The Classic Show: Gene and Friends

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss Here!

[Fable]

I recently watched some of the older episodes of this show on Youtube, and there were really some clever players, but I was struck by just how awful some of the semi-regular players were, especially Joyce Bulifant and Patti Deutsch.  It seemed like they didn't even try.  

[shlbycindyk]

I vaguely remember this show from when I was a kid.  Joyce Bulifant and Patty Deutsch were regulars on a lot of game shows back then and they seldom tried on any of them.  Other regular game show celebs tried to take over the show.  Charles Nelson Reilly was famous for this.  

[Novel8]

Today, this show would never had gone on air during the Me.too movement. Gene Rayburn is constantly kissing one or two of the panelist and the Homeric tone between him and Richard Dawson was really something....but don't get me wrong...I loved this show.

[shapeshifter]

On 4/1/2020 at 7:42 AM, Novel8 said:

Today, this show would never had gone on air during the Me.too movement. Gene Rayburn is constantly kissing one or two of the panelist and the Homeric tone between him and Richard Dawson was really something....but don't get me wrong...I loved this show.

It's a Cringe Fest for sure. 
It runs for several hours most days here on an OTA channel (BUZZR).  I like to have it on while I work on visual projects because you really don't have to watch to follow it. But often I do watch too, or at least intermittently. 
Hollywood dentistry was pretty awful back then, but we all had low-res CRT TVs.
I do cringe over the unwanted kissing, but Gene's seemingly unintended racist comments make me groan even more. Brett seems to try to smooth over his offensive remarks and make nice with the African American celebs and contestants. Nipsey Russell was smarter than any of them; I appreciate that the camera never failed to capture his facial expressions after one of Gene's faux pas. But they also seemed to think it was fun to have a cannibal or similar question when he was on, even though he would openly state his distaste. Maybe that was the point? To make the audience aware that it was offensive? IDK. 

Anyway, I sort of enjoy thinking "what would be a 1970s answer for that?" 

 

[Ubiquit0us]

On 4/1/2020 at 8:42 AM, Novel8 said:

Today, this show would never had gone on air during the Me.too movement. Gene Rayburn is constantly kissing one or two of the panelist and the Homeric tone between him and Richard Dawson was really something....but don't get me wrong...I loved this show.

Is that "Homeric tone" the ancient Greece poet or the Simpsons kind? 😃

 

If memory serves, the celebrity panelists were drinking during the taping of the show.

 

I think one of the most exciting games occurred when one of the contestant's wives was in the audience and about to give birth.

 

On 6/8/2020 at 2:09 PM, shapeshifter said:

Anyway, I sort of enjoy thinking "what would be a 1970s answer for that?" 

That's one reason I don't watch any of the revivals. Whenever I tried to watch one, it seemed like at least one of every answer  was "penis" or "dick" or "vagina", which gets tedious very quickly.

[shapeshifter]

20 hours ago, Ubiquit0us said:

That's one reason I don't watch any of the revivals. Whenever I tried to watch one, it seemed like at least one of every answer  was "penis" or "dick" or "vagina", which gets tedious very quickly.

I watched countless hours of Steve Harvey’s Family Feud while on high doses of chemotherapy and post-operative pain killers 4 years ago. (I rarely watch it now.) So when watching the old Match Game, I notice the best answer is often male genitalia——with the “fun” being that the contestants and the panelists could not go there. There are actually a lot of “boobs” answers on the Gene Rayburn shows. 
 

 

20 hours ago, Ubiquit0us said:

On 4/1/2020 at 7:42 AM, Novel8 said:

and the Homeric tone between him and Richard Dawson was really something....but don't get me wrong...I loved this show.

Is that "Homeric tone" the ancient Greece poet or the Simpsons kind? 😃

On the Gene Rayburn Match Game as well as on the Match Game PM, and the Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour there were a lot of LGBTQ actors as panelists. I think at least some of the mocking of homosexuality was done in the spirit of support of their colleagues, no? I realize it would not be seen that way now, but back then it could have been sort of like saying that if the homophobic police were gonna raid the place, Richard Dawson would stand up and say: Take me first.
Or am I giving Dawson too much credit?

It’s sad to read how many of those talented young actor panelists died of AIDS within a decade of appearing on the Match Game PM and the Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour.

Edited December 18, 2020 by shapeshifter

[sugarbaker design]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I think at least some of the mocking of homosexuality was done in the spirit of support of their colleagues, no? I realize it would not be seen that way now, but back then it could have been sort of like saying that if the homophobic police were gonna raid the place, Richard Dawson would stand up and say: Take me first.
Or am I giving Dawson too much credit?

I don't think so.  I too give Dawson credit, he seemed like an ally.  All the panelists were showbiz folk, and most likely would have had constant interaction with out gay people.  

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It’s sad to read how many of those talented young actor panelists died of AIDS within a decade of appearing on the Match Game PM and the Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour.

Gosh, nothing beats what the virus did to the Daytime TV community, especially the soaps.  It essentially wiped out half the male cast of The Edge of Night.

Edited December 18, 2020 by sugarbaker design

[Melonie77]

I enjoyed this show as a teenager and have been watching on Buzzer for a trip down memory lane. I love the camaraderie between Gene and the show regulars. The bantering and jokes often have me laughing out loud and so do the clunky set pieces which frequently don't operate properly. I also get a kick out of the 70's hair and clothes.

Especially enjoyable are Charles Nelson Reilly, Richard Dawson and Betty White. Brett is a favorite too although she can be annoying at times when she sings! They do indeed drink while on air - especially Brett! Dawson's behavior changes in later years after he gets his own hosting gig on Family Feud. 

I agree the homosexual jokes were done in support of friends in particular Charles who was gay and regularly made jokes on the show about his own sexuality. 

[MaryHedwig]

I attended a book signing of Fanny Flagg. I happened to be chatting with her handler and told him that I had recently seen Match Game and was impressed by Fanny Flagg how fresh and current she looked and acted. "It was like modern 2010 Fanny had walked onto a 70's set and was just sitting among them." The handler said, "You have to tell Fanny that." He brought her over. Fanny was so touched she burst into tears. "You have made my day, my month, my year."

[shapeshifter]

On BUZZR I caught a marathon of the version of the Match Game where each of a pair of contestants gets a second chance, with celebrity panelists: Joe Santos, Brett Somers, Fred Grandy, Bill Daily, Eva Gabor, and Betty White.

For a couple of episodes, including one when the screen showed 1979, Episode 120, a blind contestant was on named Glenn with a service dog. He had great answers and won a ton of money.
Of course Gene Rayburn was his usual embarrassing self whenever trying to be progressively PC — in this case grabbing the blind guy’s arm instead of offering his own.

During the same contestants' games, Bill Daily accidentally (on purpose?) "matched" the other contestant in the "Big Money" "exact match" portion of the show, even though Bill had "the" with the matching word and she did not. Gene Rayburn did not look happy. 

Rita Moreno did something similar on in the previous episode. It was often up to the celebrity to present an iffy match as a match to sway the judges. The better actors could pull it off.

Also during those games, the wheel they spun must've had a weight issue, because it landed on celebrity David Doyle 6 out of 7 times. Gene kept saying Doyle must’ve had some wheel telepathy going on, and Doyle went along with it — both of them obviously trying to cover for there being an issue that could cost the network nd make the advertisers unhappy.

Poor Gene was valiantly trying to herd cats.

Edited June 19 by shapeshifter