Get ready to match the stars again

ABC's Match Game will return with another season January 9.

The linked story cattily notes that the new go-round of the ancient format will be "returning Alec Baldwin to prime time on ABC after his eponymous talk show crashed in the fall." No, "eponymous" is not a synonym for "lousy." Though in the case of Alec's talk show, the latter adjective would be well deserved.

It looks like Baldwin's latest brush with the law - a punch-up with another motorist over a parking spot - will not affect his hosting duties. He's done well on Match Game, and by and large the reboot has hewed closely to the timeless format. ABC's rewind has certainly been watchable. It may be the best effort yet to revive the legendary 1973-82 version.

Unlike ABC's Sunday slate of game shows, which easily won their night in the ratings wars during the summer, Match Game didn't win much of anything during the warm weather months. For its ten eps from June through September, the show averaged 3.46M viewers with a 0.64 18-49 rating. Not boffo numbers, even by today's lowly broadcast standards.

But so far ABC's 2018-19 season has been a sea of ratings woe, with big drops in viewers and demos across the sorry board. So Match Game's summer numbers don't look so awful to harried ABC execs. Welcome back, Alec and friends.