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Game Shows
- GSN Video Games
- Match Game
- Hollywood Showdown
- Family Feud
- Russian Roulette
- Lingo
- Boiling Points!
- National Lampoons Funny Money
- Hollywood Squares
- Wammy: The All-New Press Your Luck
- Greed
- Foul Play
- Jeopardy!
- Wheel of Fortune
- Oblivious
- Card Sharks
- $100,000 Pyramid
- Friend or Foe?
- Win, Lose or Draw
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The Match Game
Gene Rayburn - Host
Aired December 1962 - September 1969
This was the original incarnation of the popular 1970s game show "Match Game." Gene Rayburn was the host (as in the later version) although the format of the game was vastly different.
Sadly, only 11 episodes of this show are still known to exist due to NBC's practice in the 1970s of destroying tapes of some of their old shows.
A note on the episode guide: since the show ran Monday-Friday of each week, and the guests were the same for all 5 days, each episode listed is actually a week's worth of episodes. The 6 contestants divided into 2 teams of 3 members (2 in-studio contestants and 1 star team captain) playing for points. Once a question was asked, the Host and both teams write their answers on a blank card with a crayon. Once they're finished, they'll raise their own hands one team member at a time and put one of their own hands down and show the answer on the card. When 2 team members match the answer together wins 25 points and then all 3 team members (including the star team captain) wins 50 points. The 1st team scores 100 points or greater than that wins the game collects $100 and plays "The Audience Match" where they can answer correctly matched to one of the 3 questions that happened weeks earlier. When 1 person matched wins $50, 2 people matched wins $100 or all 3 people matched wins $150 for a possible payout of $450 for a possible grand total of $550 and after they can play the game all over again before time's up and the team with the most money or the greatest amount of cash become today's winners. On January 23-27, 1967, "The Telephone Match" that became the latter feature of the show where Home Viewer (Telephone Caller) will play with the preselected studio audience member will write the answer to a question that'll match it to win $500. When it's a mismatch, they lose $500 and added $100 a day until it matched correctly. The Broadcast History: December 31, 1962-September 26, 1969, NBC-TV Monday-Friday at 4:00-4:25pm.
Match Game 73
Gene Rayburn - Host
Aired July 1973 - April 1979
This is the classic version of the ultimate classic game show that most people came to know and love. Originally intended to be simply an expanded remake of the popular 1962-1969 NBC game show, Match Game 73 (and its annual updates) soon grew into a bonafide, no-holds-barred comedy fest, full of innuendos and double-entendres. Host Gene Rayburn played straight man to the antics of the six-celebrity panel, but frequently aided the fun.
The game itself was straightforward. Two contestants, including a returning champion, competed. The challenger chose one of two questions (marked "A" and "B"), for which Rayburn read the question. While the questions were rather pedestrian early in the run (e.g., "Name a foreign car"), the questions quickly grew wild and wacky. Frequently, the questions involved a recurring list of characters, such as Dumb Donald, Wierd Willie and Old Man Periwinkle (the latter brilliantly portrayed by Rayburn); celebrities, politicians and news events of the time were also the butt of many of the questions
For example: "Mr. Morton just hired the wierdest secretary. She files herself under 'S' for 'blank.'" It was that blank that the six celebrities separately wrote in on index cards. The contestant then was asked for his/her answer. One by one, Rayburn then polled each celebrity for his/her response. The player earned one point for every match.
Two rounds were played, with the contestant in the lead going first in the second round of questions (or the champion if both were tied); celebrities who matched a player in the first round sat out that question. The player in the lead after two rounds (or after tie-breakers were played, if necessary), became champion and played the Big Money Super Match.
The Super Match was played in two parts. In the first part (dubbed Audience Match), Rayburn read a fill-in-the-blank phrase, which had been given to a previous studio audience of 100 people (e.g., Cookie "blank"). The contestant asked three celebrities, one at a time, for suggested answers, after which he/she could choose one or come up with one of his own. The three top answers were listed, with the No. 3 choice worth $100, the second-most popular worth $250 and the top choice paying $500.
If the player matched one of the top three choices, he/she won that amount of money and played the second part of the game (the Head-to-Head Match) for 10 times their winnings (either $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000). The player chose one celebrity, who was given another fill-in-the-blank phrase as before. If there was an exact match, the player won.
Players returned until defeated or surpassing CBS's $25,000 winnings limit (done just once, in the spring of 1979).
