Back In 2 and 2: It’s Love Connection
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What is he reminding me of? And I realize he reminds me of like a bad guy on The Hobbit,
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yes. And one of the comments on YouTube, I think, nails it. Someone said, If Eddie Van Halen and the kid from Stranger Things had a kid, he'd be this guy.
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Hello, there's a song that we're singing.
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Come on, get
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happy. Whole lot of love is what we'll be bringing
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we'll make you happy.
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Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who thought making Whoopie was the technical term for what newlyweds Do we believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear, like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition. And today, we'll be saving the dating game that came after the dating game. We'll be back in two and two with our tribute to love connection. I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen, and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists.
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Welcome to love connection. In late November, we were brainstorming topics for our next season, and we have a shared document where we throw all of our ideas. And on that day in late November, I wrote in that document, love connection. And immediately there was a lot of energy around that topic, like, yes, love connection, that is for sure. Yes, we're gonna do love connection for sure in season 15. And it wasn't until a few days ago, when I started my research for this episode, the first step is always asking the Google. So I googled love connection, and the first thing that pops up is Chuck Woolery, March 16, 1941
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to November 23 2024
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so I ask you,
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on what day did I feel compelled to write love connection in our shared document? And on what day did you guys see that and immediately feel a zap of energy? It's spooky, Kristen, that you did that. And also you guys, we've done that more than like three or four times over the past four years, with things like an episode will drop and then, like, the next day or that week, someone we just talked about will die. Yeah, it's not always good. It's a lot of I know it's
Unknown Speaker 2:34
not a good thing. We're not celebrating it. There was the one time where we were doing a Mary Tyler Moore episode, and I was in charge of the outline, and I was completely blocked. I had nothing. I could not put anything on paper. And I'm like, why is this happening to me? And then in the middle of the night, it came to me so so vividly that I got up in the middle of the night and I started working on an outline at like 3am and I downloaded the entire outline, sitting there in like 15 minutes the next morning I wake up, Phyllis had died.
Unknown Speaker 3:06
I know, I think the most notable one was like, we knew our Olivia Newton John, our great sandy debate, was going to drop on a Monday, and we had already edited it, and all of a sudden, like, four days before it was about to drop Olivia Newton, John passed away, and so that's when those of you listening, who have listened to that episode, we start the whole thing with a really emotional conversation that we did last minute, because there was no way we could release that episode with us kind of light heartedly, debating when this icon had just passed. So something's happening spiritually and cosmically with us. I mean, we are living our what we were put on this planet for, and it's just like the universe is saying, Yeah, keep it going. This is why you're weird. That's right. But why didn't we know about Chuck Woolery? Because I agree with you, Kristen, when I started researching for this episode and when I saw died in the little you know box, I was like, wait what? We know everyone who dies in the age of social media, you know everyone who died, and you know the minute that they die, and somehow this one got past us.
Unknown Speaker 4:13
Yeah. It's really weird, yeah. So thanks for that, Chuck. This one is for you. I
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So dating and relationship shows have been around since the 1960s and they all celebrate a variety of matchmaking systems. People love matchmaking. They love the possibility that dreams can come true, and they also love the possibility that things will be a complete disaster.
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And an important feature of every matchmaking game is that the contestants have little to no information about the other person and are only exposed to each other through the game itself. This is the defining feature of most dating shows, and it holds true even today. This is all for the entertain.
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Moment of the viewer. Seriously, don't we see this same exact concept today?
Unknown Speaker 5:06
Oh, 100% Yeah. And I read that the creator of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette was inspired by the love connection, and he actually tried to bring the love connection back in 2017 Mike Fleiss is his name, and so, yeah. So I think it was definitely related to love connection kind of led to what we see today. It's the same thing. You've got the bachelor. Love is Blind Love Island, 90 day fiance, Indian matchmaking. It's all based on this idea that you're strangers, but you're supposed to fall in love. Yeah? What are the like married at first? What is the one Do you remember? Do you remember that? Oh yes, yes, right? You know they call the bachelor and all this stuff reality shows. And I feel like it's what they were calling reality shows could be called game shows. Yeah. I mean, how can they call it reality? It's a game show now. I mean, it's not reality, and we just don't use that term anymore. We don't use the term game show anymore, when, in actuality, what we are calling reality TV is just a game show. And there so all these people on The Bachelor I just, I keep writing the word contestant in in my notes here, contestant, contestant, contestant. And I realized that such a 70s word, right? Every person that appeared on a game show was a contestant. Now that we have reality shows, do we call them contestants? What are they? Yeah, that's a good question. I think on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, they're the bachelor's and The Bachelorette and The Bachelorette, yeah? But they are actually contestants on a game show,
Unknown Speaker 6:40
yeah? So the original dating show was, of course, the dating game, which premiered in 1965
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The next was not matchmaking per se, but still capitalized on a common theme, the newlywed game, which you can hear more about in our game shows. Episode that one put a twist on the not knowing much about each other trope by exposing how little newly married people actually knew about each other, even after they were married. Then, in 1969 there was a very short lived Goodson Todman show hosted by Joe graggiola called, he said, she said, which was similar to the newlywed game, except it featured celebrity couples. And that show eventually became tattletales with Burt convey, oh, my God,
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just pause for just a minute, because talk about, I remember he was in Love Boat. Oh, that's what right all the time. I can just picture his little Liz little Brillo paddle.
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And do you know this fun fact that Chuck willery was on tattlestales, kind of before he was who he is as a hosting or with his celebrity wife, Joanne Flug.
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Look at Yeah, Google it, Google it, and it's P, F, l, U, G, that's right, she was one of those career game show. Yes, celebrities match came. We'd always see her on that, but yeah, so they were a little couple on their kind of a little foreshadowing, I think that's not who he was married to when he died, though her name was one of his five or six wives.
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Yeah, he's had a few of them interesting. And then in 1983 we get love connection.
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Round of applause, round of applause, round of applause.
