____ Yeah, Brett & Charles

Hello all. While still officially on hiatus from regular MG episodes, I am compelled to share rarities when I come across them. And since it's Halloween, what better way to celebrate than with Charles Nelson Reilly and the rest of Bedrock's equivalent of The Addamses/Munsters (because apparently HB decided the show needed it), The Frankenstones! This is actually the third iteration of the Frankenstone family, Wikipedia can tell you more, but this version also stars Ruta Lee and the tragically now late Paul Reubens. In addition to hearing Charles as the grumpy patriarch Frank Frankenstone, you will also see: -Fred Flinstone in drag as Wilma

-The Rubbles pushed aside except for Barney in a couple episodes and Bamm-Bamm regulated to a background cameo while his future wife Pebbles and Frankenstone son Freaky are being teased as something -_-;. Betty? Betty who?

-One of the most blatant examples of 20th century children's television having no character development.

-What happens when animators try to do Looney Tunes-esque gags on a 1980s Hanna-Barbera budget.

And a whole lotta other weird stuff. Anyway, enough intro, let's have a gay old time (or a "great old time" as the theme song says because it was 1980 and that word already changed meaning. Cowards) with the Frankenstones:

Shrouded in mystery for years, we can now finally bring you the 1974 NBC special "Hamburgers", mentioned be Charles Nelson Reilly once or twice on MG74. Charles is one of many celebrities in this cast that also includes Micky Dolenz of The Monkees and Rod Hull & Emu. You gotta see it to believe it.

In other found media news, the long-uncleared Valerie Bertinelli week finally was cleared and aired on GSN about a month ago, and are now available on MG Productions' channel. I'd have featured them myself but executive dysfunction and all that. Maybe someday if I get my head together and aren't distracted by all the other things on my mind... :/

And finally, I'm sure you know by now the sad news that Bob Barker passed away last month before his 100th birthday. Just after TPIR lost CBS Studio 33, which carried his name since 1998, and of course was home to MG's orange set for the whole run (save for one week in '74 when they had to be in another CBS studio). What more is there to say that hasn't already been said? Another devastating loss for the game show world.

Well, once again, game show news hits me in the face like a wet fish when I wasn't paying attention. Yes, it is true, The Price Is Right is leaving Studio 33 in CBS Television City for new pastures. Why? Because the studios will be closed for renovations. Studio 33 was also the home of Match Game with Gene Rayburn and Brett & Charles and all the others from 1973-1981, which is why my heart dropped when I heard this. I don't know what the renovations will consist of but as far as I know for now, Studio 33 (aka the Bob Barker Studio - that's right they literally kicked TPIR out of the Bob Barker Studio) is no more. Maybe it'll be reborn, but anytime a location of importance to a special interest of mine gets closed or worse torn down & paved/built over (usually with something worse), I feel anger in the pit of my stomach which I know won't do anything, which only makes me feel worse. And so on. I never get to decide on anything that happens in this world so I guess what's the use of fighting it. Goodbye to Brett & Charles' old stomping grounds (which they returned to for Hollywood Squares Game Show Week in 2002).

We briefly interrupt this hiatus due to a brief burst of a pretty good mood to share what is sadly only the last third of a 1987 Hollywood Squares episode with only one question for Charles, but hey a little Charles is better than none at all!

BTW, as I am typing this, MatchGameProductions is doing a Salute to Pride Month for their Saturday livestream marathon, featuring of course Charles alongside other celebrities known to be gay. I haven't seen any bad comments in the chat or below, which is good because any Match Game fan who is offended by this has been denying reality for a loooooong time. 🤡

Hello all Brett & Charlesatans (we don't really have a fan group name, do we? :P). After over 2 years, I am back on Tumblr thanks to finally getting a newer computer and being able to update my browser to get this place to work on desktop. So, the regular posts should return, right?

Well, I wish I could say for certain. I still love Match Game. I still love Brett & Charles. I've got MatchGameProductions Christmas Blank-A-Thon playing in another tab as I type. I also have had a lot of other things piling up in my head over the past 2 years. Both other Special Interests and bad stressful stuff. The pandemic took a toll on my mental health just like everyone else's (and mine ain't been too good already), I became increasingly depressed, tired, and less driven to do much. That combined with my aging browser not making Tumblr work probably made me drift away from the whole platform, occasionally checking my phone for what's up. The latter problem has been solved, but the former? There's no update to patch depression and listlessness. I sometimes do get a big urge to post excitedly about something on Tumblr... unfortunately Match Game/Brett & Charles have not been that something lately.

I especially feel bad I neglected to make a post memorializing Scoey Mitchell (or Mitchlll), who passed away on March 19th of this year. All day my brain kept prodding me that it would be especially a bad look to neglect it, but by the end of the day I still couldn't be arsed to lift my arm to type a few words here on my phone. But now that I am here, I shall say Rest In Peace to Scoey, who was an underappreciated semi-regular by fans and a valuable member of the Match Game family. Which keeps shrinking. :( I don't wish to dwell on that and jinx things though.

There's still so many episodes not posted here, maybe someday I'll get the jolt of enthusiasm I need to start again. But until then, if you see me being active but not here, don't think I've actually stopped caring. I still care. I still love Brett & Charles and all the others and I appreciate all of you still following, thank you. But my mind has wandered far and no doubt will continue to wander since. I will someday start posting episodes again but it might not be daily.

IT IS FOUND