Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour

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The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour is a Game Show segment hosted by Mark Goodson that ran on NBC and combined two great games into a single show. Two new contestants began by playing Match Game, using the same format as its 1973-82 era, with the only difference being the tiebreaker — while played the same as before, the contestants chose from a list of four possible answers.

The winner of Match Game played against the returning champion on The Hollywood Squares, with three more celebrities joining the group. The champion always played X, the challenger played O, and there was no Secret Square. Each captured square awarded $25, with victory in each round awarding a prize equal to that round number times 100 ($100 for Round 1, $200 for Round 2, etc.) until time ran out; whoever had the most cash became champion and played in the Super Match.

The Super Match was the same as its 1973-78 counterpart (no Star Wheel), except the answers paid off $1,000/$500/$250 and the contestant could choose from all nine stars. After that, the contestant picked a star for the Head-to-Head Match; four celebs each had a "10" ($10,000) or "20" ($20,000) card in front of them, but one had a "30" card that meant the contestant played for $30,000.

While the concept was sound, the lack of regular panelists and a major senior moment by Goodson (inexplicably failing to understand what made Squares work) doomed the show to a single season from October 31, 1983 to July 27, 1984 (39 weeks/191 episodes). Further complicating matters was Gene Rayburn, who hated Jon Bauman and (according to announcer Gene Wood) had been "dragged, kicking and screaming" into this mess.

The following Game Show tropes appear in Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour:
Tropes used in Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour include:
  • Ascended Extra: Subverted with Jon Bauman; though he appeared as a panelist on Match Game in the 1970s (in his "Bowzer" persona), it wasn't the Match Game portion he ended up hosting.
  • Downer Ending: At least one contestant played for $30,000 and lost.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Dumb Dora/Donald, Old Man Perriwinkle (and his wife), Ugly Edna/Alfreida, and Weird Willie all came along from Match.
  • Obvious Rule Patch: The five-square win and gotta-earn-the-win-yourself rules from Squares were thrown out due to time constraints.
  • Pilot: Pretty much the same as the series, with the notable difference of having three contestants in the Match portion.
  • Recycled Soundtrack: The music cues were recycled over to The Price Is Right, usually for use with cars.
  • Scenery Porn: The set was rather inventive, with a huge marquee for each celebrity in the center which doubled as the Super Match prize display. The stars' seating area began as a two-tiered Match panel, then a third tier was rolled in for Squares.
  • Technology Marches On: One of the prizes during the pilot week was a Commodore 64.
  • What Could Have Been: A popular topic of conversation on Game Show discussion boards - 'MGHS Hour failed, but what other gameshows could be combined into one?'
  • X Meets Y: Match Game meets The Hollywood Squares, with disastrous results.
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