If anything really good came out of MGHSH, it was Edd Kalehoff's kick@$$ theme song which was later used as a car cue on The Price Is Right and Card Sharks (Eubanks).
Doc Trower I remember that song which was used on the "Price Is Right" as a car plug where contestant would win a car. It was a highlight of the show. They later used it as a song about Erik Mokracek, a user on TH-cam as "MGHSHour2a" which is now a troll. Here is what it sounded like. th-cam.com/video/FBG54wvEe20/w-d-xo.html
Don't think Seidelman roasts specific game show fans online though (barring the time the Golden Fanboiz down the Road got it, but that's a group not one person). But....yeah. Though Mokracek's been roasted seemingly by everyone but Seidelman on here.
If parts of the fandom were not immune to being put in GSG, I know certain anti-Autism, anti-GSG, anti-anything that doesn't come out of their clique's mouths fans I'd nominate...in fact it's so clear to me I can practically Invision, er envision it.
I think the reason GT altered the Hollywood Squares format to allow an opponent to win on a missed question was so they could fit more wins into the abbreviated format. They wanted to avoid a potential "You fool!" moment, in which the contestant keeps missing and no win occurs.
Another reason why Goodson Squares didn't get over : it was essentially the MG panel in HS's body, with stars shouting over one another as one tried to answer a question.
Filmways was bought by Orion Pictures which was later purchased by MGM. At the end of each episode of MGHS Hour, you can see the following sentence at the bottom of the TV screen: "By arrangement with Orion Pictures." And that's that.
One thing also I will give it credit is its transition from the MG to the HS. With the upper tier sliding on in, with the walls behind the celebs being where the X'S and O's are at.
The lone bright spot of this disastrous game show idea is the theme song, which was used as the car cue on "The Price Is Right" and the Bob Eubanks version of "Card Sharks".
The Bowz also wanted to remind you..."That’s right. Goodson had written a letter to Variety in the 60’s complaining about the false standard for wit created by the original Squares & wasn’t about to recreate it when he became producer of MGHS. The questions tried to be “leading” but no quips or bluffs were given."
Oh, get this! Jon Bauman has been talking about MG/HS on Twitter. Get a load of these gems: "Understand that this was the only completely honest version of Hwd Squares ever where no Squares were sitting there with the punch lines of the jokes in front of them." "When the shows come back on, watch the Squares part for the fun of every comic in Hollywood struggling with “Here’s the setup, What’s the punch line?” Instant joke construction on live to tape TV. Not easy."
Recently, Jon Bauman went into more detail on Twitter about what happened with this show. It does shed a little more light on as to why this show ended up the way it did.
Many years after MGHS got canned, according to Hollywood Squares: The E! THS (True Hollywood Story), Peter Marshall even got in his jabs at this show by saying that it was produced badly and it was done badly and he was glad it got cancelled. It's also possible that when Marshall learned that HS was gonna be bastardized, Mark Goodson went with Bauman over Marshall instead.
He wasn't considered. He hosted the show that was replaced by MG/HS. He was the host of "Fantasy," which seems to be pretty hard to find much footage of. It wasn't bad when it was Peter and Leslie Uggams. But with a few months left to its life, they added Glenn Scarpelli, who was very annoying to me as a teenager. These shows were up against "General Hospital" and "Guiding Light," when they were both vying for the afterschool viewer. I swear I was the only kid in my school who watched "Fantasy" and then "MG/HS."
Though it was never announced as a mash-up, when "Las Vegas Gambit" reformatted their bonus game from the traditional Gambit Board, and added a dice table... it was the closest thing to a mash up of High Rollers' "Shut the Box" dice game combined with Gambit's Blackjack. I actually liked this addition, though it reduced the prize values of non winning dice rollers to a maximum of $800. (cash)
Now get this. Here is a fun fact. After Bowser hosted the “Hollywood Squares” portion in this show. He was the singing voice of the Smooze in “My Little Pony: The Movie” in a song called “Nothing Can Stop The Smooze”. I listened to that song and it was catchy.
This was Mark Goodson's fault because he did not want to bring in Peter Marshall because he is a Merrill Heather Bob Quigley guy and bringing in Jon "Bowser" Bowman was a Goodson decision and Goodson screwed it up, do not put blame on Bowman, he did not have a lot of game show experience, this ruined Goodson's producing game shows.
The show itself wasn't too bad to keep the hour moving. The shock of seeing Jon Bauman in a suit and tie instead of his usual Bowzer wardrobe took a while to get used to....and once one gets used to him...the show got cancelled. No Secret Square bonus prize, either.
The "win by default" rule also made a veeeerrrrryyy brief return on one episode of one of the very earliest taped episodes of the Tom Bergeron edition of Hollywood Squares too before they very quickly went back to the "Earn that win by yourself" rule.
@@JMFabiano Having looked up a good number of Davidson Squares since seeing this video, I've noticed that the Davidson run also had a default win condition - but only via the 5-Square win route. A player could win there if their opponent's wrong answer gave them Square #5 - there's at least 3-4 episodes up on YT that have that happen. Tic-tac-toes had to be earned, of course, but 5-Square wins (as long as they were ONLY 5 Square Wins) could be backed into. This, in turn, makes me wonder if that was the case with the original (Marshall) run, or no. But if anything, You Fool! makes it all the funnier that the Bergeron run made players have to earn 5 Square Wins too (because look how that turned out!).
If they'd just left the HS portion alone and gotten a different host, they'd have a longer run. After this show got cancelled, the next revival of Squares would premiere in 1986 with John Davidson and last three years, then in 1998 (which I love so much) with Tom Bergeron and lasted a good six years. Match Game had their next revival in 1990, then in 1998, and just recently in 2016 with Alec Baldwin as host.
You know what I think? I think this show needs a revival, with the Hollywood Squares portion tweaked to match its original rules of not automatically winning the square when your opponent incorrectly guesses for a block. I also think the top prize should be $100,000.
_MGHS Hour_ wasn't well-served by its 3 PM airtime. _Match Game_ didn't quite hit the after-school audience at 3 PM - 3:30 PM and 4 PM were _MG's_ peak time slots for that reason - while those coming home after 3:30 PM were subject to a bastardized _Hollywood Squares._ Also, NBC had trouble programming the 3 PM hour after the 1960s when the show wasn't _Another World_ - a bunch of failed soaps, _Fantasy,_ and _MGHS Hour._ Even though _Santa Barbara_ lasted from 1984-1993, it was only there due to critical acclaim and three Daytime Emmy wins in a row for Outstanding Drama Series. After _SB's_ cancellation, NBC gave the 3 PM hour to its affiliates and never looked back. Maybe a better presentation would have saved _MGHS Hour,_ but that format merger was in itself a desperation move. NBC just couldn't compete against _General Hospital_ and _Guiding Light,_ and man, they tried.
Ironically, this is part of why I have a nostalgic love for this show, as it would be on when I came home from school. Our days ended early enough for me to watch the whole thing though.
Interestingly, from what pictures we've seen of the pilot for this, the Match Game portion was going to have three players, rather than two. I can't imagine how tedious the game would have been or how tightly edited it would have to be in order to fit a game of Hollywood Squares versus the returning champion.
I'd love to see addendums done to this considering how we've been seeing episodes not seen in 35-36 years. And more to come starting tomorrow! Like...how godawful celebrities' schticks were....Fred Travalena and Edie McClurg, I am looking at YOU. The before they were stars moments. Celebs that DID work and looked like they were having a good time. Also, I know it's early in the run, but besides the slip-ups he would have from time to time, I don't see much of the grumpy Gene trope.
