Television series

The Celebrity Dating Game

A dating game show where celebrities pick suitors who can't see them, only hearing Michael Bolton perform comedy songs about their clues. Hosted by Zooey Deschanel with genuine warmth, it's frivolous fun that doesn't take itself seriously—perfect if you enjoy watching famous people be awkward and charming in equal measure.

TVMaze rating3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like light, cheerful dating-show play, where the fun is working out which hidden celebrity is behind the answers and Michael Bolton's parody songs do the teasing.

Skip it if the format is one gimmick repeated across eight hour-long episodes, so if the hidden-identity premise sounds thin, it will not get much deeper.

What it asks of you: Only eight hour-long episodes, each one a light sitting with a rapid rhythm of questions, guesses and musical gags, so it can be dipped into without commitment.

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Love Island2015

The same voyeuristic pleasure of watching attractive people navigate romance and rejection in real time, but with higher stakes and messier entanglements. Pure comfort viewing for people who enjoy chaos they're not responsible for.

But It's repetitive by design—new islanders arrive, couples couple, someone cries, rinse and repeat. Also genuinely long; most seasons demand serious time commitment.

Love Island poster

The Bachelor2003

The granddaddy of dating show absurdity. Impossibly good-looking people, manufactured drama, rose ceremonies that feel like life-or-death, and hosts who somehow make it all feel weightier than it should. Endlessly rewatchable.

But The formula is increasingly exhausting; after two decades it's hard to find surprises. Also, the show's racial and gender politics have been complicated and often cringe.

The Bachelor poster

Are You the One?2014

Dating show meets puzzle box. Singles try to find their algorithmically predetermined perfect match while the show withholds whether they're right. Genuinely clever format combined with real desperation and romance makes it weirdly gripping.

But Production values are cheap, and the editing can feel manipulative. Also takes itself more seriously than a show about algorithms and attraction really should.

Are You the One? poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Celebrity Dating Game

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Broadcast News1987

Both are fundamentally about how attraction and chemistry work between people—in Broadcast News through genuine compatibility and ideals, in The Celebrity Dating Game through manufactured clues and performance. Opposite methods, same fascination with how we choose each other.

Three journalists navigate ambition, attraction, and compromise during the Reagan era. James L. Brooks' script crackles with intelligence—every line does work. It's about careers and romance and integrity, and it trusts the audience to follow complex emotional logic.

But It's a talky 1980s film, which means it can feel slow if you're expecting momentum. The ending might disappoint you; it chooses melancholy over resolution.

Broadcast News poster
More like this (7)

Physical2021

Rose Byrne gives a career-best performance as a woman building an aerobics empire in the 1980s while battling eating disorders and infidelity. Gorgeous, dark, sharper than it initially appears, and deeply humane about how ambition and damage intertwine.

But It's heavier than The Celebrity Dating Game in every way—not escapism, and there are sequences that hit genuinely hard. Also, the plot occasionally sacrifices character logic for plot momentum.

Physical poster

Perfect Strangers2016

Seven friends at dinner decide to share all their text messages and phone calls. Sounds gimmicky, but Paolo Genovese creates genuine tension and tenderness; by the end you're invested in each relationship's crisis. Great for group viewing.

But The premise collapses slightly under scrutiny—people wouldn't actually do this. Also veers melodramatic in places, and the ending feels slightly soft for how hard it's been pushing you.

Perfect Strangers poster

Set It Up2018

Two assistants set up their demanding bosses on a blind date. It's cotton candy—formula romantic comedy done with charm, good casting (Glen Powell, Lucy Liu), and genuine chemistry. Exactly what it promises, nothing you don't want.

But There's not a surprising beat in it. If you've seen five rom-coms, you've seen this one. It's utterly forgettable, which is sometimes fine and sometimes feels like wasted time.

Set It Up poster

Schitt's Creek2015

A wealthy family loses everything and moves to a small town they once bought as a joke. Starts broad and gets genuinely moving; by season three you're emotionally invested in people you initially thought were cartoons. Also just deeply funny.

But First season is rough—takes time to find its footing. Also, the relentless positivity of its worldview can feel saccharine if you're in the mood for something with more bite.

Schitt's Creek poster

Love, Victor2020

High school romance with a protagonist coming out. Sweet without being cloying, funny without punching down, and genuinely interested in how complicated first love actually is. Treats its characters and their feelings with real respect.

But It can feel earnest to the point of afterschool-special. The plot occasionally prioritizes messaging over narrative momentum. Also depends heavily on your tolerance for teen angst.

Love, Victor poster

You're the Worst2014

Two damaged, selfish people fall in love and stay together despite being terrible for each other. Genuinely original take on relationships—cynical where most dating shows are hopeful, but never loses sight of how real love is messy and imperfect.

But The main characters are often actively repellent. If you need to like your protagonists, this will exhaust you. Also darker than advertised; the tone whipsaws occasionally.

You're the Worst poster

Don't Look Up2021

Both feature celebrity versions of themselves playing game-show versions of reality—one frivolous, one horrifying. Same DNA, radically different temperatures: The Celebrity Dating Game is what it looks like when we make spectacle out of connection, Don't Look Up what it looks like when we make spectacle out of apocalypse.

Comet headed toward Earth, nobody cares. Netflix spends Scorsese money on a black-comedy catastrophe film with an embarrassingly good cast. It's angry and funny and weirdly touching about how we collectively fail to act on things that matter.

But At 2 hours 20 minutes it feels longer. Satire this blunt can read as condescending. Also takes real pleasure in misanthropy, which will feel like validation or exhaustion depending on your mood.

Don't Look Up poster

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