Mark's on a game show kick here. This is the pilot for The Match Game from 1962 starring your genial host, Gene Rayburn and celeb guests Peggy Cass and Peter Lind Hayes. It's a bit difficult to see why this inspired the network to order the series but it did…and the show went on the air December 31, 1962.
If you stick it out until the end credits (or as I finally did, fast forward) you'll see the name Dick DeBartolo in there as the guy who wrote the questions. You may recognize that name as Mr. DeBartolo has been a mainstay writer for Mad for an awfully long time. He holds the record for the longest continuous streak by any writer. There's been something he wrote in every issue of Mad since 1966. He also is an expert on "gadgets" and turns up often on TV shows showing off some of the latest.
The questions for this version of The Match Game were pretty sedate up until 1963 when the show was cancelled by NBC. There were six more weeks to do and, as the story goes, Dick asked producer Mark Goodson if it would be okay for him to experiment with an idea he'd had about how to liven up the show. Goodson, noting they had nothing to lose, gave him the go-ahead and Dick began writing sillier questions…even some that were a bit naughty like, "Dick told Jane to put jam on his _____." It did indeed liven up the show and caused the network to "uncancel" it and keep it on the air until September of '69 — a pretty healthy run. Goodson then waited a decent interval then launched Match Game '73, which was later retitled Match Game '74 and then Match Game '75 and so on, all thriving on the questions of Dick DeBartolo. That's the version you probably remember but here's where it all started…
