Match Game: ABC hopes Sunday night bet on game shows pays off
ABC’s ‘Sunday Fun and Games’ sees three old 70s formats back from the dead, with Alec Baldwin hosting Match Game. But is three shows in one night overkill?
There is one certainty in TV: whenever the networks locate a hit, they’ll try to replicate it until everyone is sick of it.
To that end, ABC just ordered a revival of 70s staple Match Game to join last summer’s surprise hit Celebrity Family Feud and a new version of that other 70s game show (and syndication giant) $100,000 Pyramid, which they ordered in January. The three shows will all air in a three-hour block on Sundays this summer starting June 26. They’re calling it “Sunday Fun and Games”.
Match Game will be hosted by Alec Baldwin, who guides two civilian contestants while they try to win cash and prizes with the help of a panel of celebrities. Baldwin will read Mad Libs-style sentences and the contestants will try to fill in the blank with the same word as the celebrities. For example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many peppers did Peter Piper ... blank.”
Originally created in the 60s on NBC and played straight, Match Game returned on CBS in the 70s. The new version was much funnier, thanks to panelists such asCharles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers, famous for their double entendre-laden banter in completing sentences like: ““Mary felt apprehensive about her wedding night because she discovered her BLANK was missing.” Since then there have been attempts at a revival in 1983, 1990 and 1998, to little success.
The Baldwin-hosted incarnation could be different, considering he’ll have all his celebrity friends to call on, including all the comedians that were his co-stars on 30 Rock. The network would also be smart to enlist Betty White, a national treasure who was also a frequent guest in the 70s.
Match Game will be hosted by Alec Baldwin, who guides two civilian contestants while they try to win cash and prizes with the help of a panel of celebrities. Baldwin will read Mad Libs-style sentences and the contestants will try to fill in the blank with the same word as the celebrities. For example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many peppers did Peter Piper ... blank.”
Originally created in the 60s on NBC and played straight, Match Game returned on CBS in the 70s. The new version was much funnier, thanks to panelists such asCharles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers, famous for their double entendre-laden banter in completing sentences like: ““Mary felt apprehensive about her wedding night because she discovered her BLANK was missing.” Since then there have been attempts at a revival in 1983, 1990 and 1998, to little success.
The Baldwin-hosted incarnation could be different, considering he’ll have all his celebrity friends to call on, including all the comedians that were his co-stars on 30 Rock. The network would also be smart to enlist Betty White, a national treasure who was also a frequent guest in the 70s.
ABC seems to have settled on a combination of celebrities and game shows, which has also proven a success for NBC’s Hollywood Game Night. The $100,000 Pyramid, with Michael Strahan filling in for legendary host Dick Clark, will also feature famous people trying to help the plebs win money while trying to guess phrases without saying any of the words.