Sunday, June 26, 2016

A Classic Reborn (again): Match Game (2016)

I was reading the television listings in the paper today, and found it rather odd that the revival of Match Game was being graded "TV-G", while The $100,000 Pyramid was marked "TV-14". Shouldn't that have been the other way around, considering Match is at the bottom of ABC's Sunday lineup?

Anyway, Match Game is back for a 10 week summer run, hosted by Alec Baldwin (ex-30 Rock). The questions this time tend to be a little more self-deprecating to not only the panelists, but, in the first game on tonight's opener, to Baldwin himself.

So what's to love? Rosie O'Donnell occupies the late Brett Somers' chair, but otherwise, it's a panel that changes on a week-to-week basis. Tonight's lineup included Debra Messing (fresh from The Mysteries of Laura), NYC cable personality JB Smoove, and Broadway star Sutton Foster. Two games are played per hour. Why it's an hour, only ABC knows for sure, and they fumbled the ball the last time they had Match Game, dumping it from their daytime block 25 years ago.

Let Baldwin explain things in this promo:



To think that Baldwin's first primetime gig was Knots Landing, which was a lifetime ago.

I look at it this way. This plays better in 2016 than To Tell The Truth does, though, in truth, ABC overshot their wad by bloating both shows----and Pyramid---by expanding them to an hour apiece. This will be a fun trip, and if it's a hit, it will return sooner rather than later, and probably on a better night.

Rating: A.

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