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Match Game now on DVD

E

easttxtv

Just got one of these last week. It's a 4-disc set, with around 30 eps total. The debut (marked 'pilot' but I've read elsewhere it's not the actual pilot) is on it, as well as the debut ep of the b&w NBC version from 1962. One ep from 1981 or 1982 is on it that I've read is the last show taped...no farewell flavor with it, I guess since they didn't know at the time the plug would be pulled. I think there's at least 1 'pm' ep in the set. There are 3 eps with Kirstie Alley as a contestant--she bills herself as an interior designer then, not an up-and-coming actress. The 'dimples' ep isn't included but is mentioned in one of the extras segments. Brett Somers is 'interviewed' but you don't get the feeling there's someone actually there asking her questions. There is a tribute to Gene Rayburn but Brett does that segment also, and you get a bit of 'cue card' vibe with it. Some eps have consolation prize plugs and some have the face-on-face tickets-on-Beverly-Blvd. interlude also. Small parts of the set have sound issues, surprisingly.

Despite any flaws, I still like the set. Nice to own a little part of something I grew up with.

Celebs on the discs include Michael Landon, Arlene Francis, Della Reese, Michael Learned, Richard Thomas, Bart Braverman, JoAnn Pflug, Jack Klugman, McLean Stevenson, Patti Deutsch, Joyce Bulifant, Avery Schreiber, William Shatner, Betty White, Elaine Joyce, Bill Daily, Shelley Winters, Jimmie Walker, Jack Carter, Joan Collins, Bob Barker, Vicki Lawrence, as well as the more regular appearing Fannie Flagg, Richard Dawson, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Brett Somers. There's even a brief appearance by the producer, Ira Skutch.
 
How about here:::
[stars are listed as seated]

Disc 1--
1973 [no specific date listed], Ep 1 ('pilot')
Michael Landon, Vicki Lawrence, Jack Klugman,
JoAnn Pflug, Richard Dawson, Anita Gillette

1973 [no specific date listed], Ep 3
-same as above

1973 [no specific date listed], Ep 11
Bert Convy, Jaye P. Morgan, Charles Nelson Reilly,
Brett Somers, Richard, Betty White

8-18-1973, Ep 0051
Stu Gilliam, Loretta Swit, McLean Stevenson,
Brett, Richard, Ann Elder

2-15-1974, Ep 0158
Steve Allen, Brett, Charles,
Fannie Flagg, Richard, Kaye Ballard

2-17-1979, Ep 151 [PM]
Kukla & Ollie (no Fran), Brett, Charles,
Eva Gabor, Arte Johnson, Fannie

8-24-1980 (date may be tape date, not air date--the 24th was a Sunday), Ep 16-5
Charles Siebert, Brett, Charles,
Phyllis Davis, Robert Donner, Marcia Wallace

10-2-1976, Ep 0827
Avery Schreiber, Brett, Charles,
Nancy Kulp, Richard, Joyce Bulifant

Disc 2--
1-15-1982 (on pkg)/ 1981 (on menu), Ep 35-5 [last one taped?]
Skip Stephenson, Brett, Charles,
Melinda O. Fee, McLean, Betty

7-13-1975, Ep 003 [PM]
William Shatner, Brett, Charles,
Lee Meriwether, Richard, Joyce

12-11-1976, Ep 0870
Orson Bean, Brett, Charles,
Mary Wickes, Richard, Betty

2-29-1977, Ep 1005
Ed Asner, Brett, Charles,
Debralee Scott, Richard, Patti Deutsch

4-29-1978, Ep 1228
David Doyle, Brett, Charles,
Elaine Joyce, Richard, Betty

7-21-1979 (tape date? was a Saturday), Ep 04-1
Robert Pine, Brett, Charles,
Jamie Lee Curtis, Dick Martin, Betty

8-26-1979, Ep 11-5
Foster Brooks, Brett, Charles,
Sarah Purcell, Scoey Mitchell, Fannie

8-24-1980 (tape date? not air date--the 24th was a Sunday), Ep 16-4
Charles Siebert, Brett, Charles,
Phyllis Davis, Robert Donner, Marcia Wallace

Disc 3--
7-13-1975, Ep 004 [PM]
Bill Macy, Brett, Charles,
Elaine, Richard, Betty

2-5-1977 (tape date? was a Saturday), Ep 914
Richard Gautier, Brett, Charles,
JoAnn, Richard, Fannie

