Winging it to find love
New TV show Date Night puts single people in the spotlight as they look for love online from the comfort of their home. The show’s executive producer Jennifer Collins tells DANIELLE McGRANE where the idea for the show came from.
Sometimes the best ideas are born from the simplest situations. Who knew watching other people in their own sitting rooms while they comment on the TV that they’re watching could become a TV show in itself, yet Gogglebox has thrived on this concept.
Date Night is another new show which works on a similarly simple, yet effective, premise. The idea for it came about during an everyday conversation in the offices of Australian production company Screentime.
“Somebody from our office came in one morning and we were talking about what we’d been doing the night before and she mentioned that she’d been sitting on the couch with her friend having a glass of wine and looking at the online dating world,” executive producer Jennifer Collins said.
“We thought, ‘ Oh wow, that would make a great TV show’.”
It was the germ of an idea that then grew into Date
Night, the new Nine Network TV show created by Screentime. The show follows as single people look through a specially made dating app at home on their couch, with friends and family advising them on their choices.
“We created our Date Night app and attracted people on to the app, and then cast a number of singles and their mates and families, and they literally put their love lives in the hands of the app and the wingmen,” Collins said.
“Thousands downloaded the app, there was no short- age of people and we’ve got all ages. Our cast are all looking for different things and different ages.”
The show follows 11 single people and their chosen friends or family members as they try to find a match on the Date Night app.
“We wanted to get a variety of people who were looking for love and romance. They range from their 20s to their 40s, males and females,” Collins said.
Lyndal, a Sydney-based woman in her 40s, features in the show with her friend Amanda.
“It was so much fun – sitting on a couch with one of your favourite girlfriends with a glass of wine, what’s not to like about doing that? It was really fun,” she said.
Lyndal opened herself up to the TV show but also this new world of dating in the process.
“I had done online dating before but never any app dating so I probably swiped the wrong way anyway. But Amanda had the phone in her control,” she said.
The show is surprisingly intriguing, watching as people decide who, or what, they’re interested in.
“It’s a hard game, online dating. You’re really trying to evaluate someone, or get to know someone, from a picture and a few words in a bio, and every word counts and every picture counts,” Collins said.
The show offers insight into how to create an effective dating profile. According to Collins, there are ways to get yourself noticed.
“The more pictures you can put up the better,” she said.
“The singles are much more likely to swipe right on someone who has put up multiple pictures, really clear pictures of their faces, and given a really good level of information about themselves and what they’re looking for. So where they made connections was where there was humour in the bio or similarities in their hobbies or their interests. “
“The secret is just to make a little bit of an effort. Tell us something about yourself. Something that will help engage or start a conversation,” Lyndal added.
There is a date featured in every episode. While Lyndal won’t reveal if she’s found love or not, she does get to go on at least one date.
“The funny thing is I’ve been on a lot of dates in my life but I never really shared a lot of my stories, even with my close girlfriends,” she said.
“I call myself the secret dater, but I’ve been completely outed on television now.” Date Night Tuesday, 9pm on Nine