''The Amateur's Guide to Love'' is an American television

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

, created by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley, that ran on CBS from March 27 to June 23, 1972. Gene Rayburn was the emcee, while Kenny Williams was the announcer. The theme was written by Mort Garson. Each episode began with Garson's theme song, set to shots of a van emblazoned with the ''Amateur's Guide to Love'' logo driving around southern California, with scenes of men and women falling in love with each other. As the van travels around, host Gene Rayburn sets the scene for the game show: Afterwards, the show would then cut to the studio, where announcer Kenny Williams would introduce this week's panelists ("our guidebook advisors"), and Rayburn.

Gameplay

The show somewhat resembled ''

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'', a show involving guest celebrities and unsuspecting civilians. These people were involved in a comedy situation, taped on location in Southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

using a hidden camera. The subjects in the particular situation were faced with two choices, one of which they needed to choose, that were somehow related to sex, marriage, or love. A celebrity panel voted upon which choice would have been the smartest, and the civilian who picked that particular decision won merchandise prizes.

Broadcast history

''Amateur's Guide'' originated as a pilot that aired as part of CBS' ''Comedy Playhouse'' on August 8, 1971. This early version of the series was hosted by actor Joe Flynn instead of Rayburn, and featured a four-celebrity panel (

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, Dick Martin,

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and

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) instead of three. The program was CBS' first daytime game since the cancellation of '' To Tell the Truth'' in September 1968. The series replaced reruns of ''

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'' at 4:00 PM (3:00 Central). However, the show failed to make an impact against ''

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'' on NBC and daytime rebroadcasts of the popular ''

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'' on ABC. Reruns of the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

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'' replaced it on June 26. Later that year, CBS returned with game shows in its daytime lineup on September 4 with '' The New Price is Right'', '' Gambit'', and ''

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''. Rayburn himself would return to CBS in July 1973 with a revival of his hit NBC show, '' Match Game''.

Episode status

Like many game shows of the era, ''Amateur's Guide to Love'' is believed to have been wiped, as only one episode is known to exist. CBS stopped their wiping practices sometime in 1972, long before either of its other Big Three networks, but some series of the time have uncertain statuses.

References

External links

''The Amateur's Guide to Love'' on IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amateur's Guide To Love American hidden camera television series American dating and relationship reality television series CBS original programming American game shows 1970s American comedy game shows 1972 American television series debuts 1972 American television series endings Television series by Heatter-Quigley Productions Television series by MGM Television