2-5-1977 (tape date? was a Saturday), Ep 915
-same as above

7-21-1979 (tape date? was a Saturday), Ep 04-2
Robert Pine, Brett, Charles,
Jamie Lee Curtis, Dick Martin, Betty
[Kirstie Alley begins her appearance about halfway through]

7-21-1979 (tape date? was a Saturday), Ep 04-3
-same as above
[Kirstie continues]

7-21-1979 (tape date? was a Saturday), Ep 04-4
-same as above
[Kirstie is defeated in this ep]

9-5-1980, Ep 17-1
Bart Braverman, Brett, Charles,
Jamie Lee, Richard Paul, Fannie

11-2-1980, Ep 6-28 [PM]
Don Sutton, Brett, Charles,
Phyllis, Bart, Marcia

Disc 4--
1973 [no specific date listed], Ep 6
Bob Barker, Arlene Francis, Richard,
Michael Learned, Richard Thomas, Della Reese

1973 [no specific date listed], Ep 18
Richard Gautier, Barbara Stuart, Jack Carter,
JoAnn, Richard, Shelley Winters

7-28-1975, Ep 0539
Scoey, Brett, Charles,
Joan Collins, Richard, Patti

11-16-1980, Ep 6-30 [PM]
Jimmie Walker, Brett, Charles,
Dolly Martin, Bill Daily, Debralee

8-4-1979, Ep 06-5
Robert Walden, Brett, Charles,
Elaine, Bill, Joyce

9-8-1979, Ep 12-1
Bart, Brett, Charles,
Rita Moreno, Bill, Patti

Extras--
* 'Best MG Moments', Brett intros best-of scenes from each disc at the end of each disc
* MG 1962 debut ep (no ads, but has consolation prize tags, and NBC 'snake' at the end)
* Gene Rayburn tribute, done by Brett
* Interview with Brett
* Photo gallery
 
Most game shows were taped on the weekends, so those dates were likely the taping dates.
Someone who was a frequent MG panelist (may have been Betty White) recalled that they served alcohol in the show's backstage area. A week's worth of shows were taped in a marathon all-day session, so by the time "Friday" came around, everyone was pretty much three sheets to the wind. That's why most of the crazy MG moments happened on a "Friday".
 
...yep, alcohol was indeed part of the "training table" on most of those shows. I suspect it had an even stronger effect on "TattleTales" and "Hollywood Squares" than it did on most "Match Game" weeks...
 
Typically syndicated shows at the time wouldn't give a "farewell" as MG was bicycled in syndication - meaning different stations ran different weeks, when one ran, they'd pass the shows on to the next station - so a week that ran on one station in February might not run on another one until April or May, for example.

Once the shows got to the 5-day-a-week syndication, they were all set up so they could wrap it up at the end of the week and not have to carry any contestants over from one week to the next. This was done by a faster than usual tie-breaker, or filling time having an audience member try to match one of the celebs, etc.
 
Does GSN ever show any of the Match Game shows from '62?
 
AFAIK, the only episode of the 60s version GSN has shown is the one on the DVD. As is the case with many of NBC's other game show of the 60s, tapes were destroyed and very few exist.
 
adam95 said:
AFAIK, the only episode of the 60s version GSN has shown is the one on the DVD. As is the case with many of NBC's other game show of the 60s, tapes were destroyed and very few exist.
Click to expand...

GSN showed one episode of the 60's version of Match Game a few years back which was a 1964 episode with Jayne Mansfield and Orson Bean being the celebrities on that show. I don't think that the pilot of the original Match Game has ever been shown on GSN.
 
I had come across one of the Match Game's fan sites where there were stills of the original pilot episode (not to be confused with the debut episode). If I can find the bookmark I'll post it. The stills were very, very clear so I doubt the source was a kinni.

I had also come across another MG fan site with the very first pilot for the 70's version, but it must had been from a tape on the trading circuit since it was very poor quality. Those stills showed a few differences in the set and talked about some of the things that didn't carry over to the produced version of the show.
 
On You Tube, there is an episode(divided into 3 parts) from January 1964 that aired on GSN that featured an All Star Week that featured Joan Fontaine, Betty White and Peggy Cass on the women's side and Bennett Cerf, Henry Morgan and Robert Q. Lewis on the men's side playing for the Boy and Girl Scouts which means that there might be some more episodes of the 60's Match Game than previously thought existed.
 
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