Match Game PM

Match Game PM was an American television game show where contestants tried to match a panel of six celebrities in answering fill-in-the-blank questions.

Richard Dawson

Richard Dawson

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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This article is about the actor Richard Dawson. For the cricketer, please see Richard Dawson (cricketer)

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Richard Dawson as a guest star on the Match Game.Richard Dawson (born November 20, 1932) is a United Kingdom-born actor and game show host. He was born in Gosport, England as Colin Emm. At the age of 14, he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marine, where he pursued a boxing career. Having married British sex symbol Diana Dors, Richard moved to Los Angeles, California, where he gained fame in the hit show Hogan's Heroes, which aired from 1965 to 1971. Richard and Diana eventually divorced, and Richard gained custody of both their children, Gary and Mark.

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In 1971, Richard became a regular performer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. In addition, he appeared on many numerous game shows such as Celebrity Dating Game. In 1973, he was freed from contracts. Mark Goodson, a game-show producer, immediately grabbed Richard to appear in the new revision of Match Game, entitled Match Game 73. Richard soon became a regular, with such stars as host Gene Rayburn, Brett Somers, and Charles Nelson Reilly.

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In 1976, Richard got to host his own show, Family Feud. Unlike his flop in 1974 with Masquerade Party, Family Feud became a hit, soon surpassing his very own number-one daytime show, Match Game 77. In 1978, he left the Match Game. After Dawson became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1984, he showed his passport and photo during the introduction of an episode of Family Feud. He continued hosting the Feud until it was cancelled in 1985. Dawson's most famous habit was kissing every female contestant on the show.

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Dawson co-starred in the movie The Running Man in 1987, playing an evil, egotistical, dark-sided game-show host. He hosted an unsold pilot for a revival of the classic game show You Bet Your Life in 1988. In 1994, Richard returned to Family Feud, but it lasted only one year (due mostly to the height of the O.J. Simpson murder trial). Dawson was considered for the current version of Family Feud, but elected not to host.

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There was a rumor that spread claiming that Dawson had committed suicide after his return to Family Feud had failed. In actuality, it was Ray Combs, the man who replaced him (and whom he in turn replaced in 1994), who committed suicide (in 1996). Dawson is very much alive and currently resides in Beverly Hills, California, the husband since 1991 of Gretchen (Johnson) Dawson, whom he met when she was a contestant on Family Feud. They have a daughter, Shannon Nicole and 3 grandchildren, Lindsay Dors Dawson, Tyler Emm Dawson and Emma Rose Dawson, all fathered by son Gary.

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Richard Karn, the current host of Family Feud, is sometimes referred to as "Richard Dawson, Jr.," in reference to the fact that he and Dawson have the same first name.

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Richard Dawsons Links

• Internet Movie Database: Richard Dawson
• The Richard Dawson Experience, a fan site
• Richard Dawson Only by AngelFire

The Host,and The Regular Panelist

Gene Rayburn hosted all versions of the show through 1984.

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Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers were regular celebrity panelists through most of the 1973-82 version's run;(including Match Game PM) Richard Dawson was also a regular from 1973 through 1978 (including Match Game Pilot and Match Game PM). Game show hosts such as Bob Barker, Bert Convy, Tom Kennedy, Bill Cullen, Peter Marshall and Allen Ludden made occasional appearances as panelists. Other frequent panelists from this era included Joyce Bulifant, Gary Burghoff, Bill Daily, Patti Deutsch, David Doyle, Patty Duke Astin, Fannie Flagg, Holly Hallstrom, Elaine Joyce, Vicki Lawrence, Dick Martin, Lee Meriwether, Jo Ann Pflug, Nipsey Russell, Debralee Scott, McLean Stevenson, Marcia Wallace, Betty White ,and Bob Barker.

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The regular announcer of The Match Game and Match Game PM was Johnny Olson(through 1982

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The Main Game and The Supermatch

In the first round, the challenger chose one of two cards, A or B. The host then read the back of the card to the celebrity panel. A typical question was something like: "Mary Mary Quite Contrary couldn't make her garden grow with water, so she used _____ instead."

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The contestant had a moment to decide what word would best fit the blank while the celebrities wrote their answers down on index cards; after all of them were finished, the contestant gave his answer. Frequently, the audience would respond appropriately as Rayburn critiqued the contestant's answer (e.g., "tinkle" might be the definitive answer for the above "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" question, but "mud" might be a rotten answer).

