Match Game

The 1970's version of Match Game (1973-1979 on CBS daytime and running from 1975-1981 in nightime syndication) was based on The Match Game airing on NBC in primetime from 1962-1969.

Like the 1970's version amiable Gene Rayburn was the host. On the original version two celebrties were paired with four contestants to try to match each other's answers to random questions.

Revived in 1973, Match Game quickly became the number-one rated daytime show for the next five years. The premise was a bit different: six celebrities answered salacious questions posed by host Gene Rayburn, written mostly by MAD magazine's Dick Debartolo.

Rayburn was nominated for five Daytime Emmy awards during the series' run. The series became the most popular daytime program of all time with around 11 million daily viewers.

Regular panelists included Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson, Brett Somers, Fannie Flagg and Betty White with the other three slots occupied by random visiting stars like Jo Ann Pflug, Connie Stevens, Scoey Mitchell, Elaine Joyce, and Dick Martin.

Every January, the title changed to reflect the new year - all the way up to Match Game '79. There was also Match Game PM, new episodes that ran in syndication from 1975 -1982 with the same cast. The announcer was Johnny Olson.

An entire week's shows were taped all in one day, and a buffet with alcohol was served between shows; Brett Somers preferred sipping vodka and soda between shots. By the fifth taping, the 'friday' show,most of the cast would get pretty buzzed, including Gene!

Gene Rayburn's short-lived show before Match Game, The Amateur's Guide to Love (Jan - Sept. 1972), was a clever mixture of game show and Candid Camera. This audio fragment is all that exists of the series, recorded from one of the last telecasts.

Gene Rayburn passed away on November 29, 1999. Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly both died in 2007, she was 83 and he 76.

Match Game 1978 clip.

The question: "You know your blind date is wild when she can BLANK her own ear" from a later Match Game episode.

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