ABC bringing back Match Game

[TimK2003]

The show that aired on July 3rd was the first one taped. So we got to see the two extremes, when someone wins big and when someone doesn't get an answer with the Super Match. I liked it when Rosie asked who they polled for the Super Match that tanked.

Is it me or are the Head-to-Heads a bit tougher to win on this incarnation so far -- having more than 2-3 good choices to pick from?

Head-to-heads haven't felt that bad to me in terms of having too many possible answers. Although none of them have been gimmes, the fact that everyone seems to pick Rosie and the way she plays everything down the middle makes it pretty easy to cut down the possibilities.

The "spin _____" audience match, on the other hand, was brutal. I had six or eight possibilities off the top of my head and still managed to not think of two of the top three answers or the answer the contestant gave.

Agreed on the SPIN ______ Super Match, I thought City as well as Doctor(s), but that was a great Super Match word nonetheless. 

_________ GUITAR Head to Head Match, OTOH, was a bear as well (Air/Acoustic/Electric/Rhythm/Steel/Etc...) would've fit better as a Super Match.  Bass was not one of my immediate choices.

[jjman920]

AFAIK, "acts like he doesn't want to be there" is basically Adam Goldberg's persona when he's doing talk shows and such. Which makes me wonder why they booked him in the first place.

I mean, wasn't that how Henry Morgan acted a lot of times? I felt that he certainly looked to enjoy himself on I've Got a Secret at times, but he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else on his few panelist appearances on What's My Line?

The whole curmudgeon thing can be funny. I don't think it translated that well here, but I'm happy that for the most part he tried playing the game and help out most of the time.

[BillCullen1]

The show that aired on July 3rd was the first one taped.

OOPS - mea culpa. According to the celeb listings, the July 3rd show was the 4th show taped, not the 1st. Horatio Sanz was on both. The show airing July 10 was the 3rd show taped. Ana Gasteyer, Bobby Moynihan and Maggie Q are among the guests.

[calliaume]

AFAIK, "acts like he doesn't want to be there" is basically Adam Goldberg's persona when he's doing talk shows and such. Which makes me wonder why they booked him in the first place.

I mean, wasn't that how Henry Morgan acted a lot of times? I felt that he certainly looked to enjoy himself on I've Got a Secret at times, but he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else on his few panelist appearances on What's My Line?

The whole curmudgeon thing can be funny. I don't think it translated that well here, but I'm happy that for the most part he tried playing the game and help out most of the time.

Morgan was kind of cast that way, opposite Bill Cullen, who was the opposite of curmudgeonly.  But that didn't translate well to What's My Line? and its well-establishd cast.  (Morgan stopped getting bookings on WML, accordingly to Gil Fates, shortly before the network run ended after he repeatedly interrupted a Bennett Cerf introduction.)

[Unrealtor]

I think that tonight's episode is the first time in years when I've watched a first-run game show and thought to myself "Man, they had a lot of time left over." We even got a halftime mill-about after the first head-to-head match.

[PYLdude]

Got to see MG tonight for the first time.

It's not bad, but I'm not fully impressed with the writing either. Just doesn't seem as crisp. That may just be me though.

I notice the theme kinda sounds like a cross between the classic theme and the mariachi-sounding 1990 theme. Which I also like.

If I have to grade it, I put it at B- for now.

[Jimmy Owen]

Coincidentally, a commercial for CarMax came on during Match Game featuring Andy Daly.  Daly, as you may remember, was the host of the recent TBS Match Game pilot.

[clemon79]

It's not bad, but I'm not fully impressed with the writing either. Just doesn't seem as crisp. That may just be me though.

The writing is still painfully bad for the most part. The first game last night was better, but the game was still won in the second round because the person who got to pick picked A.

(The argument here is usually "it's Match Game; it isn't about the game," which is true except it also holds a whole lot less water when there's $25,000 on the line.)

[Neumms]

The first game last night was better, but the game was still won in the second round because the person who got to pick picked A.

(The argument here is usually "it's Match Game; it isn't about the game," which is true except it also holds a whole lot less water when there's $25,000 on the line.)

There's unfairness inherent in the game, but the pairing of questions in that round was ridiculous.

Also...since it's been, oh, 15-20 years since one of Alec's brothers did anything, the Baldwin Brothers references aren't terribly fresh.

[Unrealtor]

The more that airs, the more convinced I am that the writers and producers at Match Game either aren't thinking about the difficulty level of the material or aren't doing a very good job of estimating how easy it will be for the contestants.

[BrandonFG]

Also...since it's been, oh, 15-20 years since one of Alec's brothers did anything, the Baldwin Brothers references aren't terribly fresh.

In a way, that kinda makes the joke.

[chrisholland03]

Also...since it's been, oh, 15-20 years since one of Alec's brothers did anything, the Baldwin Brothers references aren't terribly fresh.

In a way, that kinda makes the joke.

That was my thinking too...

[parliboy]

(The argument here is usually "it's Match Game; it isn't about the game," which is true except it also holds a whole lot less water when there's $25,000 on the line.)

$25,000 now was $5,000 in 1973.  So whatever side of that you would have taken then, you have to take now.

Certainly, the writing can use work.  But contestants are being offered a chance at $25,000 for giving four answers to fill-in-the-blank questions.  So, what game?

[Neumms]

So, what game?

They do call it Match Game. When one player so obviously gets jobbed, it's a bummer amidst the fun and frivolity. Stupid panel answers are part of the game (and the fun), but this is easily avoidable.

[TLEberle]

Certainly, the writing can use work.  But contestants are being offered a chance at $25,000 for giving four answers to fill-in-the-blank questions.  So, what game?

And Treasure Hunt offered $25,000 for opening the right combination of two boxes. It was also totally random and didn't pretend to be anything else, so that was fine. Pyramid offered $25,000 as a top prize and the game material was constituted appropriately. Louis Virtel might be a legitimately funny fellow and great at throwing off attitude snaps but there's more to preparing a packet of questions for Match Game than capturing the zeitgeist and making sure your question has a blank at the end.