Here's the complete pilot of Match Game from 1973. The celebrities are Bert Convy, Arlene Francis, Jack Klugman, Jo Ann Pflug, Richard Dawson, and Betty White. For entertainment purposes only.
I was the contestant at 14:25. This episode never aired. It was put together as a package to sell the "new" Match Game to the network. I had been a contestant on Password the week before (May of '72, I think) and the same producer asked a number of us (6 as I recall) to work as "contestants" on the new incarnation of the old show. I don't remember the other guys, but one was a Coca Cola tester from Atlanta. He drove around the country testing whether of not Coke served at fountains and restaurants was, indeed, legit Coca Cola. We were paid a few hundred dollars for the day's work and went thru a number of iterations as some bugs were worked out of the show. Originally, the big prize was supposed to be a one-on-one match with someone picked at random via phone, but that was problematic. At the last minute they tried the "celebrity match" and it worked. We spoke to the panel during breaks and as I recall they were all really down-to-earth. I had a long conversation with Jack Klugman as I had been a big fan of the movie "12 Angry Men", in which he had a major role. Anyway, it was a terrific experience.
Thanks for sharing that experience. It was May 19, 1973 when this was taped as this was noted in another posting of this video on RUclips (split into two parts). Quite interesting to see the actual pilot and the differences between the original format and what we would see when the first actual show aired a few months later.
YOU are Stewart Linderman? YOU were VERY handsome back in the day I must say. Did you ever become a physician? I was rooting for you to win. Sorry you lost.
Looking good, Stuart! So I take it then that the dollar amounts awarded to this "winner" were fictional. She didn't actually win $6000. You guys got a day rate and maybe some gifts? This show turned out to be the most popular daytime show of all for a number of years. Congratulations on being part of TV history!!
This show has so many memories for me. It used to air at 2:30 every day in Denver. I would come home from school and watch it with my Mom (not getting the double entendres until I got older). But it was fun playing at home. I can literally see some of these episodes and have a massive flashback to a specific day the show aired. It's not only a great show, but also a fantastic book mark in history (personal and game show).
That's for sure. And they had questions without a blank. Never saw that before. I've had so much fun lately watching these. I was in my early 20's when these were popular, and watched the show religiously. Glad they're now on RUclips
In its first few weeks, these were the kind of questions asked. Ratings were not good. That’s when writer Dick DeBartolo switched to the suggestive questions that helped the show hit #1 in the ratings.
+crystalheart9 She was a regular on "What My Line?" before she went on to do as a guest panel in this pilot. Arlene was doing "What's My Line?" since 1950 and continued through 1967 in the CBS version, and then in syndication from 1968 with Wally Bruner until 1975 with Larry Blyden.
This was a "test" episode to work out the kinks. The idea was that the show was already going to give networks the idea of what to expect. It was NOT the actual first episode as there were quite a few kinks to be worked out between this pilot and the actual first show that was recorded not too long after.
C. A. Gravenhorst Shows traditionally hire a couple of actors to play contestants. This is just to illustrate how the show will work in actual production.
+Walt Gekko The strangest thing happened during the bonus round in this pilot, they called it the "Jackpot Match", but it was renamed as the "Super Match" in the daytime version. And I had one of my guess it would be "Red Red Wine" by UB40 since this was 1973 pilot, the song wasn't even out until 10 years later in 1983, the year after "Match Game" ended, and then the same year, the show returned with the "Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour".
Had this pilot been taped a few months later, the head-to-head "Super Match" that both the contestant and celebrity panelist Betty White probably would have come up with for "Water__(blank)__" would have been "Watergate".
This a rare first or proto episode of the classic game show Match Game which spawned other game shows, based on this format, around the world. Recorded in mono but hi-fidelity sound & also in colour which gives it an amost ageless quality. Great find from the archives.
Arlene flew to California so she could help Mark Goodson launch the new version of "Match Game". She had work for Mr. Goodson for 23 years on "What's My Line?"
The guy who was the champion - was a frequent regular on game show pilots. In fact, he was known to appear on more than a dozen game show pilots. He in fact won the second Jeopardy! pilot, and never made it to the debut show. In the world of game show pilots, it's not uncommon to show a returning champion - and it's in some ways a selling point of the show.
