FOF #2908 - How Match Game Put Blank Into Popular Culture

Published: Nov. 17, 2020, 8:07 a.m.

The TV game show Match Game was canceled in 1963 for being too bland and not connecting with viewers. Figuring you couldn\u2019t get canceled twice, the show\u2019s writers put in cheeky questions designed to make the contestants blush at the celebrity panel\u2019s witty banter and sexual innuendo. It won audiences back over and it stayed on the air until 1969.

The game show then brought back as Match Game 73 and was nominated for several Emmys. Its risqu\xe9 humor changed the tone of daytime TV game shows forever.

Today camp culture historian A. Ashley Hoff takes us on a backstage tour of Match Game, the orange shag carpeted TV game show where our favorite gay icons cracked up the audience as they \u201cfilled in the blank\u201d over cocktails.

A. ASHLEY HOFF: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011534019843

Ashley\u2019s book, Match Game 101: A Backstage History of Match Game,is an in-depth look into the making of the iconic game show and features interviews with the fabulous celebrities who made host Gene Rayburn\u2019s circus come to life as the hottest cocktail party on TV.

Listen as we \u201cblank\u201d with Ashley about:

\u27a4 Brett Somers, Fannie Flagg, Richard Dawson and why Mae West was never a celebrity guest.

\u27a4 Charles Nelson Reilly\u2019s wonderfully queer showbiz career from Broadway to Sid & Marty Kroftt\u2019s Lidsville, to life as one of the most beloved talk show personalities.

\u27a4 Evie Phineas, the most awkward game show contestant in history.

FEATURED BOOK:
A. Ashley Hoff - Match Game 101: A Backstage History of Match Game:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0990880028/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0990880028&linkCode=as2&tag=faustofernos-20&linkId=c3fa931b41880469b8fe8b87bf70dba8

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