As great of a producer Mark Goodson was, this was truly one of his biggest mis-steps of all-time. On top of that Peter Marshall was VERY available, considering that Fantasy, the show that MGHS replaced was JUST cancelled the week before and Peter and Gene (Rayburn) were very good friends in real-life, since they often mentioned they got compared to each other and Peter made a few appearances on MG as well.
Yeah I can't understand that choice, although I have to imagine Peter would have HATED the format...maybe part of why he didn't get the call. What coulda been though huh?
His memoir Backstage With The Original Hollywood Square supposedly gives a blow-by-blow account of the backroom deals that cost Peter the co-hosting job of MGHS.
I thought I saw on a game show chat forum on the Internet that Goodson wanted to produce an hour-long version of Match Game, but the NBC brass wanted him to blend it with Hollywood Squares - a show Goodson hated because of its scripted humor. Also, Goodson wanted one host, but NBC insisted on two hosts. Producer and network executives were not on the same page about what the show should be.
Interesting fact is that the Theme song that was used here would later on be used for presenting a Car in The Price is Right (And also in the Card Sharks remake) and has been used to this very day!
They later used it as a song by a troll named Erik Mokracek (aka "MGHSHour2a") on TH-cam where he sang a song about you figure it out. That troll fail at singing this theme song. th-cam.com/video/BIdRkdWZ30Q/w-d-xo.html
Someone in casting must have REALLY loved both St. Elsewhere and We Got it Made. Most weeks, there was at least one cast member from both of those shows on the panel.
If they ever did another take on this, I hope they fix the problems the Hollywood Squares portion, also they should've had Peter Marshall host the Hollywood Squares half or John Davidson, Match game's half was tolerable, but Hollywood Squares's portion stunk...no secret square, you get points on every square, it should be when you get 3 in a row or 5 square win but this I don't mind, I didn't like how they gave the contestant a square even if it's for a block, I did think the Bonus round was tolerable. And before I forget, had they used the normal type of questions on the Hollywood Squares portion it could've been good.
1. Don't forget that the theme became one of the most well know car themes for TPIR and the 80's Card Sharks. 2. Gene reportedly couldn't STAND Jon for whatever reason. 3. I wonder which H2 revival you liked better: Davidson version or the Tom Bergeron version.
Although the Hollywood Squares half doomed that mashup, there are at least a few good things about the show, like the theme song, which was often used on the Price is Right for their prizes, the set, where blue seems to be a very vibrant color, and the Match Game half, because Mark Goodson already knew how to execute his own show.
The only thing I can begin to theorize led to the auto-win rule is that maybe they were trying to avoid a "YOU FOOL!" situation. Given that Squares was sandwiched between the two parts of Match Game, they probably wanted to keep it moving as fast as possible. Not that it's forgivable.
@@JMFabiano I don't know of any You Fool incident on the Marshall version, but there is always that possibility when using the rule that the win cannot be default. Not that I agree with it, I think that's just the logic that went into it. I agree with you on the conclusion that Goodson wanted as many games as possible to fit.
Ironically, I do compare Mark Goodson's treatment of HS in favor of his creation to be very WWF/E-like. (You may say the union of Heatter and Quigley was an..."Alliance"?)
I agree that the Squares format suffered by using multiple choice only, giving squares on your opponent's error no matter what, and Bauman as host - his style didn't mesh as well with the format. That said, the theme is the biggest contribution to game show history. And the multipliers were ingenious - it would allow for someone to choose and not feel like they had to succumb to the fate of something completely random, like the Star Wheel. In fact, I wish it was used in the current version of Match Game - if used properly, it could yield some really big money wins.
Yes, this was probably the highest stakes for the Super Match ever (barring the Gameshow Marathon version). See how Goodson put most thought into making Match Game look good within the hour?
i loved that gameshow but u made very good points of hollywood squares, and Mark Goodsons an intelligent man i dont get y he made that format. What gets me is i can remember a time when you had daytime gameshows on the major networks and there timeslots Pyramid and Card Sharks 10:00 cbs, Sale of the Century and Press Your Luck 10:30 High Rollers and Wheel of Fortune at 11 and Scrabble and Win Lose or draw at 11:30 It is so sad that we no longer have gameshows in those timeslots except for GSN
@@GameShowGumbo - *Hollywood Squares* has horrible bonus rounds. It wasn't until near the end of Bergeron's run that HS finally got a good bonus round. Let's hope the upcoming *Nate Burleson* (first Canadian to host the American Hollywood Squares) version retains *Tom Bergeron's* final bonus round. Knowing *Mark Goodson,* he probably would have not included Bergeron's final bonus round anyway. Plus, I would have the champion pick which bonus round they want to do for that episode, and if they successfully defend their crown, they have to play the other bonus game for that episode. Rinse and repeat. Funny how Goodson loves *To Tell The Truth,* but yet didn't like Hollywood Squares' "is the celebrity telling the truth or full of it" format. The lesson: Always have BOTH sides involved with a mash-up. Mark Goodson produces *Match Game,* while *Merrill Heatter* produces Hollywood Squares. Never have trust in Goodson with Squares, and likewise, don't trust Heatter with Match Game. On the bright side, Sony owns BOTH the *Hollywood Connection* (Match Game rip-off) and *Break The Bank 2.0* (Hollywood Squares rip-off). With some tweaking for both shows (especially the former), Sony can show Mark Goodson's zombie how to do a mash-up correctly. PS - I'm shocked that *Gene Rayburn* was never the center square.
CCL on TH-cam Yep! That was used as a car plug as heard on the "Price Is Right" where it reveals a car prize. It was used as a song that Erik Mokracek sang where he made that up himself.
Whenever Mark Goodson found a sound effect or theme, he never let it go to waste. He probably thought there was something to salvage from this fiasco & he picked the right thing.
It's funny, but this is one of the things I hated about it. I thought they should have used the Bill Cullen "Blockbusters" theme for it. That's a piece that says "fun," which would set the stage better for it.
Sweet impersonation of Vinnie Mac. My guess was the size of his grapefruits. And I totally agree with your opinion with the HS portion. Otherwise, solid game.
Regarding the scoring in the HS part, MG shows had a history of poor structure. Both Super Password and Body Language had rounds that had no effect on the outcome of the game. Granted, that's the opposite problem.
I think the problem was that Bauman was not bad. Its the game play and scoring. It should be $100 per square and $100 per round and $50 per square and each round you add $100 and $50. For Example Round 1 $100 and $50 per square , $200 per round and $100 per square and so on and so on. And they should add a secret square and you can't win by default
As I've been making the rounds saying, if every day could potentially pay off $30,000+, did they need to add a Secret Square on top of that? Maybe for a cash bonus not included with the score total? No sense in it since all the questions are the same anyway.
I think the reason Peter Marshall didn't get to host the "Hollywood Squares" version of this show was because he co-hosted the show that ran in this same time slot previously (Fantasy). My guess was the big wigs wanted a change. BTW- Lesslie Uggams was the other co-host to Fantasy, which didn't make the game show encyclopedia as being an actual Game Show but did have some game show type games in it. Would love to see Fantasy on TH-cam someday..
I believe I have seen some episodes of Fantasy here on TH-cam, you just have to search for it. Though...bluntly, I can see why the suits cancelled that show.
Looks like he's backpedaling a little bit... this was answering if he remembered the episode where Gene said he shouldn't have to guess because HS is about bluffing... "Not me. But of course there were no bluffs given. The show was completely honest. It just had a little trouble being funny."
