Match Game

I think he was on hiatus directing The Belle of Amherst.

I wish Brett had played the Belle.

Brett should've done Vera in Mame

Brett liked to call people 'fags'.

not unheard of in that day, as we saw on VOTD

R4 Damn, that’s my favorite episode.

I may be old, but I got to enjoy this show every day.

It’s on Pluto everyday and GSN

Brett was married to Jack Klugman, who I suspect was gay. When I rewatch The Odd Couple, as an adult (me), the Klugman and Randall seem like a bickering gay couple.

Klugman was in the original production of Gypsy opposite Ethel Merman. That must have MADE him gay.

I loves me some Fannie Flagg and Richard Dawson. And I like Brett and Charles Nelson Reilly.

It's on the Buzzr channel all the time. That's what you watch when you cut the cord.

[quote]Was Charles in rehab? He was "away."

"Of Mice and Men" dinner theater appearance at the Showboat in Clearwater Florida.

Charles must have been a hilarious Lennie.

He was badly injured when he was the ring master for Circus of the Stars. Could this have been filmed concurrent with his return from that tragedy?

R14, are you serious? That’s crazy because he was also at the circus the day of that famous fire in which the whole big top went up in flames and many people were killed.

The dynamic between Brett and Charles was fantastic. This one of my favorite clips in which Charles reveals himself to be the original DL tasteful friend as he describes Brett’s Beverly Hills address.

They shit on the set

[quote] He was badly injured when he was the ring master for Circus of the Stars.

Baby cried the day the circus came to town.....

Brett vs. the buzzer

[quote]Was Charles in rehab?

Another unsuccessful session of Gay Conversion Therapy.

Chuck was directing "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead" at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre in Jupiter, FL. True story.

They primed the celebrities with alcohol to loosen them up before each taping. Some of the celebs appreciated the hospitality a little too much.

Could not stand Brett Somers. Was she drunk when they taped the show?

R22 you sound fun

CNR was directing Sal Mineo and Don Johnson simulate prison sex?

I guess the updated Match Game will need a new host.

My all time favorite show. Brett and Charles were the best friends with that sarcastic back and forth , Gene was the ultimate perv always sitting on the desk while the flavor of the week wrote her answers as he peered down her shirt (usually a Landers sister) and Richard was such a dick to people. They all were drinking and smoking and god knows what else but the party was on from the get go! The 70s was such a F***ing blast. The double entendre answers, they’d say whatever the hell they wanted and the show just carried on no editing. I will never disrespect this classic crew by watching the pathetic wannabe new version.

For all the fun we make of CNR (and his shtick could get stale), he was a talented actor before he settled into TV money (he did win a well-deserved Featured Actor Tony for Bud Frump in How to Succeed), had an eccentric charm in Hello Dolly (partnered with fellow eccentric Eileen Brennan), And was well-regarded enough to be Dick Van Dyke’s standby in Birdie. He was an intelligent director, trusted by such first/Tate actors as Julie Harris and Uta Hagen to direct them in one woman (or close to solo shows/-yes, the Hagen one was a snore, but Harris won aTony for Belle. I had friends in college who worked summers with him in Florida—to a one they spoke of his warmth and generosity (these were both men and women).

He had his bizarre kids TV show in 1975. That’s probably where he was. I remember that show. It was surreal. Probably better suited to adults on drugs.

There were numerous jokes about Brett and Gene meeting for a rendezvous at the Encino Motel and Charles doing book signings at Newberry's (west coast Woolworth). The running gags were so great and fun because the people seemed to enjoy each other.

Brett: "I live in Beverly Hills." Charles: "Beverly Hills! HA! SPIT and you hit Olympic..." Savage!

R9, you're confusing a fictitious show with real life. They were both great in that show, but especially Tony Randall.

Having said that, check out the clip at r4's link. Klug-man is on the show, sitting right next to his wife, and the 'love' between them is NON-EXISTENT. Not even a smile...

I always enjoy the show, even if I don't like Gene Rayburn.

DL fave Bonnie Franklin was on several months ago and from what I remember she wasn’t funny at all. Just sat there like a lump.

Just sat there like a lump *until she slapped Gene and both contestants*.

I thought R28 was confused about the year Lidsville (with Butch “Eddie Munster” Patrick and Billie “Witchiepoo” Hayes) was produced, but NO.

What the hell is Uncle Croc’s Block? It has SOME cast!

Bonnie just couldn't get over that a star of her magnitude could be reduced to Match Game.

