From the Contestant's POV

[kevin_standlee]

Here's a blog post from a Match Game contestant.

FYI, I consider Match Game to be "PG-13," but the panelists may have restrained themselves due to the presence of younger children in the audience.

Comments

[dinogrl.livejournal.com]

If you do it again, you may want to have a disclaimer, and have it in a more private function space, but given the constraints of the hotel, that wouldn't do. Oh well!

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I thought it was mostly perfectly appropriate. The younger children -- who were able contestants as well as audience members -- you must remember have been brought to the con environment by their parents, so a reasonable PG-13 attitude is fine, even for ten year-olds. There were only two things that bothered me, and they were completely out of control of the contest itself: one was the kind of icky, condescending and almost racist illegal-aliens running gag (and why didn't that turn into a gag about actual aliens, anyway?), and the other was also condescenscion on the part of a couple of panelists and audience members towards the kid contestants, who took it in good part because they're tougher than I am.

I don't think a disclaimer or more private space really would help, because I don't think anything really age-inappropriate happened or would have happened. I think the "euphemism" running gag developed because it was funny, not because anybody was afraid of shocking the kids or their parents.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

There were only two things that bothered me, and they were completely out of control of the contest itself: one was the kind of icky, condescending and almost racist illegal-aliens running gag (and why didn't that turn into a gag about actual aliens, anyway?)

I think because it was intended to be a comment on current affairs. I didn't perceive it as racist.

I think the "euphemism" running gag developed because it was funny, not because anybody was afraid of shocking the kids or their parents.

I agree. If only the contestants' timing had matched the panelists and generated a match -- but OTOH, the fact that they were out of synch may have made it even funnier.

[(Anonymous)]

Um, I did make a joke about wanting to see the green card(s) of the contestants in the Superwoman and Superbaby outfits, so it did turn into a gag about actual aliens on my part.

Tom Galloway

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

I didn't have a problem with almost all of the children audience members and contestants, but one in particular was pretty much trying to join the panel and was at times loud enough to be disruptive. That probably has more to do with the high standards I have for my own children's behavior, though -- my children aren't allowed that level of err, exhuberance in predominantly adult contexts. Within the historical context of the show we're parodying, the audience never "heckled" to that extent, either.

I did twice re-write a card to be more PG-13, but that was more about the time than the contestants -- I'm just not that naughty at 11:30 in the morning.