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Match Game
File:Mglogo copy.jpgThe Match Game logo used from 1978-1982.
Created by	Frank Wayne
Directed by	Marc Breslow (CBS)
Presented by	Gene Rayburn (1962–1984) Ross Shafer (1990–1991) Michael Burger (1998–1999)
Narrated by	Johnny Olson (1962-1982) Bern Bennett (substitute) Gene Wood (1983-1984, 1990-1991) Paul Boland (1998-1999)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	The Match Game: 1,760 Match Game '7x: 1,445 (+ 15-18 unaired) Match Game PM: 230 Match Game (1979-1982): 525
Production
Producer	Ira Skutch (1973-1982)
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions (1962-1982) Mark Goodson Productions (1983-1999) Celebrity Productions, Inc. (1973–1982) The Match Game Company (1973–1982) Orion Television (1983–1984) The MG Company (1990–1991)
Original release
Network	NBC (1962–1969, 1983–1984) CBS (1973-1979) ABC (1990–1991) Syndicated (1975–1981, weekly; 1979–1982 and 1998–1999, daily)
Release	December 31, 1962 – July 23, 1999

Match Game (also called The Match Game, Match Game '7"X", and Match Game PM) was an American television game show featuring contestants attempting to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions. It was hosted for most of its time on air by Gene Rayburn.

The most famous versions of the 1970s and 1980s, starting with Match Game '73, were remembered for their bawdy and sometimes rowdy humor and involved contestants trying to match six celebrities.

Game play

Two contestants, including a returning champion, competed. The champion was seated in the upstage (red circle) seat and the opponent was seated in the downstage (green triangle) seat. On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version, a coin toss was held backstage to determine the positions. The object was to match the answers of as many of the six celebrity panelists as possible on fill-in-the-blank statements.

The main game was played in two rounds. The opponent was given a choice of two statements labeled either "A" or "B". Rayburn then read the statement. While the contestant pondered an answer, the six celebrities wrote their answers on index cards. After they finished, the contestant was polled for an answer. Rayburn then asked each celebrity — one at a time, beginning with #1 in the upper left hand corner — to respond.

While early questions were similar to the NBC version (e.g., "Name a type of muffin" and "Every morning, John puts _________ on his cereal"), the questions quickly became more humorous. Comedy writer Dick DeBartolo, who had participated in the 1960s Match Game, now contributed broader and saucier questions for host Rayburn. Frequently, the statements were written with bawdy, double entendre answers in mind. A classic example: "Did you catch a glimpse of that girl on the corner? She has the world's biggest _________."

Frequently, the audience responded appropriately as Rayburn critiqued the contestant's answer (for the "world's biggest" question, Rayburn might show disdain to an answer such as "fingers" or "bag", and compliment an answer such as "rear end" or "boobs", often also commenting on the audience's approving or disapproving response). The audience usually would groan or boo when a contestant gave a bad answer, whereas they would cheer and applaud in approval of a good answer. There were a handful of potential answers that were prohibited, the most notable being any synonym for genitalia.

The contestant earned one point for each celebrity who wrote down the same answer (or reasonably similar as determined by the judges; for example, "rear end" could be matched by "bottom", "behind", "derrière", "fannie", "hiney", etc.) up to a maximum of six points for matching everyone. After play was completed on one contestant's question, Rayburn read the statement on the other card for the opponent and play was identical.

Popular questions featured "Dumb Dora" or her male counterpart, "Dumb Donald". These questions would often begin, "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was so dumb..." or "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was REALLY dumb..." To this, the audience would respond en masse, "How dumb IS/WAS he/she?" Then Rayburn would finish the question (or, occasionally, deride the audience's lack of unison and make them try the response again). Other common subjects of questions were Superman/Lois Lane, King Kong/Fay Wray, panelists on the show (most commonly Brett Somers), politicians, and Howard Cosell.

Rayburn always played the action for laughs, and frequently tried to read certain questions in character; for example, he would recite questions involving a made-up character named "Old Man Periwinkle", or "102-year-old Mr. Periwinkle", in a weak, quavering voice (he also did Periwinkle's female counterpart, "Old Mrs. Pervis"). Charles Nelson Reilly, who admitted in '77 he was Brett Somers' rival (as they often argued), one of the regular panelists and one who was often involved with directing Broadway plays, would often make remarks regarding Rayburn's acting such as "I like when you act" and "That was mediocre" when Rayburn did a voice like this; this tended to draw a big laugh from the audiences. At times, questions would deal with the fictitious (and often sleazy) country of "Nerdo Crombezia".

On the CBS daytime version, the challenger always began round 2. This meant a player who had only answered one question could be ahead of another player who had played both their questions, rendering the final question moot. Only celebrities that a contestant did not match could play this second round. On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version, whoever led after a round got to choose a question first in the next round. In case of a tie score, the player who had not begun the previous round played first in the tiebreaker round.

The second round questions were generally easier and were usually puns that had a "definitive" answer (for instance, "Did you hear about the new religious group of dentists? They call themselves the Holy _____.", where the definitive answer would be "Molars"), whereas the first round usually had a number of possible answers. This was to help trailing contestants pick up points quickly.

