"Get ready to match the stars as we play the star-studded, big money Match Game PM!" - Announcer Johnny Olson
The Best of Match Game DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
What do you do if your mildly successful game show is cancelled after a seven year run? Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, producers of The Match Game, simply waited a few years and brought the show back on a different network. Originally, the series was a staid, sober game reminiscent of Password, another Goodson/Todman production. (See the "Extras" section below for information on the original incarnation of Match Game.) Within five years of its cancellation by NBC, the series reappeared on CBS, but with a few changes - the least of which being that "the" was dropped from its title. The number of celebrity panelists was increased threefold, and the show was injected with a healthy dose of sexual innuendo. Soon, it was the number one game show on CBS.
Two contestants answer fill-in-the-blank statements trying to match answers given by a panel of six stars. In the first few episodes, the statements are fairly innocuous - "The sexiest thing a woman can wear is BLANK," "John & George traded BLANKs for a week." The contestant answers "wives" and is chastised by panelist Jack Klugman who says "it's not that kind of game." In a way, he's right - the panelists provide answers that are pretty boring, including "marbles," "cars," "apartments," and "jobs." It doesn't take an investigation by Quincy to realize that it is that kind of game. The more titillating the answer, the better. To better facilitate innuendo-filled answers, the questions become bawdier ("Ronald McDonald just lost his mind. They caught him out in the road playing with his BLANK." "Paul the pickpocket said 'It's hard to work in a nudist colony. To keep in practice, I have to pick BLANKs.'") The most common answer seems to be "bosoms," the censor-approved word for "breasts." Even though "bosoms" pops up in almost every episode, it is interesting to see that many of the stars can't remember how to spell it. Who knew that "bosoms" includes a "u" and a pair of "z"s?
The player with the most matches at the end of the round tries to guess how the audience filled in the blanks of common phrases. The goal is to guess one of the top three answers given. Guessing the most popular answer wins $500 for the contestant. The player then pairs with a celebrity of his or her choosing for a final guessing game that could lead to a win of $5,000.
Congenial host Gene Rayburn acts as a circus ringmaster, keeping the panel of stars and the sometimes weird guests in line. The stars include a variety of '70s era B-listers like Fannie Flagg and Bert Convy. The series is most famous, however, for its three regular guests: Brett Somers (The Odd Couple), Charles Nelson Reilly (Lidsville), and Richard Dawson (Family Feud). At the time of Match Game's relaunch, Somers was married to Jack Klugman. Klugman, a panelist during the first week, answered almost every question with a not-so-subtle putdown of his wife. His shtick was so funny that the producers brought Somers onto the show so that viewers could see the object of his ridicule. She clicked with fellow panelist Charles Nelson Reilly (who had appeared with Rayburn on Broadway) and soon they were asked to be regulars, ensconced in the top right positions of the panel slinging insults at each other and apparently imbibing in more than just water between tapings. Dawson, quick with a one liner, was a regular from the beginning. He was so good at guessing what answers the guests would give that he was, more often than not, picked by the guests to partner up for the final round. He so dominated the game, in fact, that the producers later added a wheel that randomly chose the guests' partners so that the other celebrities had a shot at playing.
Some of the downright odd guests needed all of the help they could get. Their answers were often moronic, as if the show's casting department deliberately chose contestants who had absolutely no understanding of Match Game's concept. One elderly contestant demands a kiss from Rayburn and presents Dawson with a pet rock complete with a glued-on pipe cleaner tail. Another winner declares that she's going to use her winnings to buy her eight year old son a waterbed. Kirstie Allie shows up as a contestant years before becoming a star on Cheers. And dig the terrible '70s fashions! Who knew there were that many uses for polyester?
