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September 6th, 2012 
Mako-chan So I got into a discussion over TLC’s Geek Love with someone and was told to give it a shot, watch it, and to stop being one-sided and judgmental. I was told that the show didn’t play up the negatives of geek culture and that it was different then other dating shows.
So after a long drawn out back and forth, I said fuck it, and I watched.
I can’t say that it was any better or worse than I had expected. I had seen one episode and didn’t like it, and watching the second didn’t change my mind. My conclusion is still that dating shows are fake and do nothing but objectify the person being taped, but then again, that’s ALL reality TV does.
You watch this show and overlook the fact that it’s on TV. You forget the fact that while the speed dating may have been real and unscripted, the show is being made for ratings and NOT to actually promote people finding a decent relationship. Each episode shows three to four people unlucky in the relationship department going to New York Comic Con with the hopes of finding a date. You see a little of their home life, a little of their time at the con or on line for the speed dating, and then a little bit of time on the date itself, if there was one.
Now, I can sit here and say all these people are geeks, but just because you’re a geek, doesn’t mean that is the reason people won’t date you, as one of the people found out. He left alone because he didn’t match with anyone, not because he was a geek, but because he was creepy. His pick up line was the mating call of the wookie and the one chick that actually seemed to be into that, he completely froze up with. Now either they edited his part to make him look completely socially awkward, or he just is that socially awkward, but either way, his dating problems are not due to him being a geek, but due to social issues, which speed dating and a TV show showing your social awkwardness are not going to help with.
Now the guy everyone called IronMan. Typical gamer working at a GameStop, and says he’s gone to the bars a few times as the wingman for his friend. Doesn’t understand at all why girls aren’t into him. This one I had to do a bit of digging for, and found comments from an article about the show. It seemed this guy’s best friend was female, and while there is nothing wrong with that, many girls get really jealous when you start talking about all the time you spend with another female. So again, his lack of dating is not due to his being a geek, but probably more due to the fact that girls don’t like competition. The comment from him, and one from his friend, also says that after the show, she realized how upset she was seeing him on a date, and finally asked him out herself.
The last one I’ll go into detail with is the girl that went to NYCC with her mother. Nothing wrong with that at all, but you would think with the way the show was edited, that the mother was crazy protective, and that she was trying to keep her little girl away from the giant man who was going to take her away or better yet that the girl herself was so insecure that she had to go on a date with her mother. Comments, from the same article as above and from the guy she went on a date with, talk about how the mom was going to let them go off on their own, but the show actually forced her to go on the date with them. He said the only awkward times were the questions she asked on the show, and not even because they were asked, but because she had to re-ask them at a later portion so they could get it on tape.
So no, I’m sorry, but in my opinion of the show isn’t this wonderful thing helping geeks to find love. That’s the speed dating service itself. This show is doing nothing more than to objectify and twist the people and the issues they have. TLC isn’t looking to help people find love, it’s looking to get ratings and make money. That’s it, nothing more and nothing less. If you like the show, by all means continue to watch it and talk about it, but please remember that it’s TV, that reality TV is the fakest TV out there, and that editing can make the sweetest guy alive look like a conceited asshole, and the bitchiest chick into someone sugar sweet.
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