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So love connection, hosted the entire time by Chuck Woolery, debuted in syndication on September 19 1983 and ended in July of 1994 with 2120
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shows at 11 seasons. It was one of the longest lasting game shows in syndication, and for many years, it was third, behind Jeopardy and wheel of fortune as the longest lasting game show in syndication, because we watched it all the time. Every day
Unknown Speaker 8:55
you came home from school and you watched the birdie bunch, and then love connection every and it went into college. We watched it together in college too. I think by the time I was in college, it might have been on really late at night, because it's a syndication, so it can be on a different times anywhere, but it for sure after school when I was in like, yeah, so maybe for some people it was after school. Maybe for some people it was late night. It all depended on what your station bought and where they decided to put it. They could put it anywhere they wanted. And for me, it was like at 230 or something during the week, every single day. And according to chuck Woolery, there were a total of 29 marriages, eight engagements and 15 children that came directly from love connection. Wow, the couple that he did a toast at their wedding, and he was the first dance with the bride
Unknown Speaker 9:45
Waller. He was yes, yes. And the irony his toast is, you know, may you be as happy in your marriage as I've been in mine for the last eight years. So I don't know what number wife that was, but I'm thinking, don't take your marriage.
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Advice from Chuck Woolery, maybe, yeah, it's like his marriages lasted two and two.
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I had to
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good job it is. It's real. It's really cute. I think that was on inside edition or something. It was recently, actually, yeah, I think it was when he died. So they interviewed these two people who met on love connection and got married. Chuck Woolery comes to their wedding and does a toast, does the first dance with the bride. I mean, that's, that's a pretty that's a big deal. That's, yeah, unfortunately, not only was that Chuck willeries, like 19th wife or something, also that marriage did not last, but they cared enough about each other to go on inside edition and talk about how great it was that they met on love connection. Alas, after 18 years of marriage and three sons, Andy and Dean got divorced, they remain the best of friends and have nothing but thanks to chuck Woolery. And if it wouldn't have been for him and that and that show, we never would have met and sorry,
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and then we never would have had a great story, and we never would have had our amazing boy. So rest in peace. Checks. So here's the premise of love connection. A man or a woman would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then select one for a blind date. The show would then pick up the tab for their night out. They'd give them $75
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Whoa, or a night out, that's right, and then they would plan their own date. Love connection had nothing to do with what they did with that $75
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and all of this happens before the taping of the show. The date is not taped. After that date, the couple couldn't talk to each other or see each other until the contestant there's that word again, appeared on the show a couple of weeks later to tell Chuck Woolery how the date went. But the audience, the studio audience, is in the dark. The audience has already seen the audition tapes. They have already voted on who they think would be the best match for the contestant, but the audience does not know who the contestant went on a date with. It's only after the secret voting that the contestant reveals who their date was, and the date is brought in. The person that they chose is brought in via video link to share in the discussion of how the date went. And they're just like, backstage, right? They're
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not
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chosen, like a big screen over Chuck willeries head, yeah, it's like a big square next to Chuck willery. I wanted to be in the audience so bad. So I could push the button, and they were told, and I could shout,
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dude, when I saw that part, like the people were all yelling different numbers, yeah. And then you see them all lean forward and it's so quickly it's tabulated. Oh, yeah, I was I used to think that was like, so good computer, yes. How does that happen? So after they dish about their love connection or their date from hell, one or the other, Chuck then reveals who the audience picked, if it matches the person the contestant chose. Chuck offers to pay for a second date, but if it's not a match, Chuck gives the contestant the opportunity to ditch his date and go on a date with the audience's pick. Instead. That's how this goes and hilarity ensues. And understand the audience is basing their choice on who this perfect date should be based on about two sentences that they give about their life, their their standards, or what they look for in a mate. Can we talk about that for
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a second? Yeah, my goodness. Like, let's have you could have a little higher standards that you know, the don't wants were just as funny as the what they do want. Like, I don't want someone who wears gold chains and has a hairy chest. I want or uses hairspray, yeah? Oh, the hairspray. Somebody uses hairspray
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or has a firm chin.
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Larger hands, yeah. Larger hands, yeah. Or there's one I watched where she likes forearms with a little bit of vein like he likes to see a little bit of veins in them and don't have veiny and re imagine this chef bullery is reading this. She likes veiny forearms with no hair. Well, I do think that, I think this was very intentional that, you know, these contestants had videotaped probably about a 1015, minute interview, right? And come on, you guys, let's be real. The three of us would have been like, oh, oh, take the take the part where she says she likes the firm chin, really, she's probably going on and on about like, he really needs to have strong family values and the honest person, and I really hope that he's someone that's caring and compassionate. No, no, no, no. I'm gonna pick the part that says firm Chen or no hairspray, vein and veiny arms. Just make sure you get in the veiny arms. And you know, when they put the contestant up and they would it was like a typing sound, and it, we would have, yes, it.
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Age and their occupation, it would say like Cheryl, age 24 movie distribution specialist. I mean, you guys, you know that means she works, yeah. So let's get into it. Let's walk through an episode of love connection and see how it holds up. Let's go back to June 8, 1988
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the show opens with the announcer saying, Welcome to love connection, where old fashioned romance meets modern day technology. And at first I was like, technology. What
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do you think it's the buttons? Kristen, is it the one, two and three? It's the buttons? I thought maybe it was the video link. Like they're backstage, but you can still see that, yeah, yeah. I wasn't sure what the technology part was. And then he says, Sometimes our dates have a happy ending, and sometimes there's just an ending, but it's always unpredictable. When two strangers meet,
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clapping, clapping, clapping, and then chuck Woolery comes strolling out to greet the audience, and he is giving off some serious John Davidson energy. Don't you think? Yeah, he He was a handsome man theory, and the lady, yes, let's just be real, yeah. And it's not the kind of handsome that we could acknowledge as teenagers and children. It's the kind of handsome that your grandma would be like. Vavavoom. Oh, yeah, yeah.
