Match Game 76 (Episode 866) (Happy Holidays)

This episode is being reuploaded. The audio is so much better! This episode is the 1st of the holiday week in 1976. We are closing down on the final episodes of Match Game 76.
Orson Bean, Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Mary Wickes, Richard Dawson, and Betty White

[@kevansf]

H/H match update and preview of the week ahead: ... This is week 174 of our favorite classic game show (291 will be the final week), and it's the final complete week of 1976. These episodes were taped on December 11, 1976, and they originally aired in late December of 1976. (867 was the Christmas Eve show.) Another fine week with a panel of old friends and familiar faces! Our stalwart regulars are joined by: ~~~Semi-regular Betty White, returning after two weeks off. It will be her 44th week (of 75). Betty has a 50% success rate in the head-to-head (tied with Fannie). ~~~Orson Bean, finally back after a long absence. We last saw him in 686-690, and this will be his 12th week (of 16). Orson rules the H/H leader board with amazing 100% success rate in the head-to-head, but he's only played 4 times... ~~~And finally, Mary Wickes, making her fifth week of Match Game appearances (of 14 total). She last played in 846-849, and has yet to be chosen for the head-to-head. The H/H Match Segment last week was just how I like it, with a little variation! Although Richard dominated by playing four times, Gary and Charles each had a turn as well. Reviewing the past 29 weeks, Richard has played 116 times. Everyone else combined played 31 times. (Brett had 10 opportunities, Charles 10, Fannie 6, Betty 3, Lynn Deerfield 1, and Gary Burghoff 1.) Percentage-wise, Richard has answered 78.9% of the H/H questions these past 29 weeks. This week I'd love to see Betty play and break that long-standing, off-and-on tie with Fannie again! It would also be a great week to see Mary Wickes get her first shot at the head-to-head. But I think at the top of my wish list would be to see Orson have his fifth shot answering the H/H question! Anyway, whatever happens in the H/H this week, I plan to just sit back and enjoy some 1976 holiday-style ________! ~~~Today's action: Richard's "moos" sealed our champion's third victory as time ran out on the last program, so we start the week off with the Super-Match. Today's (first) audience match question: "________Pills" (My thoughts: Carter's little, Pep, Birth control) The celebs: Richard (Sleeping), Betty (Birth control), Charles (Carter's little liver) The choice: Birth control The answers: Pep, Sleeping, Birth Control Our champion scores the top answer for the third time in a row, this time with Betty's suggestion. For the H/H, she's picked Richard twice, and they matched once. My guess this time: Richard 90%, Betty 7%, Charles 2%, someone else 1%. She sticks with Richard. He's matched 3 of his last 14 attempts. Looking a little further back, he's matched 20 of his 57 most recent attempts (35.1%). Today's (first) H/H question: "Band _______ " (My first thought is "Band on the Run" from 1973, but I doubt Richard would say that, despite the fact that Paul McCartney is a fellow Brit. Instead, I'll go with bandleader.) Richard files his answer in no time flat. The contestant says "Aid." Now that I hear it, that sounds like the most obvious answer. The audience seems to agree. And judging from how quickly Richard wrote his answer, I'm inclined to think that he matched. Richard alludes to "American Bandstand" before showing the winning answer. Richard scores his 219th H/H match today. (This is his first back-to-back win since 842-844!) ~~~ It was an unusually quick game. The challenger failed to find six tails on the panel, allowing our champion to cruise to her fourth victory. Today's (second) audience match question: "________Ford" (My thoughts: Gerald, Henry, Glenn, Model T -- one of those rare occasions when I thought of 4 answers to a name questions!) The celebs: Richard (Gerald), Mary (Tennessee Ernie), Brett (Model T) The choice: Gerald The answers: Model T, Henry, President Gerald This is the fourth time our champion scored the top answer. For the H/H, she's picked Richard three times, and they matched twice. My guess this time: Richard 99%, someone else 1%. She sticks with Richard. He's matched 4 of his last 15 attempts. Looking a little further back, he's matched 21 of his 58 most recent attempts (36.2%). Today's (second) H/H question: "_______ Son" (Hmmm. Grandson? Like father like son? I feel like I'm missing the obvious again. Grandson it is.) Richard writes a fairly lengthy answer. It looks like at least seven letters. The contestant says "Grand." Well, I guess my answer wasn't so terrible after all. The audience likes it too. (By the way, why is Gene saying "empathy" when he means "telepathy"?) But I still have the nagging feeling there's a better answer out there. Well, I imagine that Richard could have written the full word "grandson" and that's why his answer looked so long... Richard wrote "Sandford &." (Now I see why it looked like such a long answer.) No match this time. ~~~Here's our updated leader board showing the 11 celebs with at least 3 H/H matches, ranked by accuracy: (Note: An asterisk before a celebrity's name signifies that she has "retired" from the show and her H/H stats are now complete.) (Note: For tied scores, I consider the one with the greater number of matches to be higher; if the matches are equal, the celeb who first achieved that score goes on top.) Orson Bean - 100% (4 wins in 4 attempts). TIE: (*)Jo Anne Worley - 75% (3 wins in 4 attempts). TIE: Joyce Bulifant - 75% (3 wins in 4 attempts). Gary Burghoff - 71.4% (5 wins in 7 attempts). Charles - 52.4% (33 wins in 63 attempts). TIE: Betty - 50.0% (19 wins in 38 attempts). TIE: Fannie - 50.0% (13 wins in 26 attempts). Jo Ann Pflug - 44.4% (8 wins in 18 attempts). Brett - 41.2% (28 wins in 68 attempts). Richard - 40.9% (219 wins in 536 attempts). Bert Convy - 33.3% (5 wins in 15 attempts). *These stats include every head-to-head match from episode 1 through 866, excluding the lost/missing/damaged episodes: 31, 32, 33, 311, 312, 313, 324, 325, and 645. (As per MatchGameProductions, these episodes "are nowhere to be found and also aren't in the Goodson/Todman Library. Sadly, looks like they are lost forever!") -- Also, note that episode 849 was never produced.