On Match Game PM, a third round was added after Season One as the games proved to be too short to fill the half-hour. Again, the only celebrities who played were those who did not match that contestant in previous rounds.

If the players had the same score at the end of "regulation", the scores were reset to 0-0. On PM (or on the syndicated daytime show if time was running short), a time-saving variant of the tie-breaker was used that reversed the game play. The contestants would write their answers first on a card in secret, then the celebrities were canvassed to give their answers. The first celebrity response to match a contestant's answer gave that contestant the victory; if there were still no match (which was rare), the round was replayed with a new question. On the CBS version, the tie-breaker went on until there was a clear winner. If it came to the sudden-death tie-breaker, only the final question (the one that ultimately broke the tie) was kept and aired.

The CBS daytime version had returning champions and the show "straddled"–that was, episodes often began and ended with games in progress.

On the CBS daytime show, champions could stay until defeated or reached the network's limit of $25,000. Originally, that was the maximum earning for any champion, but the rule was later changed so that while champions were still retired after exceeding the $25,000 limit, they got to keep everything up to $35,000. During the six-year run of Match Game on CBS, only one champion retired undefeated.

On the daily 1979-1982 syndicated version, two contestants would play two matches against each other, and then both were retired. The show was timed out so that two new contestants appeared each Monday; this was necessary as the tapes of the show were shipped between stations, and weeks could not be aired in any discernible order (a common syndication practice at the time, known as "bicycling"). If a Friday show ran short, audience members sometimes got to play the game; this occurred on only three occasions.

Episodes of Match Game PM were self-contained, with two new contestants each week.

Super-Match

The winner of the game went on to play the Super Match, which consisted of the Audience Match and the Head-To-Head Match segments, for additional money. On the CBS version, the winner of the game won $100.

Audience Match

A two to four word fill-in-the-blank phrase was given, and it was up to the contestant to choose the most common response based on a studio audience survey. After consulting with three celebrities on the panel for help, the contestant chose an answer they liked the best, or chose one of their own that they thought of themselves. The answers were then revealed; the most popular answer in the survey was worth $500, the second-most popular $250, and the third most popular $100. If a contestant failed to match any of the three answers, the bonus round ended. Two Audience Matches were played on Match Game PM. On at least one occasion on Match Game PM, a contestant failed to win any money on either Audience Match; the contestant then got to play a fill-in-the-blank with the entire panel for $100 per match as a consolation prize, or a possible $200 per match when the Star Wheel was instituted. This has rarely occurred.

Head-To-Head Match

The contestant then had the opportunity to win 10 times what he or she won in the Audience Match (therefore, $5,000, $2,500 or $1,000) by matching another fill-in-the-blank response with a celebrity panelist of his or her choice. In order to win the money, the contestant had to match his or her chosen celebrity's response exactly; this meant that multiple forms of the same word, e.g. singular or plural, were usually accepted whereas synonyms were not. If successful, he/she won the money accumulated in both parts of the round. Thus, a maximum of $5,600 ($100 won for winning the match) could be won on the daytime version ($10,600 when the Star Wheel was instituted). On Match Game PM, a maximum of $11,000 could be won ($21,000 when the Star Wheel was instituted). The latter has occurred at least twice.

Richard Dawson was the most frequently-chosen celebrity in the 1970s version. His knack for matching contestants was so great that producers tried to discourage contestants from repeatedly choosing him, even before the introduction of the Star Wheel; in 1975 a rule was added, stipulating that a returning champion could not choose the same celebrity again for the Head-To-Head Match - this only lasted six weeks.

Star Wheel

The "Star Wheel" was introduced in 1978 and was used until the show ended in 1982. Contestants spun the wheel to determine which celebrity they played with in the Head-To-Head Match, and could double their potential winnings if the wheel landed on an area of gold stars under each celebrity's name (later changed to three individual stars per celebrity to increase the difficulty of obtaining a double). The wheel was added to prevent people from constantly choosing Richard Dawson–although the first time it was used it landed on Richard nonetheless; This caused the rest of the panel to get up and leave, leading fellow star Charles Nelson Reilly to refer to it on that episode as "the famed and fixed star wheel". The "Star Wheel" was also used in the 1990 version of the show.

Ticket plugs

Match Game director Marc Breslow used a technique merging two of the celebrities' and/or contestants' faces into one image in the background while the address for ticket requests was displayed on screen. These types of ticket plugs first appeared in June 1975, and again were shown on each daily syndicated episode between 1979 and 1982. Match Game PM did not contain ticket plugs since most of the stations that aired the show were ABC affiliates.

Broadcast history

The Match Game (1962-1969, NBC)

The original version of The Match Game, created by longtime Goodson-Todman staffer Frank Wayne, premiered December 31 1962, continuing through September 26 1969 on NBC for 1,760 episodes "In Living Color". The program aired at 4:00 PM Eastern (3:00 Central).

