[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Dec 19 2003, 05:03 AM\']True, but it's not as though Mark Goodson couldn't have said "cut out all that joking around" in 1974, or 1975, or 1976 . . .[/quote]
Mark could certainly have said that... in fact, according to Gene Rayburn, he initially balked at the silliness that was creeping its way into the questions. But Gene helped Mark realize that the show would work and in fact take off that way.
As for Jon, I don't think he looks too fondly on his tenure as a game show host. I got to teach his daughter her senior year, and when he came in for the regularly scheduled parent conference, he said, "[My daughter] says you remember the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour... no one remembers the Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour!"
Oh, how wrong he was...