Pilot error

Anybody who reads this blog knows that I'm a hopeless fan of the 1973-82 Match Game.

There have been a lot of revival efforts over the decades, up to the current ABC version. Alec Baldwin's show certainly has its detractors. Try this entry on the Buzzr Facebook page for wild-eyed rage. But ABC's effort has endured through a respectable run in prime time.

One try at a reboot that I didn't know much about was the unsold 1996 pilot called MG2. Wink Martindale has relieved my ignorance by posting the pilot on YouTube. (Warning: video quality is poor, as you can see from the screenshot.)

This pilot messed around with the format a lot, which I don't mind. After all, the 1973-82 version successfully messed with the stiff-as-a-board original from the 1960s. But the panel and host were forgettable, to say the least, or obnoxious, to say the worst. Charlene Tilton was really bad at the helm. Game Show Pilot Light grumps that she was "someone who has no hosting experience whatsoever, been off the public's radar for six years [in 1996] and is generally considered less than full in the brains department."

That's cruel but mostly right. The panel also tried to yuk it up too much, though I don't think they were all horrendous. Had the pilot actually sold, the show would no doubt have died a quick death, thanks to hostile comparisons to the 1973-82 version. That's pretty much what happened to every revival before ABC managed to find some measure of success with the current show.