When watching a dating reality show, it is important to realize that you should not be seeking an artistically edifying experience. The measure of the show comes in two aspects--first, is the premise interesting, and second, is the cast and the resulting drama compelling.
In the season that I watched (season 10) I would have to say the answer was basically yes to both questions. The premise is definitely interesting, if not a bit horrifying--10 singles are matched by dating experts into five couples and made to get married while never having met each other. They do a ceremony, honeymoon, and move into a neutral apartment for eight weeks, after which they get to decide whether they want to stay married.
Any sane person would see definite problems with this. Although matchmaking is an age old process, it is usually reserved for societies where the purpose is to join two families, not two individuals. The ceremony and honeymoon (in this case a week in a resort in Panama) become like an extended blind date, and the eight weeks a cohabitation period, with the real commitment declaration coming on "Decision Day" when the couples need to move out of their show-sponsored apartment. The whole thing is really a bit perverse.
Nonetheless, as an experiment, it is pretty interesting, and what we find is relatively predictable--the singles have widely divergent views of marriage that cause all sorts of trouble in the emerging relationships. Some of the cast, especially the men, have serious psychological issues that render them clearly unfit for marriage, such as Zach, who appears to have no empathy, Brandon, with serious anger management issues, and Michael, whose childhood traumas have left him incapable of telling the truth to his spouse.
All of these traumas lead to dramas, and I guess that is the point. The show claims that they fielded thousands of applicants for the season, you would think they would be able to find 10 people slightly better suited to try out marriage. Likely they threw in the wildcards for fun, and they definitely got the chaotic result they were hoping for. If you are into this sort of thing, and I do confess I consumed it as a guilty pleasure, then it is what it is and you will probably like it.
In the season that I watched (season 10) I would have to say the answer was basically yes to both questions. The premise is definitely interesting, if not a bit horrifying--10 singles are matched by dating experts into five couples and made to get married while never having met each other. They do a ceremony, honeymoon, and move into a neutral apartment for eight weeks, after which they get to decide whether they want to stay married.
Any sane person would see definite problems with this. Although matchmaking is an age old process, it is usually reserved for societies where the purpose is to join two families, not two individuals. The ceremony and honeymoon (in this case a week in a resort in Panama) become like an extended blind date, and the eight weeks a cohabitation period, with the real commitment declaration coming on "Decision Day" when the couples need to move out of their show-sponsored apartment. The whole thing is really a bit perverse.
Nonetheless, as an experiment, it is pretty interesting, and what we find is relatively predictable--the singles have widely divergent views of marriage that cause all sorts of trouble in the emerging relationships. Some of the cast, especially the men, have serious psychological issues that render them clearly unfit for marriage, such as Zach, who appears to have no empathy, Brandon, with serious anger management issues, and Michael, whose childhood traumas have left him incapable of telling the truth to his spouse.
All of these traumas lead to dramas, and I guess that is the point. The show claims that they fielded thousands of applicants for the season, you would think they would be able to find 10 people slightly better suited to try out marriage. Likely they threw in the wildcards for fun, and they definitely got the chaotic result they were hoping for. If you are into this sort of thing, and I do confess I consumed it as a guilty pleasure, then it is what it is and you will probably like it.