The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour

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The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour
What happens when Mark Goodson fused two long-running game shows into an hour-long show with one half being great; while butchering the other half.
Genre: Game Show Running Time: 44 Minutes Country: United States Release Date: October 31, 1983 – July 27, 1984 Network(s): NBC Created by: Mark Goodson Bill Todman Merrill Heatter Bob Quigley Distributed by: MGM Worldwide Television Fremantle North America Seasons: 1 Episodes: 191

The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour was a short-lived game show that aired from September 1983 to September 1984. As it implies, it fused Match Game and The Hollywood Squares into an hour-long show, however, it was dropped and canceled during the start of NBC's 1984-85 season, along with Bay City Blues and The Duck Factory.

Why It Sucks

1. Jon Bauman was a terrible host.
2. The Hollywood Squares format was butchered.
3. Lack of zingers.
4. The set, while it was inventive, could've been a bit better.
5. Gene Rayburn hated working with Jon Bauman.
6. It was so bad, that its cancellation likely contributed to longtime Goodson producer Ira Skutch's departure from Mark Goodson Productions, despite Skutch not having any involvement with this show.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Great theme song, which was later used as a car cue on The Price is Right and the Bob Eubanks version of Card Sharks.
2. Gene Rayburn is still excellent as the host.
3. The show does have its fair share of hilarious moments.
4. Memorable celebrities like Nedra Volz, Bill Cullen, Charles Nelson-Reilly, etc.
5. The Telephone Match from the original 1960s version of The Match Game returned in 1984 after a 15-year-long absence.

Trivia

• The Match Game-Hollywood Squares hour was Mark Goodson's second hour-long game show, the first being The Price is Right.
• In the past, Jon Bauman occasionally made appearances on Match Game (by his nickname Bowzer from Sha Na Na), particularly from 1978 to 1980.
• Butch Hartman, who famously created Nicktoons like The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, was a contestant on this show on December 22, 1983. His episode is first shown on January 3, 1984.

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