Editing Match Game (section)

==''Match Game 73–79'' (1973–79, CBS)==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2015}}

In the early 1970s, [[CBS]] vice president [[Fred Silverman]] began overhauling the network's programming as part of what has colloquially become known as the [[rural purge]]. As part of this overhaul, the network reintroduced game shows, beginning in 1972. One of the first new offerings was ''[[The Price Is Right|The New Price Is Right]]'', a radically overhauled version of the 1950s game show ''[[The Price Is Right (1956 American game show)|The Price Is Right]]''. The success of ''The New Price Is Right''<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Rice|first1=Lynette|title=Bob Barker on saying goodbye to ''The Price Is Right''|url=https://www.ew.com/article/2007/06/08/bob-barker-saying-goodbye-price-right|date=8 June 2007|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=12 May 2016|archive-date=December 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151220122704/http://www.ew.com/article/2007/06/08/bob-barker-saying-goodbye-price-right|url-status=dead}}</ref> prompted Silverman to commission more game shows. In the summer of 1973, [[Mark Goodson]] and [[Bill Todman]] took a similar approach in adapting ''The Match Game'' by reworking the show, moving it to [[Los Angeles]], adding more celebrities, and increasing the amount of prize money that could be won. It was this show (along with the [[Bob Stewart (television producer)|Bob Stewart]] game shows ''[[Pyramid (game show)|The $10,000 Pyramid]]'', ''[[Three on a Match (game show)|Three on a Match]]'', ''[[Jackpot (game show)|Jackpot]]'', and the [[Heatter-Quigley Productions|Heatter-Quigley]] show ''[[Gambit (game show)|Gambit]]'') that reintroduced five-figure payouts for the first time since the [[quiz show scandals]] of the late 1950s.

The new version had Rayburn returning as the host and Olson returning as the announcer. The gameplay for this version had two solo contestants attempting to match the answers given by a six-celebrity panel. [[Richard Dawson]] was the first regular panelist. CBS News coverage of the [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]] hearings delayed the premiere one week from its slated date of June 25 to July 2.

[[File:CharlesNelsonReilly.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Charles Nelson Reilly]] (pictured in 2000) was a regular panelist from 1973 to 1991.]]

The first week's panelists were Dawson, [[Michael Landon]], [[Vicki Lawrence]], [[Jack Klugman]], [[Jo Ann Pflug]], and [[Anita Gillette]]. Rayburn reassured viewers of the first week of CBS shows that "This is your old favorite, updated with more action, more money, and, as you can see, more celebrities." The first few weeks of the show were somewhat different from the rest of the run. At first, many of the questions fit into the more bland and innocuous mold of the earlier seasons of the original series. In addition, many of the frequent panelists on the early episodes were not regulars later in the series but had appeared on the 1960s version, including Klugman, [[Arlene Francis]], and [[Bert Convy]].

However, the [[double entendre]] in the question "Johnny always put butter on his _____" marked a turning point in the questions on the show. Soon, the tone of Rayburn's questions changed notably, leaving behind the staid topics that ''The Match Game'' had first disposed of in 1963 for more risqué humor. Celebrity panelists [[Brett Somers]] (Klugman's wife at the time) and [[Charles Nelson Reilly]] began as guest panelists on the program, with Somers brought in at the request of Klugman, who felt she would make a nice fit on the program. The chemistry between Somers and Reilly prompted Goodson–Todman and CBS to hire them as regular panelists, Somers remained on the show until 1982, while Reilly continued appearing through the 1983–84 and 1990–91 revivals, with a brief break in 1974–75 when [[Gary Burghoff]], [[Nipsey Russell]], and [[Rip Taylor]] substituted for him. Burghoff and Russell continued to appear as semi-regular panelists afterward.