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Humper dinkish, no sequins, no see, yeah, just like, good in a suit. He already, too in 1988 had kind of the crinkly eyes, the kind of lines by his eyes and everything. Yes, yeah. I do remember very specifically, Wheel of Fortune, Chuck Woolery, as a kid, I always thought his head was really big, like Guy Smiley on Sesame Street. He has a little bit of a Guy Smiley vibe, doesn't he? Think that's the shape of his head. Chuck, I'm strolling out, and he says, let's get right away. He's just like, Yeah. He doesn't greet the audience, yeah. There is no small talk. There's no process at all. It's just he says, Let's get started by meeting our first guest, and that's when we meet Randy. Randy, Randy with the porn stash, yeah, yeah, yeah, that little, I mean 88 let's be real, yes, 1988 Yeah, yes. And they do the whole FBI typography, like Carolyn said, Yeah, and it says that Randy is, we learned that he is 34 he is in car sales, which will come in later, and his status is divorced. And it's easy to see why, yeah, yeah. Because right away, Randy tells us that women have too many problems. Now, you know when Randy told a producer backstage an hour earlier that women have too many problems, you just know the producers just like salivating. They're like, yes, use that. Yes. They're like, Randy, their little like, chin microphone. They're like, yeah, we want to. I want you to pick up on the problem.
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Even, like, Chuck even introduces that as, like, who he is, he says, and Randy says, most of the women he meets are always complaining about their problems. That's what they're going to talk about and this is just like that category of Wait, is this supposed to make him attractive? Because it's not. And then Randy comes out. They shake hands. He sits down, and he goes, so Randy, tell me about this. You think women have too many problems. You don't think Randy would go, no, no, no. You guys took that out of context. That's not what I mean. Oh, no. Randy's like, yeah, Chuck, it's absolutely true. He doubles down. He doubles down. Yeah, he says, basically, you name it, they've got it. I mean, insignificant things, work, private lives, relationships. I mean, most of them are nothing. I mean, there's something that you should just be able to throw off to the side and forget about, but they want to dwell on them. I don't know if they just like wallow in itself. Wants you to help them with them. I do. I just don't snap out of it. I'm like, oh, marry me, Randy. Like, marry me right now, as if I wasn't attracted to your mustache.
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And the bummer is that the woman doesn't get to choose. So, like, you know, she didn't know all of this ahead of time. She's just chosen. She's getting chosen, yes, and then she gets to meet her. And I was so happy. I was so Chuck is just such the voice of reason. He really is, which is the antithesis of reality TV today. And so Chuck, with his dad energy, says, Well, I think maybe they just want you to help them out. And Randy's like, Hey, he's like, nervous laughter. I do. I just tell them to snap out of it, like, wow. Even more attractive to such a treat. Yeah.
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So then we get to meet the women that Randy had to choose from.
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Clackity clack, the little FBI most wanted information comes up. We have Nancy, who says she avoids men who wear gold chains and use hair spray. And then we have the woman who likes veiny forearms and no hair. Then they talk to one woman and she and the thing that they choose to reveal about her is why she broke up with her last boyfriend. It's like a rant. It's a total rant. It's the weirdest thing. Okay, so they show us the three little profiles. We've got Nancy, we've got Dawn, we've got some of.
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People the veiny forearms. Now we get to find out who Randy chose. The audience has already seen the video profiles, and they've already voted. The result is kept hidden, and we find out that Randy has chosen Sharon, and Sharon comes up in the little box by Chuck willery's head in the corner of your screen, and they start to talk about their date. Can I just tell you though Sharon was so 1988 cute. Sharon has blonde bangs that are about 13 inches high, but she's wearing like salmon pink so 88 with giant dangly black earrings, with the salmon pink shirt. She was very cute, and we could hold her own. She could hold her own. There are some. There's some very memorable quotes from the description of this date her. The first thing she said is, he said, I looked hefty in my video. Again, I'm like, Randy, what the hell are you doing? And then he says, and then the first problem, when I saw her, first problem is she wore the same perfume my ex mother in law wore.
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Why? Why Randy? That was the first problem. To Sharon's credit, she was just kind of like shrugging her shoulders laughing. She was just sort of letting it roll off her, because you knew she was just waiting till he paused so that she could come back. I mean, it was not a surprise to her what was going to come out. She had experience with Randy. She knew it was going to happen. And so after she's, you know, dropped a couple of truth bombs, he says, so I was getting really bored. So then we went back to her house. And then after all of this dissing her and talking about how bored he was, he says, So then I thought, let's try kissing her and see how that goes.
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Chuck is when he says that Chuck is just wide eyed like that is incongruent with what you've just done. Chuck's reactions. He was he was one of the reasons you watched it. He was so great, yes, at the eye rolls and the Oh, wow. Well, this sounds like it's going great, and then he'll turn around. Remember it was so awkward a video screen. Yeah.
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So Sharon, what are you thinking at this time? And you're like, they could have put it right in between them, where the giant love connection logo is, so that they would have just had to merely turn their heads. The pilot episode of In Living Color has a parody of love connection, and Jim Carrey is Chuck Woolery. And what's reminding me, Michelle of this scene is because that's exactly what Jim Carrey is doing. He does such a good Chuck Woolery, the voice, if you closed your eyes, you would have thought it was Chuck willery. And then he would do the, you know, over the shoulder, yeah. And then each time, he'd get like, a little closer and closer with his, like, chin on his hand.
