The Match Game is being rebooted with Alec Baldwin as host.
I’m looking forward to this. I loved Gene Rayburn’s version, but I think Baldwin has great comedic chops and will make it fun.
The key will be the celebrity panel. Will they be as ribald today as their original counterparts were in the 60’s and 70’s.
IMHO, Match Game peaked in '74. Rayburn ruined it after that. It was uncomfortable to watch him pawing at the women. His constant trying to make the contestants feel like idiots was very cringe-worthy.
Looking forward to the new version.
I’ll watch the first one to see if it’s any better than other revival attempts, which screwed with the heyday rules too much for my liking. Speaking of revival attempts:
The '98 version certainly was. Some bits had to be bleeped to pass the daytime censors.
I think they should film it in Colorado and let the celebrities get stoned if they so wish. That would make matching them a lot more fun and challenging.
And please bring back Fannie Flagg for continuity. Richard Dawson, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Nipsey Russell are all dead but she’s one I can think of who’s still around.
There is a version running on Canadian TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Ek5KHvvKA
It’s really, really bad.
Seems like a typical Match Game to me.
It’ll fail because it will try WAY too hard to be “adult”, and will lose some of the natural comedy from the concept.
It won’t be “Bob’s wife was so tired that when he got to work he opened up his lunchbag and saw a blank”
It’ll be “Jane was surprised when she got to bill’s apartment and in his living room there was a statue of a man with a giant blank” and everyone will go “thehehehehe he’s implying penis!” but then the contestant will say baseball bat and the celebrities will say “arms” and it’s going to be stupid
It just won’t seem like Match Game if none of the questions start with, “The Ty-D-Bol Man said…”
Since it doesnt start until June 26, how can you call it awesome? 
:dubious: It could be a steaming pile of crap. Sure, Baldwin is a good sign, but who knows?
Does it feature host Jian Ghomeshi and some awkward female contestants?
If it doesn’t include the “fencing foil” microphone, I’m not watching. 
How tired was she?!
Pedestal.
Betty White, Gary Burghoff, Patti Deutsch were regulars on Match Play and still alive.
My favorite Freudian slip: “Doesn’t she have pretty nipples…err, dimples?”
So is Marcia Wallace. [checks wiki] Wait, she’s dead? How did I miss that???
Or, “Dumb Dora was so dumb…”
Audience: “HOW DUMB WAS SHE?”
Still scarred by memories of Gene’s “Count Dracula…blank” questions.
My first reaction:
Is it going to be difficult to find panelists who have a similar ribald humor as the original panelists?
I’m thinking, who’s out there who’d be good at this? That’s one thing I hate about reboots. Everyone who remembers the original thinks the reboot is going to be almost or nearly the same thing and it rarely is. For instance, I’ve seen Drew Carey doing The Price Is Right a few times. He does a fine job, but I’m sorry, to me TPIR is still Bob Barker. Ditto Gene and The Match Game. Hell, it took me a long time to accept Alex Trebek as the host for Jeopardy because I still remembered Art Fleming quite well! I’ll be saying the same thing if they bring back Password. To me, Password = Allen Ludden and only Allen Ludden.
Actually Drew Carey might be a great panelist for Match Game. The thing about the funny people from the Gene Rayburn version is that they were not just dirty (ribald?); they were also funny. Sometimes I think that half of the equation has gone by the wayside. Just saying “penis” isn’t funny. (ok maybe sometimes it is)