mtv taildaters is a sorry excuse for a tv show. for those of you who have never seen this show, allow me to give you a brief overview.

two people between the ages of 18-24 are set up on a blind date by mtv, with no basis for compatibility except for age. said people have two unknown friends each watching their date on a television in an RV. these friends have-- get this-- BEEPERS. during the course of the date, any of the four people in the RV can send a message to one of the daters to help the date go more smoothly or to pressure them into doing something they wouldn't normally do.

what, you ask, is the problem? i mean, perhaps at first glance the idea, or at least parts of it, sound rather entertaining. people watch you on your date and give you tips to make it go well. i suppose for those of us that are date-impaired this would be a welcome change.

let me tell you the problem. actually, there are several.

first of all, the contestants that mtv picks for these shows are almost always horny, mindless young adults. i've never heard even the semblance of intelligent conversation on an episode of this show.

secondly, the beepers that they have to wear to receive messages from their friends are HUGE and squarelike. and the daters pretty much have to wear them on their person the whole time.

thirdly, there's no way that the friends in the RV can be secret-like about sending their hints. the beepers are loud and obnoxious, and inevitably leave the dater not receiving the message to ask, "what did they say?" if one of RV watchers sends a message to the guy that says, "she likes it when you scratch her head," and then he starts scratching her head, it's obvious that it wasn't his idea. he's just a puppet being manipulated by his friends. very unromantic.

fourthly, the friends sending messages are also horny teenagers and thus they say extremely stupid stuff, like, "why don't you take off your shirt and show her your six-pack?" or "we're getting bored! why don't you kiss him?" i think the end goal of the taildaters is to get the daters to make out. at least.

fifthly, the editing of this show is horrible. there is not one date that i've seen that hasn't been awkward, and you can't tell whether it's just the fact that there isn't enough time to show enough of the date (they show two dates per half hour show), or if it's because the date actually is awkward. i suppose i would feel awkward if i had to wear a huge beeper on a date.

sixthly, a lot of the daters have BIG attitudes and are jerks to their dates.

seventhly, at the end of the date the daters get to go back to the RV and find out which two of their friends were observing the date. whenever the daters and the taildaters reunite, there are huge hugs, and everything is played in slow motion. if you hadn't watched the rest of the show you would think that the daters had been kidnapped for years and are now just being reunited with their long lost friends. waaaay too dramatic for a dating show.

my opinion: spend your time watching supermarket sweep. you'll learn more.