Reviews

Match Game started modestly enough with only Richard Dawson as the sole regular. Brett and Charles were added on by a happy accident. When Brett commented that Charles wasn't wearing any socks, someone thought it might be interesting to seat her next to Charles (she sat on Richard's right on her debut week) and another odd couple was born.

At the start of the '78 shows, Richard Dawson was gradually becoming less enchanted with Match Game. He wanted out, but he had to wait for his contract to expire. Richard's behavior took a noticeable turn around April 1978, when he stopped smiling, spoke only to reveal his answers (in a low, monotone voice), wouldn't look at the camera, and overall looked bored and miserable. It didn't help when they added the Star Wheel, meaning that he'd participate less in the bonus game. When Gene noticed this very sudden change in behavior, he tried to co-erse him to smile. The audience shouted requests, and when Richard flatly refused, Gene resorted to nearly strangling him to the ground before finally getting a smile out of him. Unfortunately, this didn't help his behavior for the rest of the run. 6 weeks later, they finally let him go. Richard's last show was without fanfare, and there was no direct mention that it would be his last (other than his statement "Fare thee well" which he wrote on his card at the start of the show). Word has it Gene did mention Richard was leaving, but those comments were edited out. It may have been edited out either because they may have thought Richard would return, or they just felt Richard didn't deserve a "goodbye" after his erratic behavior.

The following week, Bob Barker was the first to fill Richard's chair, and he noticed a card that Richard left behind that said "The sun never sets in England". Gene commented "He thought he was going to be here forever" Very little was mentioned of Richard after he left, but on the show's finale, when a contestant insisted on kissing Mc.Lean Stevenson, despite his having a cold, Betty White quips "May I suggest you pass that on to Richard Dawson?"

For new L&H fans, Stan and Ollie's appearance may be a shock. Stan looks VERY thin and has noticeably aged. Ollie, in contrast, has gained a LOT of weight.

If you can overlook their appearance, and the slow moving subplot, Atoll K does have some good comedy routines. However, their more elderly appearance does hamper what would otherwise be good gags. You just can't laugh at Stan while he is dealing with an inflating raft in the ship's cabin. He looks like he's truly in agony, and you want to help him instead of laugh at him. Also, the film is poorly edited. The original movie was 90 minutes long, but when re-released, it was shortened to a more tolerable 60 minutes. Most of the footage taken out was from the subplot, so taking out the extra half hour improved the movie.

While "The Boys" had more freedom to write gags and dialogue, nobody else on the crew had any idea what to expect in a L&H picture. Confusion and the illness of Stan and Ollie caused the picture to take an entire year to make! Not long after Atoll K was released, Ollie went on a diet and lost a LOT of weight, but it was too late.

In terms of the format, a very clever game where titles of songs relate to famous people, places, or whatever. The Mystery Face round was also a great bonus game where you see a celeb's baby picture and see that face become more familiar.

Production values, however, were laughably shoddy. This doesn't take away from the fact that it's still very entertaining. Tommy Oliver's band didn't always play in tune, or they'd make occasional mistakes. This fact was not overlooked by Ron Ely, whom would tease the band mercilessly. The lights on the set either weren't working, or flashed out of sync. Lisa Donovan, also, made occasional mistakes singing, and this was also left in the show. Lisa also modeled the new car, and once, couldn't get in the car because it was LOCKED! Ron Ely made for a very entertaining host. Sometimes he would get overly enthusiastic, bellowing YOU ARE RIGHT at odd moments. However, he would get better as the series progressed.

Bobby Van hosted this ill attempt at an audience participation show.

Contestants were chosen from the audience, and performed stunts. On some shows, there was the "fun word", which was much like Groucho's "secret word" on You Bet Your Life, where if anyone says it, they win a prize.

My first reaction, when watching this show was "Is THIS supposed to be FUN?" The first stunt was a chair rocking contest, with players dressed as Whistler's Mother. Another stunt was a fruit quiz, with a lady wearing a Carmen Miranda hat. About as much fun as watching paint dry.

Bobby Van would do far better 3 years later as the host of the remake of Make Me Laugh, which helped the careers of Bob Saget, Garry Shandling, and Bruce Baum. It would also be his final show.

Whoever thought that an Italian that worked for a radio station would fall in love with a young girl that had the talent, but not the nerve?

Sonny and Cher met as teenagers, and Sonny saw immense singing talent from Cher, but there was a problem. Cher was terrified of performing in public. However, she had no problem singing infront of Sonny. So, the logical solution was that Sonny unwittingly became her duet partner.

Sonny had written several songs just for Cher to sing, but being a straight music act didn't work. No one paid any attention until they were trading one liners with each other between numbers... and they knew they were on to something. Sonny and Cher combined written material with on the fly ad-libs, and no one knew which was which.

They grew tired of traveling and doing Vegas gigs, and they got the offer to do a variety show. Everyone knew Sonny couldn't sing, and as it turns out, he's not the best actor in the world either... but no matter, Sonny and Cher were still hilarious. The flubs and ad-libs in the skits were often much funnier than the written material, and other greats like Carol Burnett were doing pretty much the same thing.

Sonny's lack of talent, and Cher's "smart mouth" (as Cher said Sonny would often quip she has) just worked very well. Sonny would often try to have an intelligent conversation with Cher, but leave it to Cher to find a hole in his logic and bring him back down again.

Chastity was a very little girl, but was surprisingly intelligent. At the end of some shows, Sonny and Cher would bring out Chastity and they'd do an impromptu bit. One of the most memorable was when Sonny was standing on a trap door, and at the top of the show, Cher pulled a rope that sent Sonny through the trap door. Chastity wanted to try it, as long as "daddy didn't get hurt". Sonny teases her daughter saying she's a "bad girl" if she pulls the rope, and of course, she pulls on it.