Unknown Speaker 22:51
Oh, man, he was so good. Yes, I'll let the link to that in the Weekly Reader this week. I would love to see that. Yeah. So here's, this is a very 1980s thing that happened. So after, you know, the date is obviously a shit show, they obviously hate each other. And he says, So then I thought, let's try kissing her and see how that goes. And this is the most 1980s thing ever. She says she didn't know what to do, and so she kissed him back. Oh yeah, and I'm not judging you. She knows they probably would have done the same thing. Be like, I don't know what
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I've been in that situation, sure, like, the way the date was going, but you gave him a little good night Pat, you know? Well,
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actually, actually, though 1988
Unknown Speaker 23:39
but Sharon was quick to point out where the kiss happened. You know, she pointed to like the side. She did her mouth. She did like the turning the head. Quick, you guys again, as if I didn't already love Sharon enough because of her banana clipped hair, she used the old standard I got an emergency phone call from work to get rid of him the way he said it. Though about like, well, and then yeah, she had to, she had, like, an emergency meeting she had to go to at work. Like he was still completely clueless. And Chuck's sort of like, ah, Sharon, you use the old emergency. And she goes, Well, it's because I, my friend called to say she first tried to say Plan B, yeah,
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was the friend called and said, Oh no, she had a flat tire or car trouble. I have to go get her. But it didn't work, because Randy was like, I'll ride with you. And she was like, oh, oh, yay. Aaa, came. Okay. Next. Phone calls this emergency meeting at work, so she's revealing all of this. Like to Randy's shame, she's revealing her many schemes to get out of this date. And finally, it was the emergency work meeting on like a Saturday. She says she gets a call from her boss, and my boss said it's an emergency meeting, and he's gonna come pick me up. My boss is gonna come pick me up for the emergency meeting. It's.
Unknown Speaker 25:00
So see through. But then this is so classic, and this is where the car salesman part comes in, because he says, Well, you know, it ended up okay, because I ended up going to a club near there, and I met a nice woman, and then I stayed down there, and it was really nice. And I'm like, You are lying
Unknown Speaker 25:16
right. And I just know I'm getting that like, Oh, you're totally right. Because even that, I was like, again, you're such a dick. Yeah, I need to back up just a little bit too, because one of the other things that they do is they entered when they're giving their dating profile the FBI thing, right? They say Randy dates about four times a month, and he's into scuba diving, skiing and dancing. And I'm like, that's a lie. You don't like any of those things. Because how many people actually go scuba diving? That's like four people, right? Not him, and it is not him. He couldn't he would float with that big muscle. There's no figure. He was probably chosen because he was such an obvious douche bag that the producers were probably like, everyone is going to hate him. This is so good, because we'll all agree this guy is 100% but anyway, it worked out pretty well anyway, because I ended up going to a club pretty close to her house, and I met a nice woman there and ended up staying down that was nice. So the next one we want to share with you is just too good to ignore. If you Google love connection, you will see a link that says, funniest episode of love connection, and I do believe it is. I'm not. I'm not sure of the date on this one, but our contestant is Ray, and right away it's clear why this is the funniest episode, because the guy paints quite a picture. It's hard to describe. He's he's a little sinister, but he's a little elfish as well. I was like, What is he reminding me of? And I realized he reminds me of like a bad guy on The Hobbit,
Unknown Speaker 26:48
yes. And one of the comments on YouTube, I think, nails it. Someone said, If Eddie Van Halen and the kid from Stranger Things had a kid, he'd be this guy.
Unknown Speaker 27:00
I said it looked like Eddie Van Halen had run into a window.
Unknown Speaker 27:08
And we're talking about Eddie Van Halen with hearings, yeah, oh yeah, the bears, Eddie has to be the hair. Yeah, yeah. And I had written down in my notes right away, guy comes out, jeans tucked in cowboy boots with Van Halen hair, yeah, the boots, with the with the white jeans, not just jeans, but white jeans, into the cowboy boots. I thought they were really acid washed. Maybe, maybe
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they're,
Unknown Speaker 27:33
I don't know. I don't have a date on this. I think it's pre 88 and the reason I'm saying that is because the girls hair. This is what was dating. It for me, it was flatter. It was still permed. Two of the girls still had the Permian hair, but it was more than the tight bangs, the tight perms. Yes, it was, you didn't get the 88 height. So the comedy starts right away when Ray starts talking about his job, quote, unquote, his job. Well, he says he promotes rock and roll bands on Sunset strips. He hands out flyers, you guys, we know. He hands out flyers to pass your side, let it slip. He's like, Yeah, so when I'm handing out flyers, and that's when I went, Oh. And he says, this is, this is where he meets all the women. Like, he's like, I can't help it. I have this job. Can't help it. Brings the women to me. And, yeah. Yeah. And he's literally standing on the corner outside of that's his job. And what he really wants chuck to know is that this job passing out flyers on the sidewalk has netted him about 40 or 51 night stands. And I'm like, oh, sign me up well. And he gets slapped a lot. I mean, because rape, obviously, because then he goes on to say, because Chuck's like, Wait, what did you get slapped? And then Ray thinks it's a good idea to say, yeah. The reason they slap him is because sometimes he does things they don't want him to do. But now he's learned to kind of pull back a little bit, yeah. Let the woman initiate. You know what? The whole time he is talking, I already didn't like him very much. He's kind of leaning back on the lounge thing, and he has like both of his arms up on like, the top part of the couch, or whatever they sit on. And it's almost like he's running the show, like, yeah, Chuck, you know, just Uber relaxed and all that. Well, let's go back to the YouTube comments, because someone says, Carolyn, you'll like this. Someone says this was like watching Joe Dirt and a night at the Roxbury and one
Unknown Speaker 29:27
Listen, listeners, you're probably like, we, the three of us, are having a grand old time with this. And you're like, What I haven't seen it? Maybe just pause right now and go. All you want to do is Google, funniest love connection ever, and you'll see him. You'll see the bad guy from The Hobbit. I will say by the end, I just felt sorry for him.
Unknown Speaker 29:48
He was trying so hard to be a big man, and he's a small man. He's not conceptually. He's literally a small man. Yeah, he got that? Well, he had, he had, you know, a little short man's complex. And I need.
