The Dating Game
The Dating Game was an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was created by Chuck Barris. ABC dropped the show on July 6, 1973, but it resurfaced in several syndicated versions (1973-1974 as The New Dating Game, 1978-1980, 1986-1989, and 1996-1999).
For years it would almost always be aired in tandem with another Barris production, The Newlywed Game, which premiered on ABC the following year.
Typically, a bachelorette would question three bachelors, who were hidden from her view; at the end of the questioning period, she would choose one to go out with on a date paid for by the show. Occasionally, the roles would be reversed with a man questioning three ladies; other times, a celebrity would question three players for a date for themselves, a co-worker or a relative of theirs. Many celebrities played the game looking for love themselves.
Some unknown contestants would later become quite famous, including Suzanne Somers, Farrah Fawcett, Andy Kaufman (who went under a different name "Baji Kimran"), Burt Reynolds, Michael Jackson, Sally Field, John Ritter, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Selleck (who went on the show twice and lost each time!). The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit judge Alex Kozinski appeared on it and won. [1] One standard feature was that at the end of each episode the host and winning contestants would blow a kiss to the viewers.
This was a forerunner for a number of other shows done in the same style (although a show called Blind Date was matching up contestants in a much tamer setting almost two decades earlier). The late 1970s version of the show was much more sexually explicit (and played for laughs) than other versions.
It was hosted by San Francisco disc jockey Jim Lange throughout the '60s and '70s, by Elaine Joyce and later Jeff MacGregor in the '80s (in which future stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Oprah Winfrey and Jim Carrey appeared as contestants) and by Brad Sherwood and later Chuck Woolery in the '90s. Woolery had previously hosted the long-running Love Connection, a show which owed its existence to this series.
Lange went on to host a number of game shows in the '70s and '80s, none of which matched the popularity of The Dating Game in its prime. A popular radio personality, he retired from the airwaves in 2005.
Celebrities Who Have Appeared on The Dating Game
- Adam West 1966
- Kathy Garver 1966 & New Year's 1970-1971
- Sally Field & Robert Vaughn 1966
- John Ritter 1967
- Richard Dawson, Steve Martin and Bill Bixby 1968
- McLean Stevenson 1968
- Farrah Fawcett 1969
- Michael Jackson 1972
- Butch Patrick 1972
- H.R. Pufnstuf Christmas 1972
- Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on "The New" Dating Game 1973
- Dick Clark 1973
- Willie Aames 1978
- Andy Kaufman 1978
- Jimmie Walker 1978
- Phil Hartman 1979
- Ann B. Davis 1970 & 1971
- Maureen McCormick 1971 & 1973
- Barry Williams 1972
- Paul Reubens 1979
- Michael Richards (Whose introduction claimed he had climbed Mr. Everest)
- Paul Lynde 1968 (Who said, when asked what he would do with Bachelor #2 if given to him for the day, said they'd "go dancin'!")
- Groucho Marx 1967 (as a prank on his daughter Melinda, who was Bachelorette #1)
Musical Cues
All of the following were done by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass:
"Spanish Flea" (bachelorette intro)
"Whipped Cream" (bachelor intro)
"Lollipops And Roses" (meet your date cue)
"Ladyfingers" and "Lemon Tree" (think cues)
Dating Game 1965 opening theme
Other music cues used on the show include:
"Fantail" by Count Basie (turntable cue when Jim Lange says, "and here they are!")
"Little Rosie" by Chuck Barris (Dating Game 1978 closing theme)
"Love Sickness" by Sir Mack Rice (times up cue)
"Boston Bust-Out" by Jimmy McGriff (prize intro cue)
Dating Game 1971(?), main theme by David Mook -->
Taped Shows
- 1966-1974: ABC Vine Street Theater, Los Angeles
- 1978-1980: Chuck Barris Studios (KTLA), Los Angeles
- 1986-1989: Studio 7, Sunset Gower Studios, Los Angeles
- 1996-1999: Hollywood Center Studios, Los Angeles