Since that's how she felt on the first day, you can imagine what she was like as the days progressed. And those shoot days were LONG.

She got huffy and Charles told her, "You're too short for that gesture, Bon. And you were too short for it BEFORE you started to shrink from those hip problems.

I have a warm place in my heart at the thought of this show because my great-grandmother apparently just loved it back in the day. I've watched it a few times during this pandemic and it is pretty funny.

One of the worst panelists I've seen so far was Ed Asner. He was humorless and kept play-acting anger toward Gene and the other celebrities and never established any chemistry. Awkward yet arrogant the whole week.

Avery Schreiber was attention-starved and kept making sound effects that NO ONE responded to, but he did give intelligent answers (which wasn't that common among the panel except for Richard Dawson and Charles).

I recently saw Phyllis Newman on the show. I'd never heard of her and looked her up and saw she must have been pretty talented and was married to someone who also must have been. It's interesting that Match Game didn't introduce "the stars" outside of their name and didn't do promotion for them. It's interesting to find out that some of them were very talented. I wouldn't think they would stoop so low to be on a game show, but it's interesting that they did.

I think Gene Rayburn was a very good host. He knew every reference to musicals and plays and facilitated the stars' humor very well. But he would sometimes suddenly focus in on someone and there was a silent moment of strangeness as if he was in his own world, e.g., he seemed to go into a quick trance as he commented on and began touching Marcia Wallace's bare shoulders and then kissing them! She was not amused, but he didn't pick up on it. Uncomfortable to watch those moments, but most of the women seemed to take it in stride.

They didn’t get drunk until the last two episodes per week. They filmed five episodes in a day for a week’s broadcast. They would film the first three then break for dinner and drinks. You can usually tell the Thursday and Friday episodes as the celebrities are definitely looser.

When EVER someone posts something about Matchgame here I end up down a very deep rabbit hole of that show

I realize now that being a latchkey child and growing up on this show in the afternoons totally made me gay

r37, those moments of focus were where he was hoping his polident was holding up

Wow, that was a totally different world!

Didn't CNR once imply that Brett lived in the poor section of Beverly Hills?

r42, meet r15

I thought the show was fun, but I didn't like Gene Rayburn very much and I couldn't stand camera hog Brett.

[quote]Chuck was directing "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead" at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre in Jupiter, FL. True story.

[quote] CNR was directing Sal Mineo and Don Johnson simulate prison sex?

You’re thinking of “Fortune and Men’s Eyes”.

PS is the Kirkwood play about the guy who traps a gay burglar on the day his girlfriend leaves him and so does his cat. It’s the play Sal Mineo was directing when he was murdered

If they filmed five shows in one day, I wonder how many different studio audiences they had.

Two. One in the morning which watched three shows and another in the afternoon which watched two.

I can't believe Fannie Flagg didn't become a bigger star, she was hilarious and beautiful. And, she was very much a lipstick lesbian at the time.

[quote]I can't believe Fannie Flagg didn't become a bigger star, she was hilarious and beautiful. And, she was very much a lipstick lesbian at the time.

She found more success as a writer.

R49 I know that, I would've just loved for her to have had a starring role in a tv sitcom.

I remember, as a kid, watching Fannie Flagg perform stunts for Allen Funt on "Candid Camera."

Fannie was great on Candid Camera. She was also in Harper Valley with Barbara Eden.

I just saw Fannie and Gene together on The Love Boat! Fannie was terrific and looked great; Gene was terrible all around. The story was about Fannie's dog "Cricket" not liking Gene.

And for some reason, that stupid dog was featured in the opening credits. I kept wishing someone would throw it overboard!

Even as a kid, I remember thinking that Kaye Stevens was obnoxious beyond belief. Her constant cackling was annoying as hell!

Kaye Stevens was SO happy to be there but she didn't read the room at all or seem to understand time constraints. The celebrities handled her well and remained patient. What a trip...she made Brett seem normal.

Politically incorrect back then, for sure, but they didn't know any better, it was a different time. People knew how to move on instead of making a big deal about it. Very entertaining to my 1970s kid home alone after school. Charles and Brett were the Original Will and Grace...Lots of smoking, drinking, borderline dirty talk, very 1970s. :-)

The funniest game show of the 70s. I was hooked as a kid. And even us young 'uns could tell Gene was a perv.

those dentures were terrible

I just watched the video at R54 and that's tame compared to what Kaye Stevens was usually like. When I commented I was referring to episodes I have seen where she was dominating the proceedings with constant laughter and attacking Richard Dawson aggressively throughout the entire show. Maybe the director had asked her to rein it in a bit by the time that episode taped.

