The Boss and the Matches

Began the morning with breakfast and Madonna. Something To Remember is actually a collection of Madonna's more popular ballads, plus two movie songs that hadn't been seen elsewhere, "I'll Remember" and "This Used to Be My Playground." "Rain," "Crazy for You," and "Live to Tell" were three more earlier hits that made it here. The big hit recorded directly for the album was "You'll See." She also does well by an eerie version of "I Want You." 

Called Uber even before Madonna ended. I didn't want to take my bike after a seven-hour shift. I think I made the right call. The one going to the Acme arrived in 5 minutes. The one going home came in 6. No trouble there. I was even a little bit early.

That was about the only thing that did go right during my entire shift. The entire day was a mess. It wasn't bad when I got in at 9, but by 10:30-11, we were mobbed. I was alone for most of the morning and kept falling behind with the carts. Even after they pulled one of the college boys to help, we were still behind. I had to clean up a ginger ale spill alone at one point. Later on, one lady refused to pay for her large order and just dumped the cart up front, which meant I lost that college boy when he had to put it away. About the only good thing I can say is the weather continues to be nice, and in fact, too warm for this time of year, in the lower 70's. Otherwise, I was very happy to get out of there.

In fact, I was so tired and angry and fed up when I got home, I went straight into bed for a nap. I went down at 4:30 and didn't get up again until almost 6. I did feel a little better afterwards, but I'm still pretty tired.

Tonight's YouTube marathon had already started when I got on. Producer Mark Goodson was the face of his company for many years. He was the one who actually went on the shows, made announcements and appeared with the staff. He was a Mystery Guest or panelist many times on What's My Line, including once where he appeared with his long-time partner (who mostly handled the business side of things) Bill Todman. In fact, Goodson proved to be a charming host in his own right when he hosted What's My Line at 25 with John Daly and Arlene Francis, a special showing often-hilarious clips from the best moments in the very long history of that show.

He turned up three times on Match Game. The first was in 1974, to give Gene a bag for his needlepoint in honor of the great job he was doing and how popular the show was. He appeared a little later in 1974 to sit in briefly for Charles Nelson Reilly when he was late to a taping "getting his hair nailed on." His last appearance was New Year's Eve 1976 with a speech thanking everyone for the show's continuing success and to read a joke question about "old man Gene" hosting Match Game '99. (Which, alas, he did not. Goodson died in '92, Gene in 1999.)

Goodson was generally only seen during big anniversaries and major events. He appeared on The Price Is Right for their 19th and 20th anniversaries. In fact, their 20th anniversary show in September 1991 was one of his last appearances before he died. Earlier on Family Feud, he crowned Richard Dawson king on their 7th anniversary, praised the job the staff was doing on their 5th, and read the results of a poll on Richard's habit of kissing all the ladies. Goodson also anchored the male team during the Feud "Hollywood Walk of Fame" week. Betty White anchored the ladies.

Speaking of Betty, one of the few surviving episodes of the 1971-1975 ABC Password run is the series finale. Sam Mellville and Kate Jackson of The Rookies were the last two celebrities helping ladies guess and bet on different words. When they finished, four members of the staff (many of whom would eventually work on Feud as well) played each other. Goodson gave Allen the Tank Watch he talked about so much during his and Betty's week together in 1975 on Match Game. Betty was there by Allen's side as they talked about how they met on Password and the show came to an end. 

In 1991, Goodson got another chance at the host's chair when Alex Trebek ran out of To Tell the Truth because his wife was having a baby. Goodson proved to be quite suited to it, actually. He certainly did the show no harm. He actually got some interesting stories, including one about a woman who became a Wall Street broker while still in her teens and a millionaire by 21 and a man who flew around the world on a seaplane. 

Find out more about the face behind so many beloved shows in this often hilarious and sometimes touching marathon!

Sunday Game Show Classics - Mark Goodson on Set