What Went Wrong? (pt 5 of 6) ("Match Game 90's" Shafer and Berger)

[groundchuck]

Here is week 5 of "What Went Wrong?" So far we have discussed; 1) Card Sharks 01; 2) Tic Tac Dough/Joker's Wild (90's); 3) Blackout; 4) The Pyramid (Davidson and Osmond) Feel free to comment on any of the previous subjects. Week 5' topic is the 90's version of one of the most popular game shows of all time: "Match Game" this time with Ross Shafer and Michael Berger as the hosts.

Last week I wrote about filling Dick Clark's shoes, Well Gene Rayburn is in that same discussion maybe 10 times more so. The 90's Match Game failed to live up to its predecessor, both lasting one season. TBS had a pilot of reviving Match Game, but the pilot never went through. The game play on both Shafer's and Berger's version were the same (except for the "match-up" segment in Shafer's version and playing for money in the main game). The 98 version had 5 celebrities and the Super Match was only $5,000. Why did these two versions live up to its 70's version.

[pzimm7778]

90: time it was on and where that ultimately caused it to go on many affiliates.

98: ummm, the fact that it existed.

[Lingofan97]

What went wrong...well, everything

[Melyssa56]

1990: Being on at noon meant no local telecast in many cities due to news.

1998: Only 5 celebrities, with the same 4 every week, shunted to late night if shown at all, only $5,000 for the top prize (and I don't even remember if there was a star wheel).

In both cases, it's difficult to follow a legend (in this case Gene Rayburn).

[Lingofan97]

Match Game I noticed was only good with six celebrities. It gave you more of a reason to watch than just 4 celebrities. That's what went wrong with '98. I'm not sure about 1990

[JamesFF]

What went wrong? They never asked Gene Rayburn to host. The ABC version probably would be successful if they re-introduce the show as a syndicated show and have Gene host it.

[groundchuck]

Shafer's version I thought was pretty good, the problem was more with ABC's timeslot at noon. The ABC Affilliates were showing their noon local news. I thought Ross did a pretty good job with the show considering he was not the first choice. When the pilot was shot it was supposed to have been Bert Convy as the host. Bert got very sick and passed during the show's run in 1991. It would have been interesting if Bert were healthy and was able to host.

The problem with Berger's version was having 5 celebrities and not having 6. 4 of them were the same stars: Vicki Lawrence, Nell Carter, Judy Tenuta, and George Hamilton. The super match bonus round of $5,000 was very cheap considering it was 1998. I always felt the humor and the jokes were forced.

I would love for someone to revive Match Game and do it right. The person I could see potentially hosting a new revival is George Lopez.

[19crash84]

One problem later versions of Match Game had was that there were no restrictions. On the 70's version basically anything went. There was one exception and that was that they could not give any genitalia as an answer no mater how whether they said the scientific name or some kind of 3rd grade word or expression like what we sometimes see on Harvey Feud. I imagine that there might have been a couple of others but that was the big one.

With those guidelines in place some questions were designed in such a way where the obvious answer could not be said. These were usually the best questions because they required everyone to get creative with their answers and there would usually be a variety of good answers.

That being said I do remember seeing one where Patti Deutsch used the phrase "you know what" to represent genitalia and I imagine it happened once in a while but it was not that common.

I have not really seen that much of the 1990 version however I have seen a clip where someone gave a really dirty answer that was censored.

The 1998 version crossed the line from risque to outright vulgar. With no restrictions it was very common for answers to be censored. Once there was a Micheal Jackson question where everyone's correct answer was censored out. Also there was once a come from behind victory that the answer was censored out. Also with no restrictions and obvious answers the show lost a lot of its creativity aspect.

[dare2be]

^^ totally agree. It was really run watching the contestants and stars squirm and dance around the obvious answer, which usually led to many good sidebar jokes. Also, Brett and CNR really made that show, their chemistry was unmatched and was usually great fodder for the others to joke about as well, even when one of them (usually CNR) wasn't there.

[Lingofan97]

What went wrong? They never asked Gene Rayburn to host. The ABC version probably would be successful if they re-introduce the show as a syndicated show and have Gene host it.

But could Gene Rayburn still be able to host in 1998? Maybe he could have hosted the 90-91 version, but by 1998 I don't think he wanted to have anything to do with TV.

[mbc45]

I think Gene's health was getting pretty bad by the time Match Game returned in '98. As far as the 1990 version, it wasn't terrible granted putting it at 12:00 pm would doom most shows but I liked the few wrinkles that they put in that version.

[Lingofan97]

I think Gene's health was getting pretty bad by the time Match Game returned in '98. As far as the 1990 version, it wasn't terrible granted putting it at 12:00 pm would doom most shows but I liked the few wrinkles that they put in that version.

Gene was old enough when he hosted Match Game? He was what? In his 50's. That's not too old, but the the 1990's he would have been 70+

[mbc45]

Gene was old enough when he hosted Match Game? He was what? In his 50's. That's not too old, but the the 1990's he would have been 70+

If he hosted the 1990 version then yes he would've been in his 70's, if he hosted the '98 version, he would've been in his 80's.

[BillCullen1]

Rayburn mentioned in an interview that Entertainment Tonight mentioned his age, and the ABC execs told Mark Goodson they wanted a younger host for MG '90. Shafer did a decent job. The '98 version just crossed the line too often in terms of decency. Rayburn should be thankful he had nothing to do with that version.

[pzimm7778]

Rayburn mentioned in an interview that Entertainment Tonight mentioned his age, and the ABC execs told Mark Goodson they wanted a younger host for MG '90. Shafer did a decent job. The '98 version just crossed the line too often in terms of decency. Rayburn should be thankful he had nothing to do with that version.

What little bit I've seen of the 1990 version it was pretty good. Maybe had it been on earlier in the morning it could have been a bigger success. I don't know what ABC was showing after GMA or even whether or not those hours were affiliate programmed or not.