When "Match Game '73" debuted on July 2, 1973, it soon became the number one show on daytime television. Yes, you read that right. The NUMBER ONE SHOW IN DAYTIME TELEVISION!! What made the show so popular was the unpredictable answers coming from the celebrities with whom the civilian contestants tried to match their answers with. It made Gene Rayburn (who had hosted the previous NBC version back in the 1960s), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and especially Richard Dawson (who had been known for his six-year stint on "Hogan's Heroes") into household names.
On November 7, 1977, CBS expanded "Guiding Light" to a full hour, moving "Match Game" to 11:00 a.m. in the process. This proved to be a fatal blow to the popular game show, as most of its audience consisted of high schoolers who caught the show after class. Realizing their mistake, they moved the show to 4:00 p.m. six weeks later, but the damage was done. The show was now being pre-empted by some stations airing more lucrative syndicated programming in the time slot instead. "Match Game" limped along (even adding a "Star Wheel" which increased the potential bonus round jackpot to $10,000 as well as the departure of Richard Dawson, who was now also doing "Family Feud" for ABC) until April 20, 1979, when it was canceled.
The show was quickly brought back for daily syndication the following fall, and lasted for three more years. "Match Game" would be revived three more times in the next two decades (1983, 1990, and 1998), but none of them, especially the most recent version, have been able to capture the charm of the 70s version.
(I'll be talking about the '83 version of the "Match Game" {and its "sister" show} later on.)
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