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Match Game 7x - did it naturally run its course?

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Ian Wallis:
Match Game 7x was the No. 1 rated game show for a couple of years in the mid-70s before Family Feud took over that spot.  It was seen in late afternoon on CBS except for a brief period in the fall of 1977 where it was moved to the mornings.  When ratings dropped, it was abruptly moved back to afternoons.  Gene has been quoted as saying he thinks the move to the mornings was its biggest downfall, saying that they "never recovered" - despite the quick move back to afternoon.

It stayed on the network until March 1979, then was cancelled, in part to make way for the group favorite Whew!  It came back for three more years in syndication that fall, for a nine year total run.

When I watch the show, I notice a big difference between shows from 74 or 75, compared to 78.  Many of the 78 shows just seem kind of stale - they're not as funny as the ones that came before.  Most of the 74 and 75 shows are really enjoyable.

Do you think if the show had never moved to mornings that it could have lasted longer on the network, or do you think it just naturally ran its course?  Nine years is a long run - I'm not sure how much longer Gene hoped it would run.

I think shows of that type have a bit of a shelf life before they don't quick work anymore.

Thoughts?

chrisholland03:
In my opinion, the answer is yes and no.

I agree with Rayburn, the move to mornings was the ultimate downfall of the daytime show.  The staleness in the later episodes, in my opinion, is more of a function of: 1) booking too many celebrity hams and turkeys; 2) the heavy editing to keep to time as a result of the hams and turkeys



   

aaron sica:
I think the expansion of soaps to an hour (on CBS) would have eventually killed it anyway.

That 3:30 slot mainly belonged to game shows and sitcom reruns. CBS kept it longer than its competitors did. Let's say that CBS kept MG on at 3:30 up until Y&R expanded to an hour. Just as "One Day at a Time" moved to 4pm from its 3:30 slot to accomodate the Y&R expansion, the same thing would have happened to MG in 1980 with what happened to it in '77. The move to the 4pm timeslot didn't help, it only hurt.

Neumms:
Losing Dawson was a problem they never solved. If the show had remained highly rated at 2:30 Central, it may have been a more attractive gig and they'd have had better options. Such as it was, they never found the right guy who was good at the game and had the kind of skeezy 70s hunkiness.

Another problem: Brett become a less bubbly, more tired alcohol enthusiast. Rayburn, too.

Watching the MG/HSH, though, I think the Match Game half rebounded despite Bowzer in such a prominent seat. I'm loyal  to Charles and wouldn't have ditched Brett entirely, but some of the new panelists gave it energy. So I don't think it ran its course, it just needed a kick in the pants.

Even in the morning, MG alone would have improved on much of what NBC was running at the time.

TimK2003:
Here is my Love/Hate for the later years of MG:

Why I loved the later years?  Because of the introduction of the Star Wheel and the occasional double value of the head to head match -- it gave all 6 celebs a shot to play for the big money instead of just Dawson 90% of the time.  Plus Richard's antics were getting predictable and stale by the time he started being the grump he was in his waning months.

Why I hated the later years?  As someone already mentioned, the heavy editing:  I can forgive old man Goodson for letting it happen on the syndicated MGPM and on the nightly 5-a-week syndie versions so it would either fit a full game within 30 minutes, or it always would end with the Star Wheel on Friday's show, accordingly and all the contestants were able to play 2 games each.

But doing the heavy editing on the CBS episodes?  Why?  Goodson loved to pad some of his shows in order to stretch his prize budget (Body Language, Password Plus, Super Password, Eubanks Card Sharks, to name a few).  Many times I was still trying to think of an answer to fill a BLANK, and 3 seconds later everybody had their answers written and Gene was asking for the contestant's response.

I never thought that there was too much "dead air" in the early days of MG'7x during the think cues.  If there was, Gene always seemed to fine a way to make something happen. 

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