Dating Game Serial Killer Gets Death Sentence: CNN Enjoys Play On Words

Rodney James Alcala was on the Dating Game in the 1970's. On the show he referred to himself as "The Banana." (He insisted that the bachelorette should try and peel him.) Alcala also murdered 5 people in the `70's.

Coincidence or something more?

Yesterday, a California jury recommended the death penalty for the 66-year old man who once appeared on the Dating Game. Did the Dating Game, with it's cheesy Three's Company sexual double entendres, drive this man to murder?

Last night on CNN, Anderson Cooper kept referring to Alcala as The Dating Game Serial Killer. It makes it seem like Alcala only killed contestants on The Dating Game. CNN even had another former Dating Game contestant on to astutely comment on what it was like to be on the Dating Game with Alcala. (He's actually making the talk show rounds. I think he's still bitter about losing out to a serial murderer on the show. If you ask me, he came off creepier than Alcala on the `70's Dating Game clip.)

CNN couldn't help to keep the idiotic soundbites coming. In regard to Alcala:

"They said he was a lady-killer and he really was!"
"He had a date with death!"

Good job with the witticisms CNN! Too bad Alcala wasn't on Jeopardy, they could have said:

"The answer: Rodney James Alcala. The question: Who is getting a death penalty sentence?"

Strangely, CNN devoted most of the segment on the fact that Alcala was on the Dating Game and very little time on the actual people he murdered. Though Alcala was the winning bachelor on that segment of The Dating Game, strangely, the bachelorette refused to go on the date with him. (The date would have involved tennis lessons and a trip to Magic Mountain.) All I can ask: is there a Dating Game in hell?

For fun, watch the Dating Game footage and substitute all of Alcala's sexual innuendos with murder innuendos. (Example: "The best time is at night -- cuz that's when I do my most murdering.")