For most of its life, the original series of The Match Game was aired live from New York on NBC during the late afternoons, and was a solid if unspectacular hit for the network at the time. Like its successor, this version was hosted by Gene Rayburn and announced by Johnny Olson. Because it was live, and because Olson split time between New York and Miami to announce The Jackie Gleason Show at the same time, one of NBC's New York staff announcers (such as Don Pardo or Wayne Howell) would fill in for Olson when he could not attend a broadcast.

Other than the basic premise, the main game of The Match Game bore little resemblance to its more famous descendant. Two three-person teams (one celebrity and two contestants) each attempted to match answers to simple questions (some fill-in-the-blank, and some "Name a..." type). All six players wrote down answers which were then revealed. Two matching answers on a team earned $25 for the team, and if all three answers matched, the team earned $50. The winning team moved on to a bonus round, the "Audience Match", and would guess the answers to a recent audience survey ("We asked 100 women, 'How much money should you spend for a hat?'"). Each teammate would think of an answer they felt was given by the greatest number of people; each correct match was worth $50. Three audience match questions were played for a top possible prize of $450.

Questions on this show were far less risqué than on its 1970's incarnation (although this version became more so in its last two seasons); most were simple open-ended questions, such as "Name a kind of flower" or "What is the first thing you do when you wake up?" This question format would later be used on Family Feud (a Match Game spin-off), however were also common during the early weeks of the CBS revival in 1973.

On March 27, 1967 the show added a "Telephone Match" game, wherein a home viewer and a studio audience member attempted to match a simple fill-in-the-blank question similar to the 70's Head-To-Head Match. A successful match won a jackpot which started at $500 and increased by $100 per day until won.

The original 1960s version consistently won its time slot on NBC. After the network suddenly canceled its most popular game shows in 1969 in a major daytime programming overhaul, it was replaced with Letters to Laugh-In at a time when The Match Game was still doing well in the ratings.

The Match Game finished third among all network daytime game shows for the 1963–64 and 1967-68 seasons (in the latter, behind two other NBC series that would enjoy long runs, Jeopardy! and Hollywood Squares), its highest season rating.

Match Game '7x (1973-1979, CBS)

In the summer of 1973, Mark Goodson and Bill Todman resurrected the show as Match Game '73 for CBS, with Rayburn returning as host. The year in the title was updated for the next six years. The gameplay for this version had two solo contestants attempting to match the answers given by a six-celebrity panel. Richard Dawson was the first regular panelist. Due to intense coverage of the Watergate hearings, the network delayed the premiere one week from its slated date of June 25 to July 2.

The first week's panelists, in seating order, were Michael Landon, Vicki Lawrence, Jack Klugman, Jo Ann Pflug, Richard Dawson and Anita Gillette. Rayburn reassured viewers of the first CBS show that it was their longtime standby, modernized: "This is your old favorite, updated with more action, more money and as you can see, more celebrities."

The first few weeks of the show were somewhat different from the rest of the show's run. At first, some (although not all) of the questions fit into the more bland and perfunctory mold of the previous version (closer to the earlier seasons of the original series than the later ones). In addition, the regular panelists were somewhat different as well, with frequent appearances by people such as Jack Klugman, Arlene Francis, Bert Convy (who would later be selected as a host for the 1990 revival before being diagnosed with a brain tumor that eventually took his life) and Steve Allen (who was host of The Tonight Show when Rayburn served as announcer).

However, the turning point came with the question "Johnny always put butter on his _____." The (perhaps unintentional) double entendre marked a turning point in the questions on the show. (The GSN documentary on the show has writer DeBartolo saying the question was first used in the 1960s version.) Soon, the tone of Rayburn's questions changed notably, leaving behind the staid topics of The Match Game for more risqué, schticky and double entendre-laden humor.

Famous celebrity panelists Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly began as guest panelists on the program (Somers at the request of Jack Klugman; the two were married at the time and Klugman felt she would make a nice fit on the program). The chemistry between the two prompted Goodson-Todman and CBS to hire them as regular panelists, the positions that Somers would hold until the syndicated version ended in 1982 and Reilly would continue through two revivals until 1991 (with a brief break in 1974-75, when Gary Burghoff, Nipsey Russell, and the equally flamboyant Rip Taylor took his chair). In one episode, Reilly was late for taping and Mark Goodson filled in for him for the first few minutes; in another, announcer Johnny Olson did the same.

The CBS/syndicated version was produced by veteran Goodson-Todman producer Ira Skutch. Aside from being involved with the writing of some of the questions, Skutch also acted as on-stage judge. The CBS/syndicated version was directed by Marc Breslow, and Robert Sherman acted as associate producer and head writer.

When CBS revamped Match Game in 1973 with more of a focus on risqué humor, ratings more than doubled in comparison with the NBC incarnation. Within eleven weeks, Match Game '73 was the most watched program on daytime television. By Summer 1974 it grew into an absolute phenomenon with high school students and housewives, scoring remarkable ratings among the 12-34 year old age demographic. The best ratings this version of Match Game saw were in the 1975–76 season when it drew an outstanding 12.5 rating with a 15 share, higher numbers than that of some prime time series; this was due in part to the fact that it had been paired with The Price is Right, a hit in its own right, during this time. It surpassed records as the most popular daytime program ever with an astounding record of 11 million daily viewers, one that held until the "Luke and Laura" supercouple storyline gripped viewers on ABC's General Hospital some years later.