Gene’s extra long microphone was certainly unusual.

Kaye Stevens was WORSE than what was shown at R54?! That’s a frightening thought!

I'm so glad to find a tribe that also found Kaye Stevens episodes a chore because she was so boisterous and up her own ass (not reading the room is a great take on her). I would dread her in 6th seat (where you could get the great, like Betty White, Patti Deutsch, or Marcia Wallace, or Stevens and Joyce Bulifant, whose pussy was definitely bigger than her comedic talent based on how many marriages she had).

LOL, R62. at least I’d seen Joyce Bulifant guest-starring on “Mary Tyler Moore”, “Love American Style”, “The Bill Cosby Show” and other shows of that era — I never knew WHAT Kaye Stevens’s claim to fame was, nor why she was always so pleased with herself!

She showed up on “Tattletales” around that time, too!

And here’s Kaye glomming onto Burt Reynolds when he dropped in, and NOT going anywhere!

Also features another 70s game show perennial, Ms. Louisa Moritz!

[quote]I would dread her in 6th seat (where you could get the great, like Betty White, Patti Deutsch, or Marcia Wallace, or Stevens and Joyce Bulifant

I seem to recall Patti Deutsch consistently giving the stupidest answers on the show. It was like she wasn't even trying to match the contestant.

According to Brett in the Match Game documentary (so take it under advisement), the 6th seat was meant for a female comic who could still gather laughs even if their answer had been said before (or potentially 5 times before). They trusted Richard to always entertain, and the person in 4th seat was expected to be awful as a general principle, so the goal for people like Patti Deutsch or Marcia Wallace was to get a laugh. It could get annoying if they gave a crazy answer (contestants were probably annoyed), but Deutsch was doing her job (unlike Joyce Bulifant, who was both an idiot and unfunny).

Well, the fourth seat was definitely for the dumb female celebrity who often didn't seem to understand the concept of the game. No question about that.

As we're currently discovering on another thread, in 1975 they put Young and Restless star Brenda Dickson in that 4th seat -- completely appropriate placement!

If they're trying for that final match and Patti Deutsch is the celeb, you can see the look of resignation on the contestant's faces.

I believe Gene asked for that mic design. I can’t remember the reason. Maybe the weight or that he didn’t a have to have his arm bent up to his mouth but in a more natural position?

Bob Barker used a similar mic.

Bob & Gene both used a telescoping Sony ECM-51.

Fannie was the best in the 6th seat. Betty White was a distant second. I liked Marcia Wallace, but she wasn't very amusing. Patti Deutsch tried but failed most of the time.

I like Betty White in that seat, too. I recently saw an episode with Allen Ludden in the first seat. He wasn't very impressive, but seemed pleased enough with himself, and one would never guess that he was a gameshow host because he took a long time to give his answers and seemed confused where to put his card in the slot. They showed Betty White in the audience watching him, and that was sweet. She had a confidence about herself and seemed so likable.

Gene Rayburns' Dentures is the name of my new punk band.

I love that week with Allen Ludden, too, R73. That's the famous _____ ARTHUR final match, and Ludden goes: "hmm... PRESIDENT ARTHUR?"

Brett teased him for the entire week about it! But I love Chester Arthur so it thrilled me as a boy.

MARY!

They should have let Richard Dawson out of his contract after Family Feud took off.

His sulking and moping was off putting.

HILARIOUS!

r78 oh, that was GOOD! thanks!

This contestant was a hoot.

A compilation of all her days on the show.

[quote]Was Charles in rehab? He was "away."

He was just waiting for his hair plugs to take root

r5, what does The Voice of the Day have to do with this?

Every so often Richard would make a comment in a dead-on Paul Lynde voice. Was he mimicking our Paul, or just doing what he thought was a pansy voice?

I enjoy watching episodes now on GSN just to see what people wore and how they did their hair. We watched it all the time when I was a kid. I saw an episode the other day where Kaye Stevens was unbelievable. She actually leered over a male contestant multiple times and, when he lost, she left her seat, ran up on the platform as it was turning around to take him away, and kissed him.

Things were different in the 70s.

I love match game but it bores me to tears after the first 5 min and if there's no schtick between Brett and CNR, he's great on Carson on YouTube.

[quote] Brett should've done Vera in Mame

Unfortunately, she was cast as Dwight Babcock instead.