Wink Martindale has a studio-master quality episode of MGHS on his TH-cam page. I went and watched it. And boy, oh boy, you are spot-on in your review of MGHS. The Match Game portion of the show is fantastic. Gene was Gene, and all was well there. I liked the added wrinkle of the Secret Multiplier in the Head-To-Head match to create a possible $30,000 jackpot - pretty big money for the mid 1980s. But the Hollywood Squares portion was unwatchable. As I said in a comment below, I have little use for Hollywood Squares, but at least the celebrities were somewhat funny in what little I remember of the John Davidson HS. The celebrities weren't given much opportunity to be funny because of the multiple-choice nature of the questions. And Jon Bauman was overly energetic and came off as a douche and a fake. He really rubbed me the wrong way, much the same way Pat Bullard rubs you the wrong way.
I like your review. But local stations failed this show also by running something else in the 3:00 time spot. Detroit's NBC affiliate was notorious for doing this. I would have remembered this if it was on in that market as I would have watched it most of the time if it did originally air. Oh, that's right...the 1983 & 1984 Tigers baseball afternoon games were occasionally on some days of the week at that time and when you had a ball team that was unstoppable in 1984. Yes, that was why. During the winter of '84 this show was pre-empted by some other show of which I forgot. But anyway. That's what also didn't help with ratings.
In Pittsburgh WPXI initially pre-empted MG-HS for a talk show titled "Breakaway", which I think was a clone of "Hour Magazine". It was co-hosted, IIRC, by Monte Markham and a female whose name escapes me. For a time WPTT, an independent, carried it in a morning slot. WPXI did carry MG-HS for its last few weeks before NBC pulled the plug.
It would help, but still, he would be hosting a watered down version of Squares nonetheless. If the producer isn't taking the format seriously, does it matter?
They've been showing it on BUZZR for quite a while. The Match Game portion is alright but I'm not that big fan of the Hollywood Squares portion. It's bizarre seeing Bowser as a game show host when he's not doing his gimmick.
Pop N Rocker game was bad, and Bauman didn’t help. He was even worse on Squares, in fact one of the worst hosts I have ever seen. Also, I don’t like the rotating center square. If anyone should have been the center square, it’s Rayburn.
someguy23475 He was one of the members of Sha-Na-Na, one of the 50's and 60's tribute band before he got the job. He had their own TV variety show in the 1970's. I remember the closing theme where they sang "Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight" which was originally a classic by the Spaniels. After that, he hosted two game shows that went nowhere. This, and the "Pop 'N Rocker Game". Both game shows are horrible compared to this game. The first half was good, where they had the "Match Game" part. The second half sucks, because the "Hollywood Squares" part was a poor man's version of the classic game. Peter Marshall wasn't around. Thankfully, he did the part in the original "Annie" from 1982 where he was in the studio with Annie, Daddy Warbucks and the guys singing "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile". If you have not seen Peter Marshall in "Annie", check it out. Too bad, Bowser never hosted this and the "Pop 'N Rocker Game" anymore.
There is also the touchy situation of ownership. MGM owns Hollywood Squares (after they purchased Orion, which originally had it under their umbrella) & Fremantle owns Match Game (as they do almost all Goodson-Todman shows). Both sides would have to agree to a deal for it to ever be shown again.
Unfortunately, that is about to change. On February 17, 2019, BUZZR is going to do a MGHSH marathon, and plans to add the show to its regular rotation. SMH.
And I think....that's actually a good thing. Well first there's my nostalgia. Second for the sake of completion, as Buzzr can now run every version of Rayburn MG that's still around. (it's like adding Feud '94 to get all Dawson versions) Third, if they had to go through MGM to get the rights, maybe part of the talk will involve some day bringing the real Squares to the channel.
Surprised that/if you don't include the soundbite from Gene, ON AIR, where he basically calls the show out on how HS should be about bluffing. I forget which episode but I had it on VHS back in the day. Anyone remember?
I have a soft spot for this show over what it could have been. Had Goodson not screwed up Squares, I really do think this show would be seen as a classic instead of a trainwreck and a curiosity now. Just as a quick aside since this being Gene's last run on Match Game was mentioned - I heard fairly recently, I believe it was via Roger Dobkowitz's Facebook, that after Bert Convy dropped out of MG90 Gene put his name in to return (this much was known already) but he was actually seriously considered for the role too. However, he was only seriously considered for "a week or so" before they moved on to looking at Bob Eubanks (!!!) and ultimately hired Ross Shafer.
That part i never knew. I knew that Bob Eubanks was coming off of doing both the Newlywed Game and Card Sharks...but this was before he ended up doing Family Secrets (a show that was covered here, and I'm grateful I never saw any of it as a kid because my mom was into the Young and the Restless then).
I remember Ross Shafer's "Match Game", it was good. The actual game was much of the same as it was in the original, and it was a solid show. The bonus round looks the same, and they brought back the "Star Wheel" to spin for double the money to chose which celebrity who want to pick. Instead of the wheel spinning, it moves by a pointer. I remember the show, and it wasn't too bad.
Woulda been interesting for the whoopee questions alone lol, and Bob woulda had a ton to play off of. He woulda likely been in his element here, vs a more serious game like Card Sharks where I know some criticized his hosting being too crude humor wise at times.
Bob Eubanks would have been a great host of MG90, but as I think they mentioned on the Family Secrets induction, his career kind of went into eclipse for a bit after he stuck his foot in his mouth in Roger & Me. He might have been considered unemployable for a time (bar the syndicated Infatuation, which was awful). Having seen Bert's pilot, I think he would have been fantastic, if not for his health issues. Ross wound up doing not half-bad (at least from the eyes of a 10-year old viewer like me, who quite enjoyed that version at the time). It may no longer have been the titillating, taboo-breaker of the '70s version (even by 1990, there was not much left to shock viewers with), but it still moved. 39 weeks was certainly more than most imperfect game shows could ask for.
Some plusses I will mention about the HS portion: the third tier swinging in between shows was SO cool to 6-year-old me. Whoever was working the camera did a good job of making the actually dinky board look somewhat big, though not the tower the Marshall, Davidson, etc. boards were. The symbols filling the square should totally have been lifted by one of the legit Squares revivals. (which it eventually was by Hip Hop Squares, though YMMV on the legitimacy of that)
Is it just me, or does the theme not really fit well here? Having seen a few of these now, I can't help but think that you can almost feel how much of an "epic" presentation they tried to dress this up with - and given the two games involved, an "epic" presentation feels a lot like pairing them together with just the wrong gimmick. The theme is of course a classic now, but used here it doesn't feel like the best fit.
Exactly! As I said elsewhere, they needed something like the theme from Bill Cullen's version of Blockbusters. It actually matches pretty well with the flickering lights and sounds more comedic.
Is the tooth issues why your lighting is so dark in this one, to hide the side of your face? I'd understand if it was but honestly, it was very distracting this episode; I just kept trying to figure out why you were in such shadows. I mean, I'm not a lighting expert by I kept wanting to move your fill light a few inches. I'm sure it was just space and equipment and time restrictions but I felt it was unfortunate.
BUZZR is bringing the show back for reruns starting on February 17, 2019. Someone at that network needs to come and watch this video before they go through with rerunning this abortion of a game show.
The actual only thing that did come from this show was the theme package. The Main Theme, the commercal vamp, and the fee vamp were used as car cues. I can see why many NBC stations opted to play Scooby-Doo reruns or other local programming it its place.