Will you be able to match your favorite stars? Here's a list of guests appearing in The Best of Match Game:
Disc 1
Episodes 1 & 3: Richard Dawson, Anita Gillette, Jack Klugman (The Odd Couple), Michael Landon (Little House on the Prairie), Vicki Lawrence (The Carol Burnett Show), Jo Ann Pflug
Episode 11: Bert Convy, Jaye P. Morgan, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, Betty White (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Episode 0051: Stu Gilliam, Loretta Swit (M*A*S*H), Brett Somers, McLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H), Richard Dawson, Ann Elder (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In)
Episode 0158: Steve Allen, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, Fannie Flagg, Kaye Ballard
Episode 151: Kukla & Ollie, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Eva Gabor (Green Acres), Arte Johnson (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), Fannie Flagg
Episode 16-5: Charles Siebert (Trapper John, M.D.), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Robert Donner (Mork & Mindy), Phyllis Davis (Vega$), Marcia Wallace (The Bob Newhart Show)
Episode 0827: Avery Schreiber, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Nancy Kulp (The Beverly Hillbillies), Richard Dawson, Joyce Bulifant (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Disc 2
Episode 35-5: Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, McLean Stevenson, Skip Stephenson (Real People), Melinda O'Fee (Days of Our Lives), Betty White
Episode 003: William Shatner (Star Trek), Bret Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Lee Merriwether (Barnaby Jones), Richard Dawson, Joyce Bulifant
Episode 0870: Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, Orson Bean, Betty White, Mary Wickes (Sigmund & the Sea Monsters)
Episode 1005: Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Debralee Scott (Angie), Richard Dawson, Patti Deutsch (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In)
Episode 1228: David Doyle (Charlie's Angels), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Elaine Joyce, Richard Dawson, Betty White
Episode 04-1: Robert Pine (CHiPS), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jamie Lee Curtis (Anything But Love), Dick Martin (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), Betty White
Episode 11-5: Foster Brooks, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Sarah Purcell (Real People), Scoey Mitchell, Fannie Flagg
Episode 16-4: Charles Siebert, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Robert Donner, Phyllis Davis, Marcia Wallace
Disc 3
Episode 004: Bill Macy (Maude), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Elaine Joyce, Richard Dawson, Betty White
Episodes 914 & 915: Richard Gautier (Get Smart), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dick Martin, Betty White
Episodes 04-2, 04-3, & 04-4: Robert Pine, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dick Martin, Betty White
Episode 17-1: Bart Braverman (Vega$), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jamie Lee Curtis, Richard Paul (Murder, She Wrote), Fannie Flagg
Episode 6-28: Don Sutton, Bart Braverman, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Phyllis Diller, Marcia Wallace (The Simpsons)
Disc 4
Episode 6: Bob Barker (The Price is Right), Arlene Francis (What's My Line), Richard Dawson, Michael Learned (The Waltons), Richard Thomas (The Waltons), Della Reese (Touched by and Angel)
Episode 18: Richard Gautier, Barbara Stuart, Jack Carter, Jo Ann Pflug, Richard Dawson, Shelly Winters (The Poseidon Adventure)
Episode 0539: Scoey Mitchell, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Joan Collins (Dynasty), Richard Dawson, Patti Deutsch
Episode 6-30: Jimmie Walker (Good Times), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Dolly Martin, Bill Daily, Debralee Scott
Episode 06-5: Robert Walden (Lou Grant), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Elaine Joyce, Bill Daily, Joyce Bulifant
Episode 12-1: Bart Braverman, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Rita Moreno (The Electric Company), Bill Daily, Patti Deutsch
The thirty episodes that make up The Best of Match Game are randomly spread over four discs. The discs are housed in a foldout case that includes four plastic holders that are "bound" book-style via clear strips of tape. The disc faces feature the Match Game logo. One of the inside panels features a photo of Gene Rayburn. A folder panel holds a booklet which lists the guest stars from each episode and a coupon for The Price is Right Live at Bally's Las Vegas. The outside of the case is showcases questions from the show ("Fat Frieda said: 'I get more out of jogging than most women do. That's because even after I stop, my BLANKs keep moving for another five minutes.'") The case slides into a cardboard sleeve. Overall, the design of the case and the cardboard sleeve is bright, colorful, and totally in keeping with the tone of the show.
The static menus are easy to navigate. Viewers must choose individual episodes - there is no "play all" feature. The episodes are divided into chapters at each commercial break.