@@damienchance2622 Married to Woolery for 8 years. Her last role was in 1997. She became a motivational speaker and a society hostess. Bet she made plenty of dough speaking.
Richard Dawson was in the pilot, but no Charles Nelson Reilly and no Brett Somers! The three of them (especially Brett and Charles) developed quite a chemistry which was a major reason why "Match Game" was one of the mnost popular daytime TV shows of the 'Seventies.
@@steveonmareisland5268 I wonder if Jack Klugman didn't own a piece of MatchGame. I can't think of other reason they would've ask Brett Sommers to be on the panel. She matured into the part on later years but she's a hot mess IMHO on the earlier shows.
I would have been 11 when this was recorded. When my family discovered Match Game, we were hooked. No, I didn't catch the double entendre either until later. I loved watching this show after school and thought the theme music was awesome. Of course, the orange carpet made me want to have the exact same thing in my bedroom, but it never happened! LOL. I also noticed the subtle differences in the set design from the pilot to the regular shows. By the way, I have one of those Sony ECM-51 "skinny mics" that came into use later on! Great find. Thanks for posting.
Dick DeBartolo - one of my fellow longtime MAD Magazine writers -- was also a writer on Match Game...and he says that shortly after its debut, the show came so close to cancellation that he went to the producers and suggested that they start making the questions funny (as opposed to the "Not at all Funny" demonstrated in this pilot!). They told Dick 'what the hell, go ahead and do it'...and thus was born the famous "Dumb Dora was so Dumb..."-style Match Game question. And, shazam, people started watching and the show was saved. - Mike Snider
I think that is probable. Originally, the show didn't bank on sexual innuendo like it did later. LOTS of the questions were questionably tasteful. Funny, but not necessarily tasteful.
Quiz show veteran Arlene Francis made a rare appearance on Match Game & Bert Convy went on to host Tattletales. From this point on, Richard Dawson & Betty White became regulars on the show.
+Luis Reyes And of course, Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers are not on this pilot until the daytime version started, except Richard Dawson was the only regular on this pilot prior to the daytime version, and Betty White was originally a regular on this pilot, but it later became a semi-regular in the daytime version during its weekly rotation.
+Mark Muffs The pilot was taped at Studio 33 which was later became the Bob Barker Studio, and it was right next door to "The Price Is Right" and the "Carol Burnett Show".
I can see why they gave Gene a microphone. He has nothing to do with his hands for the most part. The same goes for Jim Perry in the '78 Card Sharks pilots.
@@alexkotas7486Although I assert that many older women are very attractive, it’s not a given simply because someone’s still alive. Beauty can be destroyed by many things. So Jo Ann may very well have BEEN hot and is still alive. Or is STILL attractive, whichever.
@@alexkotas7486 I envy you! Although Jo Ann Pflug is still alive, at no time in my life was she ever with me. (I regret that there always was a television screen separating us!!)
Jack Klugman scoring with Quincy three years later (or two including pilot etc.) and never looking back at having to do any more game show nonsense. Score!
Oh, thanks! I'm with 06bug on this. I love old game shows. I watch them from the 50s! What's My Line, etc. Everyone was classier and articulate. I'd watch 100 of these shows before anything Kardashian. :/
@@mianoxid1548 I too love the old game shows from yesteryear: Match Game, What's My Line, I've Got a Secret, and To Tell the Truth. I'd take any of those fun game shows over the Kardashians and reality tv.
Richard Dawson was THE BEST of the best on Match Game. (2nd was Charles Nelson Reilly, then Brett Sommers.) Sometimes Brett was irritating, but she kept the show lively when no one else had anything funny to say.
Best thing about this pilot was the absence of the canned laughter during the opening credits. I've watched a lot of these shows on RUclips and I often just skip the credits because it makes me cringe every time.
Odd that they showed Arlene first, and Bert last. Also Gene said the champion's total was $5,300. She had $1,200 at the start of the show. She won $100 for the game, so that would be $1,300. Then $500 on the audience match, which would bright her to $1,800. Then $5,000 for matching Betty for a total of $6,800. I can see if the original pilot didn't give the $500, so her total should have then been $6,300. For WATER____ I said "Gate", since Watergate was right around that time...
