Netflix’s latest reality TV effort, Dated and Related, could be the streamer's most questionable dating show yet. And while that hasn’t prevented it from climbing up the most watched charts, viewers don’t seem to be particularly impressed with the new series.
Reality TV shows are always competing to have the most engaging gimmick. Whether it’s Love is Blind forcing participants to meet, date and fall in love without seeing the other person, or Too Hot to Handle bringing a bunch of sexy singletons to a tropical paradise and then banning them from any physical contact, reality shows live and die by whatever inventive hook the producers have dreamt up.
However, in the case of Dated and Related the premise seems pretty questionable from the very start. To set the record straight, no the show is not about siblings actually dating each other, thankfully even Netflix won’t go that far. Instead the core concept is fairly simple: a diverse group of single people travel to a European villa to find love, but the twist is they’re accompanied by a sibling who is also on the hunt for a soul mate.
As you can probably guess this leads to all sorts of awkward encounters. After all, there's nothing more distracting when attempting to woo a potential partner than having their sibling within earshot. The show also makes liberal use of the double-date format, only this time it’s two pairs of siblings on a date together. There’s also the expected collection of group activities and challenges, not to mention plenty of producer-driven chats.
To be frank, Netflix’s latest serving of reality through a thick Instagram filter, brings almost nothing new to the table. And as discussed, the show’s supposed hook, feels more icky than exciting. Once you strip away the fact that some of the constants are related, you’re basically left with a less interesting version of Love Island.
On the hold viewers don’t seem overly impressed with Dated and Related. The show has managed a frankly awful 4.1/10 rating on IMDb. And such is the critical disinterest that it doesn’t even have a Rotten Tomatoes score due to lack of reviews. But none of this has stopped the show from quickly breaking into Netflix’s top 10 most watched list, although undoubtedly morbid curiosity accounts for much of the interest from subscribers.
Unless you are the most fanatical fan of reality TV shows, it’s pretty hard to recommend Dated and Related. The core premise makes for some extremely uncomfortable scenes, and the rest of the show is too bland to be worth your time. But if you’re desperate for a reality TV fix, Love is Blind: After the Altar season 2 is set to hit Netflix on September 16, and at the very least won’t feature any sibling double dates.
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