The Best of Match Game

Game show reruns are deadly boring to watch because you either know the answers or you know who wins. Do you really want to see a 15-year-old rerun of Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy? Well, Match Game is a rare exception. This game had contestants trying to match the answers of six celebrities to an open-ended comical question such as "At the nudist colony, Office Ron said, 'The worst thing about being a security guard in a place like this is...I can't figure out where to put my ______." The real game was the celebrity panel trying to crack each other up. In fact, it was more of a sitcom than a game show.

For those of you who don't get GSN on your cable box, this collection is a great way to recapture those afternoons in 1976 when innocent minds thought that Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly were married. This 4-disc set includes 30 episodes from 1973-1980 and the transfers look far better than anything transmitted through your old TV's rabbit ears.

You'd expect host Gene Rayburn would act like a ringmaster to keep a sense of sanity around the stars, but he was the most insane guy on the show. He didn't mind having mini-meltdowns when the camera rolled before he was warned, he argued with the judges about answers, and his flirting with Somers was hilarious. It was later revealed that Rayburn and the panel's outrageous behavior were helped by a well stocked liquor cabinet backstage. You'll never encounter a more fun bunch of lushes than on this set.

The contestants on Match Game weren't the sharpest bunch of crayons. Even with all the time in the world to come up with an obvious question, they routinely drew blanks. Perhaps it was being so close to the great Richard Dawson that made them dumbstruck. Some of the other major stars that you'll find in this set include Fannie Flagg, Eva Gabor, Bert Convy, Steve Allen, Nancy Kulp, Robert Pine, Foster Brooks, Bob Barker, and William Shatner. It's like Love Boat for the seasick.

Bonus features include the original pilot from 1962, but this was not nearly as wild or funny as the revived version. The most poignant of the extras is Somers's tribute to Rayburn. As she unwraps the mystery of his background, you can almost imagine that they did spend a couple afternoons in a Encino motel.

Match Game is a relic of the '70s that still holds up because the jokes weren't read off cards (like The Hollywood Squares). The humor came from six entertainers constantly topping each other because it didn't matter what the right answer was. What really mattered was cracking up the studio audience and the folks at home. -- Joe Corey