Aired | |
Pilots #1-#3, April 27-28, 1977 ABC Daytime, July 18, 1977 – January 13, 1978 | |
Number of episodes | |
136 | |
Run time | |
30 Minutes | |
Hosts | |
Bill Anderson and Sarah Purcell | |
Announcer | |
Gene Wood | |
Origination | |
Studio 54, ABC Television Center, Los Angeles, California |
The Better Sex is the short-lived battle of the sexes game show that combined elements of Hollywood Squares & Family Feud.
Game format[]
Six men vs. six women (seven men vs. seven women in the pilots) faced-off against each other in a game of bluffs & surveys. The object of the game was to fool the opposing sex/team and eliminating them.
Pilots[]
Main Game[]
The game is mostly the same as the series except that they were seven members of each gendered team instead of six in the actual series and the contestant cards have just the correct answer only instead of both the bluff and the correct answer in the series. The objective on each question is to knockout about half of the team. There was no choice of an additional contestant should the attack contestant be knocked out. Finally, there was no reward for winning the game.
Bonus Game[]
In the pilots, the winning team faced 70 members of the studio audience consisting of both sexes; not 30 of the opposite sex. Each audience member knocked out awarded $10 to the winning team should they lose the bonus and the surviving audience members still shared a $500 pot after seven questions were exhausted; but if all 70 audience members were eliminated in seven questions or less, the winning team won $7,000.
Series[]
Main Game[]
One member of the team with six people in control was in, what they call, "the attack position". He/she was asked a question after which he/she was given a card which contained the correct answer & a bluff. The player must then decide which answer to use to fool the other team. Then up to three members of the opposing team decided to either agree or disagree on the given answer. As soon as two of the team members went with the same judgment, the correct answer was revealed. If the two opposing team members were wrong, they were fooled and they were knocked out of the game; if the two opposing team members were right, they stayed in the game and the attacking player was knocked out along with another player of the opposing team's choice; upon the latter, the opposing team then took control.
When a team was down to two players and could not agree whether an answer was correct or a bluff, the second player was given a chance to convince the first that he or she was correct. If they still disagreed with each other, the answer given by the first of the two players was taken.
The first team to knock out the other team won the game, $1,000 and went to the $5,000 bonus game playing against the audience of the opposite sex.
Bonus Game[]
The winning team faced 30 studio audience members of the opposite sex. Each team member had only one chance to knock out as many audience members as he/she can. They were each asked a question after which they were given a card with the correct answer only. If they wished to use it, fine, but if they don't, they can make up a bluff answer. After a player gave an answer, the audience members voted to either agree or disagree on the answer using their electronic paddles. After that, the correct answer was revealed and the audience members who voted wrong were eliminated and sat back down. Audience members who did not vote were automatically eliminated. After six questions, if there were any audience members left standing, the winning team lost the bonus game and the surviving audience members split $500 between them, but if all 30 audience members were eliminated in six questions or fewer, the winning team won $5,000.
Championship teams stayed on the show until losing two games.
Personnel[]
- Hosts: Bill Anderson and Sarah Purcell
- Announcer: Gene Wood
- Executive Producer: Ira Skutch
- Producer: Robert Sherman
- Director: Paul Alter
- Set Designer: Ed Flesh
Trivia[]
Bill & Sarah both made their game show hosting debuts on this show. Bill went on to host Fandango for TNN while Sarah went on to host the successful Real People.
Music[]
"Hormonal Imbalance" by John F. Grimsby for Score Productions
International Versions[]
Main Article: The Better Sex/International
Merchandise[]
No merchandise
Photos[]
Main Article: The Better Sex/Photos
Episode Status[]
Pilots #1 & #3 exist, as does #77-073, #77-082, #77-101, and the finale, #77-136. It is believed that the tapes don't exist anymore, and were supposedly re-used by Goodson-Todman to record Family Feud. Two of the available episodes were seen on Buzzr as part of their 3rd Annual "Lost and Found" week in 2018.
Link[]
The Better Sex Pilot @ usgameshows.net