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Match Game "7x" Revival

KS-IL-IA said:
But these aren't the '70s. Much of the fun of watching the episodes from that era -- don't get me wrong, I love 'em -- is that standards and practices were a lot less lenient then, and the panelists did their best to skirt around them. Most panelists today would write the dirtiest possible answer on their card, and there would be pixelation and bleeps all over the place.
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I thought the 70's were the "Good Old Days". :D As I've reminded some rather narrow-minded people, kids were wearing some pretty revealing clothes way back in the 70s!!!

That said, I agree that the art of subtlety is lost on most people today and, perhaps, that's why previous MG revivals haven't worked.
 
There are good reasons that "Match Game 90" and "Match Game 98" (I know those weren't the actual titles, but in keeping with the 70's revival series and to distinguish the different shows I will call them such) and if the lessons are learned from both another revival could succeed.

MG90 failed partly because it was only a decade removed from the demise of the wildly popular previous CBS show. If you count the "Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour" fiasco, it was only six years. Thus, it came across as a pale imitation, especially with Ross Shafer instead of Gene Rayburn.

They fiddled with the rules for MG90, making the game play significantly different so people who remembered the 7X version. The panelists were lackluster compared with most of those from before, and the gag writing was terrible.

As for MG98, the less said about it the better. The game play was changed even further, the punny category names were stupid, and the few times that the questions were funny the answers were crude.

If you want to see how to revive "Match Game," try to track down the British 1998-2002 version of "Blankety Blank" (the UK/Australian title of the show). It was slickly produced and hosted by drag queen Lily Savage, but otherwise was a direct translation of the Les Dawson version from the 1970's (right down to joking about how cheap the prizes were). Thus it appealed to nostalgia fans and was fun enough for new audiences.

To revive it right, find three regulars who are witty, snarky, and slightly risque but know how to not work blue when needed. Find a comic actor as host, not a stand up or regular game show host. Go back to the exact same rules as the 7X series but with increased prizes for winners. And somehow convince Dick DeBartolo to come back as head writer to at least train the next generation. (Of course, this would also mean Dumb Dora, Old Man Periwinkle, and the other regular "characters" would have to come back too.)
 
KS-IL-IA said:
But these aren't the '70s. Much of the fun of watching the episodes from that era -- don't get me wrong, I love 'em -- is that standards and practices were a lot less lenient then, and the panelists did their best to skirt around them. Most panelists today would write the dirtiest possible answer on their card, and there would be pixelation and bleeps all over the place.
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We're too "politically correct" now for such a fun show to work. That's why I enjoyed watching the reruns of them on GSN a few years back.
Russell W. said:
Also, MG7x - to use the cliche - was lightning in a bottle. You had the chemistry (Dawson notwithstanding), and as already been said, Gene R. had the rare talent of keeping it all in line.
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Disagree about Dawson, but only slightly. I thought he was great on Match Game until about '78, when they went to that blue set, and then he started appearing wearing dark glasses. It was clear that he no longer wanted to be there. He had Family Feud by then, and that was obviously where his priorities were.
 
In the 2000's there were at least two pilots for Match Game revivals. One was for Fox called What the Blank, and the other was for TBS, but neither made it on the air.

I'm afraid that any MG remake now would be just as raunchy or worse than the 98 version. ::)
 
jsu5381m said:
I though the reason Match Game 90 failed was due to its poor time slot that caused it to not be cleared in many markets.
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I'm thinking that the early '90s Match Game was bumped for noonday news in most cities. That might explain why I never saw it.

I liked the '98 Match Game, not as good as the ones from the '70s, mind you, but I still thought it was okay.
 
Here's an idea: 'Burn Notice', currently on My Network TV, is scheduled to go in syndicated repeats this fall. That should free up Wednesday nights for the network. Maybe MyNet could air Match Game in primetime...
 
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