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Bliiind Daaaate!

Ganesh

13:15 / 18.11.01

Whoop whoop holler holler, it's back. Watched it last night, as part of my self-pitying 'too choked with 'flu to leave the house' TV/Internet binge. Always a relief to remind myself that, no matter how shallow and braindead the gay scene can appear, it never quite matches the searing naffness of this particular pillar of the Heteroppressive Patriarchy.

More to the point, the show itself seemed immeasurably dated somehow. In this age of text-messages, online dating, email relationships, the very concept of the 'blind date' seems oddly antiquated.

What d'you think? Don't tell us now, until we've heard Our Graham with a quick reminder...

suds

13:25 / 18.11.01

i saw it with my housemates last night, and we really loved it! i haven't seen the show since i was about nine. when i was little i used to think that when the board went back and the gent and the lady could see each other, it was just the most romantic thing in the world. i also thought that folks went on the show because they wanted to find a husband or a wife. oh how i wrong it was!
everyone is on there for their fifteen minutes o'fame, but, fuck it. if yr going to moralise about an obviously scripted and stylised show then you shouldn't be watching in the first place.
i liked the barrister a lot. i think he has definate potential. i think he was scripted to sound like an arrogant twat, but i think he's a real cutie pie now. ugh, maybe i just haven't had sex in a really long time!
anyway, i am siked that it's back, tho i gotta say that cilla is looking to skinny. eat something, cilla! (she's gotta read barbelith)

[ 18-11-2001: Message edited by: suds ]

Ganesh

13:35 / 18.11.01

If you think I'm "moralising", you've somewhat missed my point. However stylised and over-scripted (and yeah, inhabited largely by unlovely exhibitionists), the show's based around the original idea of the blind date - arranging to spend time with a stranger on the basis that 'romance' (ie. a shag) may be involved.

In an age where, technologically, it's - at least theoretically - much easier to locate and 'vet' potential partners, is there still currency in the concept of the blind date? Have people here gone on truly blind dates?

Is that why the programme seemed quaint to me, or am I just getting old/sleazy/irritable?

Shortfatdyke

14:01 / 18.11.01

i saw the prog last night for a while. i abhore it. i HATE bubbly people. it's fucking moronic.

BUT it was while watching bd some years back that my mother said that she was glad i hadn't turned out like the people on the show. it was the first time she hadn't acted like she was ashamed of me.

Ganesh

14:02 / 18.11.01

I suspect that even the people on the show aren't like the people on the show. If y'know what I mean.

suds

14:11 / 18.11.01

ganesh! i didn't say *you* were moralising! eek.

Ganesh

14:13 / 18.11.01

[moralising] Good! [/moralising]

CameronStewart

14:20 / 18.11.01

>>>Have people here gone on truly blind dates?<<<

Yep. Me.

My housemate went on one a few weeks back also.

Spatula Clarke

14:21 / 18.11.01

quote:Originally posted by suds:
[QB]i liked the barrister a lot. i think he has definate potential. i think he was scripted to sound like an arrogant twat, but i think he's a real cutie pie now.

That greasy little pillock? Really?

I thought the three... um... pickees... got to see the questions and wrote their own lines out before the show.

Ganesh

14:27 / 18.11.01

quote:Originally posted by CameronStewart:
Yep. Me.

My housemate went on one a few weeks back also.

Aaand...? C'mon, spill the beans to Cilla.

suds

14:47 / 18.11.01

randy, i know! he seemed like a micheal portillo in the making at first, but after all that scripted bs was out of the way, he make me sorta swoon. is that so wrong? *blush*

Seth

09:33 / 19.11.01

The Irish guy was lovely, though. His face was made out of friendly rubber. Snapping Turtle and I were gutted he wasn't picked: they would have been married within six months.

Margin Walker

09:33 / 19.11.01

i saw the prog last night for a while. i abhore it. i HATE bubbly people. it's fucking moronic.

Heh. But is it as vitriolically saccharine & idiotic as the U.S Version of Blind Date? After all, all of the dates on the U.S. version use real-live Californians. Now that's entertainment.

Fra Dolcino

09:33 / 19.11.01

[SPOILER] Its a fix! Some one I know went on it. They get a whole day to answer those fucking questions, and the best they can come up with is ....and I'll cook something really saucy, if you pick me tonight..... (cue crowd going Woooooh). Also, when this lad went on, the girl liked Italians, and had a thing for doctors. So what did the bastards do? Only put him up against the swarthiest, most doctorish Italian doctor they could find. [/SPOILER]

I think this threads a winner. This should be a regular thing, bitching over Saturday's show.

suds

09:33 / 19.11.01

expresionless, i thought the irish bloke was almost certainly gay. no-one else did.
i'd go on blind date if i wasn't so shy and didn't have to say such embarrassing things on telly. those innuendos kill me, imagine yr parents and family friends watching!

Shortfatdyke

09:33 / 19.11.01

i have been on a blind date. well, i answered an ad in the pink paper and the grrl liked what i wrote her and wanted to meet up. so we did. and it was horrible! like a feckin job interview that you know you have no interest/hope of getting. awkward, awkward..... i also met up on friday night with a woman i'd vaguely met on the net. i wanted to show her a good bar as she was visiting from the states, she took it as a date which actually pissed me off a little.

as for the show, i can't stand seeing people even pretending to be moronic. and if they've got all day to come up with answers, why are the ones they give still so banal?

