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Above: "Match Game' part from "MG-HS Hour" |
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THE MATCH GAME-HOLLYWOOD SQUARES HOUR NBC DAYTIME, OCTOBER 31, 1983-JULY 27, 1984 The "Match Game" segment was played exactly like "Match Game PM" in that there were three rounds, six celebrity panelists (with Squares portion emcee Jon "Bowzer" Bauman participating on the panel) and two contestants. Gene Rayburn emceed the MG portion, this being the last revival of the classic shwo that he ever hosted. The tie-breaker was also played the same exact way it was on "PM", except for the fact that the contestants were given four fill-in-the-blank options in the sudden death. The second part was the Hollywood Squares part. Jon Bower Bauman of "Sha-Na-Na" hosted, as a seperate panel of nine celebrities came in on the board. Jon and Gene switched places and Jon hosted the Hollywood Squares part, with Gene sitting on the bottom left side of the board. This part of the game show was played like classic Hollywood Squares, the format we all know and recognize. However, Mark Goodson did not make a wise decision in making all the questions multiple choice, which took away the flavor of the game show which had become popular for bluffing celebrities. Stars were given for every symbol on the board, and a Tic-Tac-Toe or a 5 star win won in game 1, in game 2, in game 3 and etc. When time has expired, a bell rings and the one who was won the most money moves on to the Super-Match. The "Super Match" was generally played the same way it was on the 70s Match Game, with Rayburn coming back to host the Super-Match and Bauman sitting in Gene's former position on the Hollywood Squares board. The Audience Match portion was played the same, although the dollar values were altered. The most popular answer was worth 1,000 dollars, the second worth 500 dollars and the third worth 250 dollars. The Head-to-Head Match was played for 30,000 dollars.Each celebrity (including Jon Bauman) had a secret card, 4 had 10's, 4 had 20's, and 1 had a 30. The celebrity the contestant chose showed their card and then, the amount won in the Audience Match was multiplied by the number of the celebrity equaling the total money possible in the Head-to-Head match. Then, the head-to-head match fill-in was read and you know how the rest goes. Of course, if they matched the player won the amount playing for. If the contestant made it to the Super-Match, no matter what the result was, they would have to reappear the following day on the Hollywood Squares-half of the game. WHY DID IT FAIL?: "The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour", the show that TV Guide called "two great games in one", was an awful disaster. It sustained itself on the NBC schedule for roughly thirty-nine weeks--the soap opera, Santa Barbara filled that time slot following the MG-HS cancellation--in large part due to its unusual conception overall. Contributing factors included the fact that almost zero regular panelists from both game shows were brought back and it did face a tough challenge against other successful games which had recently gained steam, such as The Price is Right, Scrabble, Press Your Luck, Super Password, Jeopardy, Love Connection, The 25,000 Dollar Pyramid, and particularly, Wheel of Fortune. On the other hand, this program was a lousy anagram of two game shows which had both recently been cancelled after ratings slides in the late 70s and early 80s. The selection of Jon "Bowzer" Bauman as host especially did not play well with many. The host was a former member of the band, Sha-Na-Na and did not have any training in emceeing quiz telecasts. In fact, Rayburn recalled in an interview with David Hammet that, "Mark Goodson made the critical mistake of hiring Jon". Rayburn personally despised working with Bauman on the set of "The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour" and he was not very pleased with the format as well. "Gene", recalled announcer Gene Wood, "was dragged kicking and screaming into the hour." By watching a 1984 episode, I could clearly see Gene Rayburn's disinterest in the game and his low-spirited attitude, compared to the antics master he was on the long-running CBS/syndicated verisons. GSN, or any other channel for that matter, will most definitley never rerun episodes of The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. For years, conflicting ownership rights involving King World made it impossible for GSN to legally pick up the show for rebroadcasts. But in 2019, Buzzr was able to secure the rights to air reruns as they have done so since then.
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In 1985, TV producers planned to bring back Match Game for a revival in syndication with Gene Rayburn as host. However, when execs discovered his age after Entertainment Tonight wished him a happy birthday, all proposals were shut down. In 1996, a pilot was filmed with Charlene Tilton as host but it was never picked up for broadcast. The video of the 1996 pilot is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVo2WajBd5I.
