"Dating in the Dark"

Cafe Society
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Did anyone else catch this new show last night?

Premise: three guys, three girls spend time in a completely dark room getting to know each other. There’s one “group date” at the beginning when everyone meets each other, but otherwise it’s one couple at a time. With infrared cameras, we can watch what happens.

The selections aren’t random: the six have been pre-matched as three couples based on psychological profiles, and though they have a choice as to who they want to have their one-on-one dates with, last night each chose the person he or she had been prematched with.

As the tagline says – no elimination votes, no cash prizes, just the opportunity to meet someone.

At the end of the show (experiment), each person gets to say which person he or she wants to be matched with, and then can either go meet that person on the veranda of the house where they’ve been living, or just leave quietly by the front door. (Of the three couples last night, two decided to meet; the woman of the third couple left, with that guy watching her walk away from the veranda where he was waiting.)

Surprisingly unsleazy – it actually turns out to be about people and their expectations about relationships. I’ll definitely watch again.

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What channel is it on?

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ABC, Monday at 10 (9 Central)

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Which—if I’d scripted it—would definitely have been the guy who introduced himself as a “genius.”

“Literally— I’m in MENSA!”

I thought it was an interesting concept, but ultimately still about as superficial and borderline sleazy as perhaps the format permits: as someone else said, basically “Blind Date” with the lights off. There were no real surprises; for all the lip service to inner qualities and connections, most of us are largely attracted by visual appeal, with few exceptions. The unilateral disappointment (in all three cases) was palpable, and though only one woman was merciless (or honest?) enough to give Frodo the brush-off, I don’t anticipate many storybook endings in the inevitable “where are they now?” follow-up show.

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It is a real phenomenon, though. Though, the real versions there is lot of cuddling and friskiness to make up for the lack of visual stimulation. Or so I heard…

As for the show, I wonder if knowing what they do will be on camera is actually having the reverse effect from seems to happen on other shows, making them less promiscuous than they would otherwise be.