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Rayburn then polled each celebrity for an answer. The contestant earned one point for each celebrity who wrote down the same answer (or reasonable simile, as determined by the judges) as he had chosen, up to a total of six points for matching everyone on the panel.

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After play was completed on the contestant's question, Rayburn read the statement on the other card for the challenger, and play was identical.

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In the second round, whoever was leading the game got to choose a question first. Only the celebrities who did not match that contestant in the first round played. A third round was played on Match Game PM after its first season; again, the only celebrities who played were those who did not match that contestant in previous rounds.

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In the third round, whoever was leading this game got to choose a question first. Only the celebrities who did not match that contestant in the first round played. This third round was played on Match Game PM after its first season; again, the only celebrities who played were those who did not match that contestant in previous rounds.

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Tiebreaker rounds -- during which the scores were reset to 0-0 -- were played if the game was tied after the last round. On "PM" (or in the daytime show, if a tie was still not broken after two tiebreaker rounds), a time-saving variant of the tiebreaker was used that reversed the game play. The contestants would write their answers first on a card in secret, then the celebrities were canvassed to give their answers. The first celebrity response to match a contestant's answer gave that contestant the victory; if there were still no match (which was rare), the round was replayed with a new quesiton. On the CBS version of Match Game (1973-79) the Tiebreaker goes on until there is a clear winner.

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The CBS daytime version had returning champions and each show would end at whatever point they were in the game, to resume with the next show; the "PM" version was self-contained with no returning champions and each show would end with the "Super Match."

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The Match Game 79- Match Game 82 syndicated version did not feature returning champions; rather, two contestants played two complete games, with the loser of the first game returning for the second. After the second game, both contestants were retired and two new ones were brought on.

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The winner of the game went on to play the Super Match, which consisted of the Audience Match and the Head-to-Head Match segments, for additional money. On the CBS version, the winner of the game won $100.

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Audience Match

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A fill-in-the-blank phrase was given, and it was up to the contestant to choose the most common response based on a studio audience survey. After consulting with three celebrities on the panel for help, the contestant had to choose an answer. The answers were revealed after that; the most popular answer in the survey was worth $500, the second-most popular $250, and the third most popular $100. (At any time a contestants answer is not on the board the "Super Match" is over & the contestant will not win any money and s/he will not play "Head-to-Head")

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Two Audience Matches were played on this version of Match Game(PM)

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The Audience Match became the basis for another game show from the Match Game production team of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman -- Family Feud. Match Game regular Richard Dawson was chosen to host that show. This makes The Match Game one of the first (if not the only) in the game show genre to spawn a spin-off. Elements of the Audience Match were later incorporated in the Goodson-Todman games The Better Sex and Card Sharks.

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Head-to-Head Match

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The contestant then had the opportunity to win ten times what he or she won in the Audience Match by exactly matching another fill-in-the-blank response with a celebrity panelist of his or her choice.

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Richard Dawson was the most frequently chosen celebrity in the 1970s version; fans have considered this the reason why, that in 1978, the "Star Wheel" was introduced. Contestants spun the wheel to determine which celebrity they played with. They could double their potential winnings if the spin ended on one of the stars on the wheel ($20,000 was the top prize with the two audience matches on this version of MG, a jackpot of up to $20,000 was possible here). The introduction of the "Star Wheel" and a falling out with Gene Rayburn resulted in the departure of Dawson, who was already in his third year as host of Family Feud.

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Payouts on Match Game as follow:

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Daytime version

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$5,000, $2,500, $1,000 ($10,000, $5,000 $2,000 with the "Star Wheel" 1978-82)

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On Match Game PM (with two Audience Matches)

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$10,000, $7,500, $6,000, $5,000 ($20,000, $15,000, $12,000 $10,000)

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$7,500, $5,000, $3,500, $2,500 ($15,000, $10,000, $7,000, $5,000)

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$6,000, $3,500, $2,000, $1,000 ($12,000, $7,000, $4,000, $2,000)

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$5,000, $2,500, $1,000 ($10,000, $5,000, $2,000)

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External links

• The Match Game Homepage
• MatchGame.org, featuring an episode guide
• All Game Show Page : Match Game
• UK Gameshows Page: Blankety Blank
• The Match Game Website
• Match Game PM - The Definitive Quote Site
• Match Game Fan Planet
• "The Match Game Wallpaper Factory"
• "The Match Game PM Logo"
• "The Match Game PM (1978) Logo"
• "The Match Game PM Theme Song (2 minutes and 40 seconds)"