The Real Match Game Story: Behind the Blank (2006)
*** (out of 4)
Fans of the game show Match Game are certainly going to enjoy this 43-minute documentary and there's no question that they're going to want to watch it but at the same time one wishes more had been done with it. If you know about the history of the show then you know it really came into its own starting in 1973 when Gene Rayburn, Richard Dawson, Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly made it the number one show on daytime television. Even though the thing was off the air before I was born, it's hard not to love this show just because it seems like everything was being made up on the spot and the four stars were just so priceless in the ways they were willing to entertain those watching. As it's touched on in the documentary, part of the fun was that the viewer could answer the questions and then see which celebrity they would match. The documentary features interview segments from Rayburn who was deceased by the time this was released. Somers gets to answer a few questions and Dawson is also seen in brief interviews. The problem is that the film is just too short and there's just so many panelist who are not interviewed. This includes Reilly and countless others who were alive when this was made. Even Dawson, a major force on the show, is just briefly featured. It's really too bad more people weren't interviewed but with that said, if you're a fan of the show then this is still a must see.