Celebrity panelists appeared in week-long blocks, due to the show's production schedule. A number of celebrities, including [[Betty White]], [[Dick Martin (comedian)|Dick Martin]], [[Marcia Wallace]], [[Bill Daily]], [[Fannie Flagg]], [[Elaine Joyce]], [[Sarah Kennedy (actress)|Sarah Kennedy]], [[Patti Deutsch]], [[Mary Wickes]], [[Bill Anderson (singer)|Bill Anderson]], and [[Joyce Bulifant]], were semi-regular panelists, usually appearing several times a year. Celebrity panelists also included personalities from other Goodson–Todman-produced game shows, such as ''[[The Price Is Right]]''{{'}}s [[Bob Barker]], [[Anitra Ford]], [[Janice Pennington]], and [[Holly Hallstrom]] and ''[[Password (American game show)|Password]]''{{'}}s [[Allen Ludden]]. The panelists were all seated in a strict order: The male guest panelist of the week, Somers, and Reilly usually sat in the top row from the viewer's left to right (occasionally a recurring panelist sat in for Somers or Reilly), and the female guest panelist of the week, Dawson (after 1978, a semi-regular male panelist), and a semi-regular female panelist (most frequently White, Flagg, Deutsch, Bulifant, or Wallace) occupied the bottom row.

===Format===
Two contestants competed on each episode. On the CBS version, the champion was seated in the upstage (red circle) seat and the challenger (opponent) was seated in the downstage (green triangle) seat. On the syndicated versions, which had no returning champions, positions were determined by a backstage coin toss. The object was to match the answers of the six celebrity panelists to fill-in-the-blank statements.

The main game was played in two rounds (three on ''Match Game PM'' after the first season). The opponent was given a choice of two statements labeled either "A" or "B". Rayburn read the statement, and the six celebrities wrote their answers on index cards. After they finished, the contestant verbally gave an answer. Rayburn then asked the celebrities, one at a time beginning in the upper left-hand corner of the panel, to respond with their answers.

While early questions were similar to those from the NBC version (e.g., "Every morning, John puts [blank] on his cereal"), the questions quickly became more humorous and risqué. Comedy writer [[Dick DeBartolo]] (who stayed in New York), who had participated in the 1960s ''Match Game'', contributed broader and saucier questions. Frequently, the statements were written with bawdy, [[double entendre]] answers in mind. One example was, "Did you catch a glimpse of that girl on the corner? She has the world's biggest [blank]."

Frequently, the audience responded appropriately as Rayburn critiqued the contestant's answer. For the "world's biggest" question, Rayburn might show disdain to an answer such as "fingers" or "bag" and compliment an answer such as "rear end" or "boobs", often also commenting on the audience's approving or disapproving response. The audience usually groaned or booed when a contestant or celebrity gave a bad or inappropriate answer, whereas they cheered and applauded in approval of a good answer. Sometimes, they howled at a risqué answer. At other times, their reaction was deliberately inappropriate, such as howling at a good answer or applauding a risqué answer, to perverse effect.

The contestant earned one point for each celebrity who wrote down the same answer (or a reasonably similar one as determined by the judges; for example, "rear end" matched "bottom" or a similar euphemism), up to six points for matching everyone on the celebrity panel. After one contestant played, the second contestant played the other question.

A handful of potential answers were prohibited, the most notable being any synonym for [[Sex organ|genitalia]].<ref>{{cite AV media | title=The Real Match Game Story: Behind the Blank | publisher=[[Game Show Network]] | date=November 26, 2006 | medium=television film}}</ref> In instances where a celebrity gave the censorable answer, the word "Oops!" was superimposed over the index card and the celebrity's mouth, accompanied by a slide whistle masking the spoken response.<ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game PM|network=CBS |number=91 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game |network=CBS |number=1074 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game |network=CBS |number=1125 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game |network=CBS |number=1245 |language=en}}</ref>

