Such are the perils of trying to bring back a classic game show in this age of hopelessly-fragmented viewing audiences with their personal-favorite niche channels on cable. Those of us who remember the old version make inevitable comparisons and usually end up longing for the old version, while those too young to remember the old version look at the new one and think, \"so what?\".
\"Match Game\" worked in the '70s because it was such a step upward in humor from the original show, and it came from a time when the envelope was just starting to be pushed as far as what could be said on TV was concerned. A contestant or panelist would say \"boobs\" for an answer and get screams of laughter (or maybe just screams from some individuals). You couldn't say \"ass\" then unless you were talking about a beast of burden...now late-night talk shows are rampant with use of the word in the \"other\" context. I'm glad \"Hollywood Squares\" has enjoyed some success in its current revival, but most revivals of the \"classics\" just don't seem to work (except J!), whether it's a game show or a sitcom that once ruled prime time. They tried a new \"Monkees\" and a new \"Family Affair\"...both flopped.
And no matter how many times someone tries to bring MG back, the'll never get Gene Rayburn to host. Same with Monty Hall and Let's Make A Deal.
That's why, whenever I get the urge to try and bring back something from the past--even if I can only imagine it in my head since I'm far from likely to get anyone in the TV biz interested in it--I tend to go with something that failed the first time and try to fix what was wrong in the original so it might work better this time. The original is only remembered by a few select people and never reached the status of a beloved, long-running classic, but in my opinion it wasn't a dog either, it was just weak in some part and needs tweaking to make it better as a whole. The industry should consider this sort of revival and forget Maxene Fabe's narrowminded advisory that a game (or other type of show) is only worth reviving if it worked the first time.
