Get Ready to Buy the DVD!
There's not much bad about the Match Game DVDs (now on sale), but I'll start with the negatives since they are on my mind:
1) No slates at the beginning of the shows. It would have been a nice touch, but it's on par with other TV DVD sets out for sale so you can't really complain.
2) Bizarre ordering of the episodes. I was pretty much expecting them to go in chronological order, but they're all over the map. While the 1st episode is indeed on Disc 1, Disc 4 has shows from the 2nd and 3rd weeks.
3) The included booklet doesn't really give much information about the shows other than the celebrities, which makes finding out what exactly made each episode special a bit difficult. To be honest, I haven't really figured out what half of the episodes are doing on there, but at least they got the School Riot, 1st episode, last syndicated episode, Kirstie Alley shows, and Gene's door destruction episodes in there.
Now the good:
1) Tons of bonus materials, way more than would be expected of a DVD set like this. The Brett Somers interview spans all 4 discs, and while it seems like she's reading most of the material from a script, it's a nice to have, especially since it seems to go on forever. The picture gallery is nice as well, and the topper is having the 1962 pilot for The Match Game. It's a rarity and really gives the set some credibility as a definitive source of information about the show.
2) TICKET and FEE PLUGS! Yeah, that's the game show dork in me wanting to see those, but they've never been shown on GSN, even in the good 'ol early days of the network. The late '70s ticket plugs were legendary on Match Game with the hilarious face disfigurations and that kooky theme song that played along which never really seemed to fit with the rest of the musical suite of the show. Having full credits is also nice in a day when GSN wouldn't dream of showing them.
3) Overall good video and audio quality. There's some reports of a defect or two with a couple of episodes, but overall the majority of the discs look really good.
I'd say this gets at least an 8.5 out of 10, maybe a 9, and is a must have for any fan of the show. Here's hoping the set takes off and we can see some more G-T shows on DVD anytime soon (you have to imagine Price is Right could easily be done).
1) No slates at the beginning of the shows. It would have been a nice touch, but it's on par with other TV DVD sets out for sale so you can't really complain.
2) Bizarre ordering of the episodes. I was pretty much expecting them to go in chronological order, but they're all over the map. While the 1st episode is indeed on Disc 1, Disc 4 has shows from the 2nd and 3rd weeks.
3) The included booklet doesn't really give much information about the shows other than the celebrities, which makes finding out what exactly made each episode special a bit difficult. To be honest, I haven't really figured out what half of the episodes are doing on there, but at least they got the School Riot, 1st episode, last syndicated episode, Kirstie Alley shows, and Gene's door destruction episodes in there.
Now the good:
1) Tons of bonus materials, way more than would be expected of a DVD set like this. The Brett Somers interview spans all 4 discs, and while it seems like she's reading most of the material from a script, it's a nice to have, especially since it seems to go on forever. The picture gallery is nice as well, and the topper is having the 1962 pilot for The Match Game. It's a rarity and really gives the set some credibility as a definitive source of information about the show.
2) TICKET and FEE PLUGS! Yeah, that's the game show dork in me wanting to see those, but they've never been shown on GSN, even in the good 'ol early days of the network. The late '70s ticket plugs were legendary on Match Game with the hilarious face disfigurations and that kooky theme song that played along which never really seemed to fit with the rest of the musical suite of the show. Having full credits is also nice in a day when GSN wouldn't dream of showing them.
3) Overall good video and audio quality. There's some reports of a defect or two with a couple of episodes, but overall the majority of the discs look really good.
I'd say this gets at least an 8.5 out of 10, maybe a 9, and is a must have for any fan of the show. Here's hoping the set takes off and we can see some more G-T shows on DVD anytime soon (you have to imagine Price is Right could easily be done).
posted by Brad @ 9:45 PM 7 comment(s)