Every New Year's Eve, the two-digit year designation in the Match Game sign was updated to reflect the coming of the new year, resulting in a New Year's party between the cast and the audience. This lasted until 1979, before CBS canceled the show.

In 1976, the show's success–and celebrity panelist Richard Dawson's popularity–prompted Goodson-Todman to develop a new show for ABC entitled Family Feud with Dawson emceeing. This show became a major hit in its own right, eventually exceeding the parent program. Family Feud was said to be based on Dawson's expertise on Match Game's "Super-Match".

Meanwhile, Match Game kept its high standing in the ratings despite a short-lived move ahead one half-hour during Summer and Fall 1975. In late 1977, however, CBS made a fatal mistake regarding the show's time slot. Impressed with the ratings boon that resulted when The Price is Right and Match Game were paired in afternoons, CBS soon realized that in the morning slot that Price had left behind, they had a ratings crisis. Thus, CBS decided to move Match Game along with Price back to the morning time slot. However, because much of Match Game's audience was composed of students who were in school at that time of day, ratings began to sag and eventually free fall; many of these students did not return. As a result, Family Feud quickly supplanted Match Game as television's highest-rated game show.

CBS "corrected" the time change (in a sense) on December 19, 1977 (in a scheduling shuffle with The Price Is Right and Tattletales) with a move that did even more damage: Moving Match Game to the 4:00 PM "death slot", a slot that by this time many local stations were pre-empting in favor of local or syndicated programming.

1978 changes and cancellation

In Summer 1978, CBS rebuilt the Match Game set from the original bright orange to a new set with blue and white colors, as well as revamping the logo from the curved letters to a straight-line lettering it would use for the rest of the run. This was mainly for convenience; with a new Match Game set and sign, a whole new sign no longer had to be built each year as had been done previously. Instead an attachment, designating the year, was simply taken off the end of the revamped Match Game '78 sign and replaced with a new one numbered 79 on New Year's Eve 1978 (aired January 2, 1979) became Match Game '79. (An alternate attachment was used for Match Game PM.) The rules were also slightly changed at this time, with the abandonment of the "pick a star" for the Head-to-Head Match and the adoption of the "Star Wheel".

While the show's top prize nearly doubled (partially to counter the high inflation of the era) and the new feature allowed more celebrities the chance to participate in the end game, it also eliminated what effectively was Richard Dawson's "spotlight" feature. Dawson, increasingly unhappy with his role on Match Game and more strongly committed to Family Feud by that time, left the show in Summer 1978, a few short weeks after the revamp.

After significant ratings drops in the "death slot" (falling behind Feud, Price and NBC's Wheel of Fortune to fall out of the top three game shows in 1979 for the first time in the CBS run), CBS aired its 1445th and final episode on April 20, 1979–however, the last few weeks of shows were culled together from various taping sessions, leaving several episodes (including two full weeks of shows) unaired.

Match Game PM (1975-1981, Weekly Syndication)

On September 8, 1975 the first syndicated Match Game, a weekly nighttime series dubbed Match Game PM, premiered on local stations (mainly ABC affiliates such as WABC). The series was produced by Goodson-Todman and distributed by Jim Victory Television, G-T's syndication partner for Concentration.

Match Game PM was designed to be self-contained, the first Match Game series to have that distinction. The front game was originally played the same way as the daytime Match Game with two rounds of questions, but beginning in Season Two a third round of questioning was added as too much time would be left between the Super-Match and the end of the show. The maximum score a contestant could achieve remained six points with matched celebrities not playing subsequent questions.

Tiebreakers were conducted differently. Instead of playing two new questions, one "Super-Match"-style question was asked, and instead of the players trying to match the celebrities' answers the players were looking for a celebrity to match their answer. Until Season Four (1978-1979) the three regulars (at the time Somers, Reilly, and Dawson) were used in the tiebreaker, but after Dawson's departure all six celebrities were used.

Match Game PM's Super-Match differed slightly from the daytime series in that two Audience Matches were played. The same scoring rules applied as on the daytime series. The answer values from each of the two Audience Match questions were combined and the player played for ten times that amount in the Head-to-Head Match, with a maximum of $11,000 available. When the Star Wheel was introduced to Match Game PM around the same time the daytime series introduced it, that potential payout grew to $21,000 (depending on whether a contestant spun a double). In the event a player failed to score in both Audience Matches, s/he was given the opportunity to play a "consolation" standard front game question, for $100 per match (up to $600 total); this happened only once, on a 1976 episode, and the contestant in question managed to win the maximum $600 prize available.

Match Game PM ran until the end of the 1980-1981 TV season, the last two seasons with a reduced affiliate count as many of the markets the show had been airing in were also showing the syndicated series that debuted in September 1979. The show aired 230 episodes before its cancellation, and its six seasons make it the longest running of the four syndicated versions when measured by seasons (the daily series that began in 1979 aired more than twice as many total episodes).

