I stumbled across these while doing some genealogical research in some 1963 newspapers. They're first week reviews of The Match Game. One is damning with faint praise, the other is just damning.
Review #1 -- Cynthia Lowry, AP 2-Jan-1963:
A cookbook writer once explained that the way most "new" dishes are developed is by adding an extra ingredient to an old recipe or by substituting one thing for another -- nutmeg for cinnamon, for instance.
Skillful chefs of television cooked up a panel show called "What's My Line?" more than a decade ago. Now there are programs using the same basic recipe scattered through television schedules like raisins in a fruitcake.
Ingredients of the most successful include liberal quantities of celebrities, mixed into a rather simple guessing game. It is spiced by small talk, wisecracks and commercial plugs by the celebrities. The recipe always permits some participation by the audience -- a vital element in the recipe.
Now still another variation of the good old recipe has been launched, "The Match Game." It will available hereafter daily from 4 to 4:25 p.m. (EST) on NBC.
The first game was played on Monday and if you like "Password" you'll probably like this one too.
Arlene Francis, a good gameswoman who can be counted upon for amusing side remarks, was a captain of a team of three. The other two players as were, as in all good television games, chosen from the studio audience. Skitch Henderson captained the rival team.
Leader Gene Rayburn, in one round, instructed each player to write the name of a "game played on grass." Members of Henderson's team picked golf, croquet and football. But Miss Francis and another member of her team chose tennis, which constitued a "Match" and a "win."
That's all there is to it -- except the complicated scoring, the usual buzzers, bells, gadgets and chit-chat. It's an innocuous time-killer and obviously will not do much to lift daytime television levels.
Review #2 -- Rick DuBrow 3-Jan-1963:
NBC-TV this week is infiltrating a new daytime quiz show, "The Match Game," in which panel teams write the same answers to questions by the host, Gene Rayburn. The original match game, which requires only a book of matches and a cozy tavern, was taught to me in Gus' Pub in Chicago, and I can assure you it is more pleasant. The new show is dreadful, geared for incredible simpletons and the screaming ninnies in the studio audience. Wednesday, a panelist could not think of a city in Asia. A guest, Arlene Francis, thereupon named Viet Nam (sic) as a city.
--Mike B.
