High anxiety

The Match Game thread on the GSN Classics board has wandered into a discussion of Bill Daily, who often took over the ex-Dawson seat before McLean Stevenson moved in more or less permanently. A couple of acquaintances have remarked on the thread about Bill's rather "highly strung" nature. I had to admit that his anxiety to score big on Match Game got a little old for me, which led into some comments about other game show folks...

As for Bill Daily on the show, I'm afraid he was never my favorite. A little too nervous, too anxious to score every time the camera pointed at him. I think the more relaxed McLean Stevenson did a much better job in the ex-Dawson seat. But Daily was a competent panelist, provided some laughs.

Other poster: Bill is just like that in person: animated, and somewhat nervous. He's somewhat highly strung.

Not surprising. He was like that in almost all of his TV appearances. After a while he got somewhat typecast in "highly strung" roles. He was always anxious to make a splash on Match Game, and it got to be wearing after a while.

Funny thing, but daily game shows - especially with a lot of ad-libbing like Match Game - tend to bring out a performer's genuine personality pretty strongly. It's hard to act every minute of every episode, even for an actor. If you're a little on the tense side, well, that's probably going to show up, as it did for Bill Daily on MG.

This tendency for extensively ad-libbed game shows to bring out genuine personalities is hardly confined to older shows. If you watch Baggage, for instance, you get a pretty good idea about Jerry Springer. A smart-arse no doubt, but a guy who sort of wants to be halfway decent, at least some of the time (wink).

Same with Sherri on Newlywed Game. Loud and show-offy, but occasionally willing to dial it back a little and show a touch of sweetness.