As a tribute to late host Gene Rayburn, this is a May 1973 pilot episode of the American game show "Match Game" (it was two months earlier before the actual series debuted in July of the same year on CBS). 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
Even though this pilot never officially aired until 2012, this is the only time you see the original "Match Game" sign without both the two-numbered year and the "PM."
I watched a few episodes, but, the questions got too political. People think they have to inject politics into everything. They could've picked someone better to host, too. Maybe Chuck Woolery or someone else who was actually a game show host.
The whole panel was great. Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, the brilliant and indomitable Dorothy Kilgallen, and Fred Allen who was never successfully replaced by anyone after his death.
Fun fact!! This pilot was done in CBS Television City Hollywood but it was being pitched to all 3 networks ABC,CBS,and NBC! Apparently,ABC and NBC weren’t interested and CBS won the bidding.
He didn't invent it. He didn't know it telescoped and was surprised when he picked it up one day and it was extended. The clip is on RUclips as "Match Game: The Day Gene's Mic Grew".
What blows me away is how they smoked on the show on live TV. Charles pipe was innocent but Richard smoked cigarettes back then, he was the biggest abuser. I mean I know smoking was popular back then, it's just strange seeing them smoke live.
Arlene Francis probably could never have been a regular panelist on the 1970's "Match Game" because she lived in New York at the time (and was a regular panelist on the New York-based "What's My LIne?, also produced by Goodson-Todman"), while "Math Game" originated in Hollywood.. Betty White was a frequent panelist on many Goodson-Todman game shows over the year, while Bert Convy would later host "Tattletales" and "Super Password" for that company.
I saw an old Price Is Right episode the other day from about the same time as this show...the lady that won the showcase showdown won TWO cars that day (a Vega and a VW Beetle), and ALL of her winnings only totaled about $7,000! With TWO cars! Wow, times have changed, lol...
I love all the people shocked at having “actors” to shoot a game show pilot. The reality of the “real” shows is that they were FILLED with actors pushed there by their agents or self-motivation to get at least some kind of exposure airtime. Due to these shows filming mainly in Los Angeles, they were chock-full of these wannabes and sometimes future successful stars.
Your observation is right on. As Jack Klugman put it in a conversation with me during a break, "Without crap like this, lots of these folks would be sleeping in a refrigerator carton in Santa Monica". That is an EXACT quote.
A form of the waterbed was invented in 1833 by the Scottish physician Neil Arnott. Dr. Arnott's Hydrostatic Bed was devised to prevent bedsores in patients, and comprised of a bath of water with a covering of rubber-impregnated canvas, on which lighter bedding was placed. Arnott did not patent it, permitting anyone to construct a bed to this design. The modern version, invented in San Francisco and patented in 1971, became a popular consumer item in the United States through the 1980's with up to 20% of the market in 1986 and 22% in 1987. By 2013, they accounted for less than 5% of new bed sales.
![KSI - Thick Of It (feat. Trippie Redd) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/At8v_Yc044Y/mqdefault.jpg)
I was the contestant at 14:25. This episode never aired. It was put together as a package to sell the "new" Match Game to the network. I had been a contestant on Password the week before (May of '72, I think) and the same producer asked a number of us (6 as I recall) to work as "contestants" on the new incarnation of the old show. I don't remember the other guys, but one was a Coca Cola tester from Atlanta. He drove around the country testing whether of not Coke served at fountains and restaurants was, indeed, legit Coca Cola. We were paid a few hundred dollars for the day's work and went thru a number of iterations as some bugs were worked out of the show. Originally, the big prize was supposed to be a one-on-one match with someone picked at random via phone, but that was problematic. At the last minute they tried the "celebrity match" and it worked. We spoke to the panel during breaks and as I recall they were all really down-to-earth. I had a long conversation with Jack Klugman as I had been a big fan of the movie "12 Angry Men", in which he had a major role. Anyway, it was a terrific experience.
Thanks for sharing that experience. It was May 19, 1973 when this was taped as this was noted in another posting of this video on RUclips (split into two parts).
Quite interesting to see the actual pilot and the differences between the original format and what we would see when the first actual show aired a few months later.
thanks for sharing
YOU are Stewart Linderman? YOU were VERY handsome back in the day I must say. Did you ever become a physician? I was rooting for you to win. Sorry you lost.
