Married at First Sight,
Channel 9, various nights, 7.30pm
Bride and Prejudice,
Channel 7, Mondays, 9pm
It’s a married-y double this week, with the world’s supply of dirty linen aired on two commercial channels at similar times.
As always, Channel 9’s white wedding is the 800-kilogram gorilla in the room.
And what an exceptional effort last week’s “reality” show was, with some truly extraordinary bile freely spilled.
Even by reality TV standards, we are dealing with some exceptional talents here.
The gormless, self-absorbed IT expert came in high on the bill, with some brutal treatment from his new, Scottish father-in-law. Hard to decide who to side with here.
Then appeared the crazy ex, who claimed to be the groom’s sister, but reportedly turned out to be the crazy ex’s sister … ye gods, my head is spinning.
In general, this show is on steroids from its previous outing – everything’s gunned up, from the number of couples to the psychological intervention, you name it.
But never mind all that – women of a certain age are all a-titter.
And to be fair, some were a little touching – the genuine country lad from the bush, and the (female) mining truckie, for example.
The contrast of so many relationships keeps it moving, but the question of why anyone would subject themselves to this in public remains unanswered.
Perhaps one possible solution comes from the self-absorbed IT expert, who proffered it as sheer efficiency: “It’s like having 400 dates”.
Turning from that piece of art to something perhaps even a little nastier, comes Seven’s Bride and Prejudice.
Following the rich current affairs vein of “neighbours from hell“ the idea here is simple: raw, naked family prospective in-law hatred for all to see.
I remain puzzled as to exactly where some of these people draw their absolute certitude from – one waspish mum is convinced an interloper is stealing her little boy, and will brook no argument to the contrary.
You know the old saying – you marry the girl, not the family – but in a very real way you do marry the family, not just into it.
Then there’s the racial culture clash (Russian v Indian) and the parents who can’t accept their gay son.
We’re only just beginning to plumb the depths here – and rest assured, Seven will get to the very bottom of it all – you can count on that.
– Jason Beck
