''Miss Match'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series created by Jeff Rake and

Darren Star Darren Star (born July 25, 1961) is an American writer, director and producer of film and television. He is best known for creating the television series '' Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–2000), ''Melrose Place'' (1992–1999), '' Sex and the Cit ...

and produced by

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Co ...

, Darren Star Productions, and

Imagine Television Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon ...

. It aired in the United States on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from September 26 to December 15, 2003, including international networks aired in Australia on

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

, and Fox8, and in the United Kingdom on

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Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, and is on E4. Seventeen episodes of the series were filmed, with eleven aired in the United States. The entire series aired in both the UK and Canada. Starring

Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller '' The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further prominence at age 16 as a ...

and

Ryan O'Neal Ryan O'Neal (born April 20, 1941) is an American actor and former boxer. He trained as an amateur boxer before beginning his career in acting in 1960. In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera '' Peyton Place ...

, the show garnered poor ratings, which could have been due to its inability to compete in the Friday 8 pm ET timeslot (the "

Friday night death slot The "Friday night death slot" or "Friday evening death slot" is a perceived graveyard slot in American television. It implies a television program in the United States scheduled on Friday evenings (typically, between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. ET) ...

"). It was based on the real-life story of

Samantha Daniels Samantha Daniels is an American professional matchmaker, television personality, television producer, author, and entrepreneur. Daniels also owns and operates Samantha's Table, a matchmaking service based in New York and Los Angeles. Career Earl ...

Premise

A Los Angeles

matrimonial Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

attorney, Kate Fox (Alicia Silverstone), doubles as a high-end matchmaker even though her own love life is far from perfect.

Cast and characters

Main

as Kate Fox: A divorce lawyer by day who ends up becoming a match maker. Her own romantic life is complicated. Throughout the series she is involved with Michael and later his best friend, Adam. Kate often finds herself getting involved in the relationships she sets up for people. Various characters mention to her that she is addicted to love and lives through the lives of others. *

Lake Bell Lake Siegel Bell (born March 24, 1979) is an American actress, screenwriter and director. She has starred in various television series, including ''Boston Legal'' (2004–2006), '' Surface'' (2005–2006), ''How to Make It in America'' (2010–2 ...

as Victoria Carlson: Kate's best friend who is a bartender. She often oversees the dates Kate sets people up with. She tends to only have flings with men, like the one she starts with Nick. The only man we see her like as more than a hookup is Adam. * David Conrad as Michael Mendelson: Kate's on and off again boyfriend after she sets him up on several dates. His ex-girlfriend is Lauren who left him for his best friend Adam. * Jodi Long as Claire: A secretary at Fox & Associates. * James Roday as Nick Paine: Kate's co-worker who is a womanizer. He and Kate tolerate each other, at best. He later dates Victoria. *

as Jerry Fox: Kate's father who owned the law firm she works for. He was not a perfect father to Kate but they bonded over law. He is shown to still have feelings for Kate's mother but is not hung up on her. Later in the series he is linked with Serena.

Recurring

* Charisma Carpenter as Serena Lockner: An old classmate of Kate who comes back into her life. Kate helps her adopt a baby and give it back to the mother when she realizes she made a mistake. She later returns and starts a romance with Kate's father. * Dina Meyer as Lauren Logan: Michael's ex-girlfriend and Adam's ex-wife. After finding out that Michael and Kate are involved, she makes Kate break it off. After finding out Adam and Kate are involved, she sues Kate's law firm for malpractice. *

Nathan Fillion Nathan Fillion (; born March 27, 1971) is a Canadian-American actor. He played the leading roles of Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds on ''Firefly (TV series), Firefly'' and its film continuation ''Serenity (2005 film), Serenity'', ...

as Adam Logan: Adam comes to town after Lauren hires Kate as her divorce lawyer. He and Michael end up repairing their friendship but he soon becomes involved with Kate and Victoria. NBC had a cross promotion where Deanna Wright, Galen Gering and McKenzie Westmore, who starred on NBC's soap opera ''

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and ...

'', appeared in an episode of the series.

Episodes

Production

The series was executive produced by

, who also directed the pilot, and Jeff Rake, who wrote the pilot, as well as David Nevins and Brian Grazer. After Alicia Silverstone, the first actors cast in ''Miss Match'' were David Conrad, Lake Bell and James Roday in February 2003. This was followed by the casting of Ryan O'Neal, as the divorce attorney father of Silverstone's character, and Jodi Long, in early March 2003. NBC ordered ''Miss Match'' (then titled ''Miss/Match'') to series in May 2003. In December 2003 NBC added four episodes to the order for ''Miss Match'', bringing the total number of produced episodes to 17.

Reception

Based on 12 reviews, the show holds an 83% approval rating on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

. The critics consensus reads, "With the incredibly charming Alicia Silverstone at the helm, ''Miss Match'' is a sweet romantic comedy with echoes of ''Sex and the City''."

References

External links

* * {{epguides, MissMatch 2000s American comedy-drama television series 2000s American romantic comedy television series 2003 American