As much fun as they had together in their professional career, Sonny and Cher's personal life suffered. Cher wanted more freedom to do her own thing, and after announcing they were separating, the show was cancelled.

A year after The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour ended in 1974, Sonny and Cher were divorced and ready to move on. Sonny had his own variety show, as did Cher. Both shows failed. So, Cher approached Sonny about returning as a duo, on a professional basis only.

Sonny and Cher returned, but a lot had happened in 2 years. Cher had married rocker Gregg Allman, and was pregnant. However, Cher was now in the process of going through a divorce from Gregg. This new wrinkle in Cher's life was new fodder for the duo.

The Sonny and Cher Show was really not much different from the original Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Their daughter, Chastity, was sometimes featured in the skits, and at the end of the show. In fact, the funny, sometimes unscripted exchanges between the divorced couple were funnier, even though the meaning was different. Cher mentioned in her book "The First Time" that she did enjoy working with Sonny again. Unfortunately, fans were not ready to accept Sonny and Cher as divorced and still singing the same songs and doing funny skits. The show ended a year later.

Sonny and Cher would not appear together professionally for 10 years. In 1987, David Letterman invited them to reunite on his show. They agreed, but told the host they didn't want to sing. However, Dave, being Dave, put them on the spot and asked them to sing. They got up, and did "I've Got You Babe" for one last time.

Sonny and Cher were already well known for their music and comedy from Ed Sullivan and other appearances.

Originally, Sonny intended to act as Cher's manager as she pursued a solo singing career. Unfortunately, Cher was terrified of singing in public, and not comfy in a recording studio. So, Sonny decided to join in the act, despite his lack of singing talent.

Sonny and Cher toured small clubs (under the names "Ceasar and Cleo") as a straight singing act. However, no one was interested in their music at the time. In an effort to save their act, Sonny and Cher made a couple of impromptu exchanges, and suddenly the audience loved them.

"Sonny and Cher" now knew what direction to go.

The dialog in the beginning Sonny and Cher show was a combination of scripted jokes and spontaneous banter between the couple, and singing their own hits.

Chastity was sometimes brought on at the end of the show as the couple sang their signature song "I've Got You Babe". The moments with Chastity were also spontaneous. One funny moment was when a trap door was on the stage, and Chastity wanted to pull the cord to make her Daddy fall through (As Cher did at the top of the show). Sonny egged Chastity on, teasing that she was a "bad girl" if she pulled the cord, and of course she pulled it.

Despite the fun Sonny and Cher had on the show, their personal lives suffered, and in '74, Sonny and Cher called it quits. They would return on TV 2 years later.

The TV series basically fell into an Alf clone. In Alf, the family tried to hide Alf from the neighbors and anyone that might be stopping by, on Harry and the Hendersons, they tried to hide Harry (although it's much more difficult to hide a 7 foot tall big foot over a 3 foot tall alien). The series proved that the premise was only good for a one shot deal, not a series with the same jokes each show.

I agree that Bruce Davison was no match for John Lithgow. Later in the season, the show was more focused on the family and less on Harry. Also, in a desperate attempt to inject new life into the show, a character was added that did impressions. Unfortunately, it did nothing to shift the focus to Harry.

The theme music was also kind of lame. Leon Redbone isn't exactly a popular music artist, although he also sang the theme for Mr. Belvedere

Cosby made a decent comeback after such failures like The Cosby Mysteries (hey, it worked for Angela Lansbury, Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith!) and You Bet Your Life (an adaptation to the classic Groucho Marx game show. Cosby had some funny moments, but overall Cosby is weak with keeping up improvisation for a sustained amount of time)

Madelyn Khan was great on the show, but you could see during her final weeks on the show that she looked ill.

Someone else was supposed to play Cosby's wife in the series, but something didn't work out, so Phylicia Rashad was called on to replace her.

Cosby thankfully didn't go the route of adding younger children to the cast to keep the show going. That was the start of the downfall of the original Cosby Show.

Barry and Enright, the creators of Tic Tac Dough and The Joker's Wild, really bombed with this show.

I was fortunate to speak with Art James on the phone, and he said "We called this show 'Blank Mind'."

The premise is this. 5 contestants on one side of the stage, one contestant on the other side (the checkwriter). The check writer has 5 different numbers infront of him, and chooses one. That number will be inserted into a Blank Check. Before that happens, a tossup question is asked, which is usually a very simple riddle, such as, what word connects with Moon and Lagoon (Blue of course). The player that answers the riddle correctly gets to guess which one of the 5 numbers the check writer is holding in his hand. If the number is guessed right, the checkwriter and player switch places. However if he's wrong, then the checkwriter keeps playing. The game continues until 4 numbers are placed into the check. The winner is the last checkwriter to put in the last number.

In the bonus game, audience members are chosen, and each has one of two possible prizes, and the checkwriter must guess what prize they chose. If right, the checkwriter wins the prize and goes on. Otherwise, the audience member wins the prize. If the checkwriter should guess all 3 prizes, then he wins a new car.

Really, there's no skill involved here, it's a very simple game of guessing numbers (The Price Is Right is about guessing numbers in prices, but then again, TPIR also has over 70 different games and a much more durable premise) and the riddles are usually no brainers too. The bonus round is also very anticlimactic and slow.

Art James really did the best he could with a format that Art himself admitted was a very weak show. Art would also host other short lived shows like The Magnificent Marble Machine (pinball anyone?), and Catch Phrase (A game of guessing animated rebuses. Great premise but possibly too difficult for some audiences). Art did have a couple of modest hits, including Say When!(A Price is Right variant where you can't spend more than 2000 dollars) and The Who What or Where Game (A Jeopardy! alternative)