Match Game 1990-91 thoughts

[Adam Nedeff]

I know Brett Somers was on at least one week of episodes and that Charles was on a bit more frequently as a celebrity player.  I also know that Gene Rayburn had been in line to get the gig until I think it was Entertainment Tonight made mention of Gene's age at the time due to a Happy Birthday announcement and that ultimately cost him getting the job in favor of a younger host in Ross Schaefer (who I felt did a really great job as host by the way!).

Was this ever confirmed or is it game show urban legend, kinda like Alex being drunk on the High Rollers finale? Gene wasn't only a few years older than Barker and TPiR didn't seem to suffer.

Gene himself said this a few times, and ageism exists in show business but...I'll just say that this is probably the version of the story that gave Gene the most personal comfort. I've talked to some people who crossed paths with Gene in the 1980s and I've learned the following...

#1. People who dealt with Gene in the 1980s remember attitude problems.
#2. The feeling among people who had the power to hire him saw his recent work and concluded that regardless of age, his prime had passed.
#3. He tested shockingly poorly with focus groups in the 1980s.

Again, I'm sure that "He's in his 70s? Oh, geez, let's see if someone ELSE can do this" absolutely figured into it a bit, but there were a few other things going on that cost Gene work.

[Adam Nedeff]

1. The Star Wheel with that pointer, it's more fun watching the actual wheel spin than a pointer, especially since the contestant always starts off with the pointer in the same general spot on the wheel itself.

This really isn't different from The Price is Right starting every Showcase Showdown from the dollar, or Wheel of Fortune starting every round with the wheel in the same position so the camera can get a pretty shot of the important space for that round.

[chris319]

Really? You're bent out of shape because the multiplier was 20x and not 21x and that the winner is pushing an arrow instead of grabbing a peg?

OK then.

He didn't complain that the set wasn't swathed in orange.

[chris319]

The feeling among people who had the power to hire him

Care to name names? My intuition tells me Jonathan Goodson and possibly Chester Feldman.

Roger Dobkowitz has hinted that Gene was not a nice man and difficult to work with.

He tested shockingly poorly with focus groups in the 1980s.

Interesting.

[chris319]

Did this version have any contract panelists? Here's what I mean: on the '70s version Brett, Charles and Richard were under contract to appear on every show. Did this version have any of that? Marcia Wallace would have worked well as a regular in seat 6, better than shit-faced Brett bickering with Charles.

The casting of the panel is crucial on MG. When you boil it down, on the CBS version there were only two bookable seats on the panel: 1 and 4. Seat 6 drew from a small circle of players.

Fred Travalena's impersonations get tiresome pretty quickly. I played MG with Fred Travalena when he tested in Ira's office and don't recall any impersonations.

Add to the list of "tiresome": Rayburn's character voices of Count Dracula and Old Man Periwinkle.

Match-Up seems like a throw-away that didn't integrate particularly well with the rest of the show.

Who was the judge on this version?

[Adam Nedeff]

Did this version have any contract panelists?

Charles was a regular on this version.

Match-Up seems like a throw-away that didn't integrate particularly well with the rest of the show.

I just pulled up my interview notes from Matchless...Robert Sherman indicated that Match-Up was Jonathan Goodson's brainchild and the idea was to accomplish what his dad was hoping for, infusing more GAME into the format. I don't dislike the concept of Match-Up, I just think it was used incorrectly. I think a better place for it would have been as Curt Alliaume once suggested--using it in place of Audience Match as a way to build up the jackpot.

[BrandonFG]

I like the concept of Match-Up, and didn't mind there being two sets per day. But there's a clip where a contestant only needed one correct match to win. He and the celebrity whiffed on every single choice.

The idea works on paper but IMO, having the game come down to blind guessing doesn't sit right with me for whatever reason. It feels like you could essentially go 6/6 on each of your riddles but still lose because your opponent made the better coin flip. I like the idea of replacing the Audience Match with Match-Up.

[Sodboy13]

I like the idea of replacing the Audience Match with Match-Up.

As do I. You pick your star for it and go for :30 or :45 at $100 a pop, and I think it would work really well.

An idea that's been bouncing around my head too long: If you made Match-Up your stake builder for the bonus round, would an Audience Match game work in between two rounds of the front game? You do Round 1 at $50/match, the Audience Match at something like 250-100-50, 300-200-100, or even rework it to 300-200-150-100-50, and then Round 2 at $100/match is your finisher.

[chris319]

I think a better place for it would have been as Curt Alliaume once suggested--using it in place of Audience Match as a way to build up the jackpot.

That would have been better. For one thing it would mean Match-Up got played once by the winner of the main game.

[TimK2003]

I know Brett Somers was on at least one week of episodes and that Charles was on a bit more frequently as a celebrity player.  I also know that Gene Rayburn had been in line to get the gig until I think it was Entertainment Tonight made mention of Gene's age at the time due to a Happy Birthday announcement and that ultimately cost him getting the job in favor of a younger host in Ross Schaefer (who I felt did a really great job as host by the way!).

Was this ever confirmed or is it game show urban legend, kinda like Alex being drunk on the High Rollers finale? Gene wasn't only a few years older than Barker and TPiR didn't seem to suffer.

Gene himself said this a few times, and ageism exists in show business but...I'll just say that this is probably the version of the story that gave Gene the most personal comfort. I've talked to some people who crossed paths with Gene in the 1980s and I've learned the following...

#1. People who dealt with Gene in the 1980s remember attitude problems.
#2. The feeling among people who had the power to hire him saw his recent work and concluded that regardless of age, his prime had passed.
#3. He tested shockingly poorly with focus groups in the 1980s.

Again, I'm sure that "He's in his 70s? Oh, geez, let's see if someone ELSE can do this" absolutely figured into it a bit, but there were a few other things going on that cost Gene work.

Another thing to consider:  Gene lived on the East Coast, and any show he did would have involved him doing a cross country commute.  It's likely Gene was not willing to travel as much as he used to, or the taping schedule would not mesh as well with his travel demands.

[chrisholland03]

I would like someone in the know to expound on the whole West Coast/East Coast cost argument that keeps getting tossed about.

[SamJ93]

One interesting strategic element of "Match-Ups" that I picked up on--and I don't know if it was intentional or not--is that often times, the choice was between a single word and a longer phrase. It didn't happen often enough, unfortunately, but I did notice a few savvy contestants/celebs who picked up on this and chose the single word every time to save themselves a few more valuable seconds.

[rwalker]

Brett did 3 weeks. Nice compilation

https://youtu.be/qmNtwYMUc4A?si=tS7Ny-X5zqPw5fX8

[trainman]

Charles Nelson Reilly was called out in the TV Guide ads as "Match Game's own."

[Adam Nedeff]

I like the idea of replacing the Audience Match with Match-Up.

As do I. You pick your star for it and go for :30 or :45 at $100 a pop, and I think it would work really well.

An idea that's been bouncing around my head too long: If you made Match-Up your stake builder for the bonus round, would an Audience Match game work in between two rounds of the front game? You do Round 1 at $50/match, the Audience Match at something like 250-100-50, 300-200-100, or even rework it to 300-200-150-100-50, and then Round 2 at $100/match is your finisher.

Did you get this idea from the DVD game? Because Audience Match is played exactly this way in the DVD game. I've played it with a lot of groups of friends and while it tends to go over well (I don't think anyone really cares who wins the Match Game DVD game), thing that I noticed from all those playings is that a player who matches the top answer in between-rounds Audience Match will for sure win the whole game.