For love not money

• Source: Global Times
• [10:01 July 28 2010]
• Comments

A scene from the popular dating show Dating On Saturday. Photo: Courtesy of Yan Xiaoqing

By Huang Xi

Striving to win ratings, some television dating shows like If You Are The One on Jiangsu TV plunged to the ethical pits this year with contestants saying: "I want to find a man with two Lamborghinis" or "pay me 200,000 yuan ($29,498) and you can hold my hand."

Showing off wealth and judging a future husband by his bank accounts were the major attractions for these shows and there was a saying in the television industry that "2010 is the year for dating shows."

The contestants proved so materialistic that their expressions became notorious. Ma Nuo, the girl who became known as "The BMW Girl" by saying "I'd rather cry in a BMW than smile on your bicycle," became infamous across the country and was invited to appear on other shows and events.

The State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) released two warnings last month about the torrid overheated dating show industry, barring public expressions of materialism and contestants with fake identities, and urged television stations to correct these faults.

The notices shocked the industry, and two shows (Rush For Love at Zhejiang TV and You Are My Destiny at Anhui TV) were closed down.

However, two local dating shows - Dating On Saturday on Entertainment Channel and One Out Of 100 on satellite Dragon TV - have stuck with their own styles and promised that there would never be any problems with their shows.

Authenticity helps survive

One Out Of 100 which was launched in early June, was considered by some critics as an attempt to jump on the bandwagon or a last effort to grab a piece of televi-sion's dating "cake."

But this is strenuously denied by Xu Xiangdong, the Deputy Director of Dragon TV. "We planned the show last year and carried out a lot of research, but because of a lack of space in our schedules it was aired in June and we lagged behind our counterparts nationwide."

To fit into the Dragon TV mode and especially its audience's taste, the show selects candidates with relatively higher education backgrounds and better appearances than other dating shows.

"It means we will not use models, actors or actresses in the show. We have very high standards for selecting contestants and we reject anyone who talks about enjoying money," Xu said.

The candidates of the show come from online applications, dating websites and professional associations, and need to go through a one-on-one interview with the production staff to make sure the details on the application forms are correct.

"Girls who want to become famous overnight are turned away from our show from the beginning. We believe that trustworthiness is the only tool for survival in this overheated market," Xu added.

Cheng Lei, an experienced dating show host with the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), is also on hand as a chaperone to ensure that moral difficulties do not occur.

Along with the complex mechanism for selection and production, the broadcasting of the show is also heavily supervised. The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture Radio Film and TV, the supervising body for cultural-related events in the city, monitors every single program aired by the Shanghai-based channels and will catch even the smallest slip-up.

The successful model

The ratings of One Out Of 100 still lag behind the most popular If You Are The One in neighboring Jiangsu Province, but Xu is confident that it will last longer than its peers.

"The success of Dating On Saturday gave us a great deal of experience to make the show better," said Xu.

Dating On Saturday, which was launched in 1998, is one of the most popular shows on Shanghai television, enjoying a good reputation and good ratings. Aired at 7:10 pm every Saturday, the show has been considered the ideal "dessert" for the whole family for 12 years.

According to Zhao Feirong, the producer of the show, the show has set up more than 300 marriages and more than 100 of these have children. "Our show aims to provide a marriage matching service for youngsters in the city. This is the 'secret weapon' that makes it welcome in homes over the past decade," said Zhao.

Unlike other dating shows acquiring candidates from dating websites, Dating On Saturday has its own official website which provides an exclusive service to the show. "I don't think new media will grab the ratings but it helps a lot in diversify-ing the format of the show and enhancing its reputation," said Zhao.

Entertainment-oriented

The show also keeps pace with the times by involving entertainment. "The interactive games in the show can make it fun but, more importantly, can create chances for candidates to learn more about each other," said Zhao. "It prevents the problems of having to judge on appearance and contestants talking about themselves as they do in other shows."

Cao Kefan, a famous local host in SMG, praises Dating On Saturday and believes that dating shows should be service-oriented. He says reliability creates the high ratings. "The ratings averaged 5 percent even when the World Cup was cutting that of other shows to half," said Cao.

The harsh attacks on dating shows finally calmed down but the ratings never reached the heights they enjoyed before the SARFT notices.

"SARFT's supervision is always lagging and television stations or program production teams complain about the delays in announcing the restrictions from the parent body. Why can't the parent body's supervision come earlier next time?" asked Lin Hai, another famous local host, in his blog.