Match Game

Match Game returned, but without Gene Rayburn. Ross Schaeffer hosted this short lived version. Charles Nelson Reilly was the only regular, but many regulars from the 70s version also played. The most welcome was Brett Somers, who with Charles brought back some nostalgic back and forth one liners that they were so well known for in the 70s. The format was pretty much unchanged, except for a "Match Up" round that was added. In Match Up, the celeb and contestant had to match "fill ins", with 2 answers to choose from. (For example: BLUE ____, BIRD or SKY) Overall, a great effort that could've had a longer run.

I'll give ABC a point or two by trying to revive "Match Game." It was actually their last attempt at a game show. Some people don't know this but Bert Convy did the pilot and it might have survived a longer life if he hosted it on a regular basis. Unfortunately, he became ill after the pilot taped and Ross Schaefer was brought in as host. Gene Rayburn, though alive at the time, was considered "too old" and was not asked to return to the role that made him famous. The Noon time slot is always a "death sentence" because most of the ABC affiliates pre-empted it for the news. There was too many soap stars and less or none of the '70's semi-regulars like Fannie Flagg, Betty White, or Joyce Bulifant. They did get Brett Somers for a couple of weeks and this helped give it a nostalgic feel but not having Brett on a regular basis was a mistake. The Star Wheel didn't increase in value since the original went off in 1982. The addition of "Match-Up" was probably a "tweak" that could have been eliminated after the first 13 weeks and gone back to the original format of the '70s. Perhaps ABC didn't want the shows to "straddle" any longer. GSN airs this version every now and then but most people do not find it as amusing as the '70's version and for good reason. There was no "real" chemistry between Ross and the celebrities and there was less banter.

...I still enjoyed this version,at least because it seemed to carry enough of the spirit of the original show to keep it funny and fluid. While it would've been better if Gene Rayburn had returned to host,Ross Shafer does yeoman-like work as the host.

Two things would've improved this version:better guests(more Betty White or Vicki Lawrence,much,MUCH less Sally Struthers and that woman who played the mom on "Just the Ten of Us") and more support(i.e. better scheduling)by the network,in this case ABC. It seemed like the network was ready to give up on this show after about week thirteen(of a thirty-nine week run)! CNR and Brett were on quite a bit,actually. I know Richard Dawson is a popular panelist associated with the show,but after watching some segments on both Richard and the Match Game,he sounded like he was quite the A-hole and caused too much friction on the set,so his not being involved was not necessarily a huge loss IMHO.

A little trivia here:

Brad Garrett was on this show quite a bit,LONG before he became an Emmy-winning co-star of "Everybody Loves Raymond". He was quite good here,too.

Ok,I started watching game show network {to give me something to do, besides smoking} and I watched the old match game and loved it which i still do, but i woke up one morning and saw this god awful match game 90. this was really stupid, there was no gene rayburn {god rest his soul} so that was no fun, No Richard Dawson, No Brett, the only one there was charles. and he made it some fun, but the other thing that was stupid, was the dumb lady who brought her {butt Ugly} poodle on the set, and then the intelligent rocket scientist with the sorry looking dragon puppet. But thats the problem with the early 90s is they werent as tacky as the 80s but were not as hip as the late 90s {frankly im a 60s and 70s person!] so people decided well lets make this show again but 90s style, which is to basically use a bad color theme. and then have Jerk faced people, on here so,thats basically a game show in the early 90s, something thats half tacky as the 80s and really stupid. well frankly i think the Match Game From the 70s was better. and even though some would debate me that there decorating was tacky i say it was better than this awful excuse for a game show. And Richard Dawson if you read this { I highly doubt it} You were the best of the bunch.