ABC bringing back Match Game

[JasonA1]

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.

Where did that come from? I thought we were all wise enough to realize having one's name in the credits (unfortunately) doesn't mean having total control over that certain domain of the show. There's a whole cadre of people who write, then another who approve questions and put them into the rounds. If you're going to call out one name, at least go higher up the food chain.

-Jason

[TLEberle]

It comes from his being the name I can recall from his stint on Jeopardy. And you're right--they're all derelict in one form or another, whether it's questions that are ill-suited for the game or rarely good questions that are stacked poorly.

[JasonA1]

And you're right--they're all derelict in one form or another, whether it's questions that are ill-suited for the game or rarely good questions that are stacked poorly.

Let the record show this is not my opinion. I was merely saying there's not just one cook in the Match Game kitchen.

In general, I'm surprised the board as a whole in coming down so hard on the Match Game writing, as if the '70s provided a perfect template. The Rayburn years were far from short on questions that led to only one really good answer in round 2. I prefer the later questions lead to just a few, but it's not something new they're doing on ABC either.

-Jason

[TLEberle]

To be super-scrupulously fair and above board: there's a whole team working behind the scenes on the game material on Match Game.

-and-

I personally think they're falling down on the job on a few key points that have been enumerated and pored over.. I can understand why Mark Goodson was enamored of the original parlor game version more than the crazy antics that we got in the 1970s, but he cashed the checks that rolled in.

[MSTieScott]

I keep thinking back to when I was watching with a group of people and the question about The Rock and Justin Bieber came up. And rather than all of us coming up with an answer and then enjoying the antics of the panel, the room descended into a racket of voices trying to figure out not just what a reasonable answer to the question was, but what the question was even trying to go for in the first place. Forget the definitive answer -- we were struggling to find a good answer.

And that's not the only time I've had that reaction. There have been other questions where even after the panel's answers are revealed, I was left wondering what the writers intended the good answers to be. That's what I find most frustrating.

I acknowledge that it's difficult to write a good Match Game question. But many of the questions on this version give off the impression that the show was bound and determined to make a pop culture reference, but didn't know how to turn it into something playable. The worst offender so far has been the Schweddy Balls question. Not only did it provide no context for viewers who were unfamiliar with the SNL skit, but they put the double entendre in the body of the question, so the most reasonable answer ("mouth") was also the most mundane.

(I admit that Ana Gasteyer's response to that question was actually very clever. But I have to assume that the writers intended "mouth" to be the most likely answer.)

[BrandonFG]

I keep thinking back to when I was watching with a group of people and the question about The Rock and Justin Bieber came up. And rather than all of us coming up with an answer and then enjoying the antics of the panel, the room descended into a racket of voices trying to figure out not just what a reasonable answer to the question was, but what the question was even trying to go for in the first place. Forget the definitive answer -- we were struggling to find a good answer.

This is where I stand. I get the questions will have a variety of answers. For me, I think of the Baldwin Brothers question from the premiere (the one with the infamous "nothingness" and literal blank card answers). I sat on my couch racking my brain, and couldn't think of a single thing related to the Not Alec Baldwins, that at least one or two celebs could've also said. No pun intended, I drew a blank.

It's one thing if the answer has six different possibilities, one for each star. But my example prolly had 60. The questions don't always have to be super obvious, but when the game is known for not being very solid, why make it such an exercise to give a halfway decent answer?

[TLEberle]

And if they were playing for Win, Lose or Draw money I don't think people would care as much. But when you get to $25,000 they cease being Game Show Points--it's actual money that people could do some real good with, and when it feels like the opportunity is awarded in a way that looks to be random, it leaves a sour taste. It's similar to Hollywood Game Night; Martin Short can be a jerkweed on his own time, but please don't take away someone's chance at a big pile of money.

[Unrealtor]

"The Biebs" is a nickname for Justin Bieber, but even with that context it's still a lousy question because it's basically a guaranteed zero if the contestant doesn't know that and it's a no-brainer answer that isn't funny if (s)he does.