(The) Match Game (1979-1982, Daily Syndication)

After the cancellation of Match Game '79, there was still enough interest in the series for Goodson-Todman and Jim Victory Television to consider a continuation of the daily series as the weekly program was still airing and had not stopped production. Match Game, now without a year attached to the title and referred to occasionally on-air as The Match Game, returned to television five months later on September 10, 1979 and once again airing daily.

In this series, two players played against each other in two games with a Super-Match being played after each game. There were no returning champions and contestants no longer won $100 for winning a game. Outside of that everything else from Match Game '7x was carried over to the daily syndicated series, including the Star Wheel.

The maximum payout for a contestant was $21,000 (two $500 Audience Matches and two $10,000 Head-To-Head Match wins), the same its syndicated sister series Match Game PM was offering during this time.

For the first two seasons (1979-81) Bill Daily, Dick Martin, Richard Paul, and Bob Barker were among the male semi-regulars who filled Dawson's old spot on the panel. McLean Stevenson became a regular for Season Three (1981-82), although he did appear occasionally during Season Two.

Also, the fee plugs which had aired in the middle of the show on the CBS version were featured during the closing credits. The ticket plugs were now shown on every episode. Each ticket plug had two people's faces merged into one image by putting a man's face on a woman's head, putting a mustache on a woman's face, or putting a pair of red lips on a man's face or simply putting two halves of the faces together. The 1990 ABC version used a similar sequence to introduce the stars.

The syndicated Match Game helped exacerbate the perception of the 4:00 PM time slot being a "death slot" for network programming; within weeks, the show that replaced Match Game in the lineup, the soap opera Love of Life, was canceled.

The daytime syndicated show's 525th and final episode aired on September 10, 1982–exactly three years after its debut.

The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour (1983-1984, NBC)

In 1983, producer Mark Goodson teamed up with Orion Television (who had recently acquired the rights to Hollywood Squares) and NBC to create The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. Rayburn, after a year as a morning show host in New York, agreed to return as host. However, few of the regular Squares cast appeared on this version. Jon Bauman ("Sha Na Na") served as the lone regular panelist on this version, and the two swapped seats for Hollywood Squares with Bauman serving as host and Rayburn as the lower-left-hand square. Gene Wood served as announcer, with Johnny Olson and Rich Jeffries substituting.

These rules were roughly the same as those of Match Game PM with both contestants given three chances apiece to match each panelist once. The major difference was in the tie-breaker. Four possible answers to a Super Match-like statement (example: "_____, New Jersey") were secretly shown to the contestants (examples: "Atlantic City", "Hoboken", "Newark", "Trenton"). They each chose one by number. The host then polled the celebrities for verbal responses. The first panelist to give an answer selected by one of the contestants won the game for that contestant. The winner of the Match Game segment played the returning champion in the Hollywood Squares segment with the eventual winner of Squares playing the Super-Match. The Audience Match featured payoffs of $1,000, $500 and $250, while non-matching players were given $100. For the Head-To-Head Match the contestant picked a celebrity who revealed a hidden number (10, 20 or 30); that number was multiplied by the contestant's Audience Match winnings to determine the grand prize ($30,000 being the top possible amount). Champions remained on the program for up to five days unless defeated.

The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour ran from October 31, 1983, to July 27, 1984. The MGHS theme is still used today as a car cue on The Price is Right, while the ticket and fee plugs (variations of the main theme) are used for exercise equipment and Showcases.

Match Game (1990-1991, ABC)

In 1989, ABC, who had not carried a daytime game show since Bargain Hunters in 1987, decided to revive Match Game (commonly called Match Game '90 to distinguish it from the 1979-1982 series). The producers (including Jonathan Goodson, who took over the show at this time) selected Bert Convy, a former Match Game panelist in the early days of the program, as host to make up for the fact that his previous show, Super Password, had recently been canceled. Convy filmed a full week of pilots for the show but in April 1990 was diagnosed with what would be a terminal brain tumor and thus could not serve as host as originally planned. Because of this tumor, Convy would die in 1991.

Rayburn (who had just finished hosting what would be his last show, The Movie Masters) reportedly expressed an interest in returning to the show, and although his name was considered the producers once again declined. Ross Shafer would take over. Charles Nelson Reilly returned as a regular panelist and Brett Somers served as a guest panelist for several weeks. Vicki Lawrence, Sally Struthers, Brad Garrett, and Ronn Lucas were among the semi-regulars for this version of the show. Gene Wood returned as announcer, with Bob Hilton filling in for one week.

On this version, matches were worth money instead of points. Each match during the two Match Game rounds was worth $50. All panelists played both questions for each player, whether or not they matched in the first round.

After each round of questions, contestants were given a chance to build their scores further by playing a new round called "Match-Up!" with one panelist of their choice, similar to the Head-To-Head Match rules from 1973-78. This was a rapid-fire series of Super Match-style questions, with two possible answers given; the contestant chose one secretly, and the panelist picked the one s/he felt the contestant picked. This process continued until time expired. The first Match-Up! was played for 30 seconds at $50 per match, while the second lasted 45 seconds for $100 per match. Whoever had the most money at the end of the second Match-Up! round won the game and kept the money; the loser went away with parting gifts and prior winnings if they were a returning champion.

