Line #30 Series/TheMatchGameHollywoodSquaresHour


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mg_hs_hour.PNG]]
2	->"It's time for ''The Series/MatchGame! [[Series/TheHollywoodSquares Hollywood Squares]]! '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis HOUR]]!'''''"
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4	GameShow by Creator/MarkGoodson that ran on Creator/{{NBC}} and combined [[Series/MatchGame two]] [[Series/TheHollywoodSquares great]] games into a single show. Two new contestants began by playing ''Match Game'', using the same format as ''PM'' (three rounds of questions) with the only difference being the tiebreaker - while played the same as before, the contestants now chose from a list of four possible answers.
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6	The winner of ''Match Game'' played against the returning champion on ''Hollywood Squares'' with three more celebrities joining the group. The champion always played X, the challenger O, and each captured square awarded $25, with victory in each round awarding that round number times 100 ($100 for Round 1, $200 for Round 2, etc.). There was also no Secret Square, carrying over from ''Squares''[='=] 1980-81 syndicated season. When time expired, whoever had the most cash became champion and played the Super Match.
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8	While the concept was sound and the audiovisuals top-notch, the lack of regular panelists and Goodson's insistence on not going with what made ''Squares'' work hurt the show's overall quality. It didn't help that its competition included Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''Series/GeneralHospital'', then TV's top-rated daytime soap opera, which drew viewers away. The ''Hour'' lasted nine months (October 31, 1983 to July 27, 1984), being replaced by ''Series/SantaBarbara''.
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10	!!This show provides examples of:
11	* TheEighties: When the show aired, obviously, but also pertains to the pop culture references. Mentions of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, Music/MichaelJackson, Creator/MrT, and [[Music/CultureClub Boy George]] are common.
12	* TheAnnouncer: Gene Wood. Johnny Olson, Bob Hilton, and Rich Jeffries all filled in for a few weeks.
13	* AscendedExtra: Subverted with Jon Bauman; though he appeared as a panelist on ''Match Game'' during the 1973-82 era (in his "Bowzer" persona), it wasn't the ''Match'' portion he ended up hosting.
14	* BonusRound: A modified version of the Super Match - the answers in the Audience Match paid off $1,000/$500/$250 (or $100 for missing all of them) and the contestant could choose from all nine stars for the Head-to-Head Match. Four celebrities each had a "10" or "20" card in front of them, while the last had a "30". If the contestant successfully matched against the chosen celebrity, the Audience Match winnings were multiplied by the celebrity's number, for a top prize of $30,000.
15	* BonusSpace: One of the nine celebrities would multiply the Audience Match winnings by 30 if chosen.
16	* CurbStompBattle: On the Monday episode of week 5, the final score in the ''Squares'' segment was $1,300 to $25. Gene even felt so bad for the losing contestant that he jokingly came over to her podium and gave her a few more dollars from his pocket!
17	* DownerEnding:
18	** Several contestants played for $30,000 and lost.
19	** On the January 30, 1984 episode, a contestant played the Super Match for $10,000 and was given "_____ Pizza". Jon Bauman wrote down one answer, discarded it, then wrote another. The contestant offered "Pepperoni"... guess what was on the card that Jon threw out? (His second card said "Large".)
20	** Inverted on the April 4, 1984 episode; faced with the Super Match phrase "Chicago _____", Creator/JayneMeadows wrote down one answer, but crossed it out and went with another. As it turned out, her second answer of "Illinois" matched the champion for $20,000! (Her first answer, as seen X-ed out on the card, was "Cubs")
21	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
22	** In early episodes, when Gene was selected during the ''Squares'' portion for the first time, Jon gave a disclaimer that "while Gene is the host of the ''Match Game'' portion of our show, he has never seen any of the ''Hollywood Squares'' questions". This practice was dropped during the second week.
23	** During the first week of shows, some of the ''Squares'' questions weren't multiple choice; because this frequently brought gameplay to a screeching halt with celebrities taking too much time to think of a response (due to the aforementioned lack of briefing for the celebs), this was also gone by week 2.
24	* GameShowHost: Gene Rayburn for the ''Match'' parts, Jon Bauman of Music/ShaNaNa fame for the ''Squares'' part. Each host took the bottom-left seat during the other's portions.
25	* LuckBasedMission: The ''Match Game'' tiebreaker. Each contestant chose one of four possible answers to a fill-in-the-blank question, out of sight of the panel. Gene then polled the panel, one celebrity at a time, and the first contestant to match any of them won the game.
26	* ObviousRulePatch: The gotta-earn-the-win-yourself rule from ''Squares'' was thrown out due to time constraints, although the five-square-win rule remained.
27	** In the Super Match, the Audience Match rules were modified slightly. On the original ''Match Game'', failing to match any of the top three answers in this half ended the round and awarded the contestant nothing. Here, they received $100 to use in the Head-to-Head Match (as a result, all subsequent ''MG'' revivals have likewise offered a "consolation payoff" if a contestant bombs the Audience Match).
28	* {{Pilot}}: Pretty much the same as the series, with the notable difference of having three contestants in the ''Match'' portion. For the Head-to-Head Match, each celebrity had an X and an O tab. One had the name of the celebrity, the other had a cash amount. The champion selected one celebrity at a time, then picked one of the two tabs. Every time the champ found cash, it was added to the pot and they got another turn; once a name turned up, the champ stopped picking and matched against that celebrity for the money in the pot. Clearing the board allowed the champ to match against the last celebrity for $100,000. There was also a lot more blue on the ''Hollywood Squares'' portion of the set. Clips from this pilot appeared in early NBC promos for the series.
29	* ProductPlacement: Cast members from then-current NBC series frequently appeared as panelists and talked up their shows during the game, ''Mr. Smith'' being the most commonly brought up. There were also at least six instances of the top answer in Super Match being one of the shows then-currently on the NBC lineup, including the aforementioned ''Mr. Smith''.
30	* RecycledSoundtrack: The main theme and contestant plug cues were recycled over to ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' - the former used for new cars (and the retired pricing game [=Super Ball!!=]), the latter usually for exercise equipment. They stayed on the show until just after Drew Carey took over. In addition, the theme was used for new cars during the 1986-89 runs of ''Series/CardSharks'' after the car game was added.
31	* RunningGag: Gene sometimes referred to the area behind the panel set as "the canal," complete with sound effects of seagulls, splashing water, a foghorn, and so on.
32	* SceneryPorn: The set was rather inventive, with a huge light-up marquee board (48×16 pixels) as the backdrop that displayed the show's title, the celebrities' and hosts' names, background patterns, and the Super Match prize amounts. It was built in sections that could swivel in place to let Gene and Jon enter at the start of the show. The stars' seating area began as a two-tiered ''Match'' panel, with a third tier rolled in for ''Squares''. The seating area was further designed to look like the traditional ''Squares'' grid when seen head-on, with the backdrop behind each star lighting up with an X or O as games progressed.
33	* ShoutOut: Jon liked to do the "mouth wide open" pose of his Bowzer persona in Sha Na Na during the ''Match Game'' half of the show.
34	* ThemeTune: The theme for this show became a car prize cue for ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' and the 1986-89 iterations of ''Series/CardSharks''.
35	* TrustMeImAnX: Frequent guest Marty Cohen had a RunningGag where he tended to claim he majored in whatever subject he was answering a question about in the ''Squares'' portion. [[spoiler:At the end of Cohen's first week, he revealed that he'd never graduated from high school.]]

Context Series / TheMatchGameHollywoodSquaresHour