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6/20: TBS pondering a new version of “Match Game”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This game show was once so popular, networks have tried again and again to blank it.
Atlanta-based TBS has taped a pilot this week in Los Angeles of a remake of my favorite game show of all time, “Match Game.” The version I liked (and GSN still airs) is the ’70s version, which featured the delightful interplay between host Gene Rayburn and the regulars such as Richard Dawson, Bret Sommers and Charles Nelson Reilly which reflected the ’70s bad fashion choice, casual sexism and smoking on set. Oh, the silly gameplay, sexual innuendo and Rayburn’s skinny long mike helped, too.
The show has been revived numerous times over the past 20 years but never quite successfully. According to Hollywood Reporter,, TBS is pondering an even raunchier, late-night version because it has commissioned the likes of Sarah Silverman and Norm MacDonald to be regulars. Andrew Daly (“Semi-Pro”) is hosting the pilot and the show is executive produced by Robert Smigel, who is best known as doing the cartoon bits on “Saturday Night Live” and creating Triumph the Insult Dog for Conan.
Do you think it could work in 2008?
Here’s a little nostalgia from the ’70s version:
And one of the readers here noted a very funny parody on “Saturday Night Live” a few weeks back featuring Shia LaBeouf:
Comments
By Bud
June 20, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
Wow…that show would make me want to put my blank inside Sarah Silverman’s blank.
By Michael
June 20, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this
Sign me up as a contestant, PLEASE!!!
By Edward
June 20, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this
Though I was a teen in the 70s for the original “Match Game”, I remember watching it daily and enjoying the double-entendres and innuendo. That honed my own dry sarcasm that persists to today.
I doubt a remake could ever approach it, though.
By juan
June 20, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this
yes it could work…i love tbs and think this could be hilarious!
By Bob
June 20, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
Who watches TBS excuse me, that would be “tbs - very funny” anymore now that they don’t carry the Braves?
There are 3 other local channels that inundate us with Seinfeld/Friends/King of Queens/ Raymond & Family Guy… There are out of town channels that carry this stuff as well.
Oh, thats right. Every few Sunday afternoons I can watch the Royals play the Tigers, or some other gripping MLB event.
tbs - toilet bowl station
By me
June 20, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this
As long as the new Match Game is political incorrect I will watch it. I just hope the stars will be on the same drugs as they were in the 70’s Charles Nelson Riley always looked like he was high.
Hey Jim, the Braves ratings were in the tank nationally, that is why they are not on TBS any more. It was a smart business decision.
By Red Forman
June 20, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this
It would be a failure. Sarah Silverman makes me want to vomit.
By Stacey
June 20, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
I still love watching the old Match Game episodes on GSN. I remember watching it and The Newlywed Game in the 70’s with my teenage sisters but I was too young to understand the jokes and innuendo. I doubt if I would ever think to watch the new version because I don’t watch TBS. I don’t even know the channel number it is with my cable provider.
By JTD
June 20, 2008 1:43 PM | Link to this
Jimmy Pardo should host it though
By Erik from Atlanta
June 20, 2008 4:34 PM | Link to this
Don’t mess with a classic.I don’t know if a show like Match Game could work in todays world of people being uptight,oversensitve,easily offended. The Gong Show(another classic) probaly could not make it these days either.
By Spiro Agnew
June 20, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this
Aaaarghh-hh-hhh-hhhh-hhhhhh!!!!!!!!
By JD
June 20, 2008 5:08 PM | Link to this
If Sarah Silverman is going to be a panelist, the show won’t survive. She is the most unfunny comedienne ever!! Why won’t she go away? She needs to be squashed like the cockroach she is!
By Christopher Cook
June 20, 2008 5:41 PM | Link to this
It won’t work. No other revival since then has mined the same chemistry of Messrs. Rayburn, Dawson, Reilly and Mme. Somers. The 1998 version was a disaster because of its Z-list celebrities and bland questions. You’d think a lesson had been learned from that, but obviously it hasn’t.
By Bobby Cox
June 22, 2008 2:44 AM | Link to this
Sarah Silverman is insanely hot and she’s somewhat funny. I certainly wouldn’t mind having blank with Sarah at some point (her choosing). I’ll tivo the show and watch it after our games. I think it’ll help me unwind, if you catch my drift.
By matt
June 26, 2008 12:16 PM | Link to this
so what made the old one funny was that everyone was obviously drunk or high during filming (except the contestants)…would it still be funny with “straight” panelists
By JRoc
June 29, 2008 12:59 AM | Link to this
I dont think the new one would work at all…some old classic shows like Match Game do not need to be revived…just leave ‘em alone!!! And I agree with half of the comments Sarah Silverman is so unfunny