Unknown Speaker 30:00
To tack on to when we were talking about the, well, the rape essentially, when he says that, when he's like, Yeah, I'm super aggressive, I get slapped a lot. I do a lot of things that people don't want to do. The audience is silent. Yes, totally silent. Even in the 80s, they knew they're like, dude, that sounds like a crime Yeah, and, and, poor Chuck. Poor Chuck also is a little like he wasn't. He knew this guy was a douche bag, and I think he knew about the one night stands. He was not expecting the aggressive behavior and all the slapping, because he's he's not sure what to do with this. Yeah, he wasn't expecting the admission of rape. Yeah, yeah. And, let's just be clear, lawyers, people, Ray does not say, let's just be clear. Ray never said he raped anyone, but he definitely insinuates that there was behavior that was not consensual, and this is why he got slapped. And in this day and age, we call that rape, and he's smiling while he says it. He's bragging about it. Yeah, like, I get they go, whammo. That's how he describes
Unknown Speaker 31:04
and he's laughing, I'm poor Chuck. This is Chuck's job to roll with these punches. But this one he had trouble rolling with. So we get to meet this guy's potential dates. There's Don who mumbled about, I don't remember, doesn't make it out, and he does a check. I mean, just making out all night with some other guy. That's that she did have that I noticed that she was, she was talking, and she, she sort of sounded like she came from the East Coast. Yeah, maybe she was from Jersey, and we don't know somewhere. And then there's Marta, who says that people can hit the bricks if they don't like her being authentic. And then there's Darcy, who said that the people at her work are mechanics, and they ask her out all the time, and they're covered with grease and dirt, and they're like, Duh, do you want to go out with me? And I'm like, one, 900 get real. And Darcy has very flat feathers, yes. And Darcy also says that sometimes she can get wild at times. So right then, right then, I'm an audience member, and I'm going three,
Unknown Speaker 31:59
and I'm pushing free,
Unknown Speaker 32:02
even though, actually, I want none of them to have to go out with Ray. But you know, if I had to pick one, I would have picked Darcy. And did you guys love doing this 122? Things that I loved about when I would watch this show is watch the person on the Couch's reaction when you're seeing them all introduce themselves, because that's a tell a lot. Sometimes they try to keep a poker face, but most of the time, it's a tell, and Ray was grinning also. When they're like, who'd you pick? Ray? And he's like, I picked, spoiler alert, Darcy. And when Darcy comes up, and they're like, now Darcy and Ray haven't seen each other since their date, so why don't you guys say hi to each other? And the way they say hi to each other is also a big tell of how the rest of the conversation and the date is gonna go. I loved that, like just watching that, like, oh no. And I was surprised, because he was such a bad man from The Hobbit, I expected to get some immediate bristling, and I did not get bristling from from Darcy. And also, when Darcy shows up in her video, the soft feathers are gone, and she now has hairspray hair, and she is too recognizable completely and utterly. The bangs to the ceiling. It was crazy town. It was kind of that fried out. Perm, very fresh. It was a home perm, let's be real. She probably did it like that night. There were some wild things that happened, like, Let's go give me a Tony perm. It was definitely a Tony perm. This date is hilarious from the get go, because do you guys remember where they decided to meet? I do 75 bucks. They I wonder if they got some Slurpees, because they met at seven, 711 and they say it just okay, like, so we decided to meet at the 711 and I was like, what now? Well, that's Kristen. That's exactly basic, exactly, basically, okay, I understand what that means, but this is just me being excited. That's basically how Chuck Woolery reacted. Wait, what? I'm sorry. Stop, stop. Roars. So, because they say so casually, not. It's not a punchline. So excited made at the 711 and the audience erupts in laughter. It's hilarious. It just gets better. And the little elf looks like he has no idea why they're laughing. He's just looking at them blankly, like, what, what? Right? And you expect that this is going to be a downhill date. So they decide, at least they don't stay at the 711 they decide to drive to Hermosa Beach and like, Oh, thank god. That was just a starting point for the date. And then she says, Do you want to see my whip? I mean, as you do, as you do,
Unknown Speaker 34:28
they like, pull over, they pull over, and it's like a it's like a bull whip. It's a bull rip. Is like titillated. He's completely and utterly titillated. And Chuck doesn't know quite what to ask, because he's also going in a sexual direction with it. And and she, she insists. She's like, No, no, this is for self defense. This is I have. And I'm like, Who buys a whip? She keeps it in her trunk. She got it at the like, the horse the horse store. Chuck's face is hilarious. His reaction, yeah, it's, it's quite well.
Unknown Speaker 35:00
Were she watching sound? Because she said, like, yes, it keeps me safe. I don't know what she's like, 16 feet like, the whip is eight feet long, and so I'm imagining she's just walking down the street and just swinging his whip all around her. I can't it just wasn't adding up to me. Maybe that's why I'm all confused when she's insisting that this is for self defense and checks, Chuck says, Well, have you ever had to use it? And she's like, No, no, I'm not. I haven't had to use it, but I have hurt myself a few times.
Unknown Speaker 35:28
I imagine
Unknown Speaker 35:32
she's like, you know, I'm missing three toes, but it's fine, because one day,
Unknown Speaker 35:37
one day when like a cowboy comes writing up to get me. Listeners, are you getting getting a picture of Darcy too? Transcribing this, I would like to say that told me everything I need to know about Darcy, but it didn't because it's their next stop that told me everything I need to know about Darcy. Kristen. Where'd they go next? Well, they decide they want to go shopping, shopping. I was like, well, that's random, and also not a good idea with somebody that you don't know. But she's looking for something very specific. She needs some skull earrings. Yeah, skull earrings and rings, and she's very proud. She shows them off and up in her little video square, she shows off her and she wants those things, but she also wants a black bustier. They're also shopping to get ready for the night. Yeah, to get ready for the night, because they're going to go dancing. Because it seems like everybody in 1988 went dancing. And actually, that's true. But Chuck is at a loss for this, because, because the Elven man is not thinking that there's anything off about, first of all, going shopping, and we're gonna go get skull earrings. And then she showed me her whip, and we're gonna get a boostier for the night. And he's just relaying this information as if it's the most normal thing. And Chuck is at a loss. He does not know where. He doesn't even know what questions to ask. So then they do go dancing. She gets her boostier and her skull earrings, so they're able to go out dancing. And afterwards, the little man says they were sweating and painting like dogs, yeah? And so they got towels and dried each other off. And I think, I think we're supposed to think that this is sexy, except that the little man in the cowboy boots can't really pull that off. He's just, he's basically pantomime squeezing her boobs. Yeah, so we had to dry each other off. She tries to make it sexual a little bit, because she says we were covered in sweat, and so we had to blow each other off. And she's going,
Unknown Speaker 37:34
hope you all can hear that, because they're they're doing the blowing thing at each other. He's on the couch, and she's up on the little she's in her square her video box behind Chuck willeries head, and they're blowing at each other.
