As
reported earlier today, the folks behind
American Idol are reviving
Match Game. I may be in the minority here, but my restrained response to this news was something akin to "Woo-hoo!" I loved that show — both in its heyday and in reruns on the Game Show Network — if only because it's the strangest anthropological documentation of 1970s comedy, sexual mores and substance abuse that you're ever going to find on network television. It was pretty subversive for a game show (see examples on
YouTube), with more cigarette smoking, daytime drinking and winking sexism/sexual innuendo than your average episode of
Mad Men.
So we asked you who you'd put on the show's inaugural panel. Who are today's Richard Dawsons, Brett Sommerses, and Charles Nelson Reillys? And you responded in kind, with some very interesting suggestions. (Mario Cantone?
Genius. Jimmy Fallon? Eh.) That said, here are my humble suggestions for the inaugural sextet. —
1) Pamela Anderson: If anyone knows her way around a double entendre, it's her.
2) Michael Ausiello: A lot of you have already suggested him, and I wholeheartedly concur. Though I've only known him for a few hours (I'm new around here), the steady stream of profanity coming from his office seems to indicate he'd be a natural for it.
3) Simon Cowell: Because he's kind of mean, kind of funny, and definitely a dirty bird.
4) Kathy Griffin: The author of
Suck It, Jesus! would definitely do it... if only to trash her fellow panelists in her act later.
5) Allison Janney (The West Wing): If you've seen her on
Ellen, you know she's a quick wit who's got the devil in her.
6) Romany Malco (The 40-Year-Old-Virgin, Weeds): The man has a way with filth.
Jeez, writing this post was difficult. (How difficult was it!?!) "It was so difficult that.... " Oh, never mind.
So, let's keep it going. Which stars would
you like to see fill in
Match Game's blanks? Did I aim too high? Are we more likely to get the likes of Romber and Alfonso Ribeiro? —
Mickey O'Connor
