Monday, May 25, 2026

Alec Baldwin’s “Match Game” Canceled by ABC Even Though the Ratings Were Fine

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ABC has canceled all of its Sunday night game shows including “The Match Game.”

“The Match Game” was hosted by Alec Baldwin, who’s of course under scrutiny right now because of the “Rust” shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. If the network had wanted to continue with “The Match Game,” they’d have to have gotten a new host.

The network canceled four other game shows including “Card Sharks” and “Celebrity Dating Game,” excruciatingly hosted by Michael Bolton and Zoe Deschanel.

The irony of “Match Game” is that when it was last seen in the summer of 2020 it pulled roughly the same numbers as ABC’s Wednesday night comedy line up, around 3.3 million. But the network is obviously off loading Baldwin, and tossing out the whole line up at the same time.

What will play on ABCs on Sunday night? Good question.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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