[quote]Every so often Richard would make a comment in a dead-on Paul Lynde voice. Was he mimicking our Paul, or just doing what he thought was a pansy voice?

He was mimicking Lynde, whom he also mimicked when he was a regular on "Laugh-In" during its last few seasons.

I went down a small rabbit hole looking up Richard Dawson because I remember him mentioning on one of the episodes that he doesn't drink. I've now read that he had custody of his two young sons during his Match Game days, and his ex-wife, Diana Dors, was considered a bombshell and was known for wild parties and life in the fast lane in England. I wonder if he sobered up for the kids, or just never really drank to begin with. He seems to have preferred the U.S. and made his life here. I thought he was funny and charming overall on the show, mainly toward Gene Rayburn and the contestants, but he didn't seem to willingly engage with the other "stars" much. Maybe that was different off-camera.

[quote]I've now read that he had custody of his two young sons during his Match Game days, and his ex-wife, Diana Dors, was considered a bombshell and was known for wild parties and life in the fast lane in England.

Aka "Swingin' Dors."

[quote] but he didn't seem to willingly engage with the other "stars" much. Maybe that was different off-camera.

I disagree he very much engaged with the woman in space 6, especially Fannie and Betty.

That's true, R90. I was thinking of his attitude toward the upper tier and forgot about the people next to him. Maybe it would hurt his neck to look up at the others from where he sat and it wasn't shunning. He's kind of interesting to watch.

(I'm feeling way too nostalgic lately, lol.)

R47 just one. the audience would take a lunch break and return

R85 Charles was very quick with funny ad-libs, and Brett seemed to bring out the best of them from him. I recently watched a Carson show where Charles came on after Bob Hope and Dean Martin. Dean was drunk and/or high or was doing a good imitation of it. He swore so much he was bleeped repeatedly, and Hope even walked off after the last one of them. Dean then followed, and Charles came out and had to follow that. I think Johnny and producer Fred de Cordova were apoplectic about what had just happened. Charles simply told a long and funny story, and things got back to normal.

[quote]CNR, most famous for his upper right seat, has a heart attack when a contestant from Atlanta mistakes Lee Meriweather for Brett Sommers.

Brett was often the butt of jokes focusing on her looks. She seemed to take it in stride but I doubt it was always easy. (Even the writers occasionally wrote questions aimed at having the contestants ridicule her.) I don't like that kind of mean-spirited humor. At least Charles was her friend, and Gene flirted with her, so all was not lost.

Speaking of insults toward Brett, here's the very first episode from 1973 and it leaves me with one question: Was there anything likable about Jack Klugman? He took every opportunity to insult his wife, and she wasn't even there. Did the audience even know who his wife was?

Link

R94 Actually, I think that was his and Brett's plan. He would insult her a lot, and then the producers would book her to come on so everyone could see her. Brett said in interviews the only good things Jack Klugman ever gave her was her kids and Match Game.

[quote] the only good things Jack Klugman ever gave her was her kids and Match Game.

Oh, dear.

Brett would also insult Jack when he wasn't there. A flustered Charles would tsk-tsk her as she laughed.

The 2022 Version:

Steve: Who got a ass bigger than yours?

Contestant: I'll say yo mama.

Steve: Nene?

Nene: You see this? (Shakes it.) I'm not half the woman my mama is.

Turns cards, which says "MAMMA"

Steve: IT'S A MATCH!!!

Check out her glamour B&W.

I tried watching an episode of "Match Game PM" on Buzzr a little while ago. After a couple of asinine answers from Patti Deutsch, I had to turn it off. I just never got the appeal. Gene Rayburn was insufferable a lot of the time. I also don't think it's aged well. It belongs in the '70s.

Wow, R100, that glamour shot of Brett Somers is cool — who knew?!

I love it

I wonder what started the whole Richard versus Charles/Brett thing? Was it a money issue? Was it that Richard always got called on for final match? But it started long before Richard got Family Feud and was getting antsy to leave.

You're right, R104. It was partly Brett and Charles' jealousy over Richard's reputation as the best player, and partly Richard's ego becoming monstrous once he became the "star" of the panel. Not to take anything away from Richard, but Brett and Charles probably had a winning average close to his. But because they were called on so rarely, the perception was that Richard was the only one you could count on. I bet if someone pulled the actual statistics Betty White was as good or better than the three regulars.

