Match Game still holds up

Brett Sommers was a drunk

It was the 70s, everybody was drunk.

Richard was angry they added the wheel and the contestants couldn’t choose him every time for the super match. And he was hosting Family Feud by that time and felt he didn’t need Match Game anymore.

Louisa Moritz was the poor man's Carol Wayne. Or was that Teresa Ganzel?

Best panel- Nipsey Russell, Bret Sommers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Fannie Flag, Richard Dawson, and Betty White

That's accurate. I hated it then and I hate it now.

What am I, R5 chopped liver?

Wait.

Don’t answer that.

That is a good panel, but I always liked it when there was someone in the first chair that Brett could pick on.

OP was so fat…

This still cracks me. Brett lives in Beverly Hills.

I totally agree. Love Match Game. Love the music, love Johnny Olsen, love Charles and Brett, even love Gene's weird-ass microphone: a three-foot long twig with a marble on top.

I’ve been watching some episodes of this on Buzzr. It’s actually really hard.

Was Fannie Flagg eating Susan Flannery’s snatch way back then?

In a few of those snippets, Charles resembles Gene Hackman.

How fun would it have been to see them play brothers in something?

That crew/era was great. Every remake tried way too hard to replicate but failed miserably!

[quote]a three-foot long twig with a marble on top.

That’s what she said.

Marcia Wallace was always a hoot!

I read that Brett couldn't stand Elaine Joyce.

I liked Joyce Bulifant

R18. Who could? (Other than Neil Simon, apparently.)

R5 that panel wouldn’t exist though, because Fannie and Betty where in the same 6th seat. Betty was the best in that slot though - she was very funny without seemingly trying as hard as the others - or like some did give wrong answers just to be funny.

The 4th seat was something like the “dumb blonde” seat and was never liked by the rest of the panelists.

Fannie was in that lower first seat a few times. It was before she become a semi-regular.

Fannie was with Rita Mae Brown back then.

If you spit, you're on Olympic. 😂🤣😁

There ain't a bus goes near there.

Did Fannie ever eat out Brett’s old musty snatch?

A truly hilarious moment!

This week it’s Match Game 77 on GSN.

Avery (a mostached fat man), Brett, Charles, Richard, Fannie and some woman wearing a tight tshirt named JoAnn.

Avery Schreiber JoAnn Harris

Next week Lee Pussywether!

Is this 333 PUSSYWILLOW Lane?

Lots of jokes are made about game show celebrities, but Match Game's regulars really were first-rate entertainers. They pushed the lines and said very funny things. And it was usually pretty clear that they were having fun (along with collecting the paycheck), which always makes the audience have more fun.

Some of the guests were surprising. They put Cass Elliot into the dumb blonde seat and she ended up being a good player. And Gary Burghoff ended up being such a twat that I can't watch him in anything anymore. Not that he ever did much...

[quote]I read that Brett couldn't stand Elaine Joyce.

[quote][R18]. Who could? (Other than Neil Simon, apparently.)

J.D. Salinger, apparently.

Pussywether sucked

According to friends, Ethel Merman had a crush on Gene Rayburn.

Ethel appeared on the panel with Brett Somers, having once put the moves on Jack Klugman while Gypsy was in out of town tryouts.

Was Ethel ever on panel with Pussywether?

Ethel to Pussywether. Over-Pussywether.

I’m friends with Ann Elder (from the last two seasons of Laugh-In.) She did the show several times (either lower left of lower right.)

I told her I used to watch as a kid, and asked her why on the Wednesday through Friday episodes always seemed like they were wackier than earlier in the week.

“That’s because we were HAMMERED, dahling!!! We would tape two shows, have a dinner break, then tape three more. And EVERYBODY except Dickie Dawson would get sloshed. When I catch a rerun, I’ll see Brett get caught taking a swig of vodka and quickly hiding it.”

Richard Dawson always seemed like the biggest lush of them all.

R36, Hollywood Squares would have their dinner break after the third show, so Thursday and Friday were far rowdier shows.

Get ready to match the stars!

R37, Richard was a teetotaler.

So they recorded a week's worth of shows in one day?

Sure did. A practice they still do on game shows today.

Imagine being a contestant, having the set swing around, and realize that you were going to have to play with Patti Deutsch. Your heart would sink.

When Patti and her husband (who smoked cheap cigars on set) were on Tattletales it was clear that no one liked them.

I loved how they were all visibly drunk and smoking. On national television. Gotta love the 70s!

[quote]I loved how they were all visibly drunk and smoking. On national television. Gotta love the 70s!

Brett seemed like the kind of gal who would have a cigarette permanently clenched between her fingers, even at meals.

The show's obsession with the words "boob"/"boobies" still blows my mind.

I loved that Patti Deutsch called them "upper frontals."

Once on the Internet I read an anecdote someone wrote about the experience of entering a men's bathroom in desperate need of airing in a transcontinental 747 after Gene Rayburn had just used it. Now when I see him that's all I can think of.

I bet gene’s shit smelled ungodly r47.