Unknown Speaker 37:48
And again, like it's normal, he's blowing, she's blowing. And I, and I'm like, do you guys, that doesn't dry people off? And also, I don't know that you did that, and I think that might be a lie, and I don't, or maybe you did do and you thought it was sexy, but it's not sexy. Yeah, it's weird, yes, yeah.
Unknown Speaker 38:06
I think that. I really think as listeners, if you've never seen this episode, if you think it's getting better and better, just wait, yeah, because then they're done sweating and panting like dogs, and she has to go see her dad, so she drops me off on the freeway, as you do, and I'm like, what time you have to go see your dad? Well, they said it was, he does say at one point it was, I think they do these dates like in the afternoon, because the dates go on and on, but it's just so odd that she has to go see her dad. And I'm thinking, Are you pulling a Sharon? Are you pulling a Sharon emergency work? All of a sudden, you've had a great time on your date, and you're like, Oh, crap, forgot, sorry, Ray, gotta go see my dad. I just drop you here on the freeway. No, he wanted to be dropped on the freeway. I'm starting to be suspicious of Ray between the 711 for them to meet. You'd be embarrassed about his living. I think for sure, I live at the Roxy or the Troubadour in the bathroom and the park he might live in the park. We don't know. And we're not listen, we're not poking fun at that, because I honestly was feeling really this is when I said, Remember earlier, I said, I started to just feel kind of bad for him. You guys, he asks Darcy, just drop me off at the on ramp. Do you guys remember, like, the old ABC after school specials, or the old movies, or even movies today, where in a lot of books, Judy Blume books, whatever, you're embarrassed about your where you live, Pretty in Pink. Oh my gosh, that's probably one of the most famous. And you're like, No, no, no, seriously, it's okay. Just drop me here. I can walk. Oh yeah, yeah, you're ashamed of where you live and the conditions. And so you say no, no, it's okay, and
Unknown Speaker 39:43
sorry. It's hard to say it without laughing. But I do feel bad for Ray, because he picks probably the best one I've ever heard, just the on ramp of the freeway. Fine. It's fine. That's fine. It was a sweet reason, because he said then she could just go on the highway if she had driven him home. They were.
Unknown Speaker 40:00
Turns and all of that lie. But he was where she would get lost. Yeah, she does say I, you know, I kicked him out on the on ramp. I slowed down to like an eight mile an hour.
Unknown Speaker 40:13
You guys, it's not legal. Like you can't do that legally. There had to have been a 711 around the corner
Unknown Speaker 40:21
by this point, you guys, he seemed to me very kind of innocent and gullible, and I was just feeling kind of bad. I wasn't feeling like he was creepy, or even that she was really I will say that one of the comments on YouTube, I know I keep going back to him, but they were just a treasure trove. I really did like this one, and I think this is how I felt. Someone said I thought their date was going to be a disaster, but it turned out to be one of the cutest, sweetest, endearing, most charming and wholesome dates ever. That's I do not agree with. Let me just say I don't agree. Not the wholesome. I don't think it was the most charming, sweetest, endearing, but whatever. But she says, albeit weird in a fringe way, but still, I think she meant cringe way, but still an endearing connection of outsider innocences. I think they just laughed and enjoyed each other's unpredictable energies the entire night. We could all strive for something this oddly and unexpectedly perfect once in our lives. And I agree with that. That's exactly how I felt about it. And eccentric and they kind of found each other. You didn't know that any of the you know, I keep saying, he would look at the audience like, why are you laughing? There was an innocence there You said something about outsider innocence. There was an innocence there were you? He did not know, or she didn't, either, for that matter, that the things that they were doing were on the fringes at all. And so then that did make me feel bad, but I feel better when you talk about it as outsider innocence. That makes that make me feel better. Even Chuck said something at one point, Chuck kind of mumbles, I think the audience is clapping or laughing, and you don't really hear him, but he says something along the lines of, was there a connection here? I don't know if there was any chemistry. Was this? I don't know. Let's just see where this goes. I think Chuck was genuinely like perplexed by was, I don't know if this was a good or a bad date, and I didn't either interesting, because at the end of the day, it turns out to be a love connection.
Unknown Speaker 42:21
Because then they ask the audience. He's like, Well, who did the audience pick? It turns out the audience picked Darcy. And he says, Ray, would you like to go out with Darcy? He says, hell yeah. And he turns to Darcy, Darcy, would you like to go out with Ray? Hell yeah. And I'm like, really well. And Ray goes, connection. Ray goes with Darcy. He goes, Well, you can ask her out. And he goes, because also what I'm about to say speaks volumes about the two of them and their date, Darcy, would you like to go and drink peach margaritas again with me?
Unknown Speaker 42:52
So this whole date in Hermosa Beach and whatever, and they're dancing, they're drinking peach margaritas. I almost vomited a little bit, a little bit right now.