MATCH GAME 90
ABC daytime: July 16, 1990-July 12, 1991 ____________________________________________ Mark Goodson was determined to create an efficacious repirsal of The Match Game. In c. 1989/1990, he believed he was on the right track when a new MG pilot was taped in front of a live studio audience, with former "MG" semi-regular and "Tattletales" and "Super Password" host Bert Convy as emcee. Unfortunately, Convy was diagnosed with brain cancer, which caused producers to search for a new master of ceremonies. Goodson also found a formidable host: Ross Shafer, a comedian who had replaced Joan Rivers on her late-night talk show. The campy Charles Nelson Reilly redeemed himself as a regular panelist, as he added some much-needed humor to the show. The main game was played entirely the same as it was in the CBS 1970s version, except for the fact that 50 dollars was given for every single match scored by a contestant. Following two rounds, a newly introduced part named Match-Up was played. In "Match-Up!", Shafer read a fill-in (similar to those in the head-to-head match) and the conetstant was given two possibilites. The player would press his/her option on a screen in front of him or her and then a corresponding celebrity would assume which of the two options the contestant chose. If they match, 50 dollars is added to the contestant's total. The first match-up was played for 30 seconds while the second one was expanded for 45 seconds. After the 2nd match-up, the player who had won the most money moved on to the Super-Match which was played almost the very same way that it was in the 1978-82 years of MG, with a Star Wheel included. The dollar values on the Audience Match were increased slightly to 200 dollars, 300 dollars, and 500 dollars for the most popular responses this time. Following the Audience Match, was of course the head-to-head played the same way as the 78-82 years. If a player had by chance, failed in the audience match, then they would play for 1,000 dollars in the head-to-head match, or if they have successfully double the amount with the Star Wheel, 2,000 dollars. _________________________________________ WHY DID IT FAIL? "Match Game 90" was given a horrendous 12 Noon time slot by ABC. Local channels were then given the decision to air "Match Game" or broadcast their 12 Noon news. Many of the stations chose to broadcast their local news and the revived version of "Match Game" was being seen in very few areas around the country. However, bad time slots wasn't the only problem. Although original "Match Game" legend Charles Nelson Reilly and many other recgonizable MG icons were brought back, the tasteless panel of "Match Game 90", was mainly filled with many of ABC's soap opera stars. "Game show fans", webmaster Curt Alliaume explains, "aren't generally fans of soap operas or vice-versa". Mark Goodson was passionate about this new version, yet his hopes were possibly too high. The game may have been better off in a later afternoon time slot, where there would have been a large possibility that it would have been renewed for a second season. Like its preceeding "Match Game" incarnation, it was canceled within less than a year. GSN has aired reruns of every single episode of this version in the past numerous times.
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Contestants and host Ross Shafer on the early 90s remake of "Match Game"
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MATCH GAME 98
Syndication: Septemebr 1998-September 1999 ____________________________________________ The most recent actual series-long revival of "Match Game" was in the fall of 1998, when Pearson Productions redeveloped the game for modern-day standards. Hosted by the comical yet uninspiring Michael Burger, the show pitted two contestants with a celebrity panel as usual, but the panel on the '98 revival was only composed of five celebrities, rather than the usual six. Vicki Lawrence--who was a panelist on two weeks-worths of 70s episodes and appeared as a regular on the early 90s version--and Judy Tenuta (along with George Hamilton and Nell Carter) were pitched as regulars. The main game was changed however so that instead of an "A" and "B" choice, the contestants were comically entiteld categories for choosing questions. Also, in the second round each match was actually worth two points to correspond with the number of the round. The victor moved on to the Super-Match, which was percisely invariable to the 73-78 years, with the exact 5,000 dollar top prize in tact as well. WHY DID IT FAIL? In syndication, "Match Game 98" had some awful post-midnight time slots. In some cities, the show was being seen at 2:30 in the morning. With the indecision of "A" and "B" gone, the categories in the main game made the questions so revealing, that some contestants may have lost the game due to a contestant's inference about a certain question. Plus, the top dollar amount was 5,000 dollars, the same prize as the 1973-78 era. In 2004, FOX produced a pilot of What the Blank?, a proposed primetime revial of Match Game with comedian Fred Willard as host; however it went nowhere and not a single episode aired. In 2008, TBS also filmed a pilot for a revival but it too never came to fruition. The 2004 pilot can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPGDuQ5lmsw. The 2008 pilot can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g313QqNJU6M. "GAME SHOW MARATHON": Match Game Segment