[clemon79]

I don't have a high opinion of Justin Bieber, so I got to "the c**k" pretty easily.

I'm assuming they borrowed one of Steve Harvey's writers for that one.

[TimK2003]

Many of the questions on this version give off the impression that the show was bound and determined to make a pop culture reference, but didn't know how to turn it into something playable.

This.

You don't have to tie in nearly every question to a current events' who what or where subject.  There is nothing wrong with generic John and Marsha questions, as long as the gist of the questions are easy to understand. And it's OK to have both Round 1 questions harder-to-match and both Round 2 questions with one or two obvious definitive answers.  Judging by the caliber of many of the players seen so far, even with equally-difficult questions per round, the chances of 6-6 tie games still remains slim.

[Kevin Prather]

I don't have a high opinion of Justin Bieber, so I got to "the c**k" pretty easily.

That occurred to me, but I had "the crock" on my card.

[whewfan]

I'll tell you some other things interesting about last week's taping of MG, now that it aired.

The two games that were taped were switched! The game with the $25000 win was actually the SECOND game. I had mentioned in a previous post that there was a stop tape while Tittus' answer "pinot noir" was being considered. That one was taped FIRST. They had also asked Alec to redo the part where Tittus gave his answer, so Alec simply asked Tittus for his answer, and then Tittus repeated what he was said before, and the match was granted. I suppose the producers thought saying it wasn't a match then Alec saying "I protest" was better. Then in the second game, there happened to be a question about Tittus and pinot noir, that's why the audience laughed. I was trying to remember if i saw them switch out questions at the last minute, because it was an interesting coincidence. I do remember them testing the question holder to make sure it worked, and also to verify that the right questions were in the slots.

I was also a little surprised that they matched "intern" with "Monica Lewinsky", with rare exceptions, general answers do not match specific answers, but when you think of an intern and Bill Clinton, who else comes to mind? It was also funny because while Monica would've been the definitive answer for MG 98, a LONG time has passed since then.

In case you're wondering, Pete Wentz said "dick" to the Lemonade question, but I thought Bobby and Maggie Q's answers "lemons" were a clever play on words and putting in parenthesis "I mean balls" just in case the judges didn't get the reference. Also, Bobby didn't actually write out the word "f*ck" on his card to "sexy as f*ck", he just wrote F and scribbled the rest, but I guess because he also said the word, the card and his mouth were bleeped.  If you think about it "pinot noir" is also clever because it's a drink, and lemonade is also a drink... the judges probably realized that and the obvious soundalike of pinot.

I enjoyed the Schwedy Balls references because I liked the series of the "Delicious Dish" sketches that Ana Gasteyer and Alec Baldwin did.

I seem to recall that they shot the end of each game with Alec saying first "that's it for Match Game", and then "Stay tuned for more Match Game" I guess, in case they decided to switch the order, but unlike Pyramid, they couldn't do the second half with a different panel because a second intro would take too long, unlike Pyramid which is much faster.

For the Chris Christie question, which had a brief Trump reference, Rosie did comment that she was glad she didn't have to participate in a Trump question. For some reason that remark was edited out.

[BillCullen1]

Regarding the ep that aired on July 17, Leslie Jones needed a tranquilizer shot real bad. Other than that, an enjoyable show.

[TimK2003]

Regarding the ep that aired on July 17, Leslie Jones needed a tranquilizer shot real bad. Other than that, an enjoyable show.

There was some very questionable judging in that episode as well (I would not have accepted Bikini for 'down there').  Leslie at times was channeling Nell "That's A Very Good Answer" Carter, and her trying to steer the entire panel into the same answers on several occasions was really going overboard.  Here's hoping she is never invited back.

Now that there have been episodes without Rosie O'Donnell, I have to say I kind of missed her in the Brett Somers Memorial Chair this week, although Mrs.RFK, Jr. was okay and the calmest among the females by far last night.

[PYLdude]

There was some very questionable judging in that episode as well (I would not have accepted Bikini for 'down there').

Why not?