All in all I thought the Match Game documentary on GSN this Sunday was pretty well done. It didn't contain too many tidbits for most people very familiar with the show, but casual fans (like one of my co-workers, who had no idea there was a falling out with Richard Dawson) probably found it intriguing.

The breadth of celebrities interviewed by the show was probably its strong suit, and I thought the appearance of Gene's daughter really gave the hour some credibility. The interviews with the writers and show staff were the crowning touch, and the geek in me loved seeing an actual index card with a typewriter-produced Match Game question dated from 1976.

The only knock I have on the show is that the segments directly dealing with Gene came off as kind of depressing, almost like an obituary for him. Gene is a legend and deserves all the respect coming to him, but his passing was 7 years ago and treating discussions of him like a funeral sort of seems dated at this point, especially given the overall theme of the documentary that the show was much like a party.

In general I'm looking forward to the other documentaries in this series. I think GSN has really done well in the documentary department. Obviously the Michael Larsen documentary is the highest rated thing they've ever shown (and may hold that title for a while), and I even dug most of the Anything to Win documentaries from earlier this year, even if they had little to do with game shows. I thought the Pennsylvania Lottery scandal documentary was particularly well produced.

 

posted by Brad @ 9:19 PM   0 comment(s)