So there I was, all comfy on the couch last Monday evening at 7 pm, ready for my weekly fix of Holiday Showdown on BBC Prime when all of a sudden a new show pops up.
Just like that.
No warning! Nothing! Holiday Showdown is history and a new programme has slotted seamlessly into its space.
The air was purple, I can tell you, but since I was there, eager and ready to be entertained I thought I’d give the new show a shot.
It’s called; Perfect Match: New York and is a one hour American reality dating show based on a British series of the same name, without the New York part, of course. At the very least I thought I'd get to see some of New York, a place so nice they named it twice, according to the old "New York, New York " song. Plus of course, being a relationship show, I was hoping for some juicy stuff.
The idea of the show is to find the perfect match for a single guy or girl. The way they go about doing this is to have a panel made up of three people, usually two of them closely associated with the person, such as a family member or best friend and a relationship expert who interview and choose three suitors from amongst 30 contenders.
I didn’t know there were so many desperate and lonely people in New York, but there they were, in all their glory trying to get the opportunity to be one of the chosen few to spend a week with an unknown guy or girl. The panel asks each person a series of compatibility questions and then choose the three suitors who they think will best appeal to the single guy or girl.
In the interests of giving a fair review I decided to watch the show on Monday and Friday, and in the first show they were selecting a partner for a young Southern guy who was based in New York. As soon as the girls were interviewed it became clear that there were big differences and not only in accents. The New Yorkers like to think they are sophisticated and trendy, while the good ol boys like to hang with their friends and are more family orientated.
Anyway, after we had moved through some of the embarrassing antics the girls being interviewed got up to, like singing, doing cartwheels and being pathetically desperate for their 15 minutes of fame, three were selected. Step two in the process is for each girl to spend a week with the guy at his apartment, as they get to know each other. From what I could make out, they stay in separate bedrooms, but they have the option to sleep together. The idea here is that these people are commitment-phobic, and only their loved ones and the relationship expert know what is best for them. One last thing is that the panel secretly watches their every move, which is a bit creepy and they comment on it all. They also call in and make suggestions for places to go and things to try.
By the time the end of the week rolls around, the two more or less know if there is any common interest or chemistry between them and if it might, given time, turn into a proper relationship. They have a quick debrief with the panel and then move out, so the next one can move in. At the end of the three weeks, the guy or girl gets to meet all the other desperados who didn’t make it to the final selection, at a kind of group gathering while the three contenders watch how he/she interacts with the other unknowns. Then, the person decides if one of the three who they spent time with should move back in for a while, or if they want a try with a new unknown suitor.
In the first episode, the guy, John, hit off it quite well with a really sweet girl who was second to move into his place and he obviously opted to continue with her at the end of the show. Mercifully they could get on with their lives without the presence of the cameras.
In the second episode I watched on Friday evening, the girl who they were trying to find a perfect match for was painful in the extreme. She was a 26 year old yuppie, living in an immaculate Manhattan apartment, which is about the best thing that can be said for her. She came across as totally self absorbed and devoid of any personality. She also seemed to have had a recent broken relationship which meant she had surrounded herself with a non penetrative emotional wall. When one of the guys asked her for a kiss, she flipped out, like he was a serial rapist and went on about how inappropriate it all was for him to try and make a move on her. In a later date with another guy, imbued by alcohol, and probably worrying about looking frigid, she allowed a little kiss and tickle, but it was clearly for the cameras.
Throughout it became apparent that she was not really interested in any of the guys or the concept of the show. I really don’t have a problem with someone needing space to get over old relationship issues, but why the hell then agree to get on a show like this, and bore us to tears with their personal neurosis and lack of effort in even playing along?
Not surprisingly none of the guys were suitable, nor were any of the remaining 27 who didn’t make the panel’s shortlist. She mentioned that, if she had to at a push make a choice, she might go for some very young dude that she met briefly at the group party. That kind of made sense; she’d be older and feel superior to him and probably be able to boss him around.
So what’s my overall verdict on the show?
I don’t think it’s that original and in a lot of ways it feels contrived. Each episode is self contained, which is fine, but because it involves time spent with three different people, it is very rushed and you don’t get a true sense of the differences in personalities and the real life issues that emerge when people live together. I didn’t find it gripping reality at all. It wasn’t juicy either and was all rather predictable with everyone being very aware of the cameras.
One episode is interesting to watch once, but then they are basically all alike. Don’t expect to see too much of New York’s scenery either aside from ordinary looking pubs, because hanging out with friends for drinks seems to be the number one social activity that everyone aspires to. To be fair though, there was a brief scene of a horse drawn carriage in Central park, but basically my sense is, if you see one show, you feel like you’ve seen them all.
I really can’t see myself tuning in again.
***Perfect Match: New York screens on BBC Prime, Channel 40 on Mondays and Fridays at 19h00.