One more thing actually! In the original Squares, there was not a sound effect for when an X or and O would appear on the board. MG/HSR started that trend as the versions of Squares afterward make a sound effect when a letter is put on the board.
I never really liked Hollywood Squares in any incarnation. It seems to me that the show was always about the celebrities trying to show how funny they were and not about the contestants trying to win money. The celebrities who appeared on Match Game were only slightly better in this regard, but I prefer MG over HS by a long shot. By the way, your next induction should be Joy, the most annoying Press Your Luck contestant ever, who appeared on Episode #219 of PYL (aka Gene Snyder's second game), and who also appeared in the audience of Beverlie Peters' episode and got on stage with her after she won.
I kind of agree. In part, because nine stars is a lot of people, and outside of the center square, most of them only got a minute or two (if even that) of airtime.
I heard something that in the mid-80s, there was talk of a new version of "Match Game" to come on the air with Gene Rayburn hosting again, considering he had then-recently been let go as host of "Break the Bank". However, when a report from "Entertainment Tonight" about this proposed revival came out, they mentioned Rayburn's age, which was older than a lot of people thought he was. This pretty much prevented him from finding that much work in television for the rest of his life.
That's pretty much how I've heard it went too. There were even print ads put out in 1985 for a new syndicated version of Match Game (notably featuring the 78-82/2016 logo, but in red) with Gene hosting, but the project unraveled with the incident you described which led to a lack of demand among stations for it. From what I've heard, reruns of the old Match Game were syndicated that season instead.
ET was doing a "birthdays" segment on December 22, 1985 & mentioned Gene's real age of 68. As he himself said later, "The phones stopped ringing then." So yes, ageism at its finest. Bob Barker was 62, Bill Cullen was 65; both in the same ballpark as Gene, but they did not get that same shafting. And if I remember right, Gene might have asked to be let out of his Break The Bank commitment & having "walked away", that essentially made his reliability questionable for any future project.
5:48: Go ahead, cough it up, Cyndi. Personally, I'm under the assumption that Goodson didn't like the "can't put a circle there you have to earn it yourself" rule following failed blocks and had it changed just to keep the game at a fast pace. Hey, I understand about your health challenges. Get well soon.
That's mostly what I'm thinking - letting a failed block be a win for the opponent was done to keep the game going and to ensure that 2-3-4 games of it would be played. Otherwise, it's easier to have a game run long (1999's "YOU FOOL!" being the obvious extreme). Wins needing to be earned may be the honest way to do Squares, but when the overall format of this pairing is as chronically so desperately pressed for time as it is, that necessitates making the change. That's only to say that I get why that would be done. Timing also seems like it'd be the reason why all questions were multiple choice. There's still room - if not all that much - for wit, but for the sake of not blowing off the game entirely (or for questions that are complete stumpers), multiple choice imposes a limit there. One could say, though, that needing to make multiple concessions of the format due to time constraints would amount to reasons why this wasn't such a good idea...
Having since looked up the episode guide since my previous reply - apparently Leno was also on the original Squares, too! Six different times/weeks between late 1977 and mid-1979.
And no props to the theme song? (which everyone has done, I guess...so it wouldn't be unique, nor mentioning its survival through The Price is Right...)
Watching the E true Hollywood story of Hollywood squares, Peter mentioned this ad his belief that Bauman was chosen because of his association with sha na na and they thought he'd appeal more to the younger audience. and he himself was critical of this show, saying it was poorly produced. I also heard Gene Rayburn and Jon Bauman didn't get along behind the scenes so that probably didn't help matters.
Bauman was a frequent Goodson game show guest celebrity (Password Plus, 1970s Match Game) and a good game player. He was a familiar presence for Goodson to hire him to emcee the Squares portion and play the Match Game portion.
Because Sha-Na-Na was so hip in the 80s. Then again back then oldies stations still actually played fifties music, so you never know. Happy Days was still on/rerun a lot on local TV, so maybe I'm a bit hasty saying '50s nostalgia was unhip. Still Bauman on HS = so random. Kind of like going over everyone's heads and deciding a 90s sitcom star should replace Bob Barker..oh wait. Maybe Goodson or NBC simply wanted to groom him into a game show host and unfortunately threw him into having to host an iconic format. Then there's getting someone who could play MG every week. But Peter appeared on the original show too! And then there's loads of people who were great MG players I could think of...McLean Stevenson, the many experienced hosts that appeared there, I'd mention Richard Dawson but a) Feud and b) there's NO CHANCE IN HELL he'd get to work with Gene again. Charles might be a bit unusual. Betty White was prob. busy at the time, but Just Men just ended, no?
First: Never apologize for self-care.
Second: That was an AMAZING impression of Vince. Well done.
Love this channel. Keep it up. =)
If anything really good came out of MGHSH, it was Edd Kalehoff's kick@$$ theme song which was later used as a car cue on The Price Is Right and Card Sharks (Eubanks).
Doc Trower I remember that song which was used on the "Price Is Right" as a car plug where contestant would win a car. It was a highlight of the show.
They later used it as a song about Erik Mokracek, a user on TH-cam as "MGHSHour2a" which is now a troll. Here is what it sounded like.
th-cam.com/video/FBG54wvEe20/w-d-xo.html
Yesssss... this is truuuuue... it's true... yes, I-T is!
Mokracek's version should get its own induction!
Don't think Seidelman roasts specific game show fans online though (barring the time the Golden Fanboiz down the Road got it, but that's a group not one person). But....yeah. Though Mokracek's been roasted seemingly by everyone but Seidelman on here.
If parts of the fandom were not immune to being put in GSG, I know certain anti-Autism, anti-GSG, anti-anything that doesn't come out of their clique's mouths fans I'd nominate...in fact it's so clear to me I can practically Invision, er envision it.
I think the reason GT altered the Hollywood Squares format to allow an opponent to win on a missed question was so they could fit more wins into the abbreviated format. They wanted to avoid a potential "You fool!" moment, in which the contestant keeps missing and no win occurs.
Another reason why Goodson Squares didn't get over : it was essentially the MG panel in HS's body, with stars shouting over one another as one tried to answer a question.
Filmways was bought by Orion Pictures which was later purchased by MGM. At the end of each episode of MGHS Hour, you can see the following sentence at the bottom of the TV screen: "By arrangement with Orion Pictures." And that's that.
One thing also I will give it credit is its transition from the MG to the HS. With the upper tier sliding on in, with the walls behind the celebs being where the X'S and O's are at.
The lone bright spot of this disastrous game show idea is the theme
song, which was used as the car cue on "The Price Is Right" and the
Bob Eubanks version of "Card Sharks".
The Bowz also wanted to remind you..."That’s right. Goodson had written a letter to Variety in the 60’s complaining about the false standard for wit created by the original Squares & wasn’t about to recreate it when he became producer of MGHS. The questions tried to be “leading” but no quips or bluffs were given."
Oh, get this! Jon Bauman has been talking about MG/HS on Twitter. Get a load of these gems:
"Understand that this was the only completely honest version of Hwd Squares ever where no Squares were sitting there with the punch lines of the jokes in front of them."
"When the shows come back on, watch the Squares part for the fun of every comic in Hollywood struggling with “Here’s the setup, What’s the punch line?” Instant joke construction on live to tape TV. Not easy."
Had the HS portion had its format left alone this would have been a very solid show.
Recently, Jon Bauman went into more detail on Twitter about what happened with this show. It does shed a little more light on as to why this show ended up the way it did.