Actually, if I remember correctly from other postings of this on RUclips, the pilot DID air years later on GSN.
Looking good, Stuart! So I take it then that the dollar amounts awarded to this "winner" were fictional. She didn't actually win $6000. You guys got a day rate and maybe some gifts? This show turned out to be the most popular daytime show of all for a number of years. Congratulations on being part of TV history!!
Good grief, Betty White was already 51 here. She barely looked 30!
She does look good! If she had a modern hair-do, she could look 21.
Betty White has always been a beautiful woman.
Cliff Taylor Betty White is wearing a modern hair style. This was 1973. She does look 21.
Betty is timeless! When she passes it will be a national day of mourning
I thought she always looked old. Sorry. Hell've a woman, though.
In case anyone is interested... $5,000 in 1973 would equate to $28,000 in 2019.
And now $8,250 in 2023
@@trustmetrusty3169 -- Yeah... inflation is a bitch.
Good to know! ❤
And $5.28 in late 2023.
Yep!!
This show has so many memories for me. It used to air at 2:30 every day in Denver. I would come home from school and watch it with my Mom (not getting the double entendres until I got older). But it was fun playing at home. I can literally see some of these episodes and have a massive flashback to a specific day the show aired.
It's not only a great show, but also a fantastic book mark in history (personal and game show).
I love the Match Game shows from the 70's. I was 12 when this episode came on in 1973. It is sad that most of the people on the show have died.
Everyone except Betty & Fanny.....
@@a.perkins907 Everyone except Fanny.....
Scoey Mitchell an eventual semi regular passed away in March 2022
@@a.perkins907 and now Betty 😭
I believe that Jo Ann is still with us.
R.I.P. Gene Rayburn, Arlene Francis, Bert Convy, Richard Dawson
Brett, Charles, god, they're all gone! Playing match game up there.
The only ones still alive as I see it are JoAnn Pflug and of course Betty White!
And Jack Klugman.
Betty White now, too RIP.
This is tame compared to how crazy it got later
That's for sure. And they had questions without a blank. Never saw that before. I've had so much fun lately watching these. I was in my early 20's when these were popular, and watched the show religiously. Glad they're now on RUclips
PlanetRockJesus I think it was the last show I would watch before my mom would come home and say, " shut that box off!" (it's hot)
In its first few weeks, these were the kind of questions asked. Ratings were not good. That’s when writer Dick DeBartolo switched to the suggestive questions that helped the show hit #1 in the ratings.
The whole first season was so tame, we used to call it "Mary-John '73".
I've always admired Arlene Francis, so fun to see her on this show. Thanks so much for these shows I'm really enjoying them.
+crystalheart9 She was a regular on "What My Line?" before she went on to do as a guest panel in this pilot. Arlene was doing "What's My Line?" since 1950 and continued through 1967 in the CBS version, and then in syndication from 1968 with Wally Bruner until 1975 with Larry Blyden.
+Musicradio77 Television Network Even as a kid watching this show I thought she really was beautiful and had a wonderful personality.
She always had class, class, c-l-a-s-s, class!
@@leftylou6070 Didn't she!
@@crystalheart9 You betcha!
"Complete pilot?" "…let's meet our 'current' champion, who has already won $1200"? Did we miss something?
This was a "test" episode to work out the kinks. The idea was that the show was already going to give networks the idea of what to expect. It was NOT the actual first episode as there were quite a few kinks to be worked out between this pilot and the actual first show that was recorded not too long after.
C. A. Gravenhorst Shows traditionally hire a couple of actors to play contestants. This is just to illustrate how the show will work in actual production.
+Walt Gekko The strangest thing happened during the bonus round in this pilot, they called it the "Jackpot Match", but it was renamed as the "Super Match" in the daytime version. And I had one of my guess it would be "Red Red Wine" by UB40 since this was 1973 pilot, the song wasn't even out until 10 years later in 1983, the year after "Match Game" ended, and then the same year, the show returned with the "Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour".
Wendy wasn’t a bad looking woman.
@@Musicradio77Network UB40's Red Red Wine was a cover of a 1967 song by Neil Diamond, so it could have applied in 1973.
I like how Jack Klugman would wear a toupee for roles but didn't feel the need outside of that. I wish game shows today were this good.