Convinced he was now a superstar, Richard nagged Mark Goodson relentlessly for his own show to host. They finally came up with a game similar to the final match that they thought would fit him, and Family Feud was born. Once Feud displaced Match Game as the #1 show in daytime Richard became a monster. Everyone at both shows hated to deal with him. When Match Game implemented the Star Wheel to choose the final match celeb, Richard was furious and refused to speak on the show other than to give his answers. After a couple weeks of that, they released him from his contract.

All this came back to bite Richard in the ass when he was passed over to host the 1987 revival of Feud. He was blindsided and couldn't believe the show would work without him, and when it did, he realized how badly he'd behaved. When the third version happened in 1990, he got the host job and was by all accounts humble and a joy to work with.

I just want to know who Joyce Bulifant had to sleep with to become a semi-regular panelist.

Wow, I cant believe the amount of latch key kids we have here. We thought nothing of coming home to an empty house...from 6th grade up, vacuuming and dusting a bit before settling down to watch our shows. I felt closer to CNR and crew than my own family at that point.

Thanks for that R105. Very interesting and informative. Family Feud did become #1, but I wonder if it became #1 because CBS moved Match Game's late afternoon time slot. That star wheel thing didn't help.

The few clips I saw so far had Brett matching the most answers of the contestants.

r107 MARY!

r106, Gene, clearly

[quote] All this came back to bite Richard in the ass when he was passed over to host the 1987 revival of Feud. He was blindsided and couldn't believe the show would work without him, and when it did, he realized how badly he'd behaved. When the third version happened in 1990, he got the host job and was by all accounts humble and a joy to work with.

The 1988 version was hosted by Ray Combs and was the same version Richard came back to host in 1994, after Combs was fired. It wasn't a separate iteration. The third version was the one that started with Louie Anderson in 1999, and that version has continued through hosts, Richard Karn, John O'Hurley, and Steve Harvey.

I'm the last person alive who remembers The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

Not true, R113. I remember it.

I actually just watched both seasons on YouTube this past holiday season. I'd never seen it before and I found it very charming.

they had more than two, no?

I meant The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.

Nope r 113. I remember it too, I loved the movie more than the tv show

[quote]I loved the movie more than the tv show

The movie is gorgeous, with beautiful Gene Tierney. The TV show is closer to "Topper."

I also remember Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It was one one network and Hope Lange inexplicably won an Emmy. It was cancelled and then picked up by another network and Lange won a second Emmy. It was cancelled again. Lange's performance was nowhere near as funny as her performance in Death Wish.

Ghost and Mrs. Muir was one of my favorite shows as a kid.

A few years back, Get TV aired both seasons of the show and I rewatched it all. Brought back so many memories.

As a kid, I found Charles Nelson Reilly was cringeworthy in many episodes. As an adult, he still was cringeworthy in many scenes, but I did appreciate the comedy a bit more.

Hope Lange was luminous. She was so good in that role. Never understood why she didn't become a bigger star.

I'm 58 and remember Ghost & Mrs. Muir.

And, I consider myself on the cusp of "elder gay".

Ghost & Mrs. Muir was one of those shows that came on the local independent station at odd times. I could never get into it.

My 7 year old self wanted Gull Cottage (exterior shots) very badly.

Later my goals shifted to MTM’s first apartment.

For anyone reading the link at R100, after you finish reading the short bio on Brett, be sure to not miss the letter written by a Mom whose (at the time) 5-year old son is certainly a DL’er now and probably posted on this thread

R122 you mean the “back side” of the cusp, right?

I could not figure out after watching both seasons why Hope Lange won back to back Emmys for TG&MM. She did very little of note in the show, despite being its female lead. Edward Mulhare did all the heavy lifting (followed closely by CNR) and should have reaped the awards. And it wasn't as if Lange didn't have competition. Elizabeth Montgomery, who never won an Emmy for Bewitched, was up against Lange both times, and Diahann Carroll, who was the first black woman to star in a prime time sitcom, was up against her one year for Julia. I'm shocked Lange won against both those actresses.

That being said, Lange was gorgeous and charismatic and you simply could not take your eyes off of her, especially in Season 1. In the 2nd season, they gave her a very matronly hairdo that reduced her beauty somewhat, but she was still effortlessly charming.

[quote]When Match Game implemented the Star Wheel to choose the final match celeb, Richard was furious and refused to speak on the show other than to give his answers.

Those episodes are incredibly weird and tense. Half the time he wouldn't even say the answer, just hold up the card while his eyes didn't meet the camera.

