No seriously. WTF??

From Date to Mate is a faux reality show, sort of like The Office, except here, a camera crew follows around 20-30 something Jewish singles in New York as they try to find love online. All the singles met each other on JMatch and we get to see what happens when they finally meet. There’s Justin, the TV production dude still kinda hung up on his non-Jewish ex. He went out on a date with Sarah, a bubbly blond Real Estate professional. Then there’s Brett who went out on a date with Daniel, the Wall Street dude.

Honestly, I thought this would suck but shockingly enough the first episode had awesome camera work, real production values, engaging characters and a script that left me cringing in sympathy for two of the characters. This has definitely raised the bar for online Jewish content. A lot. I am still bewildered at how something this good ever got made. But don’t take my word for it. Check out the trailer on YouTube or check out the entire show yourself right here, right now thanks to my iframe/HTML skillz dat pay da billz:

The show is produced by Shalom TV and is sponsored by our good friends at JMatch, the bad asses of Jewish online dating.

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

11 Comments

  • CK, this is off topic question, but why is there no train that goes into Eilat?

  • Cute, for a 30 minute long commercial for JMatch.

    Of course if they wanted to make it really interesting they’d include some people from the over 40 demographic. I guess since that’s not who they are trying to encourage to reproduce to increase the Jewish population they are sticking to the 20 somethings. Anyway, the over 40 crowd would be too hot for them to handle on Shalom TV.

    Is big Aish secretly behind this too? Somehow, I think so.

    Happy Hanuka to all!

  • Very well done. I’m not sure about some of the casting, but overall this is really impressive for a low-budget, grass-rootsy kinda production. And Chutzpah, of course it’s a commercial for JMatch, just like I watch TV and there are sponsors who subsidize those programs. By the way, TV also sticks to younger characters. It makes sense, since many people are still “available” in their 20s and early 30s, but fewer and fewer are as people get older. I would assume JMatch knows they’re more likely to find converts to their site in the younger demographic.

  • GunnerJew: There is no train to Eilat in order to keep the hoi polloi out. Oh wait. Eilat is already full of potato heads! No in all seriousness, there are plans for a train soon – within a year or two as an extension of the train in Beer Sheva. That was totally random and off topic. Next time just click on contact us.

    As to the topic at hand… HI CHUTZPAH! I wish that this was a 30 minute infomercial. JMatch is a modest operation. They don’t have the budget to produce something this elaborate. I also know the principals behind JMatch would not be too keen on dating in unkosher eating establishments. But still… how bad ass is this? I’m surprised that the fine folks at half-jewish.org haven’t castigated the producers because Justin, whose ex Paige isn’t Jewish, wanted to date a Jewish woman so that he could raise his kids Jewish. I mean doesn’t he know that that discriminates against the massive legions of individuals in mixed marriages who are successfully raising their children to be veritable Torah scholars? But yeah, Aish isn’t remotely behind this. Guaranteed.

    As to the age thing? I dunno. Lets see what happens in future episodes!

  • Hi Chutzpah, this show will run for a full year, each episode is 1 hr long….Quite a long JMatch.com commercial if you ask me 😉 CK re budget, I think our current site is giving that impression, however, our new site launching in a few days would showcase where we are spending more resources- we are also launching a new marketing campaign. In any case producing films would not be at the core of what we do 😉 Our efforts are focused on: Building new Jewish homes and strengthening Jewish identity…My 0.2 cents…

  • Sounds like they did their research and pulled a lot of their dialogue right out of social surveys on Jewish dating. But the idea is fresh and well executed. Nicely done.

  • If you’re looking for great Jewish television, check out InOverOurHeads on JLTV – the Jewish Life Television Network. Unlike Date to Mate, InOverOurHeads is truly unscripted and offers a deeper look at Jewish life, in an entertaining way. The show airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET on DirecTV channel 366, on Comcast and Time Warner in some large metropolitan areas, and through live stream at http://www.jltv.tv. You can also see episodes at http://www.inoverourheads.com one week after airing.

  • I’m not Jewish but speak Hebrew fluently and used to date on JDate when I lived in Israel. There was nothing on the website to say it was restricted to people of Jewish descent. I made it clear I was an atheist on my profile, and my name showed I was not of Jewish descent. I found it a good way to meet up with secular Israeli girls. Despite the good production values, casting and acting I found the script of Date to Mate film depressingly predictable – the barbie-girl like shiksa who breaks the poor Jewish boy’s heart. Bonding conversations were limited to “Jewish in-talk” holocaust, ashkenazi heritage, Jewish holidays, trips to Israel, demanding mothers; a hardly subtle, racist message that Jews will not be able to find fulfillment in relationships with non Jews. Anyway the message I walk away from this film is that JDate really does not want non-Jews to find Jews on its site. It seems strange to me an organization with this message has charitable status. It would be more honest of them to write on their site – restricted to Jewish people only.

  • All I have to say is Justin Lewis broke my heart with the recreation of a movie scene in order to reach out to his ex.
    Sooo sweet!
    I hope he finds a wonderful woman to share his life with <3