Kicked off a cloudy, soggy morning with more Match Game. An episode from the 1979 syndicated run brought a pleasant surprise, especially for early October - an appearance by none other than a young Jamie Lee Curtis, just barely past her success in the first Halloween film. She dealt with Gene's flirting and kissing "the new kid on the block" pretty well, and even managed to do some matching.
The rain slowed down long enough for me to head to work. Between the weather and it being the middle of the week, as you can imagine, we were dead all morning. I spent most of the first half of the morning rounding up carts and shelving items. After another bagger arrived, I did the outside recycling (the trash was fine) and mopped the bathroom. No problems whatsoever.
Went straight home after that. Had lunch while watching the most notorious of all Match Game episodes, show 1005 from 1977, aka the "School Riot" episode. This one is online, and I've mentioned it before, but not in detail. Towards the end of the episode, Gene asks the panelist a question about Dumb Dora sending her cultured pearls to blank. The contestant answered "school." Ed Asner and Brett Somers said "college," which was passed. Charles Nelson Reilly had to argue for his answer, scuba diving school. Debralee Scott's answer, "finishing school," was dinged and buzzed at the same time. Richard Dawson also said "finishing school," which was flat-out buzzed.
Needless to say, neither Richard, nor Debralee, nor the contestant were terribly happy. To make matters worse, Patti Deusch, who was known for her rather...unusual...answers, said "night school," which was also buzzed. (Ironically, it was probably one of her better answers.) Richard, Deb, and the contestant started pounding on their desks, which roused the audience and the other panelists. Gene couldn't calm them down and finally called a commercial. Charles tried to defuse the situation by laying on the steps and calling himself "the victim of the 'school riot,'" but the damage had been done. The contestant lost, and the bottom row kept their answers up in protest for the rest of the episode.
(To give them credit, they did invite the contestant back a few episodes later. He actually won this time, too. I felt the most sorry for poor Patti Deusch. She looked utterly terrified to give her answer, and even said "I'm afraid!" to Gene before she did.
This was also the beginning of the end of Richard's time on Match Game. He had his good weeks and bad weeks after that, but his real focus was on Family Feud, where he had far more control over the outcome of the show. He finally left in 1978, after the Star Wheel eliminated his advantage in the Head-to-Head.)
Continued on to less controversial episodes as I made Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. Dizzy blond Elayne Joyce and David "Bosley" Doyle joined Betty White and the regulars for an episode in 1978 that had Charles getting fed up with arguing with Brett and temporarily moving down to the lower desks. Lovable drunk Foster Brooks livened up a syndicated episode from 1979 with semi-regular Scoey Mitchell and Sarah Purcell of Real People. Bill Macy, who has dealt with Golden Girls before, brought his gruff common sense to a fun week of shows from 1976. Along with Curtis in the 1980 episodes, we had Robert Pine, a Chips actor best known today as the father of Chris Pine, Steve Trevor from the 2017 Wonder Woman. Dick "Hymie the Robot" Gautier gave Richard a run for his money in the charm department in two fun 1977 episodes.
Worked on writing as soon as the cookies were in the oven. Brett comes into the boys' domain, fussing over Charles' toupee and matching quips with Richard. Ira Skulch, the show's producer, shows up as well to tell them they're almost set to begin. He ogles Brett before Richard tells him to lay off, then reminds Richard of how little power he has. Poor Charles is too nervous to say anything.
Broke for dinner at almost 7. Had leftovers, then did crocheting while watching Funny Girl. I go into more detail on Barbra Streisand's first movie at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Funny Girl
(And incidentally, the rain has continued on and off all day, sometimes heavily. I figured I'd be safer inside. I'll do the laundry tomorrow or Saturday.)
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