The Return Of Rothkoid

09:33 / 19.11.01

I was under the impression that the contestants took their lines from cue-cards - sometimes you can see them squinting, trying to read the Benny Hill-scripted crud...

suds

09:33 / 19.11.01

i've never been on a blind date before but i can imagine it to be like meeting someone from the interweb, which is always a harrowing experience.
i would not be surprised if benny hill did write the scripts for blind date. anyway, whoever it is who writes them, is getting paid to do so. probably lots of money. thats kinda spooky.

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:00 / 19.11.01

Surely the best thing about Blind Date is the de-briefing after the dates, wherein it is inevitably revealed that the bloke thought he was well in there, and the girl couldn't fackin' stand him...

Ganesh

14:34 / 19.11.01

quote:Originally posted by expressionless:
The Irish guy was lovely, though. His face was made out of friendly rubber. Snapping Turtle and I were gutted he wasn't picked: they would have been married within six months.

Yeah, rrrright! My gaydar was going into overdrive!

<abandons all pretence of serious 'issue-exploring' in this particular thread>

Ganesh

14:40 / 19.11.01

Heh. Backin' you up there, Suds...

I have it on good authority that the contestants make up their 'witty', 'wacky' 'quips' themselves beforehand - but with a good deal of prompting of the "you're from Scotland wouldn't it be funny if you said 'och aye the noo'" variety.

Never been on a truly blind blind date but have, in the past, found myself sneakily paired up at parties with the one other gay man in the room, on the Hamster Principle (two poofs in a room will either mate or fight). Inevitably, he's turned out to be a badly-dressed, socially-stunted closet-case called Seamus...

Cherry Bomb

15:46 / 19.11.01

U.S. "Blind Date" does totally rock, in a complete train wreck of shallow television sort of way. And it is SOOOO L.A. (or BlindDate version of L.A.). Going to an herbal drink bar on a date to try various portions? I'd rather kill myself. Archery could be fun, though.

I love it when one of the two can't stand their date and the date is completely clueless.

And now I'm curious as to the aesthetic differences between UK blind date and US blind date. I have no doubt our version is tackier, though.

Fra Dolcino

07:45 / 20.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Cherry Bomb:
And now I'm curious as to the aesthetic differences between UK blind date and US blind date. I have no doubt our version is tackier, though.

Doubtful. You don't have the dolcet tones of 'Our Graham' to reel off some crappy 'nudge-nudge' innuendo when summarising the contestants.

Ganesh is right. When my 'acquaintance' (I couldn't really call him a friend) went on, he was given the questions and told to write answers. They are approved and have to follow a formula, but its all they're own work (unless they're having difficulties with the crayons). Oh how their mothers must be proud.

How did the lad who couldn't say Danube (and had no idea where it was) get on?

The Natural Way

11:02 / 20.11.01

I knew some gormless twat from Hastings who went on. The girl picked him and hated him, even though Cilla, Graham and The audience seemed to think he was some kind of wacky joker...

I'm not so sure I like the way the Blind Date team occassionaly pick some rather odd individual for their comedy value - there's a lot of laughing at people rather than with them, and, corespondingly, a great deal of reinforcing of some rather ugly norms. Blind Date, like most of ITV's output, champions the banal. Horrid.

Shortfatdyke

12:01 / 20.11.01

Fra - the cheeky salt of the earth chappie who couldn't say Danube (funny foreign stuff innit!) got booed a bit; seems he turned into a real nasty bastard cos the girl wouldn't snog him. i got the feeling it was too horribly for real. so cilla didn't get to buy a new hat there.

Fra Dolcino

12:32 / 20.11.01

Bummer. I wish I'd seen it though. Did he shout louder at Johnny Foreigner, so they could understand?

DaveBCooper

14:46 / 20.11.01

Sfd, your job interview comparison reminded me of the Jerry Seinfeld line about how the only difference between a date and a job interview was that you might end up naked at the end of one of them... but that might have been your intention, I dunno.

DBC

Seth

16:14 / 21.11.01

I poo poo your gaydar!

Ganesh

16:31 / 21.11.01

My gaydar pisses on your poo poo.

adamswish

17:50 / 21.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh:
the Hamster Principle (two poofs in a room will either mate or fight).

oh that's the hamster principle. Had images of a certain hollywood actor for a moment (old gag but worth it)

.

Of course regarding Blind Date we have yet to see the full horror that is the OAP couple. Takes all the voyaistic (sic) thrill away when there are two 70-odds up there on my screen.

And what are the odds of BD joining the rest of the 21st centruy and having a gay edition. Other cheesy dating shows do (late nighht fun with dial a date and the all conquering Street Mate) so why not BD.

Someone remind me is Cilla regarded as a gay icon?

penitentvandal

21:27 / 21.11.01

Yes, the OAP edition, perfect Saturday Night viewing...

'Yes, kids, just in time to set you up for a night on the town - old people who are gonna fuck!!!'

Straight vodka that night, I think.

Seth

15:57 / 22.11.01

I spray cum on your piss on my poo poo on your gaydar!

Billy Corgan

19:14 / 22.11.01

quote:Originally posted by expressionless:
I spray cum on your piss on my poo poo on your gaydar!

This is starting to sound like a description of the backstage groupie action at a Marilyn Manson gig.

Spatula Clarke

14:00 / 25.11.01

Or the title of the next Limp Biskshit album.

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