Richard Dawson was initially the only regular celebrity; Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers became regulars in the fall of 1973. Dawson was far and away the most popular Head-to-Head Match celebrity partner (one history of the show reported he was responsibile for more than $1 million in contestant winnings). Dawson parlayed his success in a spin-off of Match Game, Family Feud.
In 1978, a Star Wheel was added to the Super Match round, which the contestant spun to determine his/her celebrity partner. If the wheel landed in a designated "double" area, he could play for 20 times his Audience Match winnings (up to $10,000). Some fans of the show believe this move hastened Dawson's departure from the show in the fall of 1978, though that is purely speculation.
Match Game 73 had many classic moments during its six-year run on CBS (too many to list here). The show also spawned a successful syndicated entry (the once-a-week Match Game PM, which offered even higher cash prizes). After the CBS show (by now Match Game 79) ended its run in April 1979, it continued its life as a five-a-week entry in the fall of 1979; that series continued until 1982. A short-lived pairing with The Hollywood Squares in 1983, plus two self-contained revivals (in 1990 and 1998), soon followed.
Match Game PM
Gene Rayburn - Host
Aired September 1975 - September 1981
"Match Game PM" was the weekly nighttime syndicated version of "Match Game 73-79." As far as I know, all episodes still exist, as most of them have air on Game Show Network.
Match Game 90/91
Ross Shafer - Host
Match Game (1998)
Michael Burger - Host
Hollywood Showdown
Todd Newton - Host
Randy West - Announcer
Aired January 2000 - April 2002
Seven contestants compete for an entire week. The one that stands as 'King of the Hill' chooses one of the remaining six, each of which is holding an envelope. Inside six of the players' envelopes are cash amounts, the seventh conceals the 'Box Office' card. If a dollar amount is chosen, that amount is added to the Box Office Jackpot (which starts at $10,000), and the players compete to be the first to answer three questions about music, movies, or TV trivia. The winner takes over as king of the hill. If the player holding the 'Box Office' card is chosen, the first to answer three questions correctly goes to the Box Office Round, where they can win the entire jackpot with five correct answers. Each question is chosen from one of two categories, and the player always has the option of taking $500 per correct answer or risking the money and continuing. Jackpot winners leave the show and are replaced in the contestant pool.
Family Feud
Richard Dawson - Host - 1976-1985 and 1994-1995
Ray Combs - Host - 1988-1994
Louie Anderson - Host - 1999- 2002
Richard Karn - Host - 2002-Current
Burton Richardson - Announcer- 1999- Current
Gene Wood - Announcer (1976-95)
First Aired July 1976
Family Feud is one of television's most enduring and all-time popular game shows. The show (a spin off of another Goodson-Todman Productions show, Match Game) began its original run in 1976, with Richard Dawson as host. The show began a simultaneous run in syndication in 1977 (at first once a week, then twice in January 1979, then five days a week as of September 1980).
The show's premise was simple: Pit two teams of five family members against one another, and have them try to match answers to a survey of 100 people. That formula brought success for the original nine-year run and two subsequent revivals: a CBS and five-a-week syndicated entry in 1988 that ran for seven years (hosted by Ray Combs until 1994, and by original host Dawson during the 1994-1995 season); and the current 1999 syndicated five-a-week (which starred Louie Anderson from 1999 to 2002, and Richard Karn from 2002-on).
The gameplay went thusly: The team captains (and on down the line for subsequent questions) played the "face off," for which the host read a question, for which 100 people were asked (e.g., "Name a famous George.") The first player to ring in gave an answer, and if it appeared on the survey (two or more people polled for the survey had to give the answer for it to appear), the appropriate value was deposited into a bank. Unless it was the No. 1 answer, the other team member tried to give an answer that appeared higher on the survey.
The player giving the more popular answer decided if his/her team would play the question or pass it and force their opponents to match the remaining answers. One at a time, the team members tried to match the rest of the answers. At any time, if they gave an answer that did not appear on the survey (regardless of how good it was), they earned a strike.
If the team uncovered all the answers before getting three strikes, they won the cash value of the bank. But, if they got three strikes before all the answers were revealed, the opposing team was given one chance to give one of the remaining answers. If they did, they "stole" the cash value of the bank, but if not, the team that played the question did.
