EVERYONE is talking about Anna Kendrick’s new movie, Woman of the Hour.
The film sees her character meet a serial killer on the famous 70s show, The Dating Game. Here we take a look at how the matchmaking series worked.
Anna Kendrick’s Woman of the Hour features The Dating Game[/caption]
The Dating Game was broadcast on ABC and aired its first episode on December 20, 1965.
Hosted by the late Jim Lange, the show was hugely popular across the States and saw millions of viewers tuning in every week.
The program was originally broadcast in black and white, but when a prime-time version began in October 1966, it switched to color.
Over the years there have been several versions of the show, including The New Dating Game and The All-New Dating Game.
The series came to an end in 1999, although actress Zooey Deschanel and singer Michael Bolton hosted The Celebrity Dating Game in 2021.
Matchmaking show
The Dating Game saw a single woman ask three questions to three potential partners.
The men were hidden behind a screen and could only be seen by the audience, not her.
The show would conclude with the woman selecting one of the men to date, based on their answers to her questions.
The show was similar to the hit series Blind Date that aired in the 80s and 90s in the UK.
Dating Game Killer
In September 1978, serial killer Rodney Alcala competed on The Dating Game, inspiring Anna Kendrick’s first film, Woman of the Hour.
Alcala was introduced on the show as a “professional photographer”.
Little did producers know his photography often involved disturbing images of his victims, taken after he had attacked them.
It’s thought Alcala was selected for The Dating Game because he was tall, handsome and charming, and no one did a background check on him.
In the episode he appeared in, Alcala was chosen by Cheryl Bradshaw at the end of the show as the man she wanted to date.
Evil killer Alcala is seen here taking part on The Dating Game in 1978[/caption]
Cheryl Bradshaw picked Alcala but thought he was ‘creepy’ and wouldn’t go on the date[/caption]
However, later said she decided not to proceed with the date, a decision which probably saved her life.
Cheryl said it came about after she had a conversation with Alcala backstage during which she thought he was “creepy”.
The original episode of The Dating Game where Cheryl picked Alcala no longer exists in full, but some clips are online.
Alcala was nicknamed the Dating Game Killer as he took part in the series during his reign of terror.
The evil murderer was found guilty of eight murders across New York, California, and Wyoming between 1971 and 1979 and jailed for life.
He died in 2021 of natural causes.
