Classic Television - Weekdays

The Amateur's Guide to Love

Original channel 

CBS

Original run 

March 27 – June 23, 1972

Presented by

Gene Rayburn

The Amateur's Guide to Love is an American television game show, 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, of Our Day Will Come fame.

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:

“This little truck goes everywhere in search of lovers - in search, really, of you and me. For each of us, at sometime, has been involved with matters of the heart. Our truck goes to beaches, supermarkets, department stores, wherever there are people. We park outside, hide our camera, and observe our fellow creatures, struggling to do their best in romantic situations. Love has been with us since the dawn of creation, but still, we've never really learned how to handle it. The Amateur's Guide to Love is here to help.”

Afterwards, the show would then cut to the studio, where announcer Kenny Williams would introduce this weeks' panelists ("our guidebook advisers"), and Rayburn.

The show somewhat resembled Candid Camera, a show involving guest celebrities and unsuspecting civilians. These people were involved in a comedy situation, taped on location in Southern California 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.