Many years after MGHS got canned, according to Hollywood Squares: The E! THS (True Hollywood Story), Peter Marshall even got in his jabs at this show by saying that it was produced badly and it was done badly and he was glad it got cancelled.
It's also possible that when Marshall learned that HS was gonna be bastardized, Mark Goodson went with Bauman over Marshall instead.
He wasn't considered. He hosted the show that was replaced by MG/HS. He was the host of "Fantasy," which seems to be pretty hard to find much footage of. It wasn't bad when it was Peter and Leslie Uggams. But with a few months left to its life, they added Glenn Scarpelli, who was very annoying to me as a teenager. These shows were up against "General Hospital" and "Guiding Light," when they were both vying for the afterschool viewer. I swear I was the only kid in my school who watched "Fantasy" and then "MG/HS."
Though it was never announced as a mash-up, when "Las Vegas Gambit" reformatted their bonus game from the traditional Gambit Board, and added a dice table... it was the closest thing to a mash up of High Rollers' "Shut the Box" dice game combined with Gambit's Blackjack. I actually liked this addition, though it reduced the prize values of non winning dice rollers to a maximum of $800. (cash)
Now get this. Here is a fun fact. After Bowser hosted the “Hollywood Squares” portion in this show. He was the singing voice of the Smooze in “My Little Pony: The Movie” in a song called “Nothing Can Stop The Smooze”. I listened to that song and it was catchy.
This was Mark Goodson's fault because he did not want to bring in Peter Marshall because he is a Merrill Heather Bob Quigley guy and bringing in Jon "Bowser" Bowman was a Goodson decision and Goodson screwed it up, do not put blame on Bowman, he did not have a lot of game show experience, this ruined Goodson's producing game shows.
The show itself wasn't too bad to keep the hour moving. The shock of seeing Jon Bauman in a suit and tie instead of his usual Bowzer wardrobe took a while to get used to....and once one gets used to him...the show got cancelled. No Secret Square bonus prize, either.
I thought it should have been a Super Match style question if they had done that.
The "win by default" rule also made a veeeerrrrryyy brief return on one episode of one of the very earliest taped episodes of the Tom Bergeron edition of Hollywood Squares too before they very quickly went back to the "Earn that win by yourself" rule.
I wonder why? coughYOUFOOLcough
@@JMFabiano Having looked up a good number of Davidson Squares since seeing this video, I've noticed that the Davidson run also had a default win condition - but only via the 5-Square win route. A player could win there if their opponent's wrong answer gave them Square #5 - there's at least 3-4 episodes up on YT that have that happen.
Tic-tac-toes had to be earned, of course, but 5-Square wins (as long as they were ONLY 5 Square Wins) could be backed into.
This, in turn, makes me wonder if that was the case with the original (Marshall) run, or no. But if anything, You Fool! makes it all the funnier that the Bergeron run made players have to earn 5 Square Wins too (because look how that turned out!).
If they'd just left the HS portion alone and gotten a different host, they'd have a longer run. After this show got cancelled, the next revival of Squares would premiere in 1986 with John Davidson and last three years, then in 1998 (which I love so much) with Tom Bergeron and lasted a good six years. Match Game had their next revival in 1990, then in 1998, and just recently in 2016 with Alec Baldwin as host.
Someone said this show was just a stop-gap program that was only supposed to run until "Santa Barbara" was set to replace it. That sounds plausible.
You know what I think? I think this show needs a revival, with the Hollywood Squares portion tweaked to match its original rules of not automatically winning the square when your opponent incorrectly guesses for a block. I also think the top prize should be $100,000.
_MGHS Hour_ wasn't well-served by its 3 PM airtime. _Match Game_ didn't quite hit the after-school audience at 3 PM - 3:30 PM and 4 PM were _MG's_ peak time slots for that reason - while those coming home after 3:30 PM were subject to a bastardized _Hollywood Squares._
Also, NBC had trouble programming the 3 PM hour after the 1960s when the show wasn't _Another World_ - a bunch of failed soaps, _Fantasy,_ and _MGHS Hour._ Even though _Santa Barbara_ lasted from 1984-1993, it was only there due to critical acclaim and three Daytime Emmy wins in a row for Outstanding Drama Series. After _SB's_ cancellation, NBC gave the 3 PM hour to its affiliates and never looked back. Maybe a better presentation would have saved _MGHS Hour,_ but that format merger was in itself a desperation move. NBC just couldn't compete against _General Hospital_ and _Guiding Light,_ and man, they tried.
The NBC station here never aired MGHSH. Rather it aired on a then independent (now Fox affiliated) station in the morning.
Ironically, this is part of why I have a nostalgic love for this show, as it would be on when I came home from school. Our days ended early enough for me to watch the whole thing though.
Interestingly, from what pictures we've seen of the pilot for this, the Match Game portion was going to have three players, rather than two. I can't imagine how tedious the game would have been or how tightly edited it would have to be in order to fit a game of Hollywood Squares versus the returning champion.
I'd love to see addendums done to this considering how we've been seeing episodes not seen in 35-36 years. And more to come starting tomorrow!
Like...how godawful celebrities' schticks were....Fred Travalena and Edie McClurg, I am looking at YOU.
The before they were stars moments.
Celebs that DID work and looked like they were having a good time.
Also, I know it's early in the run, but besides the slip-ups he would have from time to time, I don't see much of the grumpy Gene trope.
In retrospect, would a Match Game Challenge-type show have worked? (seeing as the ABC run now has an hour block of two games...maybe...)
As great of a producer Mark Goodson was, this was truly one of his biggest mis-steps of all-time.
On top of that Peter Marshall was VERY available, considering that Fantasy, the show that MGHS replaced was JUST cancelled the week before and Peter and Gene (Rayburn) were very good friends in real-life, since they often mentioned they got compared to each other and Peter made a few appearances on MG as well.
Yeah I can't understand that choice, although I have to imagine Peter would have HATED the format...maybe part of why he didn't get the call. What coulda been though huh?
His memoir Backstage With The Original Hollywood Square supposedly gives a blow-by-blow account of the backroom deals that cost Peter the co-hosting job of MGHS.
I thought I saw on a game show chat forum on the Internet that Goodson wanted to produce an hour-long version of Match Game, but the NBC brass wanted him to blend it with Hollywood Squares - a show Goodson hated because of its scripted humor. Also, Goodson wanted one host, but NBC insisted on two hosts. Producer and network executives were not on the same page about what the show should be.
Interesting fact is that the Theme song that was used here would later on be used for presenting a Car in The Price is Right (And also in the Card Sharks remake) and has been used to this very day!
They later used it as a song by a troll named Erik Mokracek (aka "MGHSHour2a") on TH-cam where he sang a song about you figure it out. That troll fail at singing this theme song.
th-cam.com/video/BIdRkdWZ30Q/w-d-xo.html
Someone in casting must have REALLY loved both St. Elsewhere and We Got it Made. Most weeks, there was at least one cast member from both of those shows on the panel.
I'm going to be HIGHLY interested to watch through this. I am a BIG MG/HS fan or apologist, but don't disagree in retrospect about certain criticisms.
Also - what *exactly* is the story behind Rayburn and Bauman not getting along behind the scenes? Anyone know?
If they ever did another take on this, I hope they fix the problems the Hollywood Squares portion, also they should've had Peter Marshall host the Hollywood Squares half or John Davidson, Match game's half was tolerable, but Hollywood Squares's portion stunk...no secret square, you get points on every square, it should be when you get 3 in a row or 5 square win but this I don't mind, I didn't like how they gave the contestant a square even if it's for a block, I did think the Bonus round was tolerable.
