First of all, The Rebel League Star Wars stories are on hiatus, and I may or may not complete the second and third installments...because I've discovered something else.
This may be the strangest piece of media I've ever fallen in love with. Back in April, I discovered that the digital channel Buzzr, a station devoted to rerunning vintage game shows of the 50's through the early 2000's, streams for free online. While I enjoyed seeing old childhood favorites like Card Sharks, Supermarket Sweep, and Press Your Luck again, the show that intrigued me the most was one I barely remembered - Match Game. Host Gene Rayburn asked a panel of six star comedians and sitcom favorites a goofy question, and they'd have to match the contestant's answers.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Well, the difference between this and the games of my childhood was personality. Three of the panelists - crusty, tough Brett Somers, fussy sophisticate Charles Nelson Reilly, and suave Brit Richard Dawson - were regulars who played off a rotating cast of a who's who of the comedy, game show, and sitcom world of the 70's and early 80's (including Betty White). Gene was as wild as any of his panelists, doing bad imitations for some questions and openly flirting with any even vaguely attractive woman within his reach.
Even what Buzzr showed in the afternoon and evenings wasn't enough. To my delight, I discovered that someone has been cleaning up and posting most of the existing episodes on YouTube. Watching all the antics onstage - from Gene breaking through a stuck door to Richard starting a riot when the judge didn't accept his reasonable answer - got the wheels turned in my head. I began to think of scenarios as I listened to their comments and did some research on the regulars at Wikipedia and elsewhere.
I thought this crazy cast of characters would be a great way to explore genres I don't normally play around in...like horror. That brings us to this story. Brett Somers, having just separated from her husband and drank a little too much at lunch, has a nasty nightmare that eventually concerns the whole panel, and the producer of the show, too.
And a major warning that this is intended to be for adults only. There's bad language (especially from Richard towards the end), violence, and general horror mayhem. For those of you who dare, I submit to you, Brett Somers. A comedienne upset by her husband's walking out and her own fears of being nothing more than a puppet on a show. Miss Somers is about to discover that there are games out there a lot scarier than fill-in-the-blank, as she takes on...The Most Dangerous Blank.
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