Small batch: the return of 'match game'

Over on cable TV and streaming services, summertime doesn't mean an end to critically heralded programming, as evidenced by the recent return of _Mr. Robot_ (on the USA Network) and the

launch of _Stranger Things_ (on Netflix). But over on the major networks, lighter fare still dominates, which brings us to ABC's recently launched reboot of the vintage game shows

_$100,000 Pyramid_ and _Match Game_. Glen Weldon and I have taken a particular interest in the latter show, in which host Alec Baldwin aims to resuscitate a franchise that had largely peaked

in the '70s and early '80s. For those who've never seen the show in its prime, when it was hosted by Gene Rayburn, _Match Game_ has a panel of celebrities answer a series of

bawdy fill-in-the-blank statements, which contestants would then attempt to predict accurately. In the '70s, the celebrities — or, if you prefer, "celebrities" — included the

likes of Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers, Richard Dawson and Fannie Flagg; in the reboot's pilot, they're Rosie O'Donnell, Tituss Burgess, Michael Ian Black, Debra

Messing, J.B. Smoove and Sutton Foster. (Later episodes tend to keep O'Donnell and Burgess while cycling in folks like Ana Gasteyer, Bobby Moynihan and Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz.)

In this Small Batch edition of _Pop Culture Happy Hour_, Glen and I offer up our thoughts on the show — how it compares to the '70s version, which panelists are best (and worst) suited

to the format, what we think of Alec Baldwin as a game-show host, and how _Match Game_ translates to a world in which no one left on earth would use the word "whoopee" as a

euphemism for sex. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.