Meet Your Match
First episode: October 13, 1949
Last episode: October 20, 1949
Thursdays at 8:30pm on WOR-TV
The Show:
This is, by far, the most obscure show on Bill's resume. Check out the dates above. Look at them again. That's right, this little gem was seen exactly twice before being rejected in favor of a variety show. Plus, it was a local series.
The only source we have to go on that's specifically about this series is a Variety review of the first episode. However, we've since learned that earlier in 1949, there was a radio quiz titled Meet Your Match, hosted by Tom Moore. Variety's review provides enough hints that we're now confident that Bill's show was a TV adaptation of the radio show (although if that's the case, it's strange that the Variety reviewer doesn't mention it).
Two contestants competed against each other in a Q&A session, alternating until one of them gave a wrong answer; the winner of the game won a little cash ($25, maybe?) and then met a character named "The Baron" (Variety's critic appears to have misheard the name as "The Brain") who asked a Jackpot question that could be worth $500 or more. It essence, it was a bonus round, which was a novel concept at the time.
Notes:
Apparently, the program was something of a disaster. "There's little to commend this new quizzer," the Variety review began, before going on to pick apart the show's numerous technical flaws. What's more, the reviewer even said, "Emcee Bill Cullen showed little video presence."
Surprisingly, Meet Your Match mounted a national version in 1952, airing three days a week on NBC with host Jan Murray, whose company, Jantone, produced this version. Even more surprisingly, it met exactly the same fate as Bill's local version, cancelled after only two weeks.
Video:
Nope.
Clippings:
