Reality TV Meets Social Networking

New York is now the home to Date: Unknown, an internet-based TV show broadcast once a week through MySpace Video and YouTube. Viewers can watch dating-related interviews and first dates between two people who have chatted online more than two weeks' before meeting.

Intrigued by the idea, I took a peek at the videos currently available. I was expecting television-quality (and length), but quickly discovered the videos to be of poor quality and homemade looking. Episode 4 [warning: some adult content] seemed unbelievable to me, where the Paul and Amanda meet for the very first time after having met through Craigslist six weeks previous. Surprisingly, neither seemed to know prior to the meeting what the other looked like or what they did for a living - but had already discussed a shared fetish.

In a way, the entire production reminded me of a bad first date: shared awkwardness and discomfort with a stranger you know nothing about. Still, I was interested enough to view another, and then another, with the hopes I'd be privy to something special.