I cried at the end of the movie when she died... r119 It deserves its own thread

[quote] I just want to know who Joyce Bulifant had to sleep with to become a semi-regular panelist.

R106 Charles, and for once all she did was sleep.

[quote]I cried at the end of the movie when she died... R119 It deserves its own thread.

So did I, R129. More than once.

“Could we please get back to ME?!”

How could a Match Game thread go for 132 replies without anyone mentioning the contributions of DL fave MARY WICKES?

r127 Hope really was one of the dullest actresses to lead a TV sitcom. I thought Edward Mulhare was rather one-note as the captain. Charles Nelson Reilly made the show worth watching, along with Reta Shaw.

I don't know if it was so much that she was dull as she was the "straight man" to Mulhare and (to a lesser degree because he played off everyone), CNR. They didn't give her a whole hell of a lot to do, which really makes the double Emmy win puzzling. Back in those days, the Emmys seemed to like to spread the wealth a little better instead of giving John Larroquette, Candice Bergen and that cunt Doris Roberts the same award every year.

R93: Carson hated having Hope as a guest. He was probably happy to banter with CNR. Hope was too heavily scripted for Johnny.

Anita Gillette was actually one of the smarter game show celebs. She was terrific on "$20,000 Pyramid", "Password", practically anything. I didn't now what she was famous for, then saw her in Neil Simon's play "Chapter Two" and Broadway and realized she was a real actress with amazing skill.

"know" not "now"

There was a whole passel of celebrities who I had no idea about who they were or what they did outside of their game show appearances, and said appearances were the only way I knew of them. I remember a short lived game show from when i was little called Cross Wits and a celeb regular on it named Ruta Lee. For years I thought that was why she was famous, for being on a game show

And Match Game pretty much made celebs out of "celebs." I would say Brett Somers, Patti Deutsch, Fannie Flagg (until she turned author), Scoey Mitchell, and a handful of others were famous only because of their appearances on Match Game. And for someone like me who was born too late to have seen them elsewhere, I had no idea who Richard Dawson or Charles Nelson Reilly were outside of the show and only learned of their other credits years later.

How can you not have known Richard Dawson or CNR? They were both on lots of other shows in that time period.

Dawson was on Hogan's Heroes and CNR was all over the place.

Uhh, because as I said, I was born too late to have been aware. I was three when the Match Game first came on the air and started watching it in the middle of its run, so I wasn't actually alive for Hogan's Heroes or CNR's earlier work.

So, you were born in 1970 and can remember watching Match Game as a kid but somehow missed seeing the endless reruns of Hogan's Heroes that ran in the 70s, or any of the many, many shows that CNR appeared on in the 70s and in reruns. Ok.

Some of the panelists did Broadway and Cabaret shows and may not have been series regulars on TV shows. I was a little kid when Match Game originally aired, but watching the GSN repeats, I always wondered who Louisa Moritz and Mitzi McCall were. Fun fact, Scoey is still alive

Oh give it a rest R142! I’m much in the same boat. Left alone for hours at a time in my adolescence I had no interest in some weird, stupid nazis watching over WWII soldiers. I gravitated towards the fag, his hags and the perv, with the token racial minority contestant thrown in between housewives. Sheesh!

[quote] So, you were born in 1970 and can remember watching Match Game as a kid but somehow missed seeing the endless reruns of Hogan's Heroes that ran in the 70s, or any of the many, many shows that CNR appeared on in the 70s and in reruns. Ok.

Yes. Match Game was on for 11 years. I remember seeing it for the first time around 1975. Hogan's Heroes reruns didn't interest me as a kid, so I never watched them. I watched cartoons like The Flintstones, Looney Tunes and The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family in rerun. But I guess my elaborate lie was uncovered by you, Jessica Fletcher. What time's the hanging?

Sorry, I meant to say 9 years. I was thinking 1981 and typed 11.

Heck there were plenty of people back then who only knew Betty White from game shows, so it’s not exactly far fetched that the oeuvres of Dickie Dawson and CNR wouldn’t exactly be known by much of the general public.

Ruta Lee was among many actors who appeared occasionally on Perry Mason, 77 Sunset Strip and other late 50s-early 60s crime dramas.

Joyce Bulifant was married to a very higher powered TV executive so that explains some of her tv casting on various shows. But she was pretty dumb in her answers, and Gene used to be pretty blunt about it.

I about 10 when Match Game started and watched it regularly for the first few years.

I'd never heard of roughly half of the stars they had on. So, it's not like these people were household names even back in the day.

