ABC/Heidi Gutman

ABC/Heidi Gutman(NEW YORK) — Alec Baldwin returns as host of Match Game’s fifth season this weekend, just in time to help you escape the doldrums of quarantine.

Baldwin has been spending his quarantine in Long Island, New York with a full house — four kids under the age of six and his expectant wife, Hilaria. They’ve been homeschooling and social distancing like the rest of us, but Baldwin says his main job has been trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for his kids.

“My full-time job now is to keep their mind off how weird all this is,” he tells ABC Audio. “Like keep getting in the pool with them and get in the hot tub with them and play with them…and throw a ball with them and, you know, chase them around the yard.”

He adds, “Because they’re becoming aware that this is strange.”

As for Match Game, he hopes it can similarly distract people from what’s going on in the world, even for just a little while.

“I do think [people] could use that fun and those laughs all the time,” Baldwin says. “You know, they might need it now slightly more than ever, you know, or maybe in some people’s cases dramatically more than never…What we’re aiming for is obviously just to be silly and have fun.”

The fifth-season premiere of Match Game — a detective-themed episode featuring celebrity panelists Mario Cantone, Jennifer Esposito, Adam Rodriguez, Angie Harmon, Michael Chiklis and Melissa Fumero — airs Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

By Andrea Tuccillo
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