And before I forget, had they used the normal type of questions on the Hollywood Squares portion it could've been good.
Jon Bauman wrote on Twitter that MGHSH was the only honest version of HS,as the celebrities weren’t briefed on the questions.
Well, even though this show sucked, we can all agree on one thing... the music is a banger.
1. Don't forget that the theme became one of the most well know car themes for TPIR and the 80's Card Sharks.
2. Gene reportedly couldn't STAND Jon for whatever reason.
3. I wonder which H2 revival you liked better: Davidson version or the Tom Bergeron version.
Davidson version.
Although the Hollywood Squares half doomed that mashup, there are at least a few good things about the show, like the theme song, which was often used on the Price is Right for their prizes, the set, where blue seems to be a very vibrant color, and the Match Game half, because Mark Goodson already knew how to execute his own show.
The only thing I can begin to theorize led to the auto-win rule is that maybe they were trying to avoid a "YOU FOOL!" situation. Given that Squares was sandwiched between the two parts of Match Game, they probably wanted to keep it moving as fast as possible. Not that it's forgivable.
Well I don't believe the Marshall run had a You Fool incident, or did they?
I think Goodson wanted as many games in there as possible.
@@JMFabiano I don't know of any You Fool incident on the Marshall version, but there is always that possibility when using the rule that the win cannot be default.
Not that I agree with it, I think that's just the logic that went into it. I agree with you on the conclusion that Goodson wanted as many games as possible to fit.
This version of MGHS hour, wasn't bad, it's now on Buzzr, I like it.
That’s good! I’ve seen a bunch of episodes on TH-cam, so go check these out.
The MGHS Hour wasn’t that bad IMO, but had the Hollywood Squares format been left untouched, it would’ve received more love.
That Vince impression was spot on
Saw references to your Vince imitation....and you didn't disappoint :-)
Ironically, I do compare Mark Goodson's treatment of HS in favor of his creation to be very WWF/E-like. (You may say the union of Heatter and Quigley was an..."Alliance"?)
I agree that the Squares format suffered by using multiple choice only, giving squares on your opponent's error no matter what, and Bauman as host - his style didn't mesh as well with the format.
That said, the theme is the biggest contribution to game show history. And the multipliers were ingenious - it would allow for someone to choose and not feel like they had to succumb to the fate of something completely random, like the Star Wheel. In fact, I wish it was used in the current version of Match Game - if used properly, it could yield some really big money wins.
Yes, this was probably the highest stakes for the Super Match ever (barring the Gameshow Marathon version). See how Goodson put most thought into making Match Game look good within the hour?
i loved that gameshow but u made very good points of hollywood squares, and Mark Goodsons an intelligent man i dont get y he made that format. What gets me is i can remember a time when you had daytime gameshows on the major networks and there timeslots Pyramid and Card Sharks 10:00 cbs, Sale of the Century and Press Your Luck 10:30 High Rollers and Wheel of Fortune at 11 and Scrabble and Win Lose or draw at 11:30 It is so sad that we no longer have gameshows in those timeslots except for GSN
Aside from the other flaws, why would the bonus round of MG be played, but not the HS bonus round also?
Hollywood Squares didn't have a bonus game at this time apart from pick square and win prize. MG's bonus had more beef to it.
@@GameShowGumbo - *Hollywood Squares* has horrible bonus rounds. It wasn't until near the end of Bergeron's run that HS finally got a good bonus round. Let's hope the upcoming *Nate Burleson* (first Canadian to host the American Hollywood Squares) version retains *Tom Bergeron's* final bonus round.
Knowing *Mark Goodson,* he probably would have not included Bergeron's final bonus round anyway. Plus, I would have the champion pick which bonus round they want to do for that episode, and if they successfully defend their crown, they have to play the other bonus game for that episode. Rinse and repeat.
Funny how Goodson loves *To Tell The Truth,* but yet didn't like Hollywood Squares' "is the celebrity telling the truth or full of it" format.
The lesson: Always have BOTH sides involved with a mash-up. Mark Goodson produces *Match Game,* while *Merrill Heatter* produces Hollywood Squares. Never have trust in Goodson with Squares, and likewise, don't trust Heatter with Match Game.
On the bright side, Sony owns BOTH the *Hollywood Connection* (Match Game rip-off) and *Break The Bank 2.0* (Hollywood Squares rip-off). With some tweaking for both shows (especially the former), Sony can show Mark Goodson's zombie how to do a mash-up correctly.
PS - I'm shocked that *Gene Rayburn* was never the center square.
James Fabiano This game show was ahead of it's time when it 1st came out. It would overshadow the game show market today, if it was still on the air.
The best part of MGHSH is the theme song. That's like a top 10 game show theme ever theme.
CCL on TH-cam Yep! That was used as a car plug as heard on the "Price Is Right" where it reveals a car prize.
It was used as a song that Erik Mokracek sang where he made that up himself.
Whenever Mark Goodson found a sound effect or theme, he never let it go to waste. He probably thought there was something to salvage from this fiasco & he picked the right thing.
Yes, this is true...
It's funny, but this is one of the things I hated about it. I thought they should have used the Bill Cullen "Blockbusters" theme for it. That's a piece that says "fun," which would set the stage better for it.
I remember from the original run when George Gobel appeared on the show and had to walk the ENTIRE length of the stage! I felt so sorry for him.
does Match Game 98 make your list of GSG?
Greg Rider she did 5 reasons why match game 98 failed on the induction list on GSG’s website
Sweet impersonation of Vinnie Mac. My guess was the size of his grapefruits. And I totally agree with your opinion with the HS portion. Otherwise, solid game.
Regarding the scoring in the HS part, MG shows had a history of poor structure. Both Super Password and Body Language had rounds that had no effect on the outcome of the game. Granted, that's the opposite problem.
I think the problem was that Bauman was not bad. Its the game play and scoring. It should be $100 per square and $100 per round and $50 per square and each round you add $100 and $50. For Example Round 1 $100 and $50 per square , $200 per round and $100 per square and so on and so on. And they should add a secret square and you can't win by default
Bauman was awful. I agree with you on the rest.
As I've been making the rounds saying, if every day could potentially pay off $30,000+, did they need to add a Secret Square on top of that? Maybe for a cash bonus not included with the score total?
No sense in it since all the questions are the same anyway.
I see why this gameshow didn't even make it to 1 year
I think the reason Peter Marshall didn't get to host the "Hollywood Squares" version of this show was because he co-hosted the show that ran in this same time slot previously (Fantasy). My guess was the big wigs wanted a change. BTW- Lesslie Uggams was the other co-host to Fantasy, which didn't make the game show encyclopedia as being an actual Game Show but did have some game show type games in it. Would love to see Fantasy on TH-cam someday..
I believe I have seen some episodes of Fantasy here on TH-cam, you just have to search for it. Though...bluntly, I can see why the suits cancelled that show.
She even won an Emmy as best talkshow host.
Looks like he's backpedaling a little bit... this was answering if he remembered the episode where Gene said he shouldn't have to guess because HS is about bluffing...
"Not me. But of course there were no bluffs given. The show was completely honest. It just had a little trouble being funny."
one other thing HS portion was missing and that was the Secret Square round.
Wink Martindale has a studio-master quality episode of MGHS on his TH-cam page. I went and watched it. And boy, oh boy, you are spot-on in your review of MGHS.
