Hitting On a Genre

the success of Paramount Domestic Television's Judge Judy, a spate of similar court shows rolled out, swelling the ranks of the genre to 10. A doubling of the number of court shows with little increase in overall ratings points suggests viewers weren't exactly "arrested" by the imitators. As a result, half the shows won't return to the bench this season.

One would think such an example could prevent another outbreak of rampant imitation in the world of syndication. But it's about to happen again: Four half-hour reality dating strips that look conspicuously like Universal Worldwide Television's Blind Date debut in coming weeks—one of them, Shipmates, is already on the air. Another, The 5th Wheel, is being put into the market by Universal.

Having hit its series-high 2.9 average audience rating during the summer break, according to Nielsen Media Research, Blind Date has proven itself a good draw for young adults in early and late fringe. But agencies wonder if its audience is large enough to spread around among half a dozen shows. "It's a lot of competition for a [young] audience that doesn't tend to watch a lot of television," notes Brad Adgate, senior vp of research for Horizon Media.

If viewers and Blind Date's imitators don't really hit it off, Universal and the show's independent production team of David Garfinkle, Jay Renfroe and Thomas Klein are much to blame, having developed Blind Date's half-hour companion, The 5th Wheel. Premiering Oct. 1, the series pairs two men with two women, then adds a fifth, really hot person for the purpose of onscreen chaos.

The 5th Wheel is not alone. Garfinkle, Renfroe and Klein are also producing Rendez View, for Paramount Domestic Television, which premieres today. Like Blind Date, Rendez View follows along as awkwardly paired couples get to know each other. However, instead of the use of pop-up graphics, a ruthless panel of hosts and rotating celebrities delivers humiliating commentary. Think Blind Date meets The View, with Barbara Walters in a bad mood.

Meanwhile, Columbia TriStar has already put its first date show to sea on Aug. 27, the Carnival Cruise–themed Shipmates. Following a couple through three days together on a cruise ship—and taunting them with the obligatory pop-up graphics—the series averaged a 1.0/3 metered market average during its first week, slightly below its lead-in and year-ago time-period averages.

Finally, Warner Bros. syndication arm Telepictures is also active in the dating-show circuit, tweaking its veteran series Change of Heart to include more in-the-field dating footage of its couples. It's also launching Elimidate—similar to UPN's failed reality series Chains of Love, only lighter and funnier—into syndication Sept. 17. (A "Deluxe" version of Elimidate will also be seen weekly