CBS PRIMETIME- JUNE 22, 2006 On June 22, 2006, "Match Game" was one of seven game shows (described as "the most popular game shows in television history") featured in CBS''s "Gameshow Marathon" in which classic games are brought back for a seven-part television miniseries in which each part represents one game show. The gameplay and the set formation was the same as the 1973-78 years with the exception that the money you won in Audience Match would be multiplied by 50 for the head-to-head and the panelists were: Betty White, George Foreman, Kathy Griffin, Bruce Vilanch, Adam Corolla, and Adrianne Curry. The "Marathon" special was hosted by 90s talk show favorite Ricki Lake, who used the actual microphone Gene Rayburn carried on the "Match Game" set three decades ago. Most of the game shows featured in "Marathon" were classic Goodson-Todman creations, such as "Beat the Clock", "Family Feud", "Card Sharks", and "The Price is Right." Others are "Let's Make a Deal" and "Press Your Luck." The Match Game segment aired June 22nd, a Thursday, at 8:00pm in what would usually serve as the time slot for Survivor. 'MG" received an audience of nearly 8 million viewers, winning the time slot, ranking in the top 40 shows in Nielsen ratings, and receiving a sizeable audience for Game Show Marathon which hadn't been doing enormosuly well. "Match Game" proved to be the most watched classic games in the CBS miniseries. In the "MG" game, actress Kathy Najimy played against ex-N*SYNC singer Lance Bass as contestants with Najimy winning and moving on to play "Baywatch" star Brande Roderick in the marathon finale on June 29 in a version of "Family Feud." "SNATCH GAME" as part of RuPaul's Drag Race (2010-present) As part of RuPaul's Drag Race, performers play Snatch Game -- a parody of Match Game. The set is very similar and there are fill-in-the-blank, hilarious questions asked. RuPaul hosts and contestants and celebrities' answers must match in order for points to be awarded. But it is truly just all fun and games! RuPaul even beat out Alec Baldwin for an Emmy in part for hosting Snatch Game (and both were nominated for some variation of Match Game!) Some of the best Snatch Game performances over the years can be found here: https://screenrant.com/rupauls-drag-race-best-snatch-game-challenge-celebrity-impressions/. "MATCH GAME" as part of ABC's Sunday Fun and Games Series
ABC PRIMETIME-June 26, 2016-April 1, 2022 In the summer of 2016, "Match Game" returned to television, this time in a primetime network capacity, with Alec Baldwin as host as part of the ABC Sunday Fun and Games weekly lineup for the summer. Airing at 10 pm EST on Sunday nights, the show proceeds "Celebrity Family Feud," in its second season with Steve Harvey, at 8 pm and "The $100,000 Pyramid," in its first season as a revival (featuring Michael Strahan), at 9 pm for a ten-week stint. The format, set, logo, theme song, and even the skinny microphone were all virtually identical to the style of the original 1970s show. The top prize amount this time was $25,000, there was no Star Wheel, and the questions were topical as they included questions on people like Donald Trump and the Baldwin brothers but they also push the envelope still. The celebrities included Rosie O'Donnell as a regular panelist in the Brett Somers seat and other panelists like Michael Ian Black, Sutton Foster, and Edie Falco. The show launched to strong ratings - nearly 7 million viewers and a win in the time slot for network TV - and even better crticial reviews from media outlets. Ratings dipped modestly after the summer. It also moved to Wednesday nights at 10 pm in January 2017 but, after a brief hiatus in late winter, it returned that spring 2017 to a much more viewer-friendly time: Sunday nights at 9. This move indicated that ABC believed that this revival had serious potential to succeed long-term. ABC soon thereafter renewed the show for a third season with Baldwin, increasingly popular again for his Saturday Night Live portrayal of Trump, as he returned as (an Emmy-nominated!) host. In the subsequent years, the show was continually renewed and became a staple of ABC's game show lineups. This version of Match Game was easily the most successful and best executed reincarnation of the show. However, ratings declined ultimately and the COVID-19 padenmic stalled production in 2020. Further, Baldwin became the subject of controversy in late 2021 for an incident in which he accidentally shot a producer on the set of the film Rust. By April 2022, the show was canceled. My Experience at a Taping: In June 2016, I was lucky enough to actually be in a taping in the audience in New York City for an episode so I can attest that the chemistry between the contestants, Baldwin, and the celebrities was not only solid but also genuine. That rapport was key as it was as close as we were going to get to duplicating the magic of the 70s crew. Though Baldwin did perfectly fine, I felt that he could have been more relaxed. Though imperfect, his mostly good hosting performance earned him an Emmy nomination for outstanding host of a reality competition or show. Further, the fact that the show retained all of the signature characteristics of the classic version was a big part of why this was the best revival effort, in my opinion, becuase they kept what works and exhibited an appreciation for that which is vintage. The era of the late 2010s-early 2020s is one in which much of the public yearned to harken back to vintage items and activities, whether it be record players or small bookstores, so I think this was definitely a positive move on the part of the producers. What also worked for the show was it actually had some big-name, recognizable celebrities on the panel and they were truly easygoing and comfortable, maybe because they were drinking in between the tapings, so that will make viewers feel like they are part of the party. I explained in a blog post right here. |
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