A Different Valentine: the Romantic Drama of Dating Shows with Every Rom Com

I'm back with fresh episodes featuring slightly offbeat romance, just in time for Valentine's Day :-) First up, a conversation with Jennifer Howell, the producer and cohost of the Every Rom Com podcast about the romance, drama and fun of reality dating shows. She's obsessed with them and I'm not at all, so exploring the format and culture of these shows was fascinating. And I learned that we both think intellectuals are hotter than gym rats (they really are).

https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com

Jennifer cohosts the smart Every Rom Com podcast, which takes a look at a wide range of rom coms and romantic movies through fun facts, trivia, a feminist perspective and bubbly spontaneous conversation. You can find their archive, including our discussion of the classic movie White Christmas and their discussion of the movie Singles, here.

Follow the podcast on Instagram @everyromcom and Twitter @everyromcompod 

Shows:

Love Connection

Elimidate

Love Island

Are You the One

Terrace House

Love is Blind

Naked Attraction

We didn't have time to talk about Sexy Beasts, the goofiest, most bizarre idea for a dating show, which turns out to be pretty adorable.

Rock has its supergroups, Netflix has its supershows, combining fan-favorite singles on one big cringe sounding reality dating show.

Jennifer mentioned:

Singled Out, the cult dating show, co-hosted by Jenny McCarthy, that ran from 1995-1998 on MTV. There have been a couple of reboots since then, including one in 2020 hosted by Keke Palmer. The vintage show hit some major decibel levels but the energy could only be described as manic fun.

Back in the Groove the hot post-40 dating-and-sexual-fantasy come to life.

Dating shows that celebrate couples of all ages.

13 LGBTQ+ reality dating shows and where to watch them.

Thanks for listening! Connect with me on Twitter: poppy_confesses (I don't bite! I would love to hear from you.)