The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s. 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 1996-2000).

For the first few episodes in at the beginning of the ABC run, live music was provided by The Regents. 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 contestants who were quite famous, included The Carpenters, Suzanne Somers, Farrah Fawcett, Andy Kaufman (who went under his "Taxi" character's name), Steve Martin, Burt Reynolds, Michael Jackson, Sally Field, John Ritter, Phil Hartman, Jennifer Granholm, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Selleck (who went on the show twice and lost both times). The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit judge Alex Kozinski appeared on it and won. blank">http://www.columbia.edu/cu/law/fed-soc/images/datinggame.rm.ram One standard trademark 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. 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, Michael Richards, and Jim Carrey appeared as contestants) and by Brad Sherwood and later Chuck Woolery in the '90s.

Chuck Barris has claimed that the show was a cover for his CIA activities and was promoted by the company, according to his autobiography "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind."

One of the classic game shows created by Chuck Barris. In this show, a single woman would be given a choice of three bachelors whom she could talk with, but not see. After asking them a series of questions, she would chose which one to go on a date with. A number of noted celebrities, including Tom Selleck and Jim Carrey, have started out as bachelors on this show. Written by Jean-Marc Rocher

"The Dating Game" remains one of America's classic game shows. A young bachelorette asks a series of questions to three bachelors, sight unseen (addressing them No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3). After a series of questions, host Lange asks the bachelorette to choose, which bachelor she wants to take out on a date. The newly-formed couple usually gets to go on a chaperoned trip to some exotic location. The game also was played with a young bachelor asking questions to three bachelorettes; and with celebrities seeking love either as one of the three who might go on a date or as the person asking questions. Written by Brian Rathjen