MovieChat Forums > Match Game 73 (1973) Discussion > No Male Eye Candy

No Male Eye Candy

posted 8 years ago by horizonbeach
10 replies | jump to latest

Seeing the thread here about the best looking female celebrities on "Match Game" makes me realize that they never really cared about getting good looking guys on the celebrity panel.

Think about it: In the bottom left corner they almost always had a pretty young female like Barbara Rhoades, Lee Meriwether, Denise DuBarry, Didi Carr, Elaine Joyce, Sharon Ferrell, etc., etc. I know there were a few exceptions to this like Dr. Joyce Brothers or Mary Wickes, but for the most part it was almost always some young babe.

The top left corner always had a man, but it was people like David Doyle, Nipsey Russell, Avery Schreiber, Bill Anderson, etc., etc....not exactly what you would call eye candy, right?

Gene, Richard, and Charles were all just "meh", none of them particularly handsome or fun to look at. Was this show sexist? Did they use the good looking chicks to pull in male viewers but leave the female viewers high and dry?

I'm trying to think of good looking male celebrities and I can't really think of any, but I haven't seen the majority of the shows. Richard Thomas was just okay, as was baseball player Don Sutton, except for that ugly 'fro, but I suppose it was the '70s, so....

What do you think?

[–] I_Love_Hutch 8 years ago

I thought Dick Gauthier was kind of sexy (in kind of a very 70s way). Did you find him attractive?

And he was in the top left spot, too. That top left spot thing I don't think I'd ever given much consideration to, but now that you say it... definitely!

[–] horizonbeach 8 years ago

No, Dick Gauthier didn't do anything for me. He had kind of pretty eyes, but he was such a goofy acting guy and a lot of the roles he played reflected that. He could be kind of funny but as far as being attracted to him...nope.

This show reminds you of what a sexist time the '70s still was. When I see someone like Dr. Joyce Brothers in the bottom left spot, I'm actually surprised, since I'm so used to seeing some cute TV actress there, but when I see Avery Schreiber, George Kennedy, Dick Martin, or Bill Daly on the top left, it's just par for the course.

To their credit, they did keep Brett Somers around full-time and Betty White was on quite a bit in the bottom right corner. Not that they were ugly by any means, but they were getting up in years (in their fifties which for a female celebrity we all know is "old age"). Also, Patti Deutsch and Marcia Wallace, while funny and charming at times, could hardly be considered sex symbols. Still, the bottom left was almost always filled with a cutie, but the top left...not so much!

[–] I_Love_Hutch 8 years ago

Well, if you don't like Dick Gauthier, then I guess you're out of luck for MEC!

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mr_Don_Rickles 8 years ago

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR HUNKS GO WATCH A SOAP!

Ladies and gentlemen, here he is Mr. Warmth himself, the one, the only - Mr. Don Rickles!

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bwalright 8 years ago

Agree w/all you said except, times now are even more sexist than '70s or any other time period. Just for exp; female newscasters back then would never speak in phony, vocal fry w/voice going up at end of every sentence as if it were a question ( oh, aren't these little ladies cute? ) Add the mandatory nose job, bleach-blonde hair & implants w/low cut tops.

All designed to make them look & sound like a Barbie/Bratz dolls which has nothing to do being professional & broadcasting news. Some men will be quick to say the tired... 'your prudish/jealous', but if male newscasters looked like GQ models w/tight, tank tops to look like office shirts. Would seem to many men...degrading, making a joke out of them(sexism).

[–] seldon913 8 years ago

The 1973 episode playing on Buzzr right now has Richard Thomas on the bottom right. His coat and bow tie are absolutely awful, but he looks a lot like Ashton Kutcher during the 70's show days.

Interesting episode, they swapped the top and bottom rows so the ladies are on the outsides on top with Dawson in the middle and the bottom has the guys on the sides.

[–] glennh69 8 years ago

Sexism and male/female sexuality in the 70s vs today is complicated.

It was different back then, but change has been glacial and with substantial backlash. At that time, women were only marginally permitted by mainstream society to view men as sexual objects--which is why there was a dearth of MG airhead hunks to counterbalance the plethora of female ones.

What has always puzzled me about daytime game shows (particularly back then) is that the demographic has always been overwhelmingly female, yet the shows were always brimming over with smiling (often scantily dressed) female models. The first male model didn't appear until 2014 on TPIR!

This speaks to the still-pervasive societal assumption that both men & women are supposed to find a beautiful woman attractive, without any threat to the woman's heterosexuality. However, the stubborn double standard being that women are generally allowed to find men attractive primarily within the context of his total character (personality+appearance+social stature). Further, men are still not permitted to find another man attractive at all as this threatens both his masculinity & heterosexuality in the eyes of society (including women).

In addition to Gauthier, Michael Landon, Clifton Davis, and Anson Williams (and likely others slipping my mind) were considered handsome in the 70's and occupied the upper-left seat. However, they were actors who happened to be good looking, and not specifically chosen for their physical appearance like the females many times were.

[–] Tristan_Booth (405) 8 years ago

Gene, Richard, and Charles were all just "meh", none of them particularly handsome or fun to look at.

Bert Convy and Clifton Davis were definitely good-looking, and Bill Daily was cute. But actually, I found Charles very attractive (except for the pipe).