The Super-Match was played identically to the 1978–1982 version of the round (with a green arrow spinning around the Star Wheel instead of the actual wheel spinning and two red dots on each star's space as "double" spaces). Originally, the payoffs of $500–$250–$100 for the Audience Match were identical to the CBS version's payoff structure; however, unlike the 1970s versions of the show, if the contestant did not match any of the three answers on the board, the contestant got to play for $500 ($1,000 in case of a double) in the Super-Match (in the original '70s versions the bonus game would end). After a few weeks, the payoff structure changed to $500–$300–$200 for each Audience Match answer, with the contestant playing for $1,000 ($2,000 in case of a double) if the contestant did not match.

Due to many ABC stations in major markets carrying news at Noon, the show got few clearances (the ones it got being mostly in smaller markets without noon newscasts, although a few independent stations did carry the show in some larger markets without network clearances) and was canceled one year after its premiere. A proposed move to another network (rumored to be CBS) for the 1991-1992 season had been announced on the finale, but never materialized. It has the distinction of being ABC's last daytime game show to date.

Match Game (1998-1999, Daily Syndication)

Michael Burger was chosen as host of this Match Game (commonly called Match Game '98 to distinguish it from the 1979-1982 and 1990-1991 versions) while Paul Boland served as announcer. The only personnel connections to previous versions were Vicki Lawrence (who was a frequent panelist on both the 1973-1982 and 1990-1991 versions) and Nell Carter (who had appeared on the final week in 1991).

Both Carter and Lawrence were regulars on this version, while Reilly and Somers never appeared; Reilly's chair was filled by Judy Tenuta, while Somers' position was rotated between semi-regulars George Hamilton, John Salley, Coolio, and Rondell Sheridan.

This incarnation of Match Game was played with rules nearly identical to that of the 1973-82 version with a few minor exceptions. The show featured a panel of only five celebrities instead of the usual six. Questions in this version were not labeled A or B, instead titles with puns were a clue as to the content (à la Win Ben Stein's Money). Each match was worth one point in Round One and two points in Round Two. As on the 1990–1991 version, all five panelists played each round regardless of whether they matched a player on the first question.

After two rounds, the highest scorer played the Super-Match, which was played identically to its 1973-1978 incarnation, including the $5,000 top prize. If no match was made in the Audience Match portion of the Super-Match, the contestant played for $500 in the Head-To-Head Match.

This version was noted for its sometimes over-the-top risqué humor of the celebrities and contestants. For instance, the prohibition on answers such as genitalia was no longer existent. On many episodes, answers that were deemed inappropriate for daytime TV were edited out with a "cuckoo" dubbed over the audible answer and a "CENSORED" graphic over the answer card and sometimes the person's mouth.

While Burger generally received positive reviews for his hosting, the show was mostly panned. Its humor was seen to have crossed the line from risqué into the out-and-out dirty and so many stations pushed it into the late night slots. Its low budget and lack of returning champions (staples of several modern game shows, most notably Merv Griffin's Crosswords and Game Show Network's original programs) were also focal points for criticism. This was especially since the last three versions to air all featured returning champions and offered cash prizes well in excess of $10,000 in an era when purchasing power was roughly twice that of 1998.

This version lasted one season, running from September 21, 1998 to September 17, 1999.

Gameshow Marathon (2006, CBS)

On June 22, 2006 Match Game was the sixth of seven classic game shows featured in CBS' month-long Gameshow Marathon hosted by Ricki Lake and announced by Rich Fields, and the second of two "semi-final" games in the tournament. The contestants were Kathy Najimy and Lance Bass with Betty White, George Foreman, Kathy Griffin, Bruce Vilanch, Adam Carolla, and Adrianne Curry as the panel. White retained her normal sixth-seat position and was the only one from the original series to appear for this segment of Gameshow Marathon.

Lake used the same signature long-thin Sony ECM-51 telescoping microphone Rayburn used during the CBS version, and the set was rebuilt to be almost an exact match of that used from 1973-1978 (White commented during the show that "they even got the carpet right"). Najimy won the game, scoring five matches to Bass' three.

The format was that of Match Game PM, except that in the Super-Match the Head-To-Head Match was played for 50 times the amount won in the two Audience Matches.

The set was repackaged and sent to Studio 33 for the taping of the Match Game revival for TBS (see below).

Episode status

1962-1969

Only eleven episodes are reported to survive–the pilot and ten kinescope recordings. Other sources report that there are 100 or more kinescope recordings still in existence. As the show was originally broadcast live from New York, most episodes were not recorded for posterity.

Beginning in 1967, The Match Game began to be produced on color videotape; however, none of the tapes are known to have survived the wiping and re-use procedures of NBC during that period as none of the surviving episodes from 1967-1969 are in color.

