ABC, seemingly drunk on game shows, is updating another blast from the TV past. The network has given a season order to The Celebrity Dating Game, a spin on the series that showcased normies looking for love in the 1960s and ’70s.
Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton are set to host the project, given an initial order of eight episodes, all but ensuring that music will be well-incorporated as bachelors and bachelorettes vie for the attention of mystery celebrity guests. Described as “a wry wink at modern dating,” the non-famous suitors have the opportunity to guess the secret identity of the celebrity contestant based on clues, questions and parody performances by Bolton.
Bolton also serves as an executive producer on the Sony Pictures Television series, which owns the Dating Game format, with Charles Wachter Christina Kline and Wendi Wan also producing. The original The Dating Game ran on ABC from 1965 to 1973. Though it was primarily for civilians, it did showcase some well-known figures — Sally Field, Ron Howard and, in one particularly misguided effort, Dusty Springfield — as well as a few celebrities (Farrah Fawcett) before they were famous.
The Celebrity Dating Game joins a sprawling roster of rebooted game shows on ABC that includes Celebrity Family Feud, To Tell the Truth, The $100,000 Pyramid, Match Game, Press Your Luck, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Supermarket Sweep and, most recently, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. It will tape in Los Angeles, with a premiere date announced at a later date.