Popular questions featured a character named "[[Dumb Dora]]" or "Dumb Donald." These questions often began, "Dumb Dora/Donald is ''so'' dumb..." To this, in a routine taken from ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]],'' the audience responded en masse, "How dumb ''is'' she/he?" This expanded to the generalized question form "[adjective]-[alliterative-name] is ''SO'' [adjective]..." To this, the audience responded, "How [adjective] ''is'' he/she?" Rayburn finished the question or, occasionally, praised the audience or derided the audience's lack of union and made them try the response again. Other common subjects of questions were Superman/Lois Lane, King Kong/Fay Wray, Tarzan/Jane, The Lone Ranger/Tonto, panelists on the show (most commonly [[Brett Somers]]), politicians, and [[Howard Cosell]]. Questions also often featured characters such as "Ugly Edna" (later "Ugly Ulfrea"), "Unlucky Louie/Louise," "Horrible Hannah/Hank," "Rodney Rotten," and occasionally "Voluptuous Velma".

Some questions dealt with the fictitious (and often sleazy) country of "Nerdo Crombezia" or the world's greatest salesman, who could sell anything to anyone. Other questions, usually given in the second round (or third round in ''Match Game PM'') to allow trailing contestants to catch up quickly, hinted at more obvious answers based on the context of the question. One such question was "[[James Bond]] went to an all-night restaurant. When the waitress told him they were out of coffee, he ordered a [blank]." Because James Bond's signature drink is a [[martini (cocktail)|martini]], [[shaken, not stirred]], the panelists and contestants were expected to choose that answer. In the most extreme cases, the questions were [[pun]]s with only one answer that made sense. "Did you hear about the religious group of dentists? They call themselves the Holy [blank]" was written so that only "Molars" made sense.

Rayburn always played the action for laughs and frequently tried to read certain questions in character, such as "Old Man Periwinkle" or "Old Mrs. Pervis". He also did the same with Confucius and Count Dracula. Regular panelist [[Charles Nelson Reilly]], a Broadway director, often responded with comments such as "I like it when you act" and "That character was really very good. Along with the other two that you do," to the amusement of the audience.

In the second round, the contestants attempted to match the celebrities whom they had not matched in the first round. On the CBS version, the challenger always began the second round (unless that contestant had matched all six stars, in which case the champion selected from the two questions available). This meant that a champion who had answered only one question could be ahead of a challenger who had played both questions, rendering the final question moot. On the syndicated versions, the leader after a round played first in the next round. In case of a tie score, the contestant who had not selected his or her question in the previous round made the selection in the tiebreaker round.

On ''Match Game PM'', the third round was added after the first season as games proved to be too short to fill the half-hour. Again, the only celebrities who played were those who did not match that contestant in previous rounds. On ''Match Game PM'', the questions with the most obvious answers were typically used in the third round.

If the contestants had the same score at the end of the game, the scores were reset and the contestants played one tiebreaker question each, again attempting to match all six celebrities. Tiebreaker rounds were repeated until a winner was determined. On ''Match Game PM'', or on the syndicated daytime show if time was running short, a time-saving variant of the tiebreaker that reversed the gameplay was used. The contestants wrote their answers first on cards in secret, then the celebrities were canvassed to give their answers verbally. Originally, this included regulars Somers, Reilly, and Dawson only, but when Dawson left the show, the canvass was expanded to include all six panelists in the usual order. The first celebrity response to match a contestant's answer gave that contestant the victory. If there was still no match, which was rare, the round was replayed with a new question. On the CBS version, the tiebreaker went on until there was a clear winner. If it came to the sudden-death tiebreaker, only the final question (the one that ultimately broke the tie) was kept and aired.

The CBS daytime version had returning champions, and the gameplay "straddled" between episodes, meaning episodes often began and ended with games in progress. In this version, champions stayed until they were defeated or had won $25,000, whichever occurred first. Originally, this amount was the network's winnings limit. Anything above that amount was forfeited, but the rule was later changed so that although champions retired after winning $25,000, they kept any winnings up to $35,000. During the six-year run of ''Match Game'' on CBS, only one champion, Carolyn Raisner, retired undefeated with $32,600, the highest total ever won on ''Match Game''.<ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game |network=CBS |number=1448 |language=en}}</ref>

On the daily 1979–82 syndicated version, two contestants competed against each other in two games, with two new contestants replacing them afterward. The show was timed so that two new contestants appeared each Monday. This was necessary as the tapes of the show were shipped between stations, and weeks could not be aired in any discernible order. This was a common syndication practice at the time, known as "bicycling". Usually, three pairs of contestants competed in a total of six games over the five episodes for each week.