1973-1982 and Match Game PM

The series is presumed to be intact. GSN currently airs all three Match Game series daily, with the syndicated Match Game and Match Game PM airing from 9:00-10:00 AM weekdays and Match Game '7x airing weekday afternoons and weekend mornings.

GSN also aired several episodes from what have been referred to as "Lost Weeks", including the final episode recorded in 1979.

1983-1984

All episodes are presumed to be intact. However, due to cross-ownership–CBS Television Distribution currently owns the rights to Hollywood Squares (at the time of MGHS was owned by Orion Television) while Fremantle Media owns Match Game - The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour has never been rerun on any network.

1990-1991

All episodes of this version of the show are intact, along with all five Convy pilots. GSN aired this version as recently as 2004, and Game Show Moments Gone Bananas (which first aired on VH1 and later GSN) aired a clip from a Convy pilot.

1998-1999

The series is intact, however it has not been rerun. Brief clips have been seen on various game-show blooper specials.

Unsold pilots

"Match Game '85" (1985, Daily Syndication)

In the Fall of 1985 plans were made to re-launch Match Game as a stand-alone series in conjunction with the revival of The Nighttime Price is Right. Rayburn was once again to serve as host, but producers believed that he was too old and becoming uncooperative.

Rayburn went on to host the new version of Break the Bank that same year, but was dismissed after 13 weeks due to production feuds similar to those he had on The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. The new Match Game project was abandoned, and reruns of the 1979-1982 series aired in lieu of new episodes.

Match Game 2 (1996)

A pilot was shot in September 1996 at KTLA Studios in California for a revised version called Match Game 2 with Charlene Tilton (a panelist on the 1979-1982 version) as host. The panel for this show included Downtown Julie Brown, David Chokachi, Gil Gerard, Rondell Sheridan, and Kathleen Kinmont.

The format featured gameplay not used in any other version:

• Instead of celebrities writing answers and contestants providing verbal responses, MG2 switched the roles, similar to the tiebreaker in Match Game PM.
• A "Panel Poll" took the place of the Head-To-Head Match In the Super-Match. Each celebrity was given a choice of three adjectives, and the contestant guessed who picked what at $100 per match. This was done twice, after which the Audience Match was played.
• In the Audience Match, instead of having the third, second, and most popular answers worth money, they each multiplied the contestant's earnings. The third most popular response doubled the "Panel Poll" winnings, the second most popular tripled their winnings and the most popular multiplied their winnings by five for a top prize of only $5,000.

Many elements of this pilot, such as a change from a six celebrities to five, were kept in for a second pilot shot a year later with Michael Burger as host.

What The Blank! (2004, FOX)

Vanity Fair and TVgameshows.net reported in May 2004 a pilot for a remake of Match Game called What the Blank! It was taped for FOX and hosted by Fred Willard for air during the Summer 2004 "off" season.

It was said that the game was apparently an incorporation of 21st-Century elements into the classic game as well as an added feature that people from along the streets would be able to participate for matching with contestants and celebrities in Street Smarts-style.

FOX abruptly canceled the series before the show made it to air; the status of any episodes produced is unknown.

"Match Game '08" (2008, TBS)

In 2008, TBS ordered a pilot for a revival of Match Game, which was filmed in June of that year at Studio 33 of CBS Television City on an exact replica of the 1970s stage (likely the same one used on Gameshow Marathon). Andrew Daly hosted with Norm Macdonald and Sarah Silverman as regular panelists.

This version of Match Game was to be part of a new initiative of TBS late night television programming, but as of today, the program has not aired or gone into production, nor is there any mention of the show from TBS. Should it go into production and begin airing before the start of 2010, it will make Match Game one of only a handful of shows to air first-run episodes in five consecutive decades.

Legacy

The program's simple "fill in the blank" question format has spawned numerous imitators, and radio shows across the United States have used the format for call-in contests.

Among television series and films that have paid homage to Match Game include -

• Fellow Goodson-Todman series The Price is Right (in a 2007 Showcase, some of host Drew Carey's Season 37 entrances through Door #2, and the use of its think music and main theme on the April Fool's Day pricing games)
• Family Guy (twice)
• Private Parts (with Howard Stern as Rayburn and Robin Quivers as Somers)
• Mystery Science Theatre 3000
• Craig Kilborn's The Daily Show and Late Late Show (in his "Five Questions" segment)
• The Simpsons (as "Match Game 2034")
• Saturday Night Live (most recently on May 10, 2008 as a game show titled "It's A Match", using a different arrangement of the 1973-1982 theme).

Today, the 1973–1982 incarnations are shown in reruns daily on Game Show Network and is the network's "Greatest Game Show of All Time". Virtually all episodes of this version are still extant, although some reportedly are not shown due to celebrities' refusals of clearances. On November 26, 2006 the network broadcast an hour-long documentary titled The Real Match Game Story: Behind The Blank featuring rarely-seen footage of the 1960s version, many odd or memorable moments from the main 1973-1982 runs, plus interviews with Rayburn, Somers, Dawson, DeBartolo, producer Ira Skutch, and others involved in the show's production.

