'Never before seen' Match Game pilot?

[Jumpondees]

Purpose?  To air something not seen before on GSN, and/or outside of the trading circuit...which is what GSN wants in MG98 I guess (more the former than latter, of course...or was anyone crazy enough to tape and keep MG98 videos?!!?)

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Most of what I taped of MG98 was what I could get off of WGN,  Not that I was saving those eps for posterity, but because I would use the same tapes to record Bergeron Squares, the tapes would get full and it was just easier for me to shove a new tape in the VCR rather than rewinding and recording over it.  The tapes are in my basement, but I would be curious to find out if they are even watchable now.  I guess one day I will have to find out.

[TLEberle]

Seeing the Convy pilot for the first time begs the question: Why did they decide to shoehorn "Match-Up" into the show when it went to series? They had a perfectly good, self-contained half-hour format as it was. Change the points over to dollars if you want, but either way, it works.

Match Game will never fit properly into a single half hour. Three full rounds is rushed, MG PM had the chance that some of the players match straight away and sit like a log for the rest of the time. On the other hand, you could have the issue of MG'98, where a 1-0 victory plays all of three questions and you have to add a commercial break between the Audience Match and Head to Head, and still stretch.

Match-up allows your contestants to say more than two answers over the course of the show, but it also brings the show to a climactic conclusion in the form of the horse race as the clock winds down, and you either get "Match...and win!" or "Time's up, Green Triangle Guy, you're the champ!" It isn't a great fix, but after watching I've come to the conclusion that it is slightly better than a coin flip because you still have to make the judgment call.

I thought Bert was fine, I think he should have done Body Language (since he still gets to ham it up with the celebrities, and fewer chances to give away material), and Tom Kennedy should have hosted Super Password.

[BillCullen1]

I thought Bert was fine, I think he should have done Body Language (since he still gets to ham it up with the celebrities, and fewer chances to give away material), and Tom Kennedy should have hosted Super Password.

I agree (X gets the square).

[Clay Zambo]

That first-episode-with-Charles-and-Brett was in a different studio than usual (or so it seemed from the audience visible in the wide shots).  When they cut to an audience shot a couple of times, red, yellow, and blue drapes were visible on the back wall.  Anybody know: was this the studio where Tattle Tales was taped?

[Ian Wallis]

There was at least one week of Match Game which was taped in the Tattletales studio.  Although I didn't see this marathon, I remember seeing this week when GSN ran it years ago.  I want to say it was from early 1974, but I can't be sure of the date.

[jimlangefan]

It was from 1974.  I know Steve Allen and Kaye Ballard were on the panel that week.

[tpirfan28]

[That Don Guy]

I have heard two different versions of the "Rayburn estate embargo" story.  One says it applies to MG/HS; the other, to Every Second Counts.

I think you mean Break The Bank

Why, yes.  Yes, I do mean Break the Bank.  (I got confused by the fact that in the Rayburn version, the contestants earned seconds in which to do the stunts to earn the cards.)

Question: besides the pilot and the first episode, what (if anything) was significant about the 70s-era episodes that would warrant their selection over others?  I would have figured they would have had either the first Star Wheel episode (especially as the first spin landed on Richard) or the first $10,000 win.
I assume that one of them was the first use of "boobs" on the show (by a contestant, no less), and can understand the PM episode with Kukla & Ollie (although I didn't quite see the whole thing - did they ever bring Burr Tillstrom out from behind the curtain?  If not, I would have probably went for the Friday of that cast's CBS week, when they did bring him out at the end), but what about the others?

Another question: did the CBS version ever have any undefeated champions?  I seem to recall the answer being "no" (although at least one contestant did get past $20,000), but would like to be sure.

[Jay Temple]

ISTR reading about at least one, although I didn't see it myself. Gene mentioned that he didn't know where to start with the two new contestants. (I thought this odd, since MGPM obviously had two new players each time.)

[snowpeck]

I have heard two different versions of the "Rayburn estate embargo" story.  One says it applies to MG/HS; the other, to Every Second Counts.

I think you mean Break The Bank

Why, yes.  Yes, I do mean Break the Bank.  (I got confused by the fact that in the Rayburn version, the contestants earned seconds in which to do the stunts to earn the cards.)

