Sumith Prasad
In Netflix’s crime film ‘Woman of the Hour,’ Ed Burke serves as the host of the game show ‘The Dating Game.’ With his snide remarks, misogynistic behavior, and objectification of women, he gives Sheryl, the protagonist, a hard time. As the taping of her episode progresses, the aspiring actress gets tired of the generic scripts and the host, which motivates her to ask the three bachelors questions she comes up with herself. The move provokes Burke immensely, who doesn’t hide his anger and dismay towards the participant. Even though the thriller movie is based on a true story, Ian McDonald wrote the screenplay with several partially fictional elements, including the television host!
Ed Burke is Loosely Based on the Late Game Show Host Jim Lange
Ed Burke is a fictionalized version of Jim Lange, arguably the most prominent presenter of ABC’s ‘The Dating Game.’ He is credited with over one hundred and seventy episodes of the show. After working at different radio stations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and San Francisco, California, he became part of NBC’s ‘The Ford Show,’ appearing alongside the host Tennessee Ernie Ford. In addition to ‘The Dating Game,’ he also hosted other game shows such as ‘Hollywood Connection’ and ‘Take My Word for It.’ He also starred as himself in George Clooney’s true crime drama ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.’
In 1978, Lange was ‘The Dating Game’ host who presented the serial killer Rodney Alcala on national television without being aware of his crimes. Ian McDonald, who wrote ‘Woman of the Hour,’ created a fictionalized version of the television personality rather than a character in his name to gain the freedom to explore the misogyny and sexism that were prevalent in Hollywood in the 1970s. “There’s a lot of shitty guys in the world who are not serial killers. And the idea was to explore not [just] him [Rodney] per se but the spectrum,” McDonald told Deadline.
Ed Burke Represents the Misogyny Existed in Hollywood
More than in Jim Lange as an individual, Ian McDonald was seemingly interested in shedding light on male stars who worked in the film and television industry in the 1970s. Ed Burke can be seen as a representative of all the men who didn’t hesitate to humiliate and objectify women back in the day. As far as Tony Hale is concerned, Lange was also a representative of the male stars of the time. “To me, he [Lange] represented the culture at the time — the objectification of women and snide remarks that were accepted, even on a public platform. […] Also, just the detachment that he had, not only with the way he spoke but with the women around him,” the actor, who plays Burke in the crime thriller, told Decider.
To accurately portray Burke, Hale watched the episodes of ‘The Dating Game’ and noted how Lange presented them. The actor particularly observed the real-life TV personality’s “rhythms of speech” and integrated the same into his performance. Having said that, all of Burke’s actions cannot be attributed to Lange. No reports suggest that the host displayed any sexist behavior at the backstage of ‘The Dating Game.’ Cheryl Bradshaw, the real-life counterpart to Sheryl, never accused him of being misogynistic. Burke asking the contestant to dress provocatively also appears to be a fictional plot point.
From what we understand, Lange was aware of the sexist practices that were prevalent in the entertainment industry. “They wanted a boy and a girl. They wanted the boy to do sports and the girl to do the dances and stuff that was going on in the Twin Cities — very sexist — and play music once a week,” he said in a 1992 interview with the Bay Area Radio Digest about winning an audition at a local station in Minnesota.
Jim Lange Passed Away in 2014
In the later phase of his career, Jim Lange mainly worked at radio stations in California. These include KFRC in San Francisco and KKSJ in San Jose. For a brief period, he also did weekday mornings at Magic 61, a radio station owned by Peter Bedford’s Bedford Broadcasting. In the 1990s, he found his association with ‘The Dating Game’ a burden, revealing that the reputation “stigmatized” him and stopped him from being considered for commercials because of the image. In 1997, Lange joined KABL in San Francisco to host the morning show ‘The Lange Gang.’ He retired from the industry in 2005.
He spent his golden years with his wife, Nancy Fleming, the 1961 Miss America. He passed away on February 25, 2014, at the age of 81, due to a heart attack in his home in Mill Valley, California. His partner, a sister, three children, two stepchildren, and four grandchildren survived him. Before his demise, he apparently accepted his ‘The Dating Game’ legacy, stating in an interview with The Chronicle that a reference to the show would be on his tombstone. As long as Rodney Alcala’s appearance in the ABC series continues to shock true crime enthusiasts, Lange will not be forgotten.
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