The Hottest Sitcom Babes of the 70s

Unlike the previous decade, 70s sitcoms tended to portray more characters with whom average viewers could relate. Gone were the witches, genies and flying nuns. Instead we saw the mothers and daughters, wives and girlfriends, and single women trying to make a living. Fortunately, Hollywood still cast beautiful actresses to portray these so-called average people. So here, appearing somewhat in chronological order, is my totally subjective list of the 25 Hottest Sitcom Babes of the 70s.

Marcia Brady was perfectly pretty, pert and popular. She was a dreamgirl for many guys, and many girls dreamed of being just like her.Maureen McCormick played this iconic character on an iconic show, The Brady Bunch, and we will always remember her as one groovy chick.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia usually got all the attention but by the end of the original series run of The Brady Bunch, Jan had done some serious catching up. Eve Plumb, with her long, light blonde hair and It's-A-Sunshine-Day smile had become a total teen babe of the 70s.

As a young guy watching Florence Henderson, you always somehow got the impression that when the kids were away, and Alice was at the market and Mr. Brady was...with Sam the butcher, that Mrs. Brady could teach you a few things that you wouldn't learn during an episode of The Brady Bunch.

On Friday nights in the early 70s, Room 222 was a terrible show one had to sit through in order to get from The Partridge Family to The Odd Couple. You just finished a grueling week of school and the last thing you wanted to do was watch a show about...school. And you always wondered why your teacher wasn't young, cute and sweet like Karen Valentine.

Shirley Jones was a stone cold fox in movies of the 50s and 60s. In The Partridge Family she was still a stone cold fox, as well as the coolest and sexiest mom of the 70s. Lots of people wanted to be a kid on that multicolored bus. But I wanted to be Mr. Kincaid so I could act on some rather naughty thoughts about Mrs. Partridge.

Susan Dey couldn't and didn't actually sing but she sure looked good standing behind the keyboards or shaking her tambourine. Watching this former teen model on The Partridge Family had a lot of guys saying I Think I Love You.

Perhaps a holdover from the supernatural 60s, Nanny and The Professor was like a sitcom version of Mary Poppins. And to fill the magical nanny role made famous by Julie Andrews came another hot British babe, Disney star Hayley Mills' older sister Juliet Mills.

All In The Family pushed a lot of boundaries and set the tone for the decade ahead. Sally Struthers as spoiled but sexy daughter Gloria left no doubt what her and the meathead probably spent most of their time doing, and it wasn't arguing with Archie Bunker.

And then there's Maude. Yeech. Fortunately, there was also Carol, played by Adrienne Barbeau. We used to call her Adrienne Boob-eau, though I can't quite remember why. Hmmm. Let's see. Oh yeah, for the same reason CBS wanted her to run around a lot on Battle of the Network Stars.

Emily was the lovely, supportive and sometimes sarcastic wife on The Bob Newhart Show. Characters on that show said "Hi Bob" a lot, so much so that a drinking game was created for such occasions. But the phrase always sounded the best when Suzanne Pleshette would say it in her sultry, sexy  voice.

I don't remember if the TV series MASH ever replicated the scene from the movie in which, as a practical joke, a tent is made to fall down, revealing Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan taking a shower. That would have upped Loretta Swit's hotness factor. As it was, her defining image will always be of her walking around the 4077th in those tight, sweaty grey t-shirts.

Most of Welcome Back, Kotter centered around teacher and Sweathogs. So Marcia Strassman, playing the loving ,dutiful and evidently patient wife Julie, got most of her too scant face time on the series having to listen to Kotter's stupid and boring stories.

When watching One Day At A Time, I always tried to focus on the storyline. My concentration was always interrupted, however, by a fiesty little redhead named Bonnie Franklin who would bounce around in scenes, sans bra, as was the trend in that era. Ah yes. Women's Lib.

In One Day At A Time, MacKenzie Phillips played the wild but plain older sister you were dating, and Valerie Bertinelli was the more conservative but hotter younger sister you wish you were dating.

She was a regular on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and then later on, Angie. But Debralee Scott and her New Jersey accent first caught our attention as she sat in her little student desk in the Sweathog class. And with her cinnamon-girl complexion and cheerleader body, it's no wonder her Welcome Back, Kotter character was known as 'Hotsy' Totsy.

In the 70s, Diana Canova played the nympho daughter of wealthy Jessica and Chester Tate. But it turns out she is adopted and is really the daughter of Jessica's long lost brother and the family maid. She later gives birth to a baby named Timmy who turns out to be demon possessed, even though Diana looks like an angel and bears a striking resemblance to the equally angelic Valerie Bertinelli. Confused? You won't be, after this week's episode of...Soap!

Three's Company was the vanguard show in the late 70s trend of Jiggle TV. And no one jiggled more delightfully than Suzanne Somers as Chrissy Snow, Jack and Janet's beautiful, innocent, prone-to-blonde-moments roommate.

The Janet Wood character of Three's Company was like the 70s version of Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island. Both played the down-to-earth brunette opposite the obvious sex symbol. And like Dawn Wells' Mary Ann, Joyce DeWitt looked equally fetching prancing around in short shorts.

In Taxi, Elaine Nardo was a single mother struggling to make a living in the tough economy of the late 70s by driving a cab while also trying to advance her career in the art world. I can recall seeing beautiful redheads working in art galleries, but in the many taxis in which I've been, sadly, I have never had a driver who looked anything like Marilu Henner.

Loni Anderson became quite a major sex symbol due to her role as receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP In Cincinnati. Her stereotype-busting character was the opposite of the dumb blonde. She was wise, very able and despite being very aware of her sex appeal, was still nice and good-hearted to her co-workers. No wonder she was the highest paid one there.

Despite the presence of blonde bombshell Loni Anderson, many still have fond memories of Jan Smithers as WKRP In Cincinnati trainee Bailey Quarters. She was so pretty yet so shy, the kind of girl many guys could go for. Even The Simpsons' Mr. Burns would say of Smithers, 'Excellent.'

The thin brunette who played opposite Robin Williams on Mork & Mindy was former model Pam Dawber. Mindy's girl-next-door charm and cute good looks had us all saying 'Nanu, nanu' for sure.

What'choo talkin' bout, Willis? I don't know and I don't care what he was talking about. I'm talking about this accomplished figure skater with the beautiful legs and beautiful smile. There were a number of "very special episodes" of Diff'rent Strokes ... the ones that featured Dana Plato as Kimberly.

Based on her fame gained from being in the huge hit movie Saturday Night Fever, Donna Pescow went on to star in her own sitcom, Angie. With her she brought her New York accent, her big, dreamy eyes and her short but pleasingly full-figured body.

Kim Richards could have been near the beginning of this list as she co-starred in Nanny and the Professor. Then again, she was only six years old. Throughout the rest of the 70s, she co-starred in two more series and made scores of guest appearances in other shows. Along the way she also became a popular Disney star in movies such as the classic Escape To Witch Mountain. By the time she co-starred in the ill-fated Hello, Larry at the end of the decade, Kim had begun transforming from a cute kid to a strikingly beautiful young woman with a willowy body, long flowing blonde hair, expressive eyes and a husky, intoxicating voice.