The Match Game portion of the show is fantastic. Gene was Gene, and all was well there. I liked the added wrinkle of the Secret Multiplier in the Head-To-Head match to create a possible $30,000 jackpot - pretty big money for the mid 1980s.
But the Hollywood Squares portion was unwatchable. As I said in a comment below, I have little use for Hollywood Squares, but at least the celebrities were somewhat funny in what little I remember of the John Davidson HS. The celebrities weren't given much opportunity to be funny because of the multiple-choice nature of the questions. And Jon Bauman was overly energetic and came off as a douche and a fake. He really rubbed me the wrong way, much the same way Pat Bullard rubs you the wrong way.
_The_ ultimate _Match_ made in Hell! 😛
Not everything Mark Leo Goodson created turned to gold.
I like your review. But local stations failed this show also by running something else in the 3:00 time spot. Detroit's NBC affiliate was notorious for doing this. I would have remembered this if it was on in that market as I would have watched it most of the time if it did originally air. Oh, that's right...the 1983 & 1984 Tigers baseball afternoon games were occasionally on some days of the week at that time and when you had a ball team that was unstoppable in 1984. Yes, that was why. During the winter of '84 this show was pre-empted by some other show of which I forgot. But anyway. That's what also didn't help with ratings.
In Pittsburgh WPXI initially pre-empted MG-HS for a talk show titled "Breakaway", which I think was a clone of "Hour Magazine". It was co-hosted, IIRC, by Monte Markham and a female whose name escapes me. For a time WPTT, an independent, carried it in a morning slot. WPXI did carry MG-HS for its last few weeks before NBC pulled the plug.
It may have worked is Peter Marshall was doing the Squares Side.
It would help, but still, he would be hosting a watered down version of Squares nonetheless. If the producer isn't taking the format seriously, does it matter?
They've been showing it on BUZZR for quite a while. The Match Game portion is alright but I'm not that big fan of the Hollywood Squares portion. It's bizarre seeing Bowser as a game show host when he's not doing his gimmick.
Crazy George definitely needs to be a spinoff induction
I enjoyed it. I missed the Match Game at that point.
Pop N Rocker game was bad, and Bauman didn’t help. He was even worse on Squares, in fact one of the worst hosts I have ever seen. Also, I don’t like the rotating center square. If anyone should have been the center square, it’s Rayburn.
someguy23475 He was one of the members of Sha-Na-Na, one of the 50's and 60's tribute band before he got the job. He had their own TV variety show in the 1970's. I remember the closing theme where they sang "Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight" which was originally a classic by the Spaniels. After that, he hosted two game shows that went nowhere. This, and the "Pop 'N Rocker Game". Both game shows are horrible compared to this game.
The first half was good, where they had the "Match Game" part. The second half sucks, because the "Hollywood Squares" part was a poor man's version of the classic game. Peter Marshall wasn't around. Thankfully, he did the part in the original "Annie" from 1982 where he was in the studio with Annie, Daddy Warbucks and the guys singing "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile". If you have not seen Peter Marshall in "Annie", check it out. Too bad, Bowser never hosted this and the "Pop 'N Rocker Game" anymore.
So over at Facebook, I see that the marathon wasn't a suitable replacement for a probably mediocre WWE Network event...
2:42 or as RCR would say "If it ain't broke..... hububurbrbrMARSHALL TUCKER BAND!"
The most obvious thing you didn't mention is that this game show has NEVER EVER been rerun.
By Gene's request too actually, he was embarassed by it.
There is also the touchy situation of ownership. MGM owns Hollywood Squares (after they purchased Orion, which originally had it under their umbrella) & Fremantle owns Match Game (as they do almost all Goodson-Todman shows). Both sides would have to agree to a deal for it to ever be shown again.
Unfortunately, that is about to change. On February 17, 2019, BUZZR is going to do a MGHSH marathon, and plans to add the show to its regular rotation. SMH.
And I think....that's actually a good thing. Well first there's my nostalgia. Second for the sake of completion, as Buzzr can now run every version of Rayburn MG that's still around. (it's like adding Feud '94 to get all Dawson versions) Third, if they had to go through MGM to get the rights, maybe part of the talk will involve some day bringing the real Squares to the channel.
Fans of Match Game weren't always HS fans. And not writing jokes was bad.
Have you done 1998 Match Game. BAd!!
Surprised that/if you don't include the soundbite from Gene, ON AIR, where he basically calls the show out on how HS should be about bluffing. I forget which episode but I had it on VHS back in the day. Anyone remember?
I have that one too..
GameShowGarbage which was it?
John "Bowser" Bauman disliked this video.
He can't understand why you wouldn't like the "only honest version of Squares" ever
I have a soft spot for this show over what it could have been. Had Goodson not screwed up Squares, I really do think this show would be seen as a classic instead of a trainwreck and a curiosity now.
Just as a quick aside since this being Gene's last run on Match Game was mentioned - I heard fairly recently, I believe it was via Roger Dobkowitz's Facebook, that after Bert Convy dropped out of MG90 Gene put his name in to return (this much was known already) but he was actually seriously considered for the role too. However, he was only seriously considered for "a week or so" before they moved on to looking at Bob Eubanks (!!!) and ultimately hired Ross Shafer.
That part i never knew. I knew that Bob Eubanks was coming off of doing both the Newlywed Game and Card Sharks...but this was before he ended up doing Family Secrets (a show that was covered here, and I'm grateful I never saw any of it as a kid because my mom was into the Young and the Restless then).
As much as I like Ross Shafer's performance as host, I kind of wish we had gotten to see a Match Game hosted by Bob Eubanks.
I remember Ross Shafer's "Match Game", it was good. The actual game was much of the same as it was in the original, and it was a solid show. The bonus round looks the same, and they brought back the "Star Wheel" to spin for double the money to chose which celebrity who want to pick. Instead of the wheel spinning, it moves by a pointer. I remember the show, and it wasn't too bad.
Woulda been interesting for the whoopee questions alone lol, and Bob woulda had a ton to play off of. He woulda likely been in his element here, vs a more serious game like Card Sharks where I know some criticized his hosting being too crude humor wise at times.
Bob Eubanks would have been a great host of MG90, but as I think they mentioned on the Family Secrets induction, his career kind of went into eclipse for a bit after he stuck his foot in his mouth in Roger & Me. He might have been considered unemployable for a time (bar the syndicated Infatuation, which was awful).
Having seen Bert's pilot, I think he would have been fantastic, if not for his health issues. Ross wound up doing not half-bad (at least from the eyes of a 10-year old viewer like me, who quite enjoyed that version at the time). It may no longer have been the titillating, taboo-breaker of the '70s version (even by 1990, there was not much left to shock viewers with), but it still moved. 39 weeks was certainly more than most imperfect game shows could ask for.
It is one of the worst Mark Goodson Bill Todman game shows of all time. and this one is no exception.
Some plusses I will mention about the HS portion: the third tier swinging in between shows was SO cool to 6-year-old me. Whoever was working the camera did a good job of making the actually dinky board look somewhat big, though not the tower the Marshall, Davidson, etc. boards were. The symbols filling the square should totally have been lifted by one of the legit Squares revivals. (which it eventually was by Hip Hop Squares, though YMMV on the legitimacy of that)
Is it just me, or does the theme not really fit well here?
Having seen a few of these now, I can't help but think that you can almost feel how much of an "epic" presentation they tried to dress this up with - and given the two games involved, an "epic" presentation feels a lot like pairing them together with just the wrong gimmick.
The theme is of course a classic now, but used here it doesn't feel like the best fit.
