of Password. If you split a show into separate runs (IE. You rank Password Plus at #7 and Super Password at #13), The higher of the two rankings will be counted and the other will be ignored, with the shows below it moving up the list accordingly.
• The following kinds of shows are ineligible:
  REALITY SHOWS (Survivor, Big Brother, etc.)
  TALENT SHOWS (Star Search, Your Big Break, etc.)
  LOCAL/LOTTERY SHOWS (Big Spin 2000, Illinois' Luckiest, etc.)
  FOREIGN SHOWS (Although foreign versions of domestic shows can be considered).
• Like the last two years, bonus points will be allotted at the outset for how each show did last year, as well as extra points for shows that pulled off upsets. Also lake the last two years, 2000's Final Four - THE PRICE IS RIGHT, WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE, MATCH GAME and PRESS YOUR LUCK are guaranteed #1 seedings in each region.

The 60 shows that score the highest will be included in the brackets with the four automatic qualifiers as participants in the tournament. Ties will be broken according to the number of ballots on which a show is found, show lifespan, and total score without bonuses.

The Tournament

In the tournament, a total of 64 matches are held. In each match, judges are to send me their votes as to which show of the two is better. The show that receives the majority will advance to the next round, and the losers are eliminated (except in the case of the Final Four, whose losers take part in a 3rd place consolation match).

For each match, a specific number of judges are selected to place official votes. During the first three rounds (Rounds of 64, 32, and 16), three judges are selected, and 2 votes are needed to win. The Elite 8 matches will each have five judges; three votes will win there. Final Four and consolation matches will be a best of 9 vote, and the Championship match will have 15 judges, 8 votes winning the match.

Judges are to abstain from a match which contains one or two shows that the player has not seen, or is otherwise unfamiliar with.

Voter Eligibility - "The Jeremy Soria Rule"

From the nomination round to the Elite 8, matches and results will be posted on numerous commonly-visited discussion forums: A.T.G-S, GS-L, etc., and voting will be open to anyone who comes across these messages. When you submit a vote in two stages of the tournament, you will be added to a mailing list. From the Final Four on, only results will be posted publicly; matches will be submitted on only that mailing list. In other words, you must have participated at least twice from nomination to Elite 8 in order to be able to vote in the Final Four, Consolation and Championship.

Also, when your vote is counted in a particular match, you must wait for all other judges to get a vote. At that point, the judge roster is reset and your vote is available again.

Championship Implication - The Price is Right

Since The Price is Right has won the last two tournaments, it should be known that any show that wins three consecutive years will be retired and graduate into the GST Hall of Fame.