There was a time when television executives looked at bowling and thought, “You know what this needs? Celebrities.” That is basically how Celebrity Bowling happened, and honestly, it may tell us more about 1970s television than any documentary ever could.
From 1971 to 1978, Celebrity Bowling was syndicated from Metromedia Square in Los Angeles, where real AMF or Brunswick bowling lanes were installed inside the KTTV studios. Host Jed Allan watched two-person celebrity teams compete in best-ball matches, with prizes going to viewers and audience members.
But the real appeal wasn’t the bowling. It was watching famous people suddenly become regular people. For a little while, the movie stars, television actors and famous personalities weren’t untouchable people living somewhere above the rest of us. They were just people bowling. Maybe they even had to deal with those slightly questionable bowling shoes everyone else wore. Okay, I can’t prove the shoe part, but you know what I mean.
And the guest list was incredible. William Shatner, the Brady Bunch, Bob Newhart, Roy Rogers, George Foreman, Leslie Nielsen, Angie Dickinson, Michael Douglas, Ernest Borgnine, Ed Asner, Loretta Swit, Don Adams, Adam West, Charles Nelson Reilly, Robert Clary and a young Alex Trebek all appeared.
Some celebrities could bowl. Some really couldn’t. Michael Cole and Tige Andrews put up a remarkable 266, just 34 pins short of a perfect game. At the other end, Charles Nelson Reilly and Robert Clary recorded a 66, which is presumed to be the lowest score of the original series.
That was the charm. For half an hour, celebrities weren’t that different from anybody else.
Celebrity Bowling ended in 1978, but someone should bring the idea back with Celebrity Pickleball. I would absolutely watch that.
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