What Might've Been: Get The Message (1964)

By appearance alone, Goodson-Todman's Get The Message, which aired on ABC in 1964, was a mash-up of two of the game show titans' other shows, airing on other networks, Match Game (NBC) and Password (CBS), in that you had two teams of celebrities with contestant partners (2 celebrities with one contestant, just like Match Game), and that the Message was revealed via one-word clues, like Password. Both Password & Match Game, in different iterations, would later gravitate to ABC.

Comedian Frank Buxton, host of the Sunday morning magazine series for kids, Discovery, was tapped to host when Message launched at the end of March. Six months later, he's gone, replaced by Robert Q. Lewis for the final three months. Message ended its run on Christmas Day.

Here's a sample episode:



Rating: A.