"The Match Game" and "The Hollywood Squares" were two of the most popular game shows in the 1960s and 70s. Both of them featured celebrities and both of them were well-known for their comedic answers. In 1983, NBC decided to marry these two shows together for a one-hour show.
That show has the distinction of being one of the worst game shows in television history. And here's why.
The first problem was the hosts. Now, I have nothing against Gene Rayburn, who has been known as one of the most talented individuals in show business (besides his game show hosting, he was also the original announcer of "The Tonight Show" hosted by Steve Allen). The main host problem was with Jon Bauman, also known as "Bowzer" of Sha Na Na. The fact is, he had never hosted a game show before (although he was also hosting "The Pop and Rocker Game" around this time, a musical game show that he was probably more suited for), and he...was awful, let me put it at that. I think you can mention him in the same sentence as Patrick Wayne, Rossi Morreale, and Rolf Benirschke (I'll get to the last one later).
It's been said that Gene didn't like working with Bauman during the show, and, according to legendary announcer Gene Wood, Rayburn was "dragged kicking and screaming into the hour." I should also point out that the show replaced "Fantasy" (debuted on September 13, 1982), an audience participation show hosted by Peter Marshall (the Master of the Hollywood Squares), which makes me think...if they were canceling "Fantasy," why didn't they just ask Peter to co-host the show along with Gene? Or maybe even better, why didn't Gene just host the entire show himself?
The other problem with the show was with the "Hollywood Squares" segment. Besides Bowzer hosting it, all of the questions were multiple choice, and the celebrities were not supplied with "zingers". Also, players could win "by default," meaning that if one player was going for a block, and they made an incorrect judgment, the opponent would automatically win (in the more normal versions of Squares, a player could not win the game on an opponent's mistake, they would have to earn the square him/herself).
Now, there were two good points to the show. One, it had a large video board which showed the show's logo, displayed the names of the stars (as well as the hosts), as well as showing the amount of money the winner played for in the Super Match (up to $30,000). The other was its theme song, which can still be heard today as a car theme for "The Price is Right."
I will say this--this was the worst revival of "Hollywood Squares" ever (they got better as the years went on), but not the worst revival of "Match Game" (you'd have to wait until 1998 to see that; I might be covering that in a future entry). But that's just my opinion. The show debuted on Halloween, 1983, and lasted until July 27, 1984. If you want to see it for yourself, check out a few episodes on YouTube, because that's the only way you'll see this show (unless you taped the episodes back in the way), due to the cross-ownership (the show was produced by Mark Goodson Productions and Orion Television {the then-owners of Hollywood Squares}), and possibly due to the aforementioned Rayburn not liking Bauman.
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