Match Game '77

Match Game '77
CBS
February 5, 1977
Game Show
DVD
B

This has one of the classic moments of the show, when the lower tier, with the help of a few props, imitates the upper tier.  Richard and Fannie spar and tease affectionately, like Brett and Charles, with additional mannerisms, like Brett's drinking and Charles's smoking.  The real surprise here is Jo Ann's twinkly-eyed, grinning version of Dick G.  Brett isn't the only one who enjoys this all thoroughly.

Match Game '77

A calmer moment

Match Game '77
CBS
February 5, 1977
Game Show
DVD
B-

In which the men trade neckware, Preparation H is a winning match, and Gene attacks a camera.  Also memorable for an early example of the face mash-up thing.  Note that both this and the succeeding episode supposedly aired on a Saturday (according to the DVD packaging), which seems unlikely.  From what I recall as a studio audience member in the later '70s through mid '80s, a week's worth of a game show would be done in one day, generally a weekday, and they would all air on weekdays.

Match Game 73: #1.18

Johnny Olson

Match Game 73: #1.18
CBS
July 25, 1973
Game Show
DVD
C+

Nothing too memorable here on Week 4, other than Dick Gautier's sports jacket, and Richard's crack about overlapping with Guiding Light if Shelley doesn't hurry up.  Oh, and the current champ is a man, for a change.

Match Game 73: #1.3

Match Game 73: #1.3
CBS
July 4, 1973
Game Show
DVD
B-

Monday's winner, the black lady named Stanley, is still hanging in there on Wednesday of the first week.  The show is definitely still a work in progress, since Gene has to ask the judge(s) if words have to match exactly or if synonyms count.  But the contestants are getting the hang of things, and they're no longer scoring just a point or two each match.  Note that Gene calls Jack on all his insults of his wife Brett, little realizing that this would have long-ranging consequences for the show.  And with Richard's imitations of Paul Lynde, I'm starting to wonder if he should be credited with the Wait Till Your Father caterer's voice rather than Lynde.  (Dawson is listed for a different WTYF episode.)

Match Game 73: #1.1

I said "Brooklyn" and thus won 100 1973-dollars.

Match Game 73: #1.1
CBS
July 2, 1973
Game Show
DVD
B-

Revamped for the '70s but not yet quite Match Game as we know it, the show returns with Rayburn and Olson, but with six guest celebrities rather than just two.  And I have to admit that, although I played along, I wasn't any more drawn in than I was by the '62 episode.  It's partly that the questions and celebrity answers aren't either crude or refined enough, refined in the sense of being polished.  A contestant and I both said "wives" were traded, but the celebrities said things like "cars."  For "something you squeeze," the contestant said "a girl," while the panelists said "lemons" and "oranges," and I, trying to get in the mid-'70s mindset, said "Charmin."  It's not surprising that only Richard Dawson (who gets the Super-Match right with "London Bridge") would become a fixture on the panel.  It's not a bad (re)start by any means, but the show needed further retooling and development.

Marc Breslow directed this and future episodes.