Author Topic: Match Game - enough already? (Read 11629 times)

narzo · « **on:** September 10, 2008, 03:49:16 AM »

I just read on buzzerblog about the GSN schedule shuffle in October and when I read about another run of "Match Game" being added in I figured it was time someone finally said it, so here goes...

-ahem- (clearing throat)

" I am sick of watching 'Match Game' "

Now before the thrashing begins can I just argue a few points...

1. Every episode has been repeated several times. I stopped watching 3 years ago and I've only had GSN since 2001.

2. The old adage, "too much of a good thing leaves one wanting less" (ie, ABC "millionaire")

3. What was LOL funny the first time, gives only a chuckle the second, and gets annoying after. This isn't the "vitameatavegimin" sketch were talking here.

OK, I'm ready for the abuse that will follow but seriously, is anyone still watching the episodes you know you've already seen many times before?

xavier45 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 10, 2008, 07:48:37 AM »

[quote name=\'narzo\' post=\'196783\' date=\'Sep 10 2008, 03:49 AM\']
OK, I'm ready for the abuse that will follow but seriously, is anyone still watching the episodes you know you've already seen many times before?
[/quote]
I don't think anyone will yell at you just because you have an opinion. It's your right to have one.

As for MG, It's been 5 years since Match Game '76 was last on GSN. I can hardly remember anything from last week let alone 5 years ago. So pretty much, these episodes are very new to me, and I am sure to many more around here.

chad1m · « **Reply #2 on:** September 10, 2008, 08:08:05 AM »

[quote name=\'xavier45\' post=\'196792\' date=\'Sep 10 2008, 07:48 AM\']So pretty much, these episodes are very new to me, and I am sure to many more around here.[/quote]That's kind of how I feel. I'm by no means a "regular" MG viewer, but if it's on against nothing else I'll definitely watch it. I can honestly say that I will have had access to GSN for ten years this coming winter and to my knowledge, I've never seen a repeat episode of the show in its regular timeslots.

chris319 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 10, 2008, 11:52:29 AM »

Does this "viewer fatigue" apply only to MG or to other shows as well? I mean, how many times could you see the same episode of Card Sharks year after year?

dale_grass · « **Reply #4 on:** September 10, 2008, 12:45:08 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'196800\' date=\'Sep 10 2008, 10:52 AM\']
I mean, how many times could you see the same episode of Card Sharks year after year?
[/quote]

"Ace then deuce
What a catch
Bet you know
Who wins the match!
Oooooooon... Card Sharks!"

PYLdude · « **Reply #5 on:** September 10, 2008, 02:42:09 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'196800\' date=\'Sep 10 2008, 10:52 AM\']
Does this "viewer fatigue" apply only to MG or to other shows as well? I mean, how many times could you see the same episode of Card Sharks year after year?
[/quote]

I'm sure it probably does.

But I say this:

it's called a remote, and it's called other channels.

tvmitch · « **Reply #6 on:** September 10, 2008, 02:59:41 PM »

Not to be the guy who says "It doesn't matter what we think as fans," but, it doesn't matter what we think as fans. If GSN can get one more ad dollar for reruns of MG rather than Blockbusters, yes, they will make the switch.

I honestly haven't watched a full episode of Match Game for 5 years. When GSN appeared on cable for us in '98, I watched it all the time, but my interest has faded over time.

ChrisLambert! · « **Reply #7 on:** September 10, 2008, 03:06:04 PM »

I have pretty much found myself burnt out on MG, too. Not helping their cause is the fact that pretty much every at-least-slightly wacky moment ever on the show appears to be on YT.

chris319 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 10, 2008, 03:14:09 PM »

To be fair, these shows were only intended to be viewed once. Except for TPIR they didn't even do reruns, but delivered 52 weeks of new shows year round. No consideration was ever given to future reruns on cable, much less watching each episode three times and then again on YouTube.

Joe Mello · « **Reply #9 on:** September 10, 2008, 03:49:51 PM »

[quote name=\'xavier45\' post=\'196792\' date=\'Sep 10 2008, 07:48 AM\']I don't think anyone will yell at you just because you have an opinion. It's your right to have one.[/quote]
But they will because they have a right to yell their "superior" opinions as well.

