Make the Connection is an American game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

, sponsored by Borden

Borden (company)

Borden, Inc., was an American producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products. At one time, the company was the largest U.S. producer of dairy and pasta products. Its food division, Borden Foods, was based in Columbus, Ohio, and focused primarily on pasta and...

, that ran on Thursday nights from July 7 to September 29, 1955 on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

. Originally hosted by Jim McKay

Jim McKay

James Kenneth McManus , better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist....

 (who years later would be best-known for hosting ABC's Wide World of Sports as well as that network's coverage of the Olympics), he was replaced after the first four episodes by future Match Game

Match Game

Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...

host Gene Rayburn

Gene Rayburn

Gene Rayburn was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the popular American television game show Match Game for over two decades....

 for the final nine episodes.

The series was a Mark Goodson

Mark Goodson

Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...

-Bill Todman

Bill Todman

William S. "Bill" Todman was an American television producer born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest running shows with business partner Mark Goodson.-Early life:...

 Production, and as such it had many things in common with the other panel shows developed by the company. Like I've Got A Secret

I've Got a Secret

I've Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?...

, there were four celebrity panelists who were each given a timed period in which to ask questions. Each panelist that was stumped earned the contestants money.

Betty White

Betty White

Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...

 made one of her earliest game show appearances as a panelist on the series. White would later be a frequent panelist on every version of the Rayburn-hosted Match Game.

Rules

The object of the game was for the four celebrity panelists to "make the connection" between two people who would sit on both sides of the host. Like many of its sister panel shows, it also featured the obligatory appearance by a celebrity guest, who would play the game as a contestant.

Episode status

Only a handful of the thirteen episodes exist, including at least one McKay episode. GSN has occasionally shown an episode (mostly those hosted by Rayburn) in its "black and white" programming blocks.

External links

• Game Shoe Utopia: Make the Connection (Rayburn version)