Anyone from Trivia TV who is worth his salt knows that Gene Rayburn welcomed the original “match game”. He made his debut so long ago, 1962, television was almost still radio. Rayburn has hosted several later versions. But it would be necessary to be a dedicated game show observer to remember that Alec Baldwin (!) Welcomed the last iteration. He operated on ABC of 2016-21.
Do this next to it to last. “Match Game” is back, also on ABC. The first of the six an hour episodes is broadcast on Wednesday evening. Once broadcast, episodes are available for streaming on Hulu. Accommodation is – Roll Drum, please – Martin Short.
Why a drum roll – or, at the very least, a series of rim rim? We will get there. First of all, there is the question of the game itself. Here’s how it works. The host reads a sentence until the very last word, which he leaves aside. The challenge is then to fill the white. (In fact, there have been Australian and British versions of “match game” called “blankety blank”.) Six guests of celebrities provide their own ends to the sentence. So make two candidates. The candidate who makes the most matches with the celebrities wins.
The guests of the episode of the first are Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne, Kevin Nealon, Anthony Anderson, Ziwe and BD Wong. Wong played the short assistant in “Father of the Bride” (1991). Gomez has a stronger connection. She costa with short and Steve Martin on “only murders in the building”. Gomez ensures, however, that Short does not take credit so that she is a guest. “I used to watch this show in my trailer, the version of the 60s,” she teases it at the start of the episode. “I didn’t do that for you. I did it because I’m a fan. ” Yes, “Match Game” is also looming in the firmament of a match show.
Which brings us back to this drum roll (or rim fire series). Short was born to hover in this firmament of the way Joe Dimaggio was born in the Patrol Center field or in Toscanini to take the podium. Until that of his “SCTV” days, Short was an unrivaled master of sincere insincerity and self -phoniness. His jokes are much funnier for his, still on them. He says about this first “match game” “Wow, time spends when you call it.” What other game host would dare to say such a thing, and even less to be able to get away with it?
The classic game game host is fragrant, because musicians must perfect basketball or basketball players at the height. It is practically a job requirement. Think of Rayburn, Bob Eubanks (“The Married Young Game”), Richard Dawson (“Family Found”), Monty Hall (“Let’s make an agreement”), the list takes place. Even Saint Alex Trebek, “Jeopardy!” Fame had an anointing sequence, so sweet and a man’s state. “They all seemed to me to be game games”, sings Sting in “If I ever lose my faith in you.” Is there a more despised line in all pop music?
Short takes the cause of such contempt, turns him backwards and ties an arc on it. Playing Smarm to laugh, it is so exaggerated that it is right where it should be. It is difficult to imagine someone better suited to organize a television game. Well, wait, there is someone: Jiminy Glick. But it is a short circuit in complete safety finds a way to manage this competition.
Mark Feeney is a Globe Arts writer.
Mark Feeney can be contacted at Mark.feeeney@globe.com.