R48, Gene Rayburn was from a generation that ate red meat every day.

He looked nasty and I’m sure he smelled nasty too r49. He was a boner killer.

Brett was married to Jack Klugman

More on Elaine Joyce / Brett Somers

Love the Match Game. Loved it as a kid. It’s a hard game because so many of celebrities are more interested in being clever than matching the contestant (side-eyeing you Patti Deutsch). Richard was most often selected for the big money match because he usually wrote the most common response and helped many contestants win. I thought the big wheel was very anti-Richard.

Brett and Charles were like everyone’s strange but favorite Aunt and Uncle.

Charles was underrated as a player. In the early days, before it was always Richard, contestants often chose Charles -and won. During regular play he couldn't resist the jokes, but at the money round he played seriously, and well.

[quote]Brett and Charles were like everyone’s strange but favorite Aunt and Uncle.

God, I WISH I had an aunt and uncle like Brett and Charles.

Brett and Charles were an old married couple

Actually, my aunt and uncle really are a lot like Brett and Charles! I took them to lunch today. :)

Patti Deutsch gave off the wall answers because she was usually in the 6th seat. Her answer was never make or break.

r5

And only one straight one in the bunch and that's debatable.

R59 Betty White?

[quote]she was usually in the 6th seat. Her answer was never make or break.

Seriously? The sixth seat is most often “make or break.”

Cunt is on todays GSN show at noon CST.

r48 you reminded me of a poster from one of our Lucille Ball threads a while back. He said something to the effect of "Gary Morton always reminded me of one of those old guys in the 70s in polyester pants who just got finished stinking up the bathroom so bad the paint was peeling."

Seriously? The sixth seat is most often “make or break.”

Granted, I haven't seen every episode of Match Game 7X, but I can't recall a single time when one of Patti's answers cost someone the game.

R63 Gene Rayburn fits that bill. An old shitter

I used to shudder when Rayburn would whip out the Binaca and prepare to kiss the new woman on the panel. For most, I'm sure, it ended up on their audition reels as demonstration of their serious acting ability...

That said, you needed someone who could ride herd on that crazy bunch, and Rayburn did it with a vengeance.

It holds up. This is why it still airs every week day from 12-1 pm CST on GSN.

I loved watching Clifton Davis, Dick Gautier, William Shatner, Jamie Farr. George Hamilton, Larry Hovis, Bert Convy and Scoey Mitchell on the show. I thought about what they looked like naked. I wanked off many times when they were on.

I can say quite honestly I never once thought about what Jamie Farr would look like naked, and I probably would have turned into a pillar of salt if I tried seriously to entertain so gruesome an idea.

On the other hand, I agree Dick Gautier was exceptionally hot even in middle age.

^^Sad

YouTube has a three-hour marathon of New Year's episodes. Fun!

I liked the few times that Arlene Francis was bottom left. She gamely exchanged her evening gowns for daytime polyester pantsuits and attempted to fit into the new era. A bridge between the old panel shows and the new ones.

I've been binging on YouTube since this thread appeared. This question is being played right now:

"Dumb Donald is so dumb, he thinks you can make someone feel light-headed by sticking a (blank) up his nose."

So even in the 70s they knew Donald Trump was an idiot!

I watched several episodes over the Christmas holiday at a relative's house, and while I'm sure some individual shows and some questions are funnier than others, generally speaking l I don't think the show holds up well at all. I had forgotten just how severely drunk some of the celebs on the panel appeared to be on this show, and not only Brett and Charles, though they were the worst.

[quote] Imagine being a contestant, having the set swing around, and realize that you were going to have to play with Patti Deutsch. Your heart would sink.

At least Patti matched now and then. Joyce was a cunt who purposely tried to not match. I hated her.

Mary Wikes is in seat #6 today Match Game ‘77 on GSN! I’m crazy for Mary!

[quote] Mary Wikes is in seat #6 today Match Game ‘77 on GSN! I’m crazy for Mary!

Then learn my fucking name, faggot!

R77 loves to eat my ass while I shit!

Today from 1977. Debralee Scott and Patti Deutsch!!!!

R79, Debralee only lived to 52.

Today’s guest list from 1977 on GSN today is

Dick Martin

Polly Holiday - very quiet, mannered and meek as opposed to her, then popular role as Flo on Alice.

Fannie Flagg

Charles, Brett and Richard as usual.

[quote]Match Game still holds up

Too bad we can't say the same about you, dear.

(Pats OP's old, cold, dry hand.)

[quote]Betty was the best in that slot though - she was very funny without seemingly trying as hard as the others

One of my all time favorite lines from Betty: It was the Super Match and Pitcher Don Sutton was on. Not only was he funny, but he was sexy (for his time). Anyway, the female contestant chose Don.

GENE: Alright, so you want to try it with Don.

(Off camera) BETTY: Well, why don't we finish the game first (in a sweet innocent way that only Betty could've pulled off).

She was hilarious.

R80 that is a long life for someone that ugly and untalented