History Main / DatingServiceDisaster

* In 2009 ''MaryWorth'' featured a character named Ted Confey who was dating Dr. Adrian Cory after meeting her online. He proceeds to bilk her out of $50,000 using lines a three-year-old would see through. Just as he's ready to disappear, he's arrested by a Santa Royale detective who later asks Adrian out - and who turns out to be the son of Adrian's father's old college roommate (whom he seems to have [[HoYay cared about a great deal...]]). The moral of the story? Finding partners in new ways bad, going out with someone approved of by Dad good.

* ''CarryOnLoving'' is centered around a 'computer' dating service run by Sid and Hattie. It's not really a computer dating service because Sid puts a card into the 'computer' where Hattie, in the next room, takes the card and finds a match the old fashioned way - manual lookup.

* ''CarryOnLoving'' is centered around a 'computer' dating service run by Sid and Hattie. It's not really a computer dating service because Sid puts a card into the 'computer' where Hattie, in the next room, takes the card and finds a match the old fashioned way - manual lookup.

* In ''ADirtyJob'', one character is [[RunningGag prone to]] online-dating girls from Southeast Asia, who invariably turn out to be sixty years old or [[DroppedABridgetOnHim actually men]] or otherwise not what they claimed to be.

* The movie ''NapoleonDynamite'' has the dorky, nebbish Kip hitting the jackpot when the girl he's been chatting with online turns out to be Lafawnduh, a gorgeous African-American woman with a fun personality. Lafawnduh thinks ''she'' struck gold, too.

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[[caption-width-right:350:Permission granted per [[http://heard-comic.com/2009/02/02142009/ Nena Martinez]]]]

** YouveGotMail is based on the much older film "TheShopAroundTheCorner", [[OlderThanTelevision which was released in 1940]], in which two anonymous pen pals fall in love with each other without realizing that they hate each other in real life.

OlderThanTheyThink, with pre-Internet "computer dating" and "video dating" services providing examples for this trope, and newspaper "lonely hearts" sections before that. The assumption delivered by these tropes--that normal people can find dates just fine; only weirdos, creeps, lunatics and other folks with insurmountable character derangements would need to resort to "artificial" ways of meeting people--also fed neatly with the perception that everyone on the Internet is a weirdo creep lunatic to begin with, allowing an even wider range of absurdity. However, online dating as a source of humor/drama has become a DeadHorseTrope, with the Internet becoming more mainstream since the early 2000's and the stigma attached to online dating not as strong as before. This is especially true among gays and lesbians, whose dating options can be limited if one doesn't like bars. For those who still want a dose of uninformed dating calamity to infuse into their tales, the BlindDate trope is as strong as ever.

OlderThanTheyThink, with pre-Internet "computer dating" and "video dating" services providing examples for this trope. The assumption delivered by these tropes--that normal people can find dates just fine; only weirdos, creeps, lunatics and other folks with insurmountable character derangements would need to resort to "artificial" ways of meeting people--also fed neatly with the perception that everyone on the Internet is a weirdo creep lunatic to begin with, allowing an even wider range of absurdity. However, online dating as a source of humor/drama has become a DeadHorseTrope, with the Internet becoming more mainstream since the early 2000's and the stigma attached to online dating not as strong as before. This is especially true among gays and lesbians, whose dating options can be limited if one doesn't like bars. For those who still want a dose of uninformed dating calamity to infuse into their tales, the BlindDate trope is as strong as ever.

* ''The London Review of Books'' has a personals column full of intentionally unattractive ads like "Some chances are once in a lifetime. Not this one, I've been in the last 12 issues." or "Tap-dancing Classics lecturer. Chilling isn't it? (M, 38)" One hopes this is a subversion and the actual advertisers are better than their description.

* Happens in early ''{{Dilbert}}'' before it went to solely office-comedy.

OlderThanTheyThink, with pre-Internet "computer dating" and "video dating" services providing examples for this trope. However, online dating as a source of humor/drama is not used very much anymore, with the internet becoming more mainstream since the early 2000's and the stigma attached to online dating not as strong as before (especially among gays and lesbians whose dating options are fewer and harder to find if one doesn't like bars). The BlindDate trope is as strong as ever, though, and fulfills the same purpose as this.

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 NewMediaAreEvil [[{{Anvilicious}} anvil]]. It can also be a case of DidNotDoTheResearch, 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").

* Miranda in MassEffect 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.

* Your {{psycho ex}}.

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* ''{{The Odd Couple}}'': before the internet -- before PC's even -- there was computer dating, [[OlderThanTheyThink believe it or not]]. In a episode which aired circa 1971, Oscar signs up with a computer dating service and embellishes his bio. He winds up matched with Felix's ex-wife.

* ''{{iCarly}}'': Spencer, using whynotdateme.com

* ''HowIMetYourMother'' 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 WillTheyOrWontThey 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 ''WorldOfWarcraft''.

* 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.

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* One [[{{Pantomime}} Christmas panto]] version of ''BeautyAndTheBeast'' 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 spell -- although they keep putting things ''they'' like on the profile rather than things the Beast likes. This plan is discarded once Beauty shows up, of course.

* In ''Marvel Adventures: Avengers'' Hawkeye signs on to a dating service online, but finds filling out all the personal info too much work, so he decides to upload his personal info from the Avengers' database instead. However, he succeeds in uploading ''everyone's'' personal info, and the Avengers are swamped with people who claim to have dates with them. The owner is an ex-supervillain (Batroc) who delightfully refuses to take down the info unless they comply, since it is good PR for his site to have celebrities using it. HilarityEnsues.

* On ''ParksAndRecreation'', Leslie Knope is horrified when a matchmaker site pairs her with her horndog coworker Tom. (Turns out, Tom had set up 26 different profiles to match himself with every possible female personality type.)

* In the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "Put Your Head On My Shoulders", Bender runs such a service, which is [[ViewersAreGeniuses both discreet and discrete]].
* Happens in the ''CodeLyoko'' episode "Deja Vu", where Odd arranges a date with a girl he met on an online dating site. Said girl turned out to be Sissi of all people.

* A con man.

* 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 [[SomethingsDifferentAboutYouNow something's different about her now.]]

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* The movie ''MustLoveDogs'' is a romantic comedy about a couple who meet via online dating. True to form, the main heroine arranges a date with a suitor who turns out to be her own father.

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* ''{{The Odd Couple}}'': before the internet -- before PC's even -- there was computer dating, [[OlderThanTheyThink believe it or not]]. In a episode which aired circa 1971, Oscar signs up with a computer dating service and embellishes his bio. He winds up matched with Felix's ex-wife.

* 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.

** 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.

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* ''ThirdRockFromTheSun'' did this with newspaper personals. While Dick and Mary were on the outs, Dick placed a personal ad in the paper. Someone answered it and asked to meet him at a restaurant. It turned out to be Mary, of course, and they immediately decided to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain Never Speak of This Again]].

* ''ThirdRockFromTheSun'' did this with newspaper personals. While Dick and Mary were on the outs, Dick placed a personal ad in the paper. Someone answered it and asked to meet him at a restaurant. It turned out to be Mary, of course, and and they immediately decided to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain Never Speak of This Again]].

See also MailerDaemon if the love interest turns out to be the matchmaking computer itself. For a similar service but with face-to-face interaction, try SpeedDating.