Question: besides the pilot and the first episode, what (if anything) was significant about the 70s-era episodes that would warrant their selection over others?  I would have figured they would have had either the first Star Wheel episode (especially as the first spin landed on Richard) or the first $10,000 win.
I assume that one of them was the first use of "boobs" on the show (by a contestant, no less), and can understand the PM episode with Kukla & Ollie (although I didn't quite see the whole thing - did they ever bring Burr Tillstrom out from behind the curtain?  If not, I would have probably went for the Friday of that cast's CBS week, when they did bring him out at the end), but what about the others?

One was the first show Brett and Charles appeared together on... but they weren't on the same tier and didn't have much interaction.  Others of significance that aired: the "school riot" episode, one where Brett and Charles have a "fight" and Charles moves to the bottom tier, and the New Year's Eve 76/77 show with an appearance by Mark Goodson.  Most of the others seemed a tad arbitrary, but at least it led to a lot of variety being in the marathon.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Another question: did the CBS version ever have any undefeated champions?  I seem to recall the answer being "no" (although at least one contestant did get past $20,000), but would like to be sure.

I want to say I remember reading years and years ago that there was one undefeated champion on Match Game '79.

[Ian Wallis]

There was one undeated champ on Match Game '79, which oddly enough didn't even air on CBS.  AFAIK, it only aired on GSN as it was very near the end of the run.  Once she went over the $25,000 limit, she was "retired".

Oddly enough, the longest-running champion on the show won about 14 games.  He only ended up with around $16,000 because he kept blowing the super match.

[That Don Guy]

Question: besides the pilot and the first episode, what (if anything) was significant about the 70s-era episodes that would warrant their selection over others?  I would have figured they would have had either the first Star Wheel episode (especially as the first spin landed on Richard) or the first $10,000 win.
I assume that one of them was the first use of "boobs" on the show (by a contestant, no less), and can understand the PM episode with Kukla & Ollie (although I didn't quite see the whole thing - did they ever bring Burr Tillstrom out from behind the curtain?  If not, I would have probably went for the Friday of that cast's CBS week, when they did bring him out at the end), but what about the others?

One was the first show Brett and Charles appeared together on... but they weren't on the same tier and didn't have much interaction.  Others of significance that aired: the "school riot" episode, one where Brett and Charles have a "fight" and Charles moves to the bottom tier, and the New Year's Eve 76/77 show with an appearance by Mark Goodson.  Most of the others seemed a tad arbitrary, but at least it led to a lot of variety being in the marathon.

Of course, it's the one New Year's Eve episode I don't have in its entirety (I have the marathon of NYE episodes from, what, 2000?, but while they aired the 1976 episode, they left out the ending with Goodson), and it's on the one part of this marathon I didn't keep.

[JMFabiano]

I have heard two different versions of the "Rayburn estate embargo" story.  One says it applies to MG/HS; the other, to Every Second Counts.

I think you mean Break The Bank

Why, yes.  Yes, I do mean Break the Bank.  (I got confused by the fact that in the Rayburn version, the contestants earned seconds in which to do the stunts to earn the cards.)

Question: besides the pilot and the first episode, what (if anything) was significant about the 70s-era episodes that would warrant their selection over others?  I would have figured they would have had either the first Star Wheel episode (especially as the first spin landed on Richard) or the first $10,000 win.
I assume that one of them was the first use of "boobs" on the show (by a contestant, no less), and can understand the PM episode with Kukla & Ollie (although I didn't quite see the whole thing - did they ever bring Burr Tillstrom out from behind the curtain?  If not, I would have probably went for the Friday of that cast's CBS week, when they did bring him out at the end), but what about the others?

I hear many of the episodes were culled from the DVD set from a few years back.  I don't have my copy in front of me now...can someone confirm/deny?

[Casey]

I hear many of the episodes were culled from the DVD set from a few years back.  I don't have my copy in front of me now...can someone confirm/deny?

Yes, it seemed like almost every "non-special" episode was also the DVD set, including one of the two MG'6x episodes.  The only '7x episodes that weren't on the DVD set was the one with Dick Smothers and the last one with Skip Stephenson.