On Friday episodes that ran short, during the first season, a game was played with audience members for a small cash prize, usually $50. The game was played with regular panelist Brett Somers first. A word or phrase with a blank was asked of Somers, and she wrote it down on her card. Rayburn then circulated amongst audience members who raised their hands to play, and if the audience member matched the answer Somers had written down, they won $50. Rayburn continued picking audience members until someone matched the answer. If there was more time left, the same game was played with Charles Nelson Reilly responding to and writing down an answer for another audience member to guess.

Episodes of ''Match Game PM'' were self-contained, with two new contestants appearing each week.

===Super Match===
The contestant who matched more celebrities than the other contestant at the end of the game won the game and went on to play the Super Match, which consisted of the audience match and the head-to-head match segments, for additional money. On the CBS version, the winner of the main game won $100.

====Audience Match====
The contestant was shown a short fill-in-the-blank phrase (example: "Tell it to ______"), for which the members of a previous studio audience had provided responses. The three most popular responses were hidden on the board, and the contestant attempted to match one of them. The contestant chose any three celebrities to offer suggestions, and could either use one of their ideas or give a different one. Matching one of the three responses on the board awarded $500, $250, or $100 in descending order of popularity. If the contestant failed to match any of them, the round ended immediately and the contestant won nothing. The premise for ''[[Family Feud]]'' (which Dawson began hosting in 1976) was derived from the audience match.

Two audience matches were played on ''Match Game PM'', allowing the contestant to win up to $1,000 in this half of the Super Match. If a contestant failed to win any money in either audience match, Rayburn then read a question similar to those in the main game. The contestant earned $100 per celebrity matched, for a maximum of $600.<ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game PM |network=Syndication |date=17 October 1976 |season=2}}</ref>

====Head-to-Head Match====
[[File:Richard Dawson Family Feud 1976 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Richard Dawson]], a regular panelist from 1973 to 1978, was usually chosen to participate in the head-to-head match.]]

A contestant who won money in the audience match then had the opportunity to win an additional 10 times that amount (therefore, $5,000, $2,500, or $1,000) by exactly matching another fill-in-the-blank response with one celebrity panelist. Originally, the contestant chose the celebrity. Later, the celebrity who played this match was determined by spinning a wheel (see "Star Wheel" below). At the very start of the 1970s series, Rayburn read the question before the celebrity was chosen, but this was changed after the first two episodes. The format of these matches was much shorter and non-humorous, typically requiring the contestant and celebrity to choose from a number of similar familiar phrases, such as for "Baseball _____" (baseball game, baseball diamond, etc.). The contestant was instructed that his or her response must be an exact match, although singular/plural matches were usually accepted, whereas synonyms, derivatives, and partial word phrases were not.

The panelist chosen most often by contestants to play the head-to-head match was Richard Dawson, who usually matched with the contestants who chose him. Dawson, in fact, was such a popular choice for the second half of the Super Match that the producers instituted a rule in 1975 that forbade contestants from choosing the same panelist for consecutive head-to-head matches in an effort to give the other celebrities a chance to play. After six weeks, the rule was rescinded.

====Star Wheel====
On June 28, 1978, the producers made a second attempt to ensure that each celebrity received a chance to play the head-to-head match. Instead of simply choosing a celebrity, the contestant spun a wheel that was divided into six sections, each marked with a different celebrity's name. Once the wheel stopped, the contestant attempted to match with the indicated celebrity. If the wheel did not make at least one complete revolution, the contestant was required to spin again.

The introduction of the star wheel also brought about a change in the bonus payout structure. Each section included several gold stars, which doubled the stakes if the wheel stopped on one of them. The maximum prize was $10,000 on the daytime series and $20,000 on ''Match Game PM''.

