Hello everybody! Welcome to a new post! I apologize that I missed a post last week on Friday. I was busy and didn’t have time to sit down and write a new post for you. But we should be back on track this week. Today’s topic is going to be tv shows. I have been on a classic tv show mood a lot lately, so I decided to throw it back today to 1973 with Match Game. There have been a few revivals of this game show, the most recent one being hosted by Alec Baldwin on ABC when it first aired in 2016.
Yes, I have seen some of these revivals, but nothing can compare to the originals back in the 70s. Gene Rayburn was the original host, when it first came out in the 60s, but it didn’t do so well. When it came back in 1973, it became a hit. Match Game was the number one show on daytime television. Before I get further into this, let’s give a brief description of what the show is about. For those who aren’t familiar with the show, it’s about 2 civilian contestants trying to match as many of the 6 celebrity panelists as they can within 2 rounds. The contest with the most matches at the end of the 2nd round gets to move on for a chance to win some big money.
The contestant will do an audience match. A previous studio audience was polled and asked to write down their best answer for that particular question. The contestant can ask 3 celebrities what they think the top answer is, but the contestant can choose one choice a celebrity gave, or they can choose one of their own answers, that they think would match the studio audience. Wherever the contestant’s answer lands that’s how much money they win. But they’ll have a chance to multiply that amount by 5, if they can match ONE celebrity with an exact match. If the contestant matches the celebrity, they win more money!
As I have said before, I have seen some of the revivals, but in my opinion, nothing beats the original. I think it has a lot to do with the cast. Gene Rayburn was the host and then there were 3 regular celebrity panelists: Brett Somers (1978’s Battlestar Galactica), Charles Nelson Reilly (All Dogs Go to Heaven), and Richard Dawson (original host of Family Feud). Along with these four regular members, there were also some guest appearances by other stars, some of them were semi-regulars (who would appear on the show as often as they could). Betty White (Golden Girls) was one of the semi-regular stars. Just watching them be themselves, but also feeding off of each other, as the majority of them were actors, was a real treat to watch and it was so entertaining.
With the newer version with Alec Baldwin as the host, it was good, but it just wasn’t the same. I felt that there were too many rotating celebrities. What I mean is, there weren’t any regular cast members, other than Alec Baldwin as he was hosting, so it just made things a little more difficult. Sure, there have been some pretty interesting celebrities on there: Sherri Shepherd (Precious), Ellie Kemper (The Office), Caroline Rhea (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Joel McHale (Community), and Niecy Nash (Reno 911!), just to name a few, but I think having at least 2 or 3 regular panelists would have made it better. Yes, they were still fun to watch, but it just doesn’t have the same vibe.
I think watching the original episodes is fun for me, because I get to play along too. But what makes it even more challenging is trying to think of things they had in the 70s and what their answers would have been back then. I’ve seen the episodes from 1974-1978 more than once and I still laugh and participate every time. There are so many episodes I’m not going to remember what my answers were, let alone the contestants’ or the panels’. You can actually find the episodes of the original Match Game on YouTube. When the show aired in the 70s, it was actually named Match Game and then whatever year it was. For example, Match Game 75. There was also another version that was done in the 70s that Gene also hosted called Match Game PM.
On filming/taping days, whoever was on the panel for the daytime show, would continue taping and they would tape a show for the evening audience. I’ve noticed that the panel would dress up more when they were taping for Match Game PM. The men would wear suits and ties, the ladies would wear nice dresses and nice jewelry. They looked really nice. No matter which celebrities were on or what time of day they were taping, you can tell they all had a good time. They were all having fun, even if they did tease each other from time to time. In an interview or during one of the episodes, Charles Nelson Reilly had mentioned that they weren’t working, and that it was a social engagement, to which Gene Rayburn later agreed. They all had so much fun doing what they did, playing a game, helping contestants win money, and just hanging out with each other. To me, that sounds like _______!
You can check out episodes of Match Game on YouTube, that’s how I’ve been watching them. Hope you enjoy watching them as much as I do!
Thank you for joining me today on a trip to visit a classic tv game show. I look forward to seeing you all again soon. Take care.
Hanging with Kristina 