[@noampitlik2332]

Sad that the top celebrities thought Chimpanzees had tails. Betty was trying to educate them. Oh, well.

[@pencils812]

Mary and Richard knew!

[@qualqui]

Yeah my first thought for the cute blonde to say"hairy body".

[@JPMasonDun]

Celebrity doesn’t mean they are smart.

[@9patriko]

Harrison Ford portrayed Bob Falfa in American Graffiti in 1973

[@rodneyspears4867]

RIP Orson Bean.

[@robg5209]

Sandy's sister at 6:00 ...She was a contestant on an earlier MatchGame episode!

[@markkonzerowsky8871]

It was also around this time (December 12, 1976) that we had to say goodbye to legendary Columbo villain and occasional MG panelist, Jack "Yellow Suit" Cassidy.

[@janejayne8152]

Oh, Columbo - loved him !

[@storylass9071]

@Cord Bullard cigarettes will get you somehow

[@golbex]

Thank you for sharing!

[@briteness]

Sandy was a lovely woman.

[@dannyhill8797]

very-very.......

[@annika_panicka]

Mary Wickes is such a hoot! I couldn't place her at first, but I remember her from "White Christmas" and an episode of "M*A*S*H" where she played a brassy, strict, lusty visiting nurse. I meant to comment earlier when she first appeared on "Match Game 76." Everyone on the panel adored her and wanted her back as did Gene.

[@XMLarry]

The used car salesman said, "That customer was weird. When I showed him the car he didn't kick the tires he stole them."

[@qualqui]

🤣

[@annewilson9619]

Poor Orson Bean died at the age of 91 . He was hit by two cars.

[@Floymin]

Whoever wrote "_____ Pills" must have kicked himself for walking right into *that* joke!