When the star wheel was introduced, each section contained five stars in a continuous white border, and the prize was doubled if the wheel stopped with its pointer anywhere in that area. Beginning with the premiere of the 1979 syndicated version, the wheel was re-designed so that each section had three stars in separate, evenly spaced squares. The pointer now had to be on a square in order to double the money.

Ironically, the wheel stopped on Dawson the first time it was used, inspiring four of the panelists (Somers, Reilly, guest panelist [[Mary Wickes]], and Dawson himself) to stand up from their places and leave the set momentarily out of disbelief, leaving recurring panelist [[Scoey Mitchell]] and guest panelist [[Sharon Farrell]] behind.<ref>{{Cite episode |series=Match Game |network=CBS |number=1246 |language=en}}</ref> As the others returned, Wickes said to host Rayburn, "Do you know what that wheel costs us? And it's right back to Richard!"

At the time, Dawson was becoming weary as a regular panelist on ''Match Game'' as he had concurrently been hosting the (by then) more-popular ''Family Feud'' since 1976. Dawson was tired from appearing on both shows regularly and wished to focus solely on the latter. The addition of the Star Wheel ended what effectively was Dawson's "spotlight" feature on the show, which distressed him further, and he left the panel of ''Match Game'' permanently a few weeks later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/18082/4-famous-tv-co-workers-who-struggled-get-along|title=4 Famous TV Co-workers (who struggled to get along)|date=2008-02-21|website=mentalfloss.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref>

The subsequent [[#1990–91, ABC|1990–91 version]] of the show used a redesigned version of the star wheel. The wheel itself was stationary, and the contestant spun the pointer on a concentric ring to determine which celebrity he or she had to match. The prize was doubled if the pointer stopped on either of two circles within each section.

===Staffing and ratings===
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2014}}
The 1973–82 versions were produced by veteran Goodson–Todman producer [[Ira Skutch]], who also wrote some questions and acted as the on-stage judge. Marc Breslow directed while Robert Sherman was associate producer and head writer.

When CBS revamped ''Match Game'' in 1973 with more of a focus on risqué humor, ratings more than doubled in comparison with the NBC incarnation. Within three months, ''Match Game '73'' was the most-watched program on daytime television. By summer 1974, it grew into an absolute phenomenon with high school students and housewives, scoring remarkable ratings among the 12–34 age demographic. The best ratings this version of ''Match Game'' saw were in the 1975–76 season when it drew a 12.5 rating with a 35 share, higher numbers than that of some prime-time series. It surpassed records as the most popular daytime program ever with a record 11 million daily viewers, one that held until the "[[Luke Spencer and Laura Webber|Luke and Laura]]" [[supercouple]] storyline gripped viewers on ABC's ''[[General Hospital]]'' some years later.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}

Every New Year's Eve, when the two-digit year designation in the ''Match Game'' sign was updated, there was a New Year's party with the cast and studio audience. Up to and including the 1977–78 changeover, a new sign was built each year. Coinciding with a redesign of the set, a new sign was built with interchangeable digits that could be swapped as the years changed. Additionally, this sign allowed for a "PM" logo to be attached for tapings of the syndicated program instead of using an entirely different sign. Charles Nelson Reilly swapped out the "78" portion of the sign and installed the new "79" on-air, to the playing of "[[Auld Lang Syne]]" and wished the audience a happy new year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtvkwovxS2w | title=Charles Nelson Reilly changing the sign HIMSELF! 1978 Match Game &#124;BUZZR | website=[[YouTube]] | date=December 31, 2020 }}</ref>

In 1976, the show's success, and celebrity panelist Richard Dawson's popularity, prompted Goodson–Todman to develop a new show for [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], titled ''[[Family Feud]],'' with Dawson hosting. This show became a major hit in its own right, eventually surpassing the parent program. ''Family Feud'' was said to be based on Dawson's expertise in the audience match segment of ''Match Game''.

