Lost TV Sanctuary: Match Game (Syndication 1998)

My Favorite Day to be in a Game Show Audience

I’ll be mostly spoiler free here.  If you watch these episodes, put yourself in the audience's perspective.  One fun aspect of this taping was the audience was able to interact with the show and the celebrities quite a bit.  Judy Tenuta especially was always talking with the audience, even during the show.

 

I went to about 5 tapings, which was 35 episodes.  I was in the audience for these first two episodes (taped in October or November 1998), which then aired Thanksgiving week.  Most episodes aired out of order because 7 episodes were filmed in a day in two sessions, leaving 2 extra episodes each week.  Despite the craziness of one of these episodes, it was a really fun day to be there.

 

I never got to meet the celebrities, but they all seemed cool (there was only one at a different taping that was unpleasant, but no one on this day).

 

The show was recorded in real time (30 minutes).  The commercial breaks & between episode segments were always fun.  But the most fun was the end credit sequence - it was usually wild and went on forever (it was still going for the audience while the sponsor commercials aired).  Judy even joked in one episode about the theme getting stuck in her head.

 

Some things to note for these episodes…

Airdate: 11-25-98 (Wednesday) Mike vs Shaunna

• This is one of the later episodes in the show’s run (same with the other 2 episodes uploaded).
  
  
• At the start, you can see (it looks like) Jason George in the background running to his spot backstage.
  
  
• Notice Nell Carter at the end of the 2nd segment - she seemed like a really nice person and this moment shows that perfectly.

Airdate: 11-27-98 (Friday) Alex vs Micki

• A kind-of continuation from the previous episode.  While each episode was stand-alone and meant to air a little mixed, it’s obvious this one was recorded next.  References to that happen throughout.
  
  
• A producer’s yell can be heard at one point - and she really was a little freaked out by what Michael Burger did.
  
  
• The last 5 seconds of this episode resulted in a fun (it was pre-social media, so really was just funny) interaction after the taping ended with the show’s producers - for both a celebrity and the audience.  Think of how the audience is right in front of and below the stage - and everyone realized it at the same time!

Unknown airdate:  Lyne vs Terry

• A fun episode with a really cool end with the audience.  Pretty sure I wasn’t at this taping, but things like this happened quite a bit on this show.
  

I had such a great time at these tapings, so much so that I tried out to be a contestant on Hollywood Squares and Greed about a year later (it didn’t work out though).  But no other game show taping could ever compare or top this.  Not even The Price is Right (which was also taped in the same building).

 

While many Match Game fans disliked this version of the show, it was my favorite - and not just because I saw it live.  Everything about this version - the host, panelists (minus one), contestants, announcer / warm-up, and the production & episode format of the show - was perfect.

 

Unfortunately no one seems to be airing this version of Match Game.  Maybe because of the different production company.  I’m hoping all the episodes end up on a streaming service somewhere - I’d love to see the full series.

 

Here's the three episodes described above on the Internet Archive.

 

RIP to both Nell & Judy - both seemed genuinely nice and helped make this show awesome.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER:  I only upload episodes of TV series that are completely unavailable in any format (not currently broadcast, streaming or available to purchase in any way) for archival purposes.  If the show suddenly becomes available, all files will be deleted.