''Confessions of a Matchmaker'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

series broadcast by the A&E Network. The show, set in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, premiered on June 16, 2007 and ran its first thirteen episodes throughout the summer of 2007. There was no second season. This "pioneering" show is said to have started the genre that includes ''

The Millionaire Matchmaker ''The Millionaire Matchmaker'' was an American reality television series on Bravo that premiered on January 22, 2008, and is hosted by Patti Stanger. ''The Millionaire Matchmaker'' follows Patti Stanger, owner of the Beverly Hills-based "Millio ...

''.

Premise

The show which is set in

, follows real life matchmaker Patti Novak as she tries to set up dates for her clients looking for love. A reviewer in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described Novak as, "plainspoken, but ''not'' rude, a classic dispenser of tough love." Each episode starts with Patti interviewing two new clients and questioning them on various topics, including why they have not been lucky in love in the past. Next, Patti sets up her two new clients with two of her pre-existing clients. Each person goes on their date and the next day they are called by Patti and told to meet with her in her office. Sometimes, if the date goes well Patti tells her clients the good news that their date would like to see them again. If the date goes poorly however, Patti is usually scolding her clients and telling them what they must do the next time to improve. If the first date does go poorly then the person is set up on a second date. If Patti's client does poorly on their date again and fails to improve, then they are usually dropped as a client.

Critical reception

A reviewer for ''

The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...

'' pointed out that while the show often humiliated the matchmaker's single, often overweight, and not especially financially successful clients, they were aware of what they were letting themselves in for, and the episodes were often "laugh-out-loud funny." The reviewer for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

described the show's use of "real people who have real problems finding someone to love," and praised Novak's "spirit and refreshing honesty."

Patti Novak

Novak was a professional matchmaker in Buffalo, New York. Novak's career as a matchmaking guru continued after the show was terminated. Novak published a book, ''Get Over Yourself: How to Get Real, Get Serious, and Get Ready to Find True Love,'' co-authored with Laura Zigman.

References

External links

* *https://web.archive.org/web/20080108125659/http://www.aetv.com/confessions-of-a-matchmaker/ American dating and relationship reality television series 2007 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings A&E (TV network) original programming English-language television shows Television shows set in Buffalo, New York {{BuffaloNY-stub