Had this pilot been taped a few months later, the head-to-head "Super Match" that both the contestant and celebrity panelist Betty White probably would have come up with for "Water__(blank)__" would have been "Watergate".
As of 2019, only Jo Ann Pflug and Betty White are still living.
Without a microphone, Gene doesn't know what to do with his hands.
As to this show yes. But there are other panelists that are still alive.
Jo Anna w. Is still alive she is 83. She played later in match game.
Actually, for the first few months of the actual series Gene didn't use a hand-held mic except for the Super Match.
@@erikbunty2016 Episode 116 was the start of the famous Sony slim microphone!!
Betty White passed away in 2022.
This a rare first or proto episode of the classic game show Match Game which spawned other game shows, based on this format, around the world. Recorded in mono but hi-fidelity sound & also in colour which gives it an amost ageless quality. Great find from the archives.
Arlene flew to California so she could help Mark Goodson launch the new version of "Match Game". She had work for Mr. Goodson for 23 years on "What's My Line?"
norelco pc GOODMAN
@@memoryrinehart WRONG. Goodson is the correct spelling.
Both of those contestants are smokin'!
Love these old Match Game. Could never see them when they first came out. Thanks for posting.
The guy who was the champion - was a frequent regular on game show pilots. In fact, he was known to appear on more than a dozen game show pilots. He in fact won the second Jeopardy! pilot, and never made it to the debut show.
In the world of game show pilots, it's not uncommon to show a returning champion - and it's in some ways a selling point of the show.
I remember this show during my high school days.
This was a great show, I was 13.
They are really loose and have fun. Five Grand in 73 is about 30 grand today.
It was wonderful seeing Arlene here. Last year I spent some time binging What's My Line. I really love the Goodson-Todman shows!
The set looks actually more modern in this pilot than what they ended up using!
Note the blue instead of green, and the lights go out with a match
Betty is fabulous & witty
Great cast! Funniest game show ever:-)
Arlene is such a beautiful and elegant lady, just love her ^ ^
Yes, she is, and so is Betty White who is still going strong.
Jo Ann was always gorgeous!!!❤
Amazing how beautiful Jo Ann was.
You mean "is" She is still with us.
I actually worked with Jo Ann in the mid-70's on the re-boot of Candid-Camera. As I recall, she was very nice.
njpete987 I wish someone would post those episodes on youtube.
Wait a minute..... is that Chuck woolery wife on match game??
@@damienchance2622 Married to Woolery for 8 years. Her last role was in 1997. She became a motivational speaker and a society hostess. Bet she made plenty of dough speaking.
Gene Rayburn was the ULTIMATE, PROFESSIONAL,GENUINE MASTER OF GAME SHOW,HOST.
Richard Dawson was in the pilot, but no Charles Nelson Reilly and no Brett Somers!
The three of them (especially Brett and Charles) developed quite a chemistry which was a major reason why "Match Game" was one of the mnost popular daytime TV shows of the 'Seventies.
But Brett Somers was Jack Klugman's wife, so she probably was there somewhere behind the scenes.
@@JT-lt5gr Klugman recommended to the producers that they get her on the show. They did, and the rest is history.
@@steveonmareisland5268 I wonder if Jack Klugman didn't own a piece of MatchGame. I can't think of other reason they would've ask Brett Sommers to be on the panel. She matured into the part on later years but she's a hot mess IMHO on the earlier shows.
We can thank J K for recommending that loud hot mess Brett in the later shows
@@JT-lt5gr She was his "ex-wife" on "The Odd Couple."
Weird how the panelists' lights went out when they matched instead of came on like in later episodes.
I would have been 11 when this was recorded. When my family discovered Match Game, we were hooked. No, I didn't catch the double entendre either until later. I loved watching this show after school and thought the theme music was awesome. Of course, the orange carpet made me want to have the exact same thing in my bedroom, but it never happened! LOL.
I also noticed the subtle differences in the set design from the pilot to the regular shows.
By the way, I have one of those Sony ECM-51 "skinny mics" that came into use later on!
Great find. Thanks for posting.