R150 absolutely - by the time the 70s rolled around, most of those who were game show regulars were considered jokes by anyone else in the industry. Again not all but most.

A lot of them did guest appearances on The Love Boat.

[quote]were considered jokes

That's a little harsh. They were working actors on a gig

I think it's seriously different when you have has been TV stars on a game show as opposed to the NY game shows which often had Broadway stars. I saw Anita Gilette and Mimi Hines and never knew what they did either. I couldn't understand how Peggy Cass got any job.

Peggy cass was super fun

Does anyone remember Ann Elder on this?

Peggy Cass was a fat slob. I remember when Bill Cullen called her a female chauvinist pig and she was quiet the rest of the show.

Kitty Carlisle was a beauty and elegance

[quote]I saw Anita Gilette and Mimi Hines and never knew what they did either. I couldn't understand how Peggy Cass got any job.

So you're a gay man who never saw the movie of "Auntie Mame" and knows nothing about Broadway, and you're here on DL bragging about your lack of knowledge.

Kitty Carlisle was nothing but a two-bit whore.

who dined on for years that she had slept with George Gershwin

[quote] Does anyone remember Ann Elder on this?

When I first started watching the reruns on GSN 7-8 years ago, I saw her pop up and by that time, I was pretty much familiar with everyone who had appeared. But Ann Elder was definitely a name I never heard before and had to look her up.

[quote] So you're a gay man who never saw the movie of "Auntie Mame" and knows nothing about Broadway, and you're here on DL bragging about your lack of knowledge.

He didn't say he didn't know who Peggy Cass was, he said he couldn't understand how she got work.

She was a real character! Funny lady. A friend who worked with her in a stage production said that she was a hoot on stage and off, and also very nice.

Peggy Cass was a "broad". She was the good time gal, to Kitty's lady.

I would have had lunch with Kitty, Dinner with Peggy

r156 and r162 Ann Elder.... Looked her up and STILL don't know who she is. Looks like her career was very early 70s, when I was just a kid, and I don't remember her from reruns of anything.

I'm bewildered!

R167, Ann Elder was a regular on "Laugh-In" for a couple of seasons in the early 1970s and also appeared in roles on various '60s TV series. She was also a writer who worked on specials for Lily Tomlin and Mitizi Gaynor, among others, and she wrote for "Mama's Family."

Ann Elder was a Goldie Hawn wannabe who tried but failed to take her place on Laugh-In.

She was not giggly enough to make it.

Ann Elder was also a regular on "Not Necessarily the News" — HBO's comedy sketch show in the 1980s, which ran for years.

Her improv background and general intelligence made her a great partner on "The $25,000 Pyramid." Just a terrific clue-giver.

R113 Not at all. The Ghost's "pop in" sound effect was also used on "The Secrets of Isis"

- SuperElderGay

Kaye Ballard was on Match Game a few times and she always seemed extra dykey

[quote] Carson hated having Hope as a guest. He was probably happy to banter with CNR. Hope was too heavily scripted for Johnny.

R136 Yes, and Hope would often repeatedly tap a handful of Johnny's pencils on his desk during the interviews, something no other guest would have dared to do because Johnny wouldn't like it. Hope often acted like it was just another interview and he had someplace equally or more important to go to. From what I've read, Carson liked power, e.g., what he did to Joan Rivers when she went to Fox and his hatred for Elayne Boosler, who was an assertive female comic. Hope was one of the few entertainers at NBC who had more power than Johnny, and here he was taking Johnny's pencils and banging them on Johnny's desk, but Johnny had to ignore it on air. Charles, on the other hand, was a hilarious raconteur who made Johnny laugh and was always deferential to him.

All the back-and-forth about why didn't folks know something back in the 70s and 80s reminded me how different life was when we couldn't simply Google anything and learn. Even if you were lucky enough to have parents that could afford an encyclopedia, you certainly couldn't look up someone like Ann Elder to learn what else she had done other than Match Game.

r170 - sorry not true - are you thinking of Anne Bloom?

I didn't get everyone's fixation on Fannie's boobs. Yes, women have boobs. This was funny, why? And Fannie encouraged it.

(Love the show, though.)

fannie never spoke about her fannie

R66, at least I'm still around!

[quote]Hope Lange was luminous. She was so good in that role. Never understood why she didn't become a bigger star.

Hope got a lot of high-profile leading roles. But like her turn in "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" - her career was a series of fits and starts that never carried her to the next level of stardom.

