When I was a kid, I would often feign sickness to stay home from school, to watch reruns of "I Dream Of Jeannie," "Gomer Pyle," "Green Acres" & "Hogan's Heroes," but though I also loved game shows, I loved one in particular: Match Game. "Match Game PM" was on (probably syndicated) around dinnertime, but only once a week, & even if I didn't understand the more racy questions ("Every night, So-And-So went home to his wife & blanked her"), I still loved the idea of putting in a word & trying to match it with people who were called celebrities, even if I had never seen Brett Sommers & Charles Nelson Reilly in anything *but* "Match Game" before.
The other comment on this show mentions the absence of Richard Dawson; actually, in repeats on the Game Show Network, he's very much there & host Gene Rayburn refers to him as a "regular"; he also occasionally plugs Dawson's "new" game show, "Family Feud." The rules are a little different (the two audience matches, for example), but. to be fair, as the daily show went on, they changed the rules regularly (the last season, for example, seemed to think that contestants deserved two chances, so the same pair vied twice). What "Match Game PM" allows, because the game lasts the whole thirty minutes, is *more* time with the celebrities, & as such it's a lot more fun than the daily version - none of the weird audio cuts or Gene Rayburn suddenly appearing in front of the contestants when a second before he was hovering behind Richard Dawson.
I consider this the best game show ever because it's simply so much fun. Certain guests are more clever than others, but a good time is honestly had by all. By 21st century standards (if such things be) it's one weirdo trip: wide lapels, the occasional uncomfortable racist remark (always handily countered by the minority on the show), the celebrities smoking freely, & the fact that Gene Rayburn, God bless his soul, looks & acts like the creepy uncle you always hated visiting on holidays. I watch this regularly & it's only because I have too many videotapes as it is that I don't have a huge stash of old episodes of "Match Game" in my closet. As of this writing, the Game Show Network has a full hour of it nightly, one-half of which is "Match Game PM." I encourage you to seek it out. Who knows? Maybe there's a seven-year-old in you that has been missing it for a long, long time.
The other comment on this show mentions the absence of Richard Dawson; actually, in repeats on the Game Show Network, he's very much there & host Gene Rayburn refers to him as a "regular"; he also occasionally plugs Dawson's "new" game show, "Family Feud." The rules are a little different (the two audience matches, for example), but. to be fair, as the daily show went on, they changed the rules regularly (the last season, for example, seemed to think that contestants deserved two chances, so the same pair vied twice). What "Match Game PM" allows, because the game lasts the whole thirty minutes, is *more* time with the celebrities, & as such it's a lot more fun than the daily version - none of the weird audio cuts or Gene Rayburn suddenly appearing in front of the contestants when a second before he was hovering behind Richard Dawson.
I consider this the best game show ever because it's simply so much fun. Certain guests are more clever than others, but a good time is honestly had by all. By 21st century standards (if such things be) it's one weirdo trip: wide lapels, the occasional uncomfortable racist remark (always handily countered by the minority on the show), the celebrities smoking freely, & the fact that Gene Rayburn, God bless his soul, looks & acts like the creepy uncle you always hated visiting on holidays. I watch this regularly & it's only because I have too many videotapes as it is that I don't have a huge stash of old episodes of "Match Game" in my closet. As of this writing, the Game Show Network has a full hour of it nightly, one-half of which is "Match Game PM." I encourage you to seek it out. Who knows? Maybe there's a seven-year-old in you that has been missing it for a long, long time.
