Karen Valentine remembers the hard road that led her to getting the part of a student who becomes a teacher on the hit TV show Room 222. This role brought her fame and success. She still loves the experience even though it’s been almost 50 years since the last episode aired.
Even though Karen Valentine has happy memories of Room 222, she says that being on The Dating Game was “awful” and that she has no good memories of it. Early-on dating reality show The Dating Game starred Suzanne Somers, Tom Selleck, Leif Garret, and Farrah Fawcett before they were popular. Many new players got their start there, like Karen Valentine, who had been on Chuck Barris’ TV show Dream Girl of 1967 before being asked to be in The Dating Game, which Barris created.
Karen Valentine, who was a beauty queen as a teen, got to talk to three single men on The Dating Game. Her first thought was that it would be lighthearted fun, but it turned out to be awful.
“The guy thought it was a real date, which was totally unacceptable.” As time went on, the Dating Game got more serious, and people would go on trips. Although I was only going to the Ambassador Hotel to see a show, the guy thought that the car ride would be romantic. I told him, “This is just a first date,” but he was acting dishonest. I was ready for the date to end early. What’s the point of paying for a date? Valentine, who is now 76 years old, told Closer Weekly, “Let me do another show or try acting.”
Valentine moved on from that bad experience and became the lead in the famous TV show Room 222 (1969–1974) and the star of the TV movie Gidget Grows Up (1969). The one-of-a-kind show was about a black high school teacher named Lloyd Haynes, who was trying to teach his kids how to be tolerant.
James L. Brooks made the show Room 222. He also made The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and hit movies like As Good as It Gets and Terms of Endearment. The show was produced in part by Gene Reynolds, who is best known for his work on Mass Effect.
At the 1970 Primetime Emmy Awards, Room 222 did exceedingly well. For its supporting parts, Karen Valentine and Michael Constantine, who both starred in My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002, won awards. The show won Outstanding New Series.
Karen Valentine was shocked by how fast things happened. When she won her first award, she was thrilled. Carol Burnett, the famous author, even met her and praised her. According to Karen, “It was like, ‘Thank you.'” What? Carol Burnett knows me? Amazing beyond belief.”
Karen also talked about how amazed she was when she met Gregory Peck, another famous actor, while she was taking singing lessons. Gregory Peck told her, “You did it!” through the window. That she met these famous and skilled people right away made her speechless.
According to Closer Weekly, even though Room 222 got good reviews, its numbers went down during the fourth season, which is why it was cancelled in the middle of the season.
Karen Valentine thought about the time she found out that Room 222 wasn’t going to happen. It was said that she didn’t know why things had changed, but the network told the group what had happened. It was a sad moment for her, especially since she thought the show was good. When The CW cancels a show, they usually say they are “going in a different direction.”
Gene Reynolds made Karen her own show called Karen (1975), which she starred in after Room 222. Sadly, it was canceled after only four months because not many people watched it. It was supposed to have controversial political stories that were based on news stories at the time, but the network wanted something softer and more romantic.
Karen kept her job even though things were hard. She was in parts of TV shows like Murder She Wrote and The Love Boat and on the show The Hollywood Squares. Hallmark Channel showed her most recent movie, Wedding Daze (2004).
Karen has only good memories of Room 222, the show that made her famous early in her career. She liked working with the people on the show and will always remember it. According to her, it set a high standard for her and made it hard to find projects that were as fun.