Dating Service Disaster: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
▲[[File:wrong_beaver_7755.jpg|frame|Permission granted per [http://heard-comic.com/2009/02/02142009/ Nena Martinez]]]
I will leave this bedroom chair and this keyboard behind''
▲{{quote|''And while I don't know your real name, your real age, or your shoe size,<br />
In [[Real Life]], online dating sites are simply another way of meeting people. By posting information in their profiles about their interests, beliefs, and hobbies, a reader can make a rational decision about whether or not this person is worth getting to know, and can chat through email or instant messaging until both are comfortable enough to meet in the flesh...
...unless you happen to be a character in a [[
* Your most hated enemy.
* A gorgeous woman who seems strangely familiar to you. At the end of the date, you'll discover that she was actually the captain of the football team at your old high school and that [[
* A doughy and unattractive loser whom you'll discover to be either very, very nice or very, very rich, thus teaching you a valuable [[Aesop]] (probably a [[Family
* [[The Grim Reaper]], who's actually kind of shy and nervous about this whole "online dating" thing. He hopes you don't mind if he takes his scythe and his cell phone along; he kind of needs them for his job.
* A serial killer.
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* Your current boyfriend/girlfriend, who you hoped wasn't going to find out about this (though they can't exactly complain themselves).
* A con artist.
* [[
There are many other permutations and possibilities available, but no matter whom your suitor might turn out to be, the odds are very high that your first date will be anything but typical. If you're using [[Mail Order Bride|an international dating or marriage agency]], then expect an even bigger minefield, sometimes with a [[Family
If you meet a love interest over the internet by chance rather than through a dating agency, the results will be similar. Especially if the producers want to drop the [[New Media Are Evil]] [[Anvilicious|anvil]]. It can also be a case of [[Did Not Do the Research]], as online dating sites tend to work a bit differently than the dating services of old. For one thing, most dating sites let users post pictures of themselves in their profiles. This alone would prevent half of the scenarios above, and users are always advised to avoid those who ''don't'' have photos. Fiction might get around this by making the prospective date's photo extremely misleading (eg, the infamous "Myspace Fat Girl Angle").
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See also [[Mailer Daemon]] if the love interest turns out to be the matchmaking computer itself. For a similar service but with face-to-face interaction, try [[Speed Dating]]. For a more general discussion of dating disasters, see [[Bad Date]].
{{examples
== Advertising ==
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== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[The Odd Couple]]'': before the
* ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel
* ''[[
* ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'': Drew meets a woman online and engages with cybersex with her, only to discover later it's his archnemesis, Mimi. In a very odd [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]], Drew comforts Mimi (in real life) after her mysterious beau ditches her and disappears.
* On ''[[
* In the 1992 series ''[[Down The Shore]]'', overweight, nerdy Eddie meets a girl online, but chickens out at the last moment and has handsome-but-dumb housemate Aldo pretend to be him for their first in-person meeting. She turns out to be a knockout (played by Kathy Ireland) who was tired of shallow guys hitting on her for her looks and who was looking for an intelligent man attracted to her mind; she quickly sees through the switch and happily meets the real Eddie.
* Raven and Eddie are matched up on ''[[That's So Raven]]''.
* A variation happens on ''[[Friends]]'' to Chandler on at least two occasions (once it was a blind date, the other time they met online), both times with his ex-girlfriend Janice.
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' used this trope twice (possibly three times) with Ted. The first time Ted went to a matchmaking agency with a 100% success rate, but it turns out they literally have ''no'' women compatible with Ted. The second time the same agency gets back to him with a perfect match, but he passes up the date for another shot at the [[Will They or Won't They?]] relationship with Robin. The third time Ted meets a woman online who turns out so far into the crazy end of the Hot-Crazy Scale; in a twist at the end it's revealed that she and Ted "met online" while playing ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.
* Used in the Season 3 finale of ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''. And subverted. Howard and Raj sign Sheldon up for one as a joke, but the site gives them a match. Sheldon, thinking the entire thing was stupid when they finally tell him, only goes on the date to prove that dating sites don't work. Ironically, Sheldon's match happens to be
** Sheldon also creates a fake dating profile for Penny in hopes that she'll find a boyfriend and stop pestering him for video gaming advice.
* In the ''[[
* Happens on the UK version of ''[[The Office]]'', when David Brent uses one in the 2nd Christmas Special. Michael uses a more traditional method in the US version: bullying his subordinates to offer up names of eligible friends.
* A victim of the week in [[Bones]] was using a cell phone dating service that Hodgins was also using. Angela later started using it and they popped up on each other's phones later.
* ''[[Bosom Buddies (TV series)|Bosom Buddies]]'' had a "video dating" example, where a woman seems to be a perfect match for Henry until they meet face to face, and he discovers that, among other things, she's really into Satanism. (Of course, it's also possible that she wouldn't be crazy about [[Disguised in Drag|Henry's own secret]].)
* ''[[The X
* In the episode of ''[[The Nanny]]'' called "The Fifth Wheel", C.C. (who goes by "goodnplenty") gives up men after finding out that "porchepuppy" was actually 15-year-old Brighton. She is surprised by his vocabulary.
* ''[[3rd Rock
== Music ==
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== Theater ==
* One [[Pantomime|Christmas panto]] version of ''[[Beauty and The Beast]]'' has the Beast's servants try creating a profile for him on such a website so that he can find his true love and break the
== Video Games ==
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* Miranda in [[Mass Effect]] spends some time on online dating sites. She doesn't have much luck.
** This isn't a true example of this trope, however, since she appears to only be reviewing (and rejecting) potential matches on the site without meeting any of them.
* Sybil in ''[[Sam and Max]]'' once runs a computer dating service. Her computer matches Sam and Max to each
== Webcomics ==
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* For a time, webcomic ''[[Least I Could Do]]'' advertised its own dating service with the line "Meet the 40-year-old trucker of your dreams!"
* In the ''[[Insecticomics]]'', Bombshell sets up 'Dr. Shell's Love Connection", mostly for kicks. He hooks up Vector Prime with Hotshot (who Vector Prime hates)...and Vector Prime later goes on about how wonderful the evening was. {{spoiler|He's lying, though.}}
* In [[Ctrl
== Western Animation ==
* In an early episode of ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'', Johnny arranges a date with a woman he met online... who turns out to be a [[Talking Animal|talking antelope]] named Carol.
* ''[[Totally Spies!]]'': The villain-of-the-week starts a phony digital dating service and sets himself up (in a variety of disguises) with every girl at Beverly Hill High so he can dump them and break their hearts like his ex did to him. Yes, it's an incredibly lame plot.
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' episode "Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch" (yes) has Granddad trying to date over [[
* In the ''[[
* Happens in the ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Dating Tropes]]
[[Category:
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