[@sdlively27]

Interesting, Gene changed clothes during the commercial break! ;0)

[@todddepue681]

They were all wearing different outfits! Interesting.

[@musicloverme3993]

too early for HARRISON Ford, I guess?

[@a.j.mittendorf1183]

Glenn Ford / Sanford (and Son)

[@glen1ster]

Poor Orson was killed by two cars: one knocked him down and the other ran over him.

[@qualqui]

Yikes! ya don't say, I saw another comment saying RIP, but I had assumed he had died of oldage, natural causes.

[@eddieafterburner]

That auto do it.

[@Floymin]

Orson Beane said "Graystone" while mentioning Tarzan, so I'm guessing he was making a subtle reference to Graystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. I'm surprised anyone read that book prior to 1980.

[@mlchc9004]

In 1976 they can retire with $6400? WOW.

[@MensAsses33]

A little over $31,000 today. Doesn't sound like a lot, but I think that the dollar was stronger and had more purchasing power in 1976.

[@MensAsses33]

I think she was joking about retirement...

[@poetcomic1]

They have a daytime show with 80% housewife viewers and the number of good looking young male contestants in an entire season you can count on one hand. I never understood it.

[@eddieafterburner]

I hear you. The conclusion I’ve come to is that its contestant pool mirrored its audience. After all, what guy working all day long would have even known about the show to want to try out. To wit, of the few male contestants, an inordinate number were either students or had shift work jobs (like cops or firemen or the train conductor from a few shows ago) who had an opportunity to watch daytime TV.

[@skipmoto3438]

Sandy was that girl on ...... Three's Company. Lol

[@mikehunt4986]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@susanbezio1529]

No, that was Joyce Dewitt.

[@grahamwaters3962]

Her round one question was way too easy

[@qualqui]

🤣Upper tier a bunch of dummies, like Betty said, chimps don't have tails!😂

[@donaldleroy6502]

I guess the upper tier and Blondie really didn't know cheetah was a chimpanzee with NO tail

[@todddepue681]

Interesting that in 1976, Sandy was a size 10. Looks like maybe a 4 in 2021.

[@poetcomic1]

More like a 2.

[@danareynolds1786]

I'm amazed at how often Brett is directly or indirectly involved in giving more than 3 choices in the audience Super Match and nothing is done about it. I think she gets bonus pay when she says/does something ignorantly stupid.

[@kevansf]

It was actually Charles who suggested "Henry" Ford without being called on. I'm not sure how Brett takes the blame for that. Actually, I wouldn't "blame" anyone-they're trying to help the contestant by giving some extra suggestions, and it doesn't harm anyone.

[@770WT]

Was Orson Bean named after Orson Welles ?

[@pamelajarman2872]

28 days without cigarettes. And what did she die from?

[@storylass9071]

stomach and colon cancer

[@caseyyarnold2959]

I'm tired of those 2 always fighting!!

[@mlchc9004]

Brett picks up a fight with almost anyone. love Betty White

[@jaberjaber131]

@@mlchc9004 Brett was extremely jealous of Betty , she always took cheap shots

[@proud_brettsomersfanclub8687]

@@jaberjaber131 you must be a boring person. Brett was NEVER jealous. If you READ Fannie Flagg's article about Brett and Charles you'll know that what Brett and Charles said "was never mean or hurtful and they loved it when you razzed them back" they did this to those they loved. People saying Brett is jealous is getting old now. Move on.

[@garfield2439]

@@jaberjaber131 omg here come Bretts bodyguard. She must search the comments to respond to anyone that's says anything about her. I wonder if she is a relative

[@lesburns7395]

@@proud_brettsomersfanclub8687 you got old a long time ago, brett was an insufferable bitch

[@janejayne8152]

The majority of first time contestants appear to choose B. I wonder why.

[@pencils812]

Has anyone seen the episode that Betty is talking about at the end of the video at 2:50? kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHa9nHakibB6jZY