Match Game

This article is about the U.S. game show. For the Frasier episode, see Match Game (Frasier episode). For the sports or game concept, see Matching game.

Match Game
Logo from the 2016 ABC revival
Also known asThe Match Game (1962–1969)
Match Game 73–79 (1973–1979)
Match Game PM (1975–1981)
Created byFrank Wayne
Directed by
Presented by
Announcer
Theme music composerBert Kaempfert (1962–67)
Score Productions (1967–2021)
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes
  • The Match Game: 1,760
  • Match Game 7x: 1,455
  • Match Game PM: 230
  • Match Game (1979–82): 525
  • Match Game (1990–91): 242
  • Match Game (2016–2021): 65
Production
Producers
Running time22–26 minutes (1962–99)
42–46 minutes (2016–21)
Production companies
  • Mark Goodson-Bill Todman
  • Productions (1962–82)
  • Sojourn Productions, Inc.
  • (1962–69)
  • Celebrity Productions, Inc.
  • (1973–81)
  • The Match Game Company
  • (1981–82)
  • Mark Goodson Productions
  • (1983–99)
  • Orion Television (1983–84)
  • The MG Company (1990–91)
  • MG Productions, Inc.
  • (1998–99)
  • Triple Threat Productions (2016–21)
  • Entertain the Brutes (2016–21)
  • El Dorado Pictures (2016–21)
  • Fremantle USA (2016–21)
Original release
Network
  • NBC (1962–69)
  • CBS (1973–79)
  • ABC (1990–91, 2016–21)
  • Syndicated (1975–81, weekly; 1979–82 and 1998–99, daily)
ReleaseDecember 31, 1962 (1962-12-31) –
July 28, 2021 (2021-07-28)
Related
Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour
Blankety Blank
Blankety Blanks
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Match Game is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelists to fill-in-the-blank questions. Beginning with the CBS run of the 1970s, the questions are often formed as humorous double entendres.

The Match Game in its original version ran on NBC's daytime lineup from 1962 until 1969. The show returned with a significantly changed format in 1973 on CBS (also in daytime) and became a major success, with an expanded panel, larger cash payouts, and emphasis on humor. The CBS series, referred to on-air as Match Game 73 to start – with its title updated every new year, ran until 1979 on CBS, at which point it moved to first-run syndication (without the year attached to the title, as Match Game) and ran for three more seasons, ending in 1982. Concurrently with the weekday run, from 1975 to 1981, a once-a-week fringe time version, Match Game PM, was also offered in syndication for airing just before prime time hours.

Match Game returned to NBC in 1983 as part of a 60-minute hybrid series with Hollywood Squares, then saw a daytime run on ABC in 1990 and another for syndication in 1998; each of these series lasted one season. It returned to ABC in a weekly prime time edition on June 26, 2016, running as an off-season replacement series, all using the 1970s format as their basis, with varying modifications.

The series was a production of Mark Goodson/Bill Todman Productions, along with its successor companies, and has been franchised around the world, sometimes under the name Blankety Blanks.

In 2013, TV Guide ranked the 1973–79 CBS version of Match Game as No. 4 on its list of the 60 greatest game shows ever.[2][3] It was twice nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show, in 1976 and 1977.

Since 2010, Match Game has been parodied by drag artist RuPaul in the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, as "Snatch Game" - A regular challenge in the series where the contestants each impersonate a different celebrity for comedic effect.

  1. ^ a b Schwartz, David; Ryan, Steve; Wostbrock, Fred (1999). The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows (3 ed.). Facts on File, Inc. pp. 137–139. ISBN 0-8160-3846-5.
  2. ^ Fretts, Bruce (June 17, 2013). "Eyes on the Prize". TV Guide. pp. 14–15.
  3. ^ "TV Guide 60 greatest game shows". June 12, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2017.