I enjoyed the pilot episode of match game with Gene Rayburn
Dick DeBartolo - one of my fellow longtime MAD Magazine writers -- was also a writer on Match Game...and he says that shortly after its debut, the show came so close to cancellation that he went to the producers and suggested that they start making the questions funny (as opposed to the "Not at all Funny" demonstrated in this pilot!). They told Dick 'what the hell, go ahead and do it'...and thus was born the famous "Dumb Dora was so Dumb..."-style Match Game question. And, shazam, people started watching and the show was saved. - Mike Snider
I think that is probable. Originally, the show didn't bank on sexual innuendo like it did later. LOTS of the questions were questionably tasteful. Funny, but not necessarily tasteful.
Wow.Thank you for that information.
This was interesting to watch, but the questions got much better once they went to air.
"You've already won 1300, now you have 5000 more for a grand total of 5300" Somebody flunked math 14:10
yes....
Good seeing Arlene again
Interestingly enough, this sixsome of celebrities never appeared on the series.
Quiz show veteran Arlene Francis made a rare appearance on Match Game & Bert Convy went on to host Tattletales. From this point on, Richard Dawson & Betty White became regulars on the show.
+Luis Reyes And of course, Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers are not on this pilot until the daytime version started, except Richard Dawson was the only regular on this pilot prior to the daytime version, and Betty White was originally a regular on this pilot, but it later became a semi-regular in the daytime version during its weekly rotation.
@@Musicradio77Network Brett Somers was married to Jack Klugman.
I was so surprised when Red White and Blue came up, I was sure it would be Red Skelton. Ron from Melbourne FL.
I was thinking Red Buttons.
It had been off the air since 1969 and was now a new format. The original was in New York, then moved to California
+Mark Muffs The pilot was taped at Studio 33 which was later became the Bob Barker Studio, and it was right next door to "The Price Is Right" and the "Carol Burnett Show".
+Musicradio77 Television Network wow thanks for the tidbit
She got all Betty White on their ####!
We’d like to thank our esteemed panel of celebrities for taking time out from their, ahem, busy schedules.
The conversation with Richard in the very beginning would never fly in these days. 🤷♀️
Dickie would be a creep these days. But he wouldn’t be the way he was back then, today.
A pilot of Match Game from 1973
Yes. The Match Game '73 Pilot. What needed to be explained?
@@cuttersboi08 What kind of plane did the pilot arrive in?
I can see why they gave Gene a microphone. He has nothing to do with his hands for the most part. The same goes for Jim Perry in the '78 Card Sharks pilots.
Plenty of game show hosts used no microphone, or had a podium. Plenty of options.
Jo Ann Pflug was very hot
Keith Bramstedt I wholeheartedly agree. Also, there seems to be so many matches in that first game.
+Keith Bramstedt: You still know she is still with us right?
@@alexkotas7486Although I assert that many older women are very attractive, it’s not a given simply because someone’s still alive. Beauty can be destroyed by many things. So Jo Ann may very well have BEEN hot and is still alive. Or is STILL attractive, whichever.
@@alexkotas7486 I envy you! Although Jo Ann Pflug is still alive, at no time in my life was she ever with me. (I regret that there always was a television screen separating us!!)
Jack Klugman scoring with Quincy three years later (or two including pilot etc.) and never looking back at having to do any more game show nonsense. Score!
Klugman did appear on Matchgame later around 1978 while on Quincy .
Jo Ann Pflug is still kicking... 83 years old
I was a fan of Jack Klugman since "12 Angry Men"
He was also on this show because,Brett was a fixture. I bet, even though they jot divorced he was loyal to the lively and lovely Ms.Somers
i wanted to watch this and the 60s pilot but i slept to 10 am and missed them arrgh thank goodness for you tube
I always loved Jo Ann Pflug. What a Babe!
I've watched so many Match Games between RUclips and BuzzrTV. Sad to see Richard Dawson get so unhappy in the later shows. He is in great form here.
You look way too young to care about The Match Game!
Oh, thanks! I'm with 06bug on this. I love old game shows. I watch them from the 50s! What's My Line, etc. Everyone was classier and articulate. I'd watch 100 of these shows before anything Kardashian. :/
Patty Dixon My feelings exactly! Are you a member of the What's My Line Facebook group? I think you would enjoy it.
ShaggyDawg Looking now. Thank you for the heads up!
