Streaming tips

The wild world of dating shows...

Dating Around

With dating essentially canceled in 2020, you might need a new simulacrum. Dating Around is the Bumble age distilled into an urbane, fun-to-watch package. Like real-life dating, it includes dull moments, mismatches, train wrecks, and occasional true chemistry. Netflix

Married at First Sight

So you want train wrecks. This series, in which contestants marry a stranger picked by a panel of matchmakers and decide weeks later whether to stay together, isn’t really interested in happy endings. And yet, over 11 seasons, almost a third of the unions have lasted. Hulu

The Bachelor/Bachelorette

The show that created the template remains strong after 25 seasons. It’s formulaic. But man, does the formula work. Bachelor Nation forever. Hulu

Love Is Blind

Game-ifying the “looks aren’t everything” adage, this year-old series challenges contestants to choose a potential life mate sight unseen, after days of talk. The game gets interesting when the successful pairs head off for a group honeymoon and all the things that weren’t supposed to matter start mattering. Netflix

Love Island

If you want a nuanced version of the “Let’s put a bunch of hotties in a house and let them hook up,” go to Terrace House. If you want the depraved opposite, Love Island (the U.K. version, not the dull U.S. spin-off) is your destination. Hulu

Back With the Ex

What could go wrong? This Australian series follows four former couples that give their relationships another go on reality TV. You end up rooting for reconciliation, especially for one duo separated almost 30 years. Netflix