Presently, Richard Dawson is the only surviving regular personality from the 1970s version of the show; announcer Johnny Olson died in 1985, host Gene Rayburn died in 1999, and regular panelists Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly both died within 3 1/2 months of each other in 2007. Most of the semi-regulars, however, are still alive.

Music

Match Game has had several theme songs throughout its various runs.

1962-1969

From 1962-1967, an instrumental version of Bert Kaempfert's A Swingin' Safari was used as the theme; a slightly different rendition (Billy Vaughn's cover of the same song) was used on the pilot. From 1967-1969, a new theme composed by Score Productions was adopted.

1973-1982

With the launch of Match Game '73 Goodson-Todman once again turned to Score Productions for a music package. A new theme was composed with a memorable "funk" guitar intro that grew to become one of the most famous game show themes of the 1970s. There are also alternate versions of the theme–one shorter and one with bongos. The 1970s music package also contained the show's "think cues" (i.e., cues used when the panel wrote down their answers) as well as two separate Head-to-Head Match cues, the ticket plug/consolation prize cue, and a separate "burlesque" music cue. The 1973 theme is currently heard on The MJ Morning Show.

In keeping with the zany atmosphere, the music supervisors would also use other notable musical works to add to humorous situations. Among the non-Score Productions music heard on occasion were the "burlesque" music ("The Stripper"), "There's No Business Like Show Business", "When the Saints Go Marching In", "Alexander's Ragtime Band", "Stars and Stripes Forever", and the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive". "Auld Lang Syne" was played on every New Year's Eve show until the series first ended in 1979.

1983-1984

The music for The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour was composed by Edd Kalehoff. None of the music used from the 1970s version was used in this revival. The main theme song and several of its cue variations are still used on The Price is Right; the main theme was also used on the 1986-1989 revivals of Card Sharks as a car prize cue.

1990-1991

For the ABC revival, Score Productions re-orchestrated the 1970s theme with more modern instruments. The think cues were also re-done, but stayed the same throughout, while one "Super Match" cue was penned. A new, simple opening cue was composed, but was not used as a think cue.

1998-1999

The 1998 revival again used music from Score Productions, but this theme was more of a spoof of the 1970s theme than a re-recording. However, the music paid tribute to the 1970s version by having a re-recording of the "funk" guitar think cue in its opening and the original serving as the show's first think theme.

Foreign versions

United Kingdom

In the UK, Match Game was known as Blankety Blank and was presented by Terry Wogan, Les Dawson, and Lily Savage.

Australia

Several versions were made in Australia. The original 1960's The Match Game was imitated, with the same name, and hosted by Michael McCarthy.

The second, more commonly-known version was Blankety Blanks and based upon the 1970s version, running from 1977-1978. It was presented by Graham Kennedy and became a ratings hit for the 0-10 Network. Like many Australian game shows during the 1970s-1990s (mostly those done by Reg Grundy) this version was remarkably similar to the American show right down to the set, "spinning box" opening, and "Get ready to match the stars!" tagline. The signature music from the American version was not used, however, but was instead replaced by original tracks that were very similar.

A later version appeared on the Nine Network in 1985 hosted by Daryl Somers, and again in 1996 hosted by Shane Bourne.

(This show is not to be confused with an unrelated American show by the same name, which aired on ABC and was hosted by Bill Cullen in 1975.)

The Netherlands

The Netherlands also had its own version during the mid-1980s with the same title as the UK version.

Germany

Match Game had a 150-episode run as Punkt, Punkt, Punkt (Dot, Dot, Dot–an allusion to an ellipsis) in the early 1990s on satellite and cable network Sat.1. The show was hosted by Mike Krüger.

Mexico

The game was called Espacio en Blanco (Blank Space) and was hosted by Mauricio Barcelata. The show had a 40-episode run in 2006.

Turkey

The game was called Şansını Dene and aired in the early 1990s on Show TV. The show was hosted by Mehmet Ali Erbil.

References

1. Full video of the moment seen in this photo
2. "The Match Game". The Match Game Website. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
3. Some sources list 1987 as the date of this possible revival, which would have placed it after Rayburn's firing from Break the Bank.
4. The Game Show Pilot Light: Match Game '96/"Match Game 2" with Charlene Tilton
5. "Match Game PM". Retrieved 2007-08-12.

External links

• Match Game Wallpaper Factory
• Match Game '75/Match Game PM
• Match Game 7x/Match Game PM Video Clip Page
• The Match Game (1962) at IMDb
• Match Game PM at IMDb
• Match Game '73 at IMDb
• Match Game '90 at IMDb

• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from March 2009
• Panel games
• American game shows
• NBC network shows
• CBS network shows
• First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
• American Broadcasting Company network shows
• 1960s American television series
• 1962 television series debuts
• 1969 television series endings
• 1970s American television series
• 1973 television series debuts
• 1982 television series endings
• 1980s American television series
• 1990s American television series
• 1990 television series debuts
• 1991 television series endings
• 1998 television series debuts
• 1999 television series endings
• Television series by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions
• Television series with missing episodes