I wasn't hallucinating after all...

While poking around the Intarwebs, I found proof of something that, outside of my brother, I've never heard anyone else know of it.

I watched a lot of Disney Channel programming when it debuted way back in the days of stone knives and bear skins. There was Good Morning, Mickey, Mousercise, and Donald Duck Presents, among other shows.

But a show that I had only the faintest memory of--presumably because it didn't last very long--was a Disney game show called Contraption.

Looking back, it was sorta like a weak Disney Double Dare (only before DD existed): there were two teams of kids, questions (about Disney movies, with video clips) and semi-physical challenges.

For answering questions and winning events, teams were awarded "contraptiles," translucent plastic tiles that I presume were supposed to look futuristic. I always had a feeling that there should've been some kind of Mouse Trap-like end game, but no, the tiles just got stacked to see which team earned more.

It seems kinda cheesy now, but it is a nice reminder of when the Disney Channel actually had programming for the whole family, not just the tweens who seem to be their sole demographic target these days. Aside from like 2 hours in the morning, devoted to preschoolers.

The best part is the prize package: record albums, LED Tron tabletop game, tickets to Disneyland (when they still had A through E tickets, from the looks of it, and the grand prize, a TI-99 home computer system.

Here is one episode in four parts. My thanks to the uploader, and as always with YouTube videos, check em out while they're still up.

RIP, Charles Nelson Reilly

Tony winner. TV personality. Director. Acting coach. Game show icon. I grew up watching Charles Nelson Reilly on Match Game, so everything else I saw him in was in relation to that. This is certainly no slight against him; I still relate Marlon Brando to the first thing I saw him in -- Superman the Movie.

If you grew up watching TV in the 70s (and reruns in the early 80s), you couldn't help but see Charles Nelson Reilly. Don't believe me? Step into the YouTube Time Machine.

Bic Banana Ink Crayons



The School Riot on Match Game



The Ghost and Mrs. Muir



Here's a clip from the show that features a performance from Harry Nilsson:



Lidsville (wait for the end)



Here's Lucy



Call Her Mom (a '70s TV-movie)



More Match Game



$10,000 Pyramid (briefly)



Match Game revival



Here are some extra CNR-related clips:

Mystery Science Theater 3000



Saturday Night Live



There's a film, The Life of Reilly, is an adaptation of his one-man show, Save It For The Stage: The Life Of Reilly. Once I get a chance, I'm totally going to check that out.

But for now, if you need to hear that laugh again, pop in your headphones and go here. It's a loop, so you can get as much as you want or need.

70s children, rejoice!

I heard about it a few days ago, but now there's more information out over on TVShowsonDVD.com.

Next month, Navarre Corporation's BCI is releasing a 4-disc box set of one of my favorite game shows, Match Game.

The set has 30 episodes, and according to the release, they are uncut, which I think is pretty cool. I doubt I've seen them without cuts since they originally aired -- and that means some of them I've never seen in their original form, as the show predates me by just a bit. There are also extra features, including an interview with Match Game regular Brett Somers.

I loved this show as a kid because -- among other reasons -- it just looked like they were having a bunch of fun. Watching the show now, I get even more jokes than I did when I was a worldly 7-year-old. Some of them, I'm surprised actually made it to air. It was like a grown-up version of Mad Libs, and the word "boobs" cropped up on the show almost as often it was by my friends and me.

You also never knew what was going to happen. If one of the props didn't work, all kinds of craziness would erupt. On one episode, host Gene Rayburn made a slip of the tongue when he tried to compliment a contestant on her pretty dimples.

It always struck me odd when either Brett Somers or Charles Nelson Reilly was missing from the panel. It just looked incomplete -- like Mount Rushmore without Washington.

The set is just under 35 clams, so those of you who have to buy a birthday present for your favorite pop-culture junkie within the next month are in luck.