Unknown Speaker 43:03
I did think it was so sweet. There's somebody for everybody. Yeah, I wonder what happened to Ray and Darcy Carolyn, did you find that out? No, I didn't. Okay, well, I don't know why we even find the date of the episode. I bet you can when we just have to point out that part of what makes all of this so good, and you referenced this before. Michelle is the smooth, Suave, but sometimes incredulous dad energy of Chuck Woolery. He gets all the credit for striking the right balance and helping us see when things were indeed crazy and when they were sweet, which is again, going back to reality TV shows of today. That is not what they're doing on reality TV today. That's almost like a form of gaslighting, where everything is a scandal or an explicit sex romp or a full on Prince Charming moment that's totally manufactured, and they're trying to pass it all off as normal. Chuck did not think any of this was normal. Did you get that vibe from him? Totally Yep, yeah. Like, he's our barometer. He's the barometer for the audience. When he's saying he's aggressive and gets slapped, he's not like, Haha, it's no, I know I keep saying it, but just the memories just all came flooding back of loving to watch this show. Chuck's face and his reactions and his comments are always a reflection of mine and of the people watching Yes, because during for Ray and Darcy, like I just said, he was like, I don't know what to make of this right now. I I can't tell if this was a connection, and watching it yesterday, I was like, me neither Chuck.
Unknown Speaker 44:32
He didn't have to set anybody up. He just was kind of reacting to what they already were offering. It was just like with his own genuine feelings, like it made the show. It made the show so much more earnest than a house of fire, right? So we went out dancing. We're four or five songs later, we were all sweaty, panting and sticky, and, you know, just pant like dogs on the on the dance floor. So we came in and we sat down. We're just looking at each other and just start up.
Unknown Speaker 45:00
Blowing each other off, cooling us down there, and start, you know, getting towels and stuff. It was kind of neat.
Unknown Speaker 45:07
I've never had a date like this on the show. I have to admit, these are things that I've never heard before. So let's talk about Chuck bullery A little bit. Let's do love. Connection was not his only gig, right? Oh no, not at all. And you guys, if you had told me when we started this podcast, that one day I would have facts out the wazoo about Chuck Willard, I don't know, I would have liked, what are you smoking? But yeah, I learned a lot about Chuck. I'm not gonna tell you every single thing I learned, because we would be here forever, but I'm gonna give you some of the highlights. So yes, indeed, he didn't was not always a game show host. As a matter of fact, he wanted to be a singer, wanted to be a musician, and he was a member of the duo called Chuck and dog. And
Unknown Speaker 45:50
then they were like, and then they were like, You guys suck. Do you like pets?
Unknown Speaker 45:55
He was a member of the psychedelic pop group the avant garde, who had one top 40 hit, which was naturally stone. Oh, my God, in 1968 it's kind of good
Unknown Speaker 46:10
vibration. I can get a real sensation. Feel like I'm naturally stone. Naturally
Unknown Speaker 46:18
stone. Do you
Unknown Speaker 46:22
like it? I could see it's kind of peppy and kind of, yeah, get your foot tapping. Mary. That's very John Davidson too, because he started out as a performer and that he wanted to be a recording artist, and he kind of got shunted into the game show arena, I think because he was so handsome. We're John, we should. I wish we could. Let's get John back. Were they friends? I wonder. And God bless America, that we live in a time where you said he was part of this duo, and they had a hit called naturally stoned, and you could find it and listen to it. Yes, exactly. And he also recorded some solo albums during the 70s, and he really wanted to be a singer songwriter. That was his, his real passion. But did you know that some of us may have seen him in his very first acting gig? Oh, I can't wait for this. I know Me neither so good. He was a regular on the new zoo review
Unknown Speaker 47:18
children's show. Was he the character? No, he actually, well, actually, he was the owl. He wasn't one of the animals, but he had so much like a fake mustache and a hat. He was Mr. Dingle,
Unknown Speaker 47:32
like the local postman, who kind of would come on his bicycle to deliver the mail. He was the Mr. McFeely
Unknown Speaker 47:40
of new Okay, right now. Let me just tell everyone. If you're like freaking out, like we are right now, please check your inbox this Friday morning. I'm finding a clip that's going in the Weekly Reader. You don't even have to waste time finding it. And actually, it's not wasting time. It is a damn good use of your time. We are three people here to prove it. So, yeah, little did many of us know that we saw Chuck Woolery before we knew he was Chuck Woolery as he was pedaling onto the set of the news review with Henrietta hippo. That's right. And I guess in the back she was pumping her,
Unknown Speaker 48:15
I said pumping everybody.
Unknown Speaker 48:20
This seems like another one of those examples of when I'm trying to talk and go on to the next thing
Unknown Speaker 48:29
about to turn into the electric company episode all over again. Sorry, Carolyn, I'm shutting my mouth now. No, no, no.
Unknown Speaker 48:36
But none of those careers, musical or acting were really what Chuck was meant to be. Chuck was meant to be a game show host, and on January 6, 1975
Unknown Speaker 48:48
we saw him for the first time, begin that career, as he began hosting Wheel of Fortune. You guys the OG, yeah. Pre Pat say Jack, pre money on the I mean, you know, R, S, T, L, N, E, yes, and those, if you guys remember, I actually had a board game of this same, really fun because I think the funnest part ever of the Wheel of Fortune was when you shopped with the money that you got in, and then you got to pick a room. Or, I don't know, did you pick the room? Or did they say they would pick the room. And then they would say, because there was always that Dalmatian was always in like, every room, yeah, because you had like, 100 and, you know, $2 left, and that was the only thing that you could get. And there was always, like, a trip in the room too. So it would always be interesting to me, like, okay, we're in the kitchen, and there's always, like, the big trip to Jamaica. And I never could figure out how that was in the kitchen, and it was for a long time he was on Wheel of Fortune. It wasn't like he was on for a season. No, he was on from 1975 through 1981 when I came Yeah, and it was a little controversial. We're not quite sure as to why Chuck left. Some people say it was a salary dispute. Who knows? Some said.
