This Week's Game Show TV Milestone

[AaronHandy3]

JULY 17, 1977



"It's women vs. men in the battle of the sexes! Women or men, which is The Better Sex?!"

The Better Sex, a Goodson-Todman game show which combined the elements of Family Feud and The Hollywood Squares and was hosted by Bill Anderson and Sarah Purcell, debuted @ noon on ABC Daytime.

Two teams of six (6 men, 6 women) faced off against each other. The champions (i.e., the men) started and a question was asked. This question could be a general knowledge or survey question (e.g.: "Where is Elvis from?" or "According to a survey, what did most people say was the worst thing about camping out?"). The team captain of the men's team looks at the correct answer and decides whether to use it, or come up with a good bluff. The host or hostess then goes to the opposing team (the women) and asks if they agree or disagree.

When the polling is over, then the actual answer is revealed. If the women are right, then the team captain is eliminated, plus one more of their choice. If the men were successful with the bluffing, then the two ladies that agreed or disagreed were eliminated. Whichever team was eliminated first lost the game. In the bonus round, a section of 30 men and 30 women are seated in a section of the audience. The women play against the men and vice versa. Each member of the team gets one chance to eliminate all 30 members of the audience section in the same fashion as in the main game. A question is asked, an answer is given, then all 30 players vote on whether to agree or disagree.

The Better Sex employed the same sound effects as Family Feud (which, when it was originally being developed, was very similar in concept to TBS!). The pilot for The Better Sex originally had 7 member teams instead of 6. Its rather weird main title theme music (click here for a listen) was performed by The Score Production Band and Chorus.

TBS had a tragically short run of 9 months, lasting no further than January 13, 1978. The series finale concluded on a rather somber note as Bill Anderson (guitar in hand) played one of his hit tunes for the audience. Anderson, who already had over 75 hit singles under his belt since 1958, would later on emcee Fandango on The Nashville Network, and co-host Sarah Purcell later starred in Real People (NBC, 1979-84).


(Source of info: Matt Kaiser's Better Sex Page @ http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionC...bettersex.html)