Canucks re-up Match Game

This blog takes a quite chauvinistic U.S.-centric view. But even nationalistic moi will nod toward our neighbors in the great white north. Especially when they renew their version of an iconic American game show.

Canada's Comedy Network has re-upped Match Game for another sixty eps. The ratings have been okay. Which was also my critical verdict on the show after I watched a little on YouTube. Darrin Rose returns as the pleasant if not rock-out funny host. Sean Cullen also comes back as the excitable regular panelist, along with stand-up comic Debra DiGiovanni.

The renewal makes me wonder if Match Game might ever rise again in the U.S. Three tries at a revival have all flopped for various reasons. The main problem is the giant shadow cast by the 1973-82 Gene Rayburn version, which of course was itself a revival of the stuffy '60s original.

If any brave soul did try a revival, the comparisons to Richard and Brett and Charles would come quick and dirty. Up north they can worry a little less about the giant shadow, so they just rolled the dice and did the show. So far they haven't crapped out.