So while I’m in chauvinist mode, I’ve been meaning to post on an amusing experience I had the other night. Flipping through the channels, I came across the Game Show Network. I love this channel because they broadcast old reruns of The Match Game, Family Feud and Hollywood Squares. It’s a thrill watching B-List celebrities from the 1970’s trying desperately to make the leap to relevance by answering goofy questions for awestruck contestants. It’s hugely entertaining. Names like Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson Reilly, Charo (man was she hot in the ’70’s), Vincent Price, and Paul Lynde. Absolutely priceless.

But my all-time favorite is Richard Dawson. The guy’s as smooth as the satin blouses worn by the ladies he regularly molested on Family Feud. Love how he always wore the pinkie ring, and how the pinkie was always, always extended. And whether flirting with Loni Anderson in the front row of The Match Game, or applying an open-mouthed kiss to the eldest daughter of the McWhitty clan on Family Feud, the guy never averted his eyes from the ladies. Stud.

So I was watching an old episode of the Feud the other night and the following question came up (100 people surveyed, top eight answers on the board):

Name an occupation young girls aspire to when they grow up.

Two hands slap the buzzers. First answer: “A stewardess, Richard!” Ding! Number four.

“Three answers will beat it,” Richard says.

“Um….a cheerleader!” Ding! Number two!

I was aghast! And secretly loving every minute of it. One by one, the playing family rattled off the most politically incorrect, sexist, anti-feminist answers you could imagine. And all of them made the board!

Model. Ding! Number one!

Nurse. Ding! Number five.

Where’s the ERA when you need it?

Ah…but then Richard came to the mother of the family. The matriarch. Surely, she’d give 1970’s women something to move on.

“Richard, I’m going to say the presid….” Freeze. Here we are. Finally! The president! A thoughtful, inspirational answer. Well done, mother. OK. Rewind. Back to the tape.

“Richard, I’m going to say the president’s wife.”

Are you kidding me?!? This can’t be happening.

Ding! Number two! (The answer was actually “wife/bride,” but the judges gave her the benefit of the doubt.)

I can’t remember all the answers, but I do remember every one of them would make a good feminist cringe. One poor sap actually guessed “student.” Wrong! Big red “X.”

Does NOW know about the Game Show Network? There oughtta’ be a law.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 19th, 2002 at 9:02 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.