The Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour/YMMV

"Gene (after being asked a question): I don't know the answer, so I'm going to have to take a wild guess...which really isn't supposed to be the point of this game — either you know the answer or you bluff."
 * Adaptation Displacement: Most modern viewers will recognize the main theme as a new car cue on The Price Is Right, completely unaware that it had originated on this series.
 * Awesome Music: Edd Kalehoff's main theme. Several other cues from the music package also qualify.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: Anytime you see Jon and Gene interact friendly on the 70s Match Game, knowing what was to come.
 * Funny Moments: For a brief period beginning on February 13, 1984, the show did a Telephone Match contest (somewhat of a Call Back to the 1960s Match Game) where a viewer would be called on weekend evenings to play a Head-to-Head Match with a celeb for a chance to win $5,000 and an appearance on one of the network's soap operas. Although the contest wasn't particularly notable, the eligibility requirements were quite a mouthful to get through.
 * Moment of Awesome: At least one contestant won the $30,000 maximum in the Super Match.
 * Replacement Scrappy: Jon Bauman, especially since the Hour replaced Peter Marshall's Fantasy. Bauman had neither experience nor business being behind a game show lectern.
 * They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Mainly toward the botched Hollywood Squares format. Rayburn didn't like the changes either, and let America know on June 29, 1984 (about a month before the end).

"Classic Squares Question: "[Celebrity,] is it a good idea to freeze your cheeseballs before serving them?" (insert cheeky zinger by celebrity)
 * They Just Didn't Care: Goodson, for all his talent and contributions to the genre, was given a rare chance to do another company's game and failed "Hollywood Squares 101" — no bluffs, zingers, or correct answers were given to the celebs, and all questions were convoluted either-or situations that left no room for said bluffs and deflated most of the zingers' punch. As an internet poster put it:

Match Game-Hollywood Squares Question: "Minnie Mouse is throwing a party. Should she freeze her cheeseballs for a few hours before serving them to her guests, or is this a bad idea?""


 * WTH? Casting Agency: Bauman was a decent panelist on Match Game, but what terrible lapse in judgment made Mark Goodson think that somebody would work better than Marshall at hosting Squares...and that that person was Bauman? It could've been worse, though — at least Bauman didn't host in his "Bowzer" persona.