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Why I Believe in Love Connection

Recently, I've taken an interest in watching old clips of "Love Connection" on Youtube. For those of you poor souls who are unfamiliar with it, "Love Connection" is only one of the best television programs ever. I'm not just saying it was the best game show or best dating show or even the best reality tv; I mean, it was one of the best shows in the history of television ever, period, end of discussion. It had drama, it had comedy, it had intrigue and betrayal. It also had romance and it had Chuck Woolery, a host who oozed charm, wit and sophistication every time he cocked his head and promised to be back in "two-and-two," a host who always managed to poke fun at the guests without ever appearing pretentious or overly snarky.

We never got "Love Connection" on TV where I lived. We really didn't get much TV at all. If we were lucky, we lived close enough to a military base that we picked up AFN, the one American channel in the area that showed the big prime time state-side hits, albeit a bit fuzzy and several months old. Without much interest in Knots Landing or ThirtySomething, there wasn't much on that one channel I ever felt like seeing, so I developed an interest in reading books, doing jigsaw puzzles and writing really bad poetry instead. That's not to say that I didn't have an interest in television; My appetite for TV was, in fact, enormous and unsatiated. Unsatiated, that is, except during the summer months.

In the summer, my parents and sister and I would go back to the states and spend two months at my grandparents' house in St. Louis, a home that had no fewer than 3 televisions, all of which were wired with cable. Being the uber-organized young Virgo that I was, I'd spend the first few hours of my return back to the homeland, surveying the most recent copy of TV Guide and drafting my television viewing schedule for the whole summer. Around the age of 10, my favorite time for tv-viewing shifted from Saturday mornings to weeknights, a shift that had almost everything to do with "Love Connection." It was that summer I turned 10 years-old when I discovered Chuck Woolery and his fantastic show about blind dates. Life was really never the same after that.

My love for the show cannot be overstated; I adored it, from the nightly cliff-hangers (Is she going to choose #1, #2, or #3?!), to the rambling re-caps of dates gone bad. In St. Louis "Love Connection" aired every night at 10 PM and again at 10:30 — back to back episodes!! And it came on late in the afternoon, too — at 4:30, though those were mostly repeats of the night before, but every once in awhile I'd get super lucky and the 4:30 episode would be one I hadn't seen yet and I'd get to watch three new episodes in one day. You think I'm joking, but I count those days as some of the best of my life. I'd wake up late, help myself to a bowl of cereal, and sprinkle a piece of toast with some cinnamon and sugar. Then I'd settle in for 2 or 3 hours of daytime talk shows, break for lunch and maybe a dip in the wading pool out back, and I'd peel off my bathing suit, take a bath, get dressed and finish the rest of the afternoon with re-runs of Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days, and Alice. If it was a super awesome, red letter day, I'd get 3 new epsiodes of "Love Connection" and a helping of Grandma's fried chicken-'n-mashed potatoes to boot.

The rest of my year just never compared to those lazy summer days, free from responsibility and anyone telling me what to do. My parents had too many distractions in St. Louis to worry about whether I was going to bed at a decent hour or getting enough fresh air or if my television overflowed with too much sexual innuendo. My mother hardly even cared what I wore each day, a stark contrast to the wardrobe dictator she became during the school year. So those blessed summer days with their unadulterated programming and freedom to wear halter tops and jelly shoes to my heart's content were some of the best. And they were always capped with "Love Connection," and the belief that sometimes, if we're lucky, the stars align just so to deliver the perfect blind date at our door...or 3 new episodes of our favorite show and a helping of Grandma's mashed potatoes.

January 06, 2009 in Memories |

Comments

I also remember adding in Love and Marriage to the mix. It seemed so funny. I thought it was a really good show!

When I lived in Columbia, I had the Game Show Network, and I think that was the network that showed Love Connection. I know I caught a few episodes in the past couple of years.

I also loved the Newlywed Game.

Posted by: Allison | January 06, 2009 at 07:25 AM

I love this post! Love Connection was AMAZING. There is nothing like it now and there never will be. RIP.

Posted by: Rachelgab | January 06, 2009 at 09:37 AM

I also adored Love Connection. I always loved it when they had a terrible time and said bad things about each other. Those episodes were the best. Now that I know they are on youtube, I hope I'm able to get some work done!

Posted by: julie | January 06, 2009 at 12:53 PM

OMG I had forgotten about the Love Connection. Think I used to watch it at 10:30 or so....LOVED when the dates went bad....lol

Posted by: Beth | January 06, 2009 at 02:17 PM

Lately, I've had this nagging fear that in 10 or 20 years, I'll look back on what are now recent pictures and be horrified at what I was wearing.

Posted by: Allison | January 06, 2009 at 05:13 PM

Ha! I was a similarly TV deprived child, although my drug of choice during my Summer at Grandma's was always The Real World. God that show has gotten awful lately, but for some reason I just can't tear myself away.

(And as a total sidebar: I love your "Don't Say I Love You First" advice. Makes total sense! haha)

Posted by: Holly | January 07, 2009 at 12:09 PM

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