/Or do you have to use the words "price," "right," "is," and "change," for that

aaron sica · « **Reply #10 on:** September 10, 2008, 04:34:46 PM »

MG was one of my favorite game shows as a young child - on a "sick day" back in 1989 (why is it that childhood stories involving game shows always involve a "sick day"?), I happened to catch an episode of Sally Jessy Raphael with game show guests, Gene Rayburn being one of them. They showed a MG clip and then a promo (for syndie MG, I would later learn).

So when I found out there would be a GSN, and MG would be one of the shows, I was elated - it was so cool finally watching a full episode.

14 years later, the charm has largely worn off for me, too. Like others have said, some of the MG clips have been run to death so much I no longer find them funny (see also "September, "France/French"). I have the DVD set but my MG interest has been downgraded to "passing".

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #11 on:** September 10, 2008, 05:00:13 PM »

Quote

14 years later, the charm has largely worn off for me, too. Like others have said, some of the MG clips have been run to death so much I no longer find them funny (see also "September, "France/French"). I have the DVD set but my MG interest has been downgraded to "passing".

Wouldn’t this be the case with just about any regularly-run GSN show after 14 years? I think the novelty has probably worn off for most of us by now. There’s still some excitement from time to time – like when they’re going to return an old favorite to the lineup; or when they’ve discovered long-lost shows like the CBS Joker’s Wild or the ABC Password episode they aired, but considering they rarely take those “forgotten gems” that most of us like out of the vault, it is sort of a “passing” interest now. Most of the shows they’ve got on now have been run too many times and I’ve seen them too many times to be “must see TV”.

Case in point: I haven’t had GSN since it disappeared from C-Band satellite in March 2004. For the most part, I haven’t missed it. Anything I’ve needed from GSN during that time I’ve been able to get through trades. Don’t get me wrong…if they all of a sudden started airing shows like Break the Bank, CBS Joker’s Wild, ’86 eps of Press Your Luck, Bullseye, plus numerous others from the vault on a regular basis, or “discovered” tapes of other shows like the original Split Second, I’d run out and get myself hooked up to digital cable to see it again; but since they don’t often “freshen up” their lineup with shows like this, I don’t think I’ll be doing that any time soon. Sometimes I do really miss having access to it, but even if I still had it, I don’t think I’d be watching it as much as I once did.

aaron sica · « **Reply #12 on:** September 10, 2008, 05:32:52 PM »

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' post=\'196815\' date=\'Sep 10 2008, 05:00 PM\']

Wouldn’t this be the case with just about any regularly-run GSN show after 14 years? I think the novelty has probably worn off for most of us by now. There’s still some excitement from time to time – like when they’re going to return an old favorite to the lineup; or when they’ve discovered long-lost shows like the CBS Joker’s Wild or the ABC Password episode they aired, but considering they rarely take those “forgotten gems” that most of us like out of the vault, it is sort of a “passing” interest now. Most of the shows they’ve got on now have been run too many times and I’ve seen them too many times to be “must see TV”.
[/quote]

Yeah, actually it would be the case. While it's nice to have a channel with some sort of "Password" on it, and quite a few versions of "Family Feud" and "Card Sharks", the novelty of it has worn off. When shows like TTD and WoF are dusted off, and (in the case of WoF) a new season selected, it is pretty cool, but other than that...yeah. I fully agree.

But for nostalgia's sake...Wasn't it something back in 1994 when GSN first came on and we got to see all these shows..Nothing but good memories

/Had his old A-V club advisor set the school satellite dish to G7-6 for me when GSN came out

parliboy · « **Reply #13 on:** September 10, 2008, 06:20:47 PM »

Match game isn't being run for the hardcore. It's being run for the casual viewers.

From my dealings with other people who know my interests, I can tell you that people who wouldn't watch GSN for any other reason will watch Match Game. They know it -- it's one of those ubiquitous formats that's got a real playalong factor.

xavier45 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 10, 2008, 06:29:03 PM »

[quote name=\'parliboy\' post=\'196833\' date=\'Sep 10 2008, 06:20 PM\']
From my dealings with other people who know my interests, I can tell you that people who wouldn't watch GSN for any other reason will watch Match Game. They know it -- it's one of those ubiquitous formats that's got a real playalong factor.
[/quote]
I know my mom hates mostly everything on GSN except Match Game and Dawson's Feud. Even when they show the "Boobs" episode for the 50th time, she still gets a laugh out of it. That episode for me, has lost its novelty because of how many times they have ran it in the past 3 years.