@@mianoxid1548 I too love the old game shows from yesteryear: Match Game, What's My Line, I've Got a Secret, and To Tell the Truth. I'd take any of those fun game shows over the Kardashians and reality tv.
Jo Ann Pflug was hot!
Jo Ann is really pretty.
Mike Peterson Reminding me a little of Mary Tyler Moore. Yes she looks really pretty here.
Gorgeous.
I'm typing this comment on November 20, 2019. This would have been Richard Dawson's 87th birthday.
Richard Dawson was THE BEST of the best on Match Game. (2nd was Charles Nelson Reilly, then Brett Sommers.) Sometimes Brett was irritating, but she kept the show lively when no one else had anything funny to say.
Rest in place Richard Dawson we still miss you.
He was also great on Hogan’s Heroes and Family Feud... And later in The Running Man.
Nope. People don’t have continuing birthdays AFTER they’re dead. Did they also have birthdays BEFORE they were born? Nonsense.
@@DoctorShocktor Note that I said "would have been"
Best thing about this pilot was the absence of the canned laughter during the opening credits. I've watched a lot of these shows on RUclips and I often just skip the credits because it makes me cringe every time.
I always thought that the words Super Match had a much nicer ring to it then the words Jackpot Match did
Odd that they showed Arlene first, and Bert last. Also Gene said the champion's total was $5,300. She had $1,200 at the start of the show. She won $100 for the game, so that would be $1,300. Then $500 on the audience match, which would bright her to $1,800. Then $5,000 for matching Betty for a total of $6,800. I can see if the original pilot didn't give the $500, so her total should have then been $6,300. For WATER____ I said "Gate", since Watergate was right around that time...
As a tribute to late host Gene Rayburn, this is a May 1973 pilot episode of the American game show "Match Game" (it was two months earlier before the actual series debuted in July of the same year on CBS). 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
Betty is great at games
Even though this pilot never officially aired until 2012, this is the only time you see the original "Match Game" sign without both the two-numbered year and the "PM."
Bert Convy was a great panelist turned host!
As was Richard Dawson.
R.I.P. Betty White
Alec Baldwin is NOT Gean Rayburn. #MatchGame16
Not even in the same league as Gene Rayburn
***** And that is relevant how?
At least Gene knew the right political party.
***** One more reason not to like baldwin
SO TRUE!! Alec thinks he invented this game, ha!!!
I watched a few episodes, but, the questions got too political. People think they have to inject politics into everything. They could've picked someone better to host, too. Maybe Chuck Woolery or someone else who was actually a game show host.
Gene was good at getting the used question tossed into that counter container as turntable turned
fell in love with Arlene back on Whats My Line. She made THAT show.
The whole panel was great. Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, the brilliant and indomitable Dorothy Kilgallen, and Fred Allen who was never successfully replaced by anyone after his death.
Fun fact!! This pilot was done in CBS Television City Hollywood but it was being pitched to all 3 networks ABC,CBS,and NBC! Apparently,ABC and NBC weren’t interested and CBS won the bidding.
Correct. My understanding is that Goodson-Todman just rented the CBS facility.
Love the goovy theme song
Groovy … but apart from ur misspelling that or funky are the perfect words for it.
Actor with a great body:
• Luke Halperin
• Tony Dow
• Christopher Atkins
• Willy Aames
• Scott Baio
When I was nine years old, I was in love with JoAnn Pflug!
After watching this pilot episode, all I might add to that is..... who wouldn't?
I didn't know this aired on GSN.
Did you know Gene Rayburn invented that skinny mike he used?
+tommiej3 no, i didn't know that.
+tommiej3 how do you know this
And he must have created one for Bob Barker too because he had one. The skinny mics look nicer than this short, fat one.
He didn't invent it. He didn't know it telescoped and was surprised when he picked it up one day and it was extended. The clip is on RUclips as "Match Game: The Day Gene's Mic Grew".
I'm pretty sure Sony invented it...
Also, all the desk mics here are different from the 2 later versions I've seen.
Al least two pilots were taped on May 19, 1973...
What blows me away is how they smoked on the show on live TV. Charles pipe was innocent but Richard smoked cigarettes back then, he was the biggest abuser. I mean I know smoking was popular back then, it's just strange seeing them smoke live.
