‘The Match Game’: A Fred Westbrook Photo
Below is a shot of ‘Match Game 74’ from CBS Television City Studio 33. The show started on NBC on December 5, 1962 and ran there till September of ’69. At NBC, the show originated from Studio 8H and was always a color show. In the early 70’s Fred Silverman at CBS began dumping the “rural” shows like ‘Green Acres’, ‘Andy Griffith’ and ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ and started adding game shows in prime time starting with ‘The Price Is Right’ in 1972. The next year, Silverman added another Goodson-Todman show which was ‘Match Game 73’ with it’s original host and announcer, Gene Rayburn and Johnny Olson. Did you know that Gene Rayburn was an NBC page in 1936? On January 5, 1967 (while still at NBC NY) Johnny Carson made a surprise appearance on the show…he came to heckle Ed McMahon who was a guest panelist for a week. True or false…this show also aired on ABC.
Anyone know this ‘Match Game’ camera operator? Thanks to David Rouche for the screen capture.
True. I believe it was on ABC in the early 90s.
Interesting that the cameraman is giving the cues, and not a floor manager.
Love this page. So full of great TV moments
It’s very debatable whether the original 1960’s version of “The Match Game” from NBC’s Studio 8H was in color for the length of its run. The information I have read tells me that when it premiered at the end of 1962, it was in black-and-white, and that it didn’t go color until the fall of ’65.
Australia had its own version of Match Game called “Blankety Blanks” which ran from 1977 to 1980 and hosted by the king of Aussie television Graham Kennedy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vWr-5yqVUQ , the set props were almost exactly the same!!! They even merchandised lemonade 😉 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlLJpZLnMDo
True
I thought the center camera in 33 was usually on the platform back in the audience, not on stage,
Match Game did NOT start out in color. In fact if it did it would be closer to the near its end of run. When it moved to CBS in 1973 it was COLOR thru it’s entire CBS daytime prime time run.
Gene Rayburn was the announcer for Steve Allen’s Tonight Show. Find out more here: http://rwkates2001.wix.com/late-night-tv#!steve-allen/c7ea
To be clear, Silverman did not put these shows on in primetime, although there were syndicated versions that aired in prime access. However, CBS did also remove the sitcom reruns from the daytime lineup — including some rural ones such as The Beverly Hillbillies and Gomer Pyle — to make room for these new versions of TPIR and MG in daytime.
In 8H it was in black and white. There are you tube videos of it
Why is the camera operator staging!
n they did a lot of gags with the camera operator.. It does look like he is staging but I doubt it