Unknown Speaker 50:00
It's time for him to move along. I guess it's who you ask. But yes, so then we got Pat Sajak, and as we know, the rest is history. So after 1981 then we get love connection from 1983 to 1994 Okay, so we're continuously seeing him then, but we also get him on some other game shows. So he did Scrabble, and I loved Scrabble. I do too. He did one called the big spin, but that was only on one season, the dating game. They brought it back for a couple of seasons, and he did the dating game. He did another one called greed. I didn't remember that from 1999 to 2000 and then a sleeper hit, because I loved this game show, and I think it was maybe only on the Game Show Network. It was called lingo. Does anyone know it
Unknown Speaker 50:45
sounds like a word? Is a word? Because I would love that. And we this is 2002 to 2007
Unknown Speaker 50:52
and I would stay up really late playing the online game of lingo, and Maggie would try to help me over, like, try this letter, and I'm going really felt like really nervous, because I'm competing against these other people. So it was my first kind of online addiction, game gaming kind of thing. So game shows are really how Gen X knows him, except for the news to review, which you didn't know you knew him from
Unknown Speaker 51:14
then, let's just say his outspoken political views kind of took a little turn, and he supported some controversial and conspiracy theories, and sadly, his divisive rhetoric really alienated many of his fans, and it really highlighted, kind of the contrast between almost what we were saying earlier this kind of every man's man, just asking the questions, just seeming very much like one of us, I guess, and very just easy to talk to congenial. It's was a stark contrast to that Chuck Woolery, who we kind of grew up knowing and watched on the love connection. And so it's really unfortunate, because his impact on television was very significant, but his kind of foray into this world of, you know, conspiracy theorists and all that kind of stuff, really tarnished that broader star for him, right? And here, I mean, I'm, I realize that game shows are not a high art by any means. But like you said, his congenial nature. This was bright, this was this was happy. This was all for fun and games. And this just has veered into a very dark place. Yeah. I mean, he is when we talk about preserving pop culture nuggets from our Gen X youth. I mean, Chuck Woolery is one of those, you know, faces of that, where the game show generation well, and I think we, I think the way that, at least, that I choose to remember or think about people like that, we need to leave those things back in the 19 late, 1970s 1987 1988 and that's okay, because well, and if we were to drill down on Chuck willeries legacy, it wouldn't be his detour into This whole, you know, conspiracy theory, right wing political media. Do you guys know he actually had a podcast where he did do fun things like skewer liberals and blame the government for COVID or his
Unknown Speaker 53:11
contribution to the world of game shows or even love connection itself? At the end of the day, I would argue that Chuck willery's most indelible contribution to our culture was a simple phrase accompanied by a hand gesture signaling to the television audience that the show would be back and how long two and two and two, two and two. That's right, yes. Was famous catch phrase, will be back to hear everything that happened on that date. Will do it in two and two, which he started on love connection. It simply meant that the show would return in two minutes and two seconds, which at the time was the total length of a standard commercial break, including, you know how they fade out and then they fade back in to the show. And as we all know, he held up his two fingers and he turned them as he said,
Unknown Speaker 53:56
two and two. He also used that phrase on Scrabble, which he hosted from 1984 like Carolyn said during love connection. So he was hosting both shows at once,
Unknown Speaker 54:07
and he hosted that until 1990 that solidifies that this is his legacy, because it wasn't just love connection. He took that, that gesture with him wherever he went. He created it, and let's be honest, we loved it. Oh yes, it's part of our lexicon. We still say it to this day. Yes. How long is that gonna take you? We'll go two and two and two. Yeah, and our I gotta get out. I'm gonna run into the gas station and grab a coke. I'll be back in two and two. Yes, it's I just think it's funny that we would like something so meaningless, but we did. It's ridiculous. It's so, like we said, before, love connection was an every day after school event at my house, right? That Brady Bunch, love connection every single day, every damn day. And there's so much about it that is oh so a.
Unknown Speaker 55:00
90s, and we just touched on the hair. You can do an episode just devoted to the hair on love connections, because this, this was the hair of real people in the 80s, not glamorous TV people in the 80s. It was showing how we actually looked, which was not good, you guys. I worked hard on my hair. I'm sorry. Except for Sharon. She was damn cute. Sharon was cute in her banana clip. That's true. Oh, there was a lot of there was a lot of fried perms out there, yeah, but it's at the same time. It is. It's also 80s, but it is also the precursor to the reality television that we have today. And today's reality TV is about 50% blind dates or falling in love with a stranger or trying to make strangers fall in love. It's all cut from the same cloth, but the earnestness of love connection and Chuck woolerys Steady rational hand is what elevated that show way above today's shows. In my opinion, I think it's the superior show, and my habits kind of back that up. Love connection I watched every day, today's version of love connection, whether it's the bachelor or love is blind or whatever. I try them, but it just doesn't stick. I lose interest. I just need more. Chuck Woolery, I guess. Yeah, thank you for listening today, and we'll be back in two and two. I mean, next week.
Unknown Speaker 56:20
Hey, listeners want to ensure that this podcast doesn't get lost in the dusty archives of the internet. We would love it if you would spread the word. Just share an episode with a friend who would really dig our deep dives. And while you're at it, I know, and while you're at it, you could leave a glowing review. Only glowing reviews people you don't like it, just keep it
Unknown Speaker 56:43
tears.
Unknown Speaker 56:45
Oh, and you can think of our podcast, kind of as a digital mix tape for the ages, Don't you guys think,
Unknown Speaker 56:51
yeah, are curating a wonderful collection of pop culture gems that we want to preserve from our Gen X youth. So the more listeners we have, the more obscure corners of pop culture we can unearth. So spread the word and let's keep this party going. Yeah. And finally, a huge thanks to all of our patrons. Your support allows us to pursue this passion and spend more time creating content to bring you the best possible show. We truly appreciate each and every one of you and couldn't do any of what we do, besides just the podcast, the social media, all of this stuff without your generous contributions. And today, we're giving a special shout out to patrons, Jill, Lance Hillary, Debbie, Cheryl, Susan, Elizabeth, Patricia, Kathy, Kevin and Cara, and if you'd like to join our Patreon community and gain access to exclusive perks, head over to patreon.com P, A, T, R, E, O n.com, and just type pop culture Preservation Society in the search bubble. In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of Three's Company, two good times, two Happy Days, Two Little House on the Prairie. Cheers. Cheers. The information, opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belong solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we are always right, there is always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards, Nana Nanu, keep on trucking and May the Force Be With You. You.