Had Match Game in Australia in the 70s but it was called Blankety Blanks
I liked what Groucho said about Victor Mature. He said I don't watch films where the leading man has bigger bosems than the leading lady.
Interesting to see the changes from the pilot to the running show. Would've been nice to have blue rather than green.....
7b7Ben: I like these question boards better as well.
They probably just wanted to demonstrate what a returning champion might be like in the show.
I didn't know there were any Match Game episodes without Brett!
Or Charles
They came later
Brett wasn't even considered at first. But her husband, Jack Klugman, who appears here, insisted that he wouldn't appear again unless they put her on.
Arlene Francis probably could never have been a regular panelist on the 1970's "Match Game" because she lived in New York at the time (and was a regular panelist on the New York-based "What's My LIne?, also produced by Goodson-Todman"), while "Math Game" originated in Hollywood..
Betty White was a frequent panelist on many Goodson-Todman game shows over the year, while Bert Convy would later host "Tattletales" and "Super Password" for that company.
It seems strange to see this show without Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly.
I am surprised Betty White did so many Match Games considering she had so much going on .
Betty White was a gem.
You have already won $1,300 , and you won $5,000 , you've won a grand total of $5,300 ???
I guess 1973 aren't good with typos
Damn autocorrect!
Ikr 😂 It's supposed to be $6,300
In case anyone still cares... $6,300 in 1973 would equate to nearly $36,000 today (in 2019).
I saw an old Price Is Right episode the other day from about the same time as this show...the lady that won the showcase showdown won TWO cars that day (a Vega and a VW Beetle), and ALL of her winnings only totaled about $7,000! With TWO cars! Wow, times have changed, lol...
She did pretty well for 1 show!
Ok, it took me lil time for me to realise this episode wasn't "the same" as the rest, in general.
I love all the people shocked at having “actors” to shoot a game show pilot. The reality of the “real” shows is that they were FILLED with actors pushed there by their agents or self-motivation to get at least some kind of exposure airtime. Due to these shows filming mainly in Los Angeles, they were chock-full of these wannabes and sometimes future successful stars.
Your observation is right on. As Jack Klugman put it in a conversation with me during a break, "Without crap like this, lots of these folks would be sleeping in a refrigerator carton in Santa Monica". That is an EXACT quote.
Joann....what a gal!!!
I love this show Richard Dawson awwwwwwww and the interplay with Charles Nelson Reilly in Brett. ❤️❤️❤️
A form of the waterbed was invented in 1833 by the Scottish physician Neil Arnott.
Dr. Arnott's Hydrostatic Bed was devised to prevent bedsores in patients, and comprised of a bath of water with a covering of rubber-impregnated canvas, on which lighter bedding was placed. Arnott did not patent it, permitting anyone to construct a bed to this design.
The modern version, invented in San Francisco and patented in 1971, became a popular consumer item in the United States through the 1980's with up to 20% of the market in 1986 and 22% in 1987. By 2013, they accounted for less than 5% of new bed sales.
Boy the contestants sat close together at first
Love Jo Ann's beautiful smile 😊😊😊😊❤️❤️❤️❤️🌹🌹🌹🌹💐💐💐💐!!!
I think I prefer the neon blue triangles used here to the green ones that became customary
Wow Jo Ann
So Dawson was the one that originally originated writing on the blue cards it seems.
There was another pilot with Michael Landon and the first contestant was a woman named Stanley.
The michael landon episodes are the first week of actual “legitimate” game play with real world contestants and actual cash prizes awarded.
SHE LOOKS KIND OF LIKE KAREN CARPENTER
Awesome. Classic and awesome.
I was 2 years old in 1973 ❤️
I was 5 Lol...or 4 depending on the month.
"I was a Japanese nurse." HAHA!
No, I was not saying she played Hot Lips btw......She was sexier than Kellerman..
I think Gene Rayburn used 2 microphones. Clip-on microphone, and a Hand-held microphone.
09:59
Wow! That card throw! Bullseye! And we all know who paper flips and does what it wants why we toss them through the air. YeOWza!
Celebrities:
1. Arlene Francis
2. Jack Klugman
3. Bert Convy
4. Jo Anne Phlug
5. Richard Dawson
6. Betty White