TVSquad

Ok, we've done our lists of the hottest female TV personalities over 40 and the hottest over 50. We were happy to see that we came up with plenty of names for both lists. But would we be able to come up with five women to make hearts go thump amongst the TV ladies over 60? No problem!

For this list, I decided to consider all women over 60, not just the ones that were between 60 and 69. The reason for that was simple: can you think of any woman on the air that's over 70 or 80? I can only think of two over-70 women, both of whom are on the Honorable Mentions list. And the one over-80 woman I can think of is Betty White, whom I've never really considered to be all that sexy (covers head waiting for the tomatoes to fly in). Oh, and for those who say "Diane Keaton": I love her and think she's extremely sexy, but I still primarily think of her as a film actress, even though she's been doing a lot of TV movies lately.

So, after the jump, my list of women who would make for a hot date and get a discount at the movies at the same time. Who could beat that?

1. Diane Sawyer - Could it be possible that Diane Sawyer looks better at 61 than she did at 41? I definitely think that she's improved with age. She seems to be looser and more comfortable with herself on the air than she ever was when she was the hard-charging up-and-comer that became 60 Minutes' first female correspondent in the mid-Eighties. Maybe it's the easy-going format of Good Morning America, or it may just be the confidence that being one of the highest-paid TV personalities brings, but Diane's been getting very flirty and adventurous when she's both the interviewer and interviewee. You think Katie Couric is bad... I thought Diane was going to jump Mel Gibson during their interview last year, even though they were talking about serious topics related to his religious beliefs and The Passion of the Christ.

If you're not a morning person, watch Diane when she guests on talk shows. She was so playful on Jimmy Kimmel's show last year that Kimmel got visibly uncomfortable. He shouldn't have; he should have thought it was a compliment. I'd dump Sarah Silverman for Diane any day of the week. I don't even care if I'd be pissing off Mike Nichols.

2. Stockard Channing - There are two reasons why I always have a tough time remembering that Stockard Channing is almost 62 (her birthday is on Feb. 13, according to IMDb): the first thing, of course, is that she looks better than women ten years younger than she is. The second thing is that she played Rizzo in the movie Grease. Why would that matter, you ask? Well, the characters in Grease were supposed to be teenagers. Granted, you had to suspend disbelief and imagine most of the cast -- who were in their mid-to-late twenties -- as seniors in high school. But Channing was -- gulp -- thirty-three at the time she played Rizzo (and you thought the "kids" in 90210 looked old). But she seemed to fit right in with the rest of the cast, who was decidedly younger (even Olivia Newton-John was only 29 at the time).

Anyway, Channing's stock-and-trade (pun intended) is the strong-but-feminine, take-no-shit independent woman. And she plays that role as both The West Wing's Abbey Bartlett, and Out of Practice's Lydia Barnes (strangely enough, both characters are doctors). Who wouldn't want a woman who's as smart and feisty as Channing by his side? Count me as one of them (right after I'm done romancing Diane Sawyer).

3. Martha Stewart - Don't laugh. Yes, Martha can be a bit harsh, especially when she's yelling at her underlings. And her homemaking prowess can get sickeningly sweet at times. But something about Martha, especially post-prison Martha, appeals to me. First of all, prison was very kind to her; she lost weight, and eased up her manner to the point where she stopped taking herself so damn seriously. Just the other day, she briefly joined Howard Stern on Danny Bonaduce's Sirius show for a pop culture moment that had to be heard to be believed. Of course, Howard asked her embarrassing questions about her prison time and about her daughter and Martha took them all in stride. I was shocked and pleased.

Oh, and one more reason I like Martha: she's a Jersey girl. Thaaat's right; she may pretend she's Connecticut cultured and New England reserved, but she was born and grew up in mudda-efiin' Nutley, NJ. She even eats at NJ's hot dog temple, Rutt's Hut, from time to time. How can you not like a woman who's willing to eat a deep-fried dog and all-meat chili?

4. Holland Taylor - When has Holland Taylor not played the bitch? Every one of her roles, from Tom Hanks' and Peter Scolari's boss on Bosom Buddies, to Judge Kittleson on The Practice, Taylor always played a woman who knows what she wants out of life. Even today, as mom-from-hell Evelyn Harper on Two and a Half Men, Taylor steals every scene she's in. There aren't many sixty-something women in TV or film that can believably out-slut Charlie Sheen, but Taylor does just that on the hit show.

What I like about Holland is that cagey smile she has. It's got a sprinkle of sweetness, but it mostly says, "come over here, you stud." without a hint of creepiness. You know she knows what she's doing. And, let's face it, isn't experience one of the sexiest things a woman can have?

5. Jessica Walter - The other day, I was flipping around and saw a thirty year-old rerun of Banacek. Jessica Walter was the femme fatale in the episode. God, she was gorgeous. Even George Peppard looked excited to share the screen with her, and he was steeped in gayness. Fortunately, Walter has aged extremely well since then (and, while pictures of her from red carpets show a fair amount of wrinkles, they're strategically placed... and it's refreshing that she hasn't gone the Rivers route).

Of course, Walter is known today for playing borderline-evil mother Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development. As Lucille, she's smart and wicked, able to manipulate men and passive-agressively make all of her children feel like crap in the same scene. It takes presence to pull that off, and Walter does that brilliantly. Would I dump Diane or Stockard for her? Maybe. But I definitely wouldn't send her away if she came to the door with a cold martini and little else, that's for sure.

Honorable mention:
Barbara Walters
Lesley Stahl
Joan Rivers (if you're into extreme plastic surgery)