Author Archives: Allison Lips
TV Shows You Should Know: Match Game
This is our tribute to Richard Dawson, who was a regular panelist from 1973 to 1978 and died last weekend.
The Match Game aired from 1962-1969 on NBC, but is not the version that everyone remembers due to its much bawdier remake that aired through the 70s and into the 80s on CBS. Gene Rayburn both the original Match Game and all of Match Game 7x (The x represents every year from 1973 to 1979 name of the show changed every year. Once 1980 came around the show dropped the year.)
Match Game had six celebrity panelists and two contestants. The winner would be the contestant who matched the most celebrities in two rounds. That person would go on to the Super Match for the chance to win up to 5,000 dollars (10,000 dollars in the nighttime version.). The permanent panelists for most of the show’s run were Richard Dawson, Brett Somers, and Charles Nelson Reilly. Other frequent panelists include: Betty White, her husband and Password host Allen Ludden, writer Fanny Flag, Gary Burghoff, and Nipsey Russell.
Another Reality Show, Another Liar
Monday’s America’s Got Talent introduced America to Timothy Michael Poe. He appeared to be the embodiment of patriotism: a southern cowboy injured during his military service who overcame his injuries to fulfill his dreams. Everyone wanted to believe him. For a day, we did. Now, the Associated Press reports that Poe probably lied about his injuries.
Poe did not lie about his service in Afghanistan, but he was not injured there. He did not need to lie, especially since he is talented. Poe would have been considered a hero just for serving a month in Afghanistan or any time in the military. However, Poe’s lied completely destroyed any respect America had for him.
As Howard Stern said,
“You could be the most f—ked-up liar on the planet, but you never lie about military service. This lie is so wrong on so many levels.”
America’s Got Talent Goes Goth
Andrew De Leon
Last night America’s Got Talent was a little light on the entertainment again. NBC is killing the show. Each week, viewers only get two hours of new acts followed by several repeats throughout the week. In the past, we saw three to four hours of new acts and they were repeated once. It doesn’t help that each hour only has 5 full performances and four short ones mixed in with a bunch of boring montages consisting of people kissing or people with pets or some other boring activity the producers think will make the audience go “awwwww.”
On Tuesday, AGT was still in Austin. I think this is the first week NBC has aired both parts of a city’s auditions back to back, which helped with understanding Howie Mandel, Sharon Osbourne, and Howard Stern in the Snapple Chat.
The first act was the Aurora Light Painters. They painted with light. I really don’t know how to describe what they did without being captain obvious. The Aurora Light Painters somehow manipulated light and took advantage of a cameras light sensitivity to put on an interesting show. It wasn’t one of my favorites, but the judges loved it. (If anyone knows how the Aurora Light Painters performance works, please leave a comment. My head hurts just trying to figure it out.)
America’s Got Talent Goes to Austin
America’s Got Talent held auditions Austin, Texas. The first thing that struck me was that there were very few dance acts and that this season seems to be more positive than past ones.
Sebastian De la Cruz and his mariachi band were the first act of the night. Despite only being 10-years-old, De la Cruz was charming and a perfect gentleman as well as extremely talented. He also dressed the part, which only added to his preciousness. (Seriously, the number of times Sharon Osbourne and the Internet have used that word to describe De la Cruz is not going to do him any favors in high school.)
Time for the bad act montage! That would be great if any of the acts were remotely memorable. There was a sideshow act, which I barely remember because all sideshow acts make me sick. Well, except this one. The Tinderbox Circus Sideshow appeared to solely exist so that the members can staple paper to each others chests. It was very tame compared to the sideshow from earlier in the season that had one of its members pick up a brick with his eye sockets.
Weekly TV Update: June 4
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
Rolling Stone has a recap of Sunday’s episode of Mad Men.
Are you a fan of Game of Thrones? The Los Angeles Times has you covered in the recap department.
E! has a list of crazy moments that happened at the MTV Movie Awards yesterday.
Richard Dawson, the original host of Family Feud, died on Saturday.
The voice of Gumby also died last week.
TV Shows Get Meta on Facebook
Some really loyal fans of classic shows like Hogan’s Heroes, Mash, Bonanza, and Highway to Heaven made Facebook accounts that are written as though the fictional characters are real people. It gets bizarre, but is also really funny at times.
On Colonel Robert E. Hogan, the following message was posted today.
“Newkirk just told me that the actor who portrayed him on the show about our missions, Richard Dawson, passed away yesterday at the age of 79. R.I.P Mr. Richard Dawson. A truly great actor.”
Don’t think about how meta that is because your brain will hurt. However, I will miss Richard Dawson. He was in a lot of things I grew up watching in reruns, but I digress.
So far Corporal Peter Newkirk is the only other Hogan’s Heroes character that has a page. Other characters that have pages are: (Those with asterisks are regularly updated as are Hogan’s page and Newkirk’s page.)
From M*A*S*H:
*Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce
From Bonanza:
Joe Cartwright
Carmen Sierra Cartwright
From Highway to Heaven:
*Jonathan Smith
Anglophiles Get Out Your Costco Cards
The Costco Connection has an article about some of the British television shows that are now available at Costco’s across the country. As Costco likes to say, not all of the titles are available in every warehouse. Also, this may not be a complete list.
You Have Been Watching You Have Been Watching
This week I’m going to introduce my fellow American’s to a new British panel or comedy show everyday.
The last panel show for the week is You Have Been Watching, which has three panelists and host Charlie Brooker discuss various television shows. It aired on Channel 4 for two series.
In the following video, Charlie Brooker, Germaine Greer, Frank Skinner, and Frankie Boyle discuss the worldwide phenomenon of Deal or No Deal. Warning it contains swearing.
What Not to Wear Changes Format
What Not to Wear got a makeover this season. The new season premiered this past Tuesday with a live studio audience. This completely changed the feel of the show and not for the better. Someone at TLC fixed what wasn’t broken.
The show used to be sort of a documentary about one woman’s clothing journey. Clinton Kelly and Stacy London would throw out all of the woman’s old clothes and spend the week boosting her confidence and giving her a new look. Now with the live studio audience, What Not to Wear has turned into a highbrow point-and-laugh show.
While the part of What Not to Wear where a secret camera follows the unwitting participant was always creepy, the show never went into cruel and unusual punishment territory until this season. Even though the first person made over, Ana, looked like a teenaged hooker with her sort skirts and dead Muppet vests, she did not deserve the meanness that comes with the new format. You could hear the audience laughing at her as soon as she walked through the door. With the old format, you might have been laughing at the badly dressed woman at home, but at least it wasn’t to her face.
Whose Line is it Anyway? UK
This week I’m going to introduce my fellow American’s to a new British panel or comedy show everyday.
There’s not much to say about Whose Line is it Anyway?. Most of you are probably familiar with the American version, which ran on ABC for 8 seasons and was hosted by Drew Carey. The British version ran on Channel 4 series from 1988 to 1998. It was hosted by Clive Anderson. There is quite a bit of overlap between panelists on both shows and if you’re a fan of one you’ve definitely heard of the other.
The majority of clips on YouTube do not have an all British cast, so here is a sketch that features Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles.
If you want to see every episode ever created of both Whose Line is it Anyway? versions, Whose Line Online has you covered.
Wait! What's A Dial? 