Subsequent questions were played, with the third round-on played for double the point values (after 1978, a "triple" round was added for triple the points). The first team to 200 points (later 300 points and still later, 400) won the championship and earned the right to play a bonus game called Fast Money. The losing team won the cash value of the points they accumulated.
Two team members played Fast Money. One of them was placed in a soundproof booth while the host read the first player a series of five Family Feud-survey questions (player one had 15 seconds while player two had 20 seconds; this was later upped to 20 and 25 seconds, respectively). After the first player's answers were scored, his/her teammate was asked the same five questions. He/she could not duplicate any answers (or else he'd be prompted to give another answer). If collectively they earned 200 points or more, they won $5,000 ($10,000 on the syndicated shows). If the team failed to reach 200, they earned $5 per point (e.g., 150 points meant $750).
In 1992, a new "Bullseye" game was added to the show's front game. Each team was spotted a $5,000 bankroll (which denoted their Fast Money jackpot if they reached it). Each player, in turn, was asked a Family Feud-style question and tried to match the No. 1 answer. Doing so added cash amounts of $1,000 (and an additional $1,000 for each question up to $5,000), for a maximum possible $20,000. This was modified somewhat during the 1994-1995 Dawson season (three bankroll questions of $1,000, $3,000 and $5,000, with a top jackpot of $14,000). Also during the 1994-1995 season, the two teams were reduced to four members each.
In the 1999 version, the teams once again had five players. Four front-game questions were played per show (three rounds of single values and a "triple" round), and the team merely had to be in the lead at the end of the game to win. Fast Money was played as before, with $10,000 (later, $20,000) for a successful effort. Returning champions were instituted starting in 2002.
Russian Roulette
Mark L. Walberg - Host
Burton Richardson - Announcer
First Aired June 2002
Four strangers: One goal: to win a head to head competition for a chance at $100,000. One wrong answer could be their last! This is Russian Roulette! Edited my itiparanoid13 and main contributor to episode guide Otto9000.
This show has one of the most unique formats I have ever seen. There are 6 holes on the stage. There are 4 contestants. Each is standing in a different hole. One drop zone is activated. Each receives $150 just for standing inside a hole. A challenger is selected. Mark reads the question. The challenger chooses someone to answer the question. If it is answered correctly, the player gets $150. For each correct question, another drop zone is activated. There can be five drop zones at the most activated at once. However, if time runs out or if someone answers incorrectly, the name of the game is all the contestant thinks about.
If it is answered incorrectly, the challenger gets the challengee's money. The person who answered incorrectly hears the sound of something unlocking below him. Then, that contestants pulls the handle in front of him. The red drop zone lights go through each hole. If the light doesn't land on the contestant, then that person survives. If it does, the contestant is dropped out of the game, litterally. In this game, you are the bullet in the game of Russian Roulette. And what happens to the bullet? The bullet drops out of the gun at a rapid speed, much like the contestant. The trap door below that person opens, and he is out of the game, forgotten forever. Well, until they show the slow motion replay. If time is up in one round, the person in the lead gets to leave the hole. A lever rises from the ground. Only one drop zone is activated. All contestants hear the sound of their game unlocking. The player pulls the handle. If the light is on you, you lose. This same type of thing happens until the third round. In this round, you can either keep the question or pass it. Then is the all mighty bonus round.... part one.
In season two, the first round is worth $150, second is $200, and the third is $250, unlike season one, whose 3rd round was $300.
The bonus round is more exciting than ever with the 10 Killer Questions. The floor becomes a clock. Every 10 seconds a new drop zone opens. If it catches up to you or you answer incorrectly, you sink. Get all ten and you win $10,000. Every question you do get if you fall is worth $300. Every open hole now becomes a drop zone if you survive. If you pull the handle and drop, you lose the $10,000. If you survive, you walk away with $100,000. Of course, you can chicken out and go across the bridge and leave if you want to.
Lingo
Chuck Woolery - Host
Randi Thomas - Announcer
First Aired August 2002
Welcome to LINGO! The game show where, if you're lucky, you can win up to $15,000 in cash and prizes. Remember: it's not just language (or letters), it's LINGO! You have to guess the word then if you get it right you draw a ball with a number on it and try to get bingo.
Boiling Points!
Weekdays at 4:30 pm on MTV
MTV sends out professional agitators to annoy people. If you keep your cool you get A COOL 100 BUCKS! If you don't you get publicly humiliated on national TV.
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