That's Mucho Matches, Celeb Fans
For a long time, Game Show Network has declared Match Game (the 1970s CBS and syndicated version) king of its rerun treasury, in terms of consistent ratings. On July 28, GSN will see how much Match Game — with all those Old Man Perriwinkle and Dumb Dora questions — America can take in one sitting.
In honor of the CBS version's 30th anniversary, the channel will play 19 hours of Match straight, starting with the first episode. That news comes from game show maven Steve Beverly, whose Web outpost tvgameshows.net is considered the definitive information source for the genre.
GSN is expected to make the marathon official this week at its Television Critics Association evening affair in Los Angeles. Among the celebrities you can spot on these 38 episodes: Burt Reynolds, William Shatner, Joan Collins, Edward Asner and — as contestants — Jenny Jones and Kirstie Alley.
Here's what The Wire would like to see: a marathon of the original Match Game with Gene Rayburn, produced at NBC in the 1960s. Can do, GSN? Let us know.
And yes, Jimmy Pardo, host of National Lampoon's Funny Money, the net's newest game, is not only no relation to announcer Don, he's co-host Jimmy of AMC's Saturday Night Movies at Our House segments. At TCA, he'll be on Funny Money duty, hosting a mock episode with critic contestants.