Exactly! As I said elsewhere, they needed something like the theme from Bill Cullen's version of Blockbusters. It actually matches pretty well with the flickering lights and sounds more comedic.
I am SHOCKED Betty White never showed up at all on this, actually.
She seems to be someone who loves playing a good game show of any kind. Then again, perhaps even she could not be bothered with this.
But she's friends with Gene so I could have seen her be there once at least.
Between JUST MEN and Golden Girls, Betty was certainty available for NBC. I would have loved watching Betty subhost for a week.
Is the tooth issues why your lighting is so dark in this one, to hide the side of your face? I'd understand if it was but honestly, it was very distracting this episode; I just kept trying to figure out why you were in such shadows. I mean, I'm not a lighting expert by I kept wanting to move your fill light a few inches. I'm sure it was just space and equipment and time restrictions but I felt it was unfortunate.
Will the shuffle format of millionaire ever receive its overdue induction?
not until the clock format is inducted fist.
They were going to do the Clock format, but that simply wore too thin.
BUZZR is bringing the show back for reruns starting on February 17, 2019.
Someone at that network needs to come and watch this video before they go through with rerunning this abortion of a game show.
It could be worse...they can rerun Temptation...oh wait....
Cross-ownership actually kept this show from being rerun on GSN, whether anybody wanted it or not.
The actual only thing that did come from this show was the theme package. The Main Theme, the commercal vamp, and the fee vamp were used as car cues. I can see why many NBC stations opted to play Scooby-Doo reruns or other local programming it its place.
One more thing actually! In the original Squares, there was not a sound effect for when an X or and O would appear on the board. MG/HSR started that trend as the versions of Squares afterward make a sound effect when a letter is put on the board.
Also if you bombed out at the audience match, they gave you $100 to play head-to-head. This I believe carried over to future MGs.
MG/HS set for Squares looked like s prototype for the Davidson set too, actually.
13:06 funny stuff
I never really liked Hollywood Squares in any incarnation. It seems to me that the show was always about the celebrities trying to show how funny they were and not about the contestants trying to win money. The celebrities who appeared on Match Game were only slightly better in this regard, but I prefer MG over HS by a long shot.
By the way, your next induction should be Joy, the most annoying Press Your Luck contestant ever, who appeared on Episode #219 of PYL (aka Gene Snyder's second game), and who also appeared in the audience of Beverlie Peters' episode and got on stage with her after she won.
I kind of agree. In part, because nine stars is a lot of people, and outside of the center square, most of them only got a minute or two (if even that) of airtime.
Regardless, it was still a great show, despite the negativity.
I'd rather watch it than, say "Card Sharks" 2001 or Temptation.
I heard something that in the mid-80s, there was talk of a new version of "Match Game" to come on the air with Gene Rayburn hosting again, considering he had then-recently been let go as host of "Break the Bank". However, when a report from "Entertainment Tonight" about this proposed revival came out, they mentioned Rayburn's age, which was older than a lot of people thought he was. This pretty much prevented him from finding that much work in television for the rest of his life.
That's pretty much how I've heard it went too. There were even print ads put out in 1985 for a new syndicated version of Match Game (notably featuring the 78-82/2016 logo, but in red) with Gene hosting, but the project unraveled with the incident you described which led to a lack of demand among stations for it. From what I've heard, reruns of the old Match Game were syndicated that season instead.
ET was doing a "birthdays" segment on December 22, 1985 & mentioned Gene's real age of 68. As he himself said later, "The phones stopped ringing then."
So yes, ageism at its finest. Bob Barker was 62, Bill Cullen was 65; both in the same ballpark as Gene, but they did not get that same shafting.
And if I remember right, Gene might have asked to be let out of his Break The Bank commitment & having "walked away", that essentially made his reliability questionable for any future project.
5:48: Go ahead, cough it up, Cyndi.
Personally, I'm under the assumption that Goodson didn't like the "can't put a circle there you have to earn it yourself" rule following failed blocks and had it changed just to keep the game at a fast pace.
Hey, I understand about your health challenges. Get well soon.
The problem with Goodson's rule change is that it becomes rather unfair to the contestant...
That's mostly what I'm thinking - letting a failed block be a win for the opponent was done to keep the game going and to ensure that 2-3-4 games of it would be played. Otherwise, it's easier to have a game run long (1999's "YOU FOOL!" being the obvious extreme).
Wins needing to be earned may be the honest way to do Squares, but when the overall format of this pairing is as chronically so desperately pressed for time as it is, that necessitates making the change. That's only to say that I get why that would be done.
Timing also seems like it'd be the reason why all questions were multiple choice. There's still room - if not all that much - for wit, but for the sake of not blowing off the game entirely (or for questions that are complete stumpers), multiple choice imposes a limit there.
One could say, though, that needing to make multiple concessions of the format due to time constraints would amount to reasons why this wasn't such a good idea...
100% agree on Rapture Riders being awesome. Have you heard the Mousse T/Dandy Warhols mashup Horny As A Dandy?
Lmao why did he pull his neck fat and change his voice like that¿
THAT WAS THE WORST MCMAHON IMPRESSION EVER BAH GAWD!-JR
Not as well as Erik Mokracek where he sang the theme song to this show.
and this show is returning to tv on buzzr.
9:58 LENO?!?!?!
Yep. That was him.
9:24 Arsenio, too! He was also on the episode that aired tonight on Buzzr.
Having since looked up the episode guide since my previous reply - apparently Leno was also on the original Squares, too! Six different times/weeks between late 1977 and mid-1979.
What was Leno even doing that he ended up featured on the shows that early in his career?
This show was badass, IMHO...
And no props to the theme song? (which everyone has done, I guess...so it wouldn't be unique, nor mentioning its survival through The Price is Right...)
James Fabiano This would later become Erik Mokracek's own song.
th-cam.com/video/FBG54wvEe20/w-d-xo.html
Yes, this is truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue.
It’s going on Buzzr
Good Choice Cyndi.
Watching the E true Hollywood story of Hollywood squares, Peter mentioned this ad his belief that Bauman was chosen because of his association with sha na na and they thought he'd appeal more to the younger audience. and he himself was critical of this show, saying it was poorly produced. I also heard Gene Rayburn and Jon Bauman didn't get along behind the scenes so that probably didn't help matters.
Bauman was a frequent Goodson game show guest celebrity (Password Plus, 1970s Match Game) and a good game player. He was a familiar presence for Goodson to hire him to emcee the Squares portion and play the Match Game portion.
Because Sha-Na-Na was so hip in the 80s. Then again back then oldies stations still actually played fifties music, so you never know. Happy Days was still on/rerun a lot on local TV, so maybe I'm a bit hasty saying '50s nostalgia was unhip.
Still Bauman on HS = so random. Kind of like going over everyone's heads and deciding a 90s sitcom star should replace Bob Barker..oh wait. Maybe Goodson or NBC simply wanted to groom him into a game show host and unfortunately threw him into having to host an iconic format.
Then there's getting someone who could play MG every week. But Peter appeared on the original show too! And then there's loads of people who were great MG players I could think of...McLean Stevenson, the many experienced hosts that appeared there, I'd mention Richard Dawson but a) Feud and b) there's NO CHANCE IN HELL he'd get to work with Gene again. Charles might be a bit unusual. Betty White was prob. busy at the time, but Just Men just ended, no?
Future show for Game Show Garbage is Tom Bergeron version of Hollywood Squares (1998-2004).
In the early 1998 shows, contestants could win by default (early shows had $500-$500- $1,000-$2,000 until time).