Headed off to work after that. Work was quiet as can be the entire morning. It's the day after a major holiday and the week before the beginning of the month. If people aren't on vacation for Easter break or recovering from yesterday or Passover, they're waiting for next week to do shopping. No really major problems, and I was in and out.
When I got home, I changed, then went online. Buzzr has been posting remastered copies of Match Game '73, including rare episodes that were in bad shape. I forgot they'd actually dug up and repaired the long-lost 31, 32, and 33. Apparently, they had audio and video issues that even GSN couldn't solve in the 2000's. Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, they look and sound just fine now. In fact, I'm glad they were able to fix them. This would be the only week for comedienne Lucie Arnaz, and it may be comedian Jack Carter's finest hour. He really has some great quips in these shows, especially in 33. Now we can finally see how the entire week went down for ourselves in these rarities!
(Incidentally, the restoration of these episodes means that Match Game '73 is now available online in its entirety.)
Took my laundry downstairs to the washer, then went down for a nap. I'm still pretty tired, and I didn't have any other plans today. Went down at 4 PM and didn't get up again until past 6:30.
Put the laundry in the dryer, then took out the recycling and got dinner. Ate while watching Match Game '77. Polly Holiday, still best known as Flo from Alice, made her only appearance on the show in mid-1977. After her microphone died in the first episode, Richard held a mock funeral for it while Gene tried to fix it. Fortunately, as Richard relates, it's back in good health by the next episode.
Finished the night back at YouTube honoring game show host and radio personality Jim Peck, whose birthday was last week, after I brought the laundry upstairs. Peck started out on radio in his native Milwaukee. He was hosting a talk show in Washington DC when producer Ron Greenburg hired him for his new game show Showdown. The pilot from 1974 seen here didn't initially sell the show, but a second pilot did the trick.
Three contestants choose from six subjects on a large board. The difficulty of each subject ranges from 1 to 6, as on a dice. The higher the difficulty, the bigger the score. First contestant to hit a randomly selected "payoff point" would win the pot. After the second pot, the questions were switched. A 90 second speed round eliminated the lowest-scoring contestant. The Final Showdown let the remaining two contestants play to a Payoff Point of 7. The bonus round involved the winner needing to roll "show" and "down" on dice to win $10,000. Any other numbers would be their Payoff Point. Hitting the Payoff Point would net $250 and more time; hitting Showdown gave them $5,000. They'd keep going until they got Showdown or time ran out.
Honestly, this show was complicated but a lot of fun to watch. It's a shame it lasted only 7 months in a game show-saturated market, and only the pilot and the episode seen here exist today. (And it's likely that the only reason this episode exists is because Peck took a tumble going downstairs. He laughs it off and was fine for the rest of the show.)
Hot Seat was almost as entertaining...for all the wrong reasons. This Heatter-Quigley attempt to branch into Chuck Barris territory had a couple trying to guess their spouse's emotional reaction to a question. The spouse in the hot seat would have their responses measured by what amounted to a huge lie detector. If they guess right, they earn cash. They had an option to go on to a bonus round against the other couple and win bigger prizes.
Uh, yeah. You can tell right away why this one didn't work. The entire premise is just plain ludicrous. The couples' answers are so dull, it's impossible to know how that lie detector could judge anything. (According to Wikipedia, the bonus round was a lot more mean-spirited in the pilot. The husband is to decide what prizes they want by his response...including his response to a model in a bikini designed to upset his wife.) Peck is charming, but the show around him is too absurd for words. No wonder ABC didn't want to keep this around. This is the only episode known to exist today.
Second Chance from 1977 was a lot more fun to watch. This Bob Carruthers precursor to Press Your Luck is basically the same as the more famous 1983 show, with devils on the board instead of Whammys and contestants able to change their answer during the questions portion. Despite being well-remembered by those who saw it in 1977, it couldn't beat The Young and the Restless in the ratings and didn't even last three months.
After that, Peck stuck to hosting syndicated game shows...and didn't do any better with those. He took over the helm for You Don't Say, Carruthers' Match Game imitation, for its 1978-1979 syndicated run. That only lasted a few months. Later in 1979, he would host the controversial Chuck Barris show 3's a Crowd. Peck asked questions of a man and his wife and secretary to see who knew him better. Uh, yeah. The show barely lasted four and a half months, thanks to the backlash and complaints of sexism surrounding the show. (A short-lived Game Show Network revival would at least have family members or exes instead of the secretary.)
That would be his last show to date that he hosted full-time. Jack Barry groomed him to take over The Joker's Wild, but his partner Dan Enright went with Bill Cullen instead after Barry's sudden death. I like Bill, but I think Enright made a big mistake. Bill Cullen could never keep the show going at the same rapid pace as Barry. Peck does far better in the episode shown here. That would be the last straw for Peck. After Joker's Wild ended in 1986, he retired from hosting and hasn't done a game show since, though he continues to appear on radio in his native Wisconsin.
Poor Jim Peck never seemed to catch a break with game shows. Check out the best from a charming host who deserved better with these rare and unique episodes!
Oh, and MGP finished the Wink Martindale-Gene Rayburn week tonight. Wink did get his contestant to the Alphabetics round, but she missed it on one word. At least he did better than Gene Rayburn. This was not Gene's game. He was too slow with words and kept using ones that were way too long for anyone who wasn't a dictionary (or a drunk Match Game panelist) to understand.
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