FYI - Hope's younger brother David Lange was a suspect in the murder of beautiful young Hollywood starlet Karyn Kupcinet, who was found dead in her North Swetzer apartment in November of 1963 by actor Mark Goddard (hot actor from "Lost in Space), and Goddard's wife.

Goddard and his wife went to Kupcinet's apartment to check on her after not being able to reach her phone. David Lange lived in the apartment below Kupcinet and was consider a strong suspect by law enforcement, along with several others.

Kupcinet was from a wealthy well-connect family and had dated several celebrities, including Andrew Prine. Her murder is still unsolved.

Hope Lange's career may have been something of a disappointment, but she was married for years to the hot AF Don Murray, with whom she had two children.

Those chairs must've stunk to high heaven. Ah, the Seventies.

Whenever I feel like total shit, I prepare a grilled cheese with tomato bisque soup and watch an hour of Match Game at noon on GSN.

Beside Fried Green Tomatoes, Fannie Flagg wrote a very funny book called Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. It's a pure escapist, fun read.

Did anybody see the episode of Password with Adam West? The Password was TUBE. Adam's female feeder said FALLOPIAN... he didn't get it.

No one was cooler than Brett Somers.

I would jerk off watching Clifton Davis on the show. I couldn't help myself.

I love how they were all drunk and smoking. The 70s were a lot of fun.

Clifton Davis....Yowza!

I can’t keep up with the wealth of Match Game name dropping, but I’ll try.

Phyllis Newman was a Broadway actress who more or less gave up her career when she married Adolph Green—a very successful lyricist closely associated with the Arthur Freed musicals of MGM. She always reminded me of the Celeste Holm character in All About Eve. She wrote a pretty good memoir, Just in Time.

Hope Lange’s career was significantly enhanced in the late 50s and early 60s by her on again off again with Glenn Ford, who was infatuated with her. But she always seemed like she was in a bad mood.

Joyce Bulifant was married to Helen Hayes’s son, DOOL star and later husband to Suzanne Zenor Edward Mallory, Elizabeth Montgomery’s ex and Bewitched producer Bill Asher—who adopted her son with Mallory, and former BFF Joanne Worley’s ex husband Roger Perry. Her son was married to Jenny McCarthy.

Diana Dors was trouble but loads of fun. I’m sure a nightmare for Dawson. My favorite beau of Dors’s was hunky bloke Tommy Yeardye who eventually fathered Tamara Mellon, founder of Jimmy Choo shoes.

Thanks r189!

thanks, R189

R186 He was seriously so hot

R192, he totally made my day

There so many open buttons on his shirts I looked in vain for just a sliver of nipple.

vanity is a sin

Watching Match Game 75 featuring a “rare television appearance” by Lee Meredith (per Wikipedia). I’m eating Chipotle and mixing my own margaritas. Just saw Nipsey Russel answer “Husband” to the question about a farmer who could only “get a blank” for his wife at a wife swap party.

I was shocked that BOTH Charles and Brett were silent for the reaction!

Was Gene Rayburn gay? Particularly at 15:14, he seems very enthralled with this very tall ("5'22") male contestant.

I never understood why some bigger stars agreed to do the show.

Kate Jackson was already a big TV star when she appeared and was becoming more famous by the day.

Jamie Lee Curtis had just starred in one of the biggest movies(Halloween) and was starring in several other films at that time.

Joan Collins' career was in a dry spell, but she was still an iconic star.

Ethel Merman was the most legendary Broadway star of all time, so why was she there?

Love the bouncy roller sets on all the fraus.

Made even old fraus look with it.

It was the "in" thing to do, R198. They got drunk, they played a game, they got paid. Kind of like being a villain on BATMAN in 66-68. Only three networks back then, so the exposure was huge.

Gene Rayburn and Charles Nelson Reilly were longtime Broadway veterans, so they worked to get a lot of NYC theater actors on there--Merman, Gary Burghoff, so on.

R198, it was a super easy gig

The week Esther Rolle was on was bad because she had zero humor

Joan Collins seemed embarrassed to be there and was cold and bitchy. I think she was doing trashy movies like The Stud and Empire of the Ants at the time. She obviously needed the money.

Ethel Merman acted like she didn't know where she was. I think she was showing early signs of dementia when she appeared on the show. Brett was always mean to her.

Kate Jackson was sweet, but dumber than a box of Farrah's hair.

^^Did she scream damn, daammn, DAAAAMMMNNN at the contestant?

No, but she should have