Meanwhile, ''Match Game'' kept its high standing in the ratings despite a short-lived move ahead one half-hour from August to December 1975. In November 1977, however, CBS made a fatal mistake regarding the show's time slot. Taking note of a ratings boon that resulted when ''The Price Is Right'' and ''Match Game'' were paired in afternoons, a major hole in the schedule had developed in the morning slot that ''The Price Is Right'' had left behind. In an attempt to resolve the crisis, CBS moved ''Match Game'' to 11:00&nbsp;a.m., immediately following ''The Price Is Right'' at 10:00&nbsp;a.m. However, because much of ''Match Game''{{'}}s audience was composed of students who were in school at that time of day, ratings began to sag and eventually free fall; many of these students did not return. As a result, ''Family Feud'' quickly supplanted ''Match Game'' as television's highest-rated game show.

CBS attempted to correct the problem on December 12, 1977, with a scheduling shuffle among ''Match,'' ''Price,'' and ''[[Tattletales]].'' However, in a move that turned out to do even more damage, the network moved ''Match Game'' to its 1960s time slot of 4:00&nbsp;p.m., a time slot which, by this point, many local stations were preempting in favor of local or syndicated programming. As a result, ''Match Game'' was unable to get the audience it once did in the 1960s at 4:00.

===1978 changes and cancellation===
On July 19, 1978, a new ''Match Game'' set was built by CBS, changed from the original bright orange to a new set with blue and white colors, as well as revamping the logo. The newly designed ''Match Game'' sign meant that a whole new sign no longer had to be built each year as had been done previously. An attachment designating the year was simply taken off the end of the revamped ''Match Game '78'' sign and replaced with a new one numbered '79 on New Year's Eve of 1978, which actually aired January 2, 1979, becoming ''Match Game '79.'' (An alternate attachment was used for ''Match Game PM.'')

At 4:00&nbsp;p.m., the show trailed ''Family Feud'', ''The Price Is Right'', and NBC's ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'', and it fell out of the top three game shows in 1979 for the first time in the CBS run (as opposed to a solid and twice top-3 hit in the 1960s). The 1,439th and final CBS episode aired on April 20, 1979. The [[Tom Kennedy (television host)|Tom Kennedy]]-hosted game show ''[[Whew!]]'' replaced ''Match Game'' on the schedule when it premiered in the 10:30&nbsp;a.m. time slot on April 23, 1979.

===''Match Game PM'' (1975–81, weekly syndication)===
On September 8, 1975, the first syndicated version, a weekly nighttime series dubbed ''Match Game PM'' premiered. The series, sold to many ABC affiliates (including the network's owned and operated stations such as [[WABC-TV]] in New York), was produced by Goodson–Todman and distributed by Jim Victory Television, G-T's syndication partner for ''[[Concentration (game show)|Concentration]].''

''Match Game PM'' was the first version of the game with self-contained episodes. The front game was originally played the same way as the daytime ''Match Game'' with two rounds of questions, but in the second season, the third round of questioning was added to fill time in the half-hour. The maximum score a contestant could achieve remained six points, with matched celebrities not playing subsequent questions.

Beginning with the second season, tiebreakers were conducted differently from the daytime version. A "Super Match"-style question was asked, and the contestants wrote their answers, then called on celebrities for a match. Originally, only Somers, Reilly and Dawson played in the tiebreaker, but after Dawson's departure in 1978, all six celebrities played.

''Match Game PM's'' Super Match used two audience matches, with the answer values combined and multiplied by ten for the head-to-head match, with a maximum of $10,000 available. When the star wheel was introduced, that potential payout grew to $20,000 if a contestant spun a double.

''Match Game PM'' ran until the end of the 1980–81 TV season. For its last two seasons, the show's affiliate count went down significantly due in large part to a daily syndicated version that debuted in September 1979, although some markets kept both shows on the air–in New York, [[WCBS-TV]] ran the daily syndicated version as WABC-TV continued to air episodes of ''Match Game PM'' into its final season. The show aired 230 episodes over six seasons, and remains the longest-running version to air in syndication.