Ginger vs. Mary Ann: Unsung TV Sitcom Hotties

The eternal Ginger-vs.-Mary Ann debate will never be settled. Even the babe connoisseurs at Asylum can't really decide between the 'Gilligan's Island' sirens.

Asylum's recent list of "TV Sitcom Hotties Through the Years" does seem to come down on the side of Mary Ann (Dawn Wells), though with the caveat, "For today, at least." In other words, no slight to Ginger Grant (Tina Louise), the Marilyn Monroe-inspired starlet who, even on a desert island, always appeared glamorous enough for the red carpet. On any given day, Asylum might have voted her the island's top hottie over girl-next-door Mary Ann.

Like Ginger, there are lots of funny, sexy women who might just as easily have graced Asylum's list. Not to take away anything from Jeannie (Barbara Eden) on 'I Dream of Jeannie,' Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson) on 'WKRP in Cincinnati,' or Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) on 'The Office,' but how could they have left off the following funny, foxy females?

• Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas), 'The Beverly Hillbillies'
Long before Catherine Bach rocked denim shorts as Daisy Duke, there was Douglas' blonde bumpkin bombshell. Modeled after Al Capp's comic-strip tomboy heroine Daisy Mae, Elly May was strong, self-assured, and spilling out of her denim. (Also, she was an animal-rights activist before her time.) Like a Marilyn Monroe character, Douglas' backwoods babe was sweet, naive, and seemingly unaware of her jaw-dropping effect on the fellas.

• Julia Baker (Diahann Carroll), 'Julia'
Gorgeous Diahann Carroll's character was a nurse and widowed mom who had no shortage of suitors (notably, those played by Paul Winfield and Fred Williamson). Amid the tumult of the Civil Rights Era, the 1968-71 sitcom broke ground as the first weekly series starring a black woman, and Carroll's performance opened the door for all the African-American sitcom actresses who got to play non-stereotypical roles.

• Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers), 'Three's Company'
If it's true that you have to be a smart actor to play stupid, then Somers must have been Stephen Hawking smart, since Chrissy was perhaps TV's most clueless dumb blonde. Still, not so dumb as to succumb to roommate Jack (John Ritter) or swingin' sleazeball Larry (Richard Kline). A '70s pinup second only to Farrah Fawcett, Somers may have been sitcomland's ultimate hottie.

• Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers), 'WKRP in Cincinnati'
The Mary Ann to Jennifer's Ginger in the WKRP office, Smithers' Bailey had sizzling sex appeal beneath her mousy, clerical exterior. To this day, many 'WKRP' fans will tell you they preferred Bailey to Jennifer. Certainly, she was more approachable than Anderson's frosty, aloof receptionist. In short, Bailey was the Pam Beesly of the 1970s.

• Cassie Cranston (Ann Jillian), 'It's a Living'
Of all the women on this show - about a group of waitresses who had to wear cleavage-baring St. Pauli Girl outfits - Jillian's Cassie was the voomiest and the one with the best wisecracks. And in the early '80s, no one (except maybe Debbie Harry) looked better under a shock of platinum-shag hair.

• Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), 'Seinfeld'
She stayed on such good terms with her ex that they had occasional friends-with-benefit sex, she exposed a nipple on her Christmas card, she left dirty messages on Jerry's (Jerry Seinfeld) answering machine, and she used birth control sponges like there was no tomorrow. In other words, Elaine was the perfect ex-girlfriend.

• Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (Sofia Vergara), 'Modern Family'
If you were Ed O'Neill's character Jay Pritchett on this new ABC comedy, would you still marry Vergara's Gloria, even with all her baggage - fiery temper, misfit son, an ex-husband who's younger and more virile than you and not entirely out of the picture? Hmm. Take another look at Vergara. Now, put your tongue back in your mouth. The answer is yes. Yes you would.