The Match Game / Hollywood Squares Hour (Hosts: Gene Rayburn and Jon Bauman)
What do you get when you combine two of the most highly regarded comedic game shows of all time? You get a lackluster program that most people don't even remember existed. In 1984, Match Game and Hollywood Squares, two game shows that enjoyed success throughout the 60s, 70s and early 80s, joined forces on The Match Game / Hollywood Squares Hour. The show had duel hosts in Gene Rayburn and Jon Bauman and as one might expect, the hour consisted of both classic game shows being played. Gene Rayburn, host of The Match Game from 1962 to 1969 and Match Game from 1973 to 1982, hosted the Match Game portion as well as the "Super Match" portion of the hour, while Jon Bauman, best known as "Bowzer" from the music group Sha Na Na, channeled his inner Peter Marshall to host the Hollywood Squares portion.
For the Match Game, two new contestants each were given three opportunities to match up to six celebrity panelists, one of which was Jon Bauman. The show did not have regular panelists like the previous installment of Match Game did, but Match Game favorite Charles Nelson Reilly was a celebrity guest on a number of episodes. After the three rounds were played, the contestant with the most matches went on to play Hollywood Squares against the returning champion.
At this point, Gene Rayburn took Jon Bauman's seat on the panel, three additional celebrities were introduced and Bauman assumed the position as host. For Hollywood Squares, just like on the 1966 to 1981 run, the contestants tried to make a tic-tac-toe by figuring out whether the celebrity panelist chosen was telling the truth or bluffing to a question. Each square captured was worth $25 and getting a tic-tac-toe was worth $100 in the first game and increased by an additional $100 for every game played.
The player with the most money went on to play the "Super Match." Gene and Jon once again switched and just like every fan remembers the "Super Match" being played, the contestant first faced an audience match. Whatever money amount they won then had the chance to be multiplied by either 10, 20 or 30 with the head-to-head match, with the top prize being $30,000.
While both Match Game and Hollywood Squares worked perfectly on their own, the two formats being combined into one program didn't fare as well. The show only last 191 episodes and was pretty boring to watch when comparing both formats to their well-known versions. The whole show felt like it was always dragging on and the humor expected from Match Game and Hollywood Squares just wasn't there. In addition, both segments lacked a natural chemistry between the host and the panelists, and chemistry is what made both formats thrive previously.
It's really hard to replicate the magic of a popular game show, and The Match Game / Hollywood Squares Hour was trying it's best to ignite the flame of two great shows only a few years after both were canceled. However, it just didn't do the trick. Hollywood Squares would eventually be revived again in 1986 with host John Davidson and Match Game would make its first return in 1990 with host Ross Shafer.
There has been a critical error on your website.<\/p>
Learn more about debugging in WordPress.<\/a><\/p>","data":{"status":500},"additional_errors":[]}