It has been a topic of discussion and speculation for a week, evidently, but I'm not in the loop, so it's news to me late tonight.
I saw a Facebook post about an hour ago, inviting potential contestants to apply online to play Match Game. I didn't pay much attention to the details of the casting call, but it looked rather standard.
After I did a little Googling I learned that the speculation regarding Match Game's return began about a week ago. At that time it was unclear who the show was for, where it was going be taped and who its host will be.
I assumed the casting call was for Match Game's return to ABC prime time. The show churned out small batches of episodes for a handful of years with Alec Baldwin as host. It was part of ABC's brief obsession with prime time games, classic or otherwise, during the summer of 2016. Wikipedia tells me that 65 hours of Match Game were churned out from 2016 through 2021.
ABC isn't overdosing on game shows these days, but solid performers continue to find their way back to the prime time schedule.
Press Your Luck isn't a network darling, but ABC has been pleased with it and continues to churn out episodes. Celebrity Family Feud seems to be a valued commodity that the network has tried not to dilute by trotting it out 12 months of the year. Celebrity Jeopardy! seems to be a viable prime time format for ABC, as well. And we've still got episodes of Pat Sajak's post-retirement run of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune episodes waiting to drop, as far as I know. And after a bit longer than typical for a hiatus, ABC is favoring its audience with new episodes of Pyramid.
But nobody expected Match Game to return to ABC, given host Alec Baldwin shot and killed a crew member on the set of a movie in 2021. It was deemed an accidental death, with the liability falling to another crew member who is responsible for the safe handling of firearms used as props in the film. Not everyone thinks Baldwin should have been exonerated, but I didn't follow the case closely and do not have an informed opinion about his liability, or lack thereof.
It appears that the new episodes of Match Game will be filmed in Montreal, Canada. Does that mean the show is strictly for Canadian television? There has been a Canadian version of the show in the past. But the opinions I stumbled upon think the show is returning to ABC, given that the network's Facebook page for the show, which sat quietly with no recent activity, was spruced up in recent days. The cover photo for the page was updated and lots of old posts and discussion were scrubbed from the page, I read. I can't prove that, but when it is said more than once, I am inclined to believe it. ABC didn't do that randomly, but it doesn't prove the show is returning to the network.
There's info suggesting that the show's new production is on a tight timeline. The casting call just went out during the past couple of days, and it looks like the show will be recorded in June. A comment suggested we'll see new episodes yet in 2025.
I'm intrigued. I was lukewarm to the revival after it debuted in 2016. My God, it has been how long already? Time flies, and it goes by faster with each passing year, I swear. I can't believe it has been nearly nine years since the Baldwin version debuted. Wow.
ABC's prime time version is rather faithful to the 1970s edition, but we all know some of the questions used 50 years ago wouldn't fly today. Questions meant to be silly and funny -- mocking weight, intelligence or ethnicity -- aren't so funny in 2025. The modern incarnation of the show is entertaining, but for whatever reason, it didn't become appointment television for me.
I don't watch game shows because of who is hosting, but Baldwin didn't make the show more enjoyable for me. In his defense, he wasn't the only reason I lacked enthusiasm for the show.
I don't expect to love new episodes of the show, but I'm curious to find out who the host will be. Absolutely no one expects Baldwin to return to the Match Game set.
And I'd as curious to know why the show will be recorded in Canada instead of the United States. The Baldwin episodes were recorded in New York, and there are no shortage of celebs in Hollywood. So why not there?
I haven't missed the show in its absence from ABC, and I don't expect to love it in 2025, but just as I was curious to see what it looked like in 2016, after decades of dormancy, I'm looking forward to seeing what Match Game looks like in 2025 after Baldwin's incident seemingly brought the show to its early demise, as well.
UPDATE: TV's Randy West had this to say on Thursday afternoon:
"The format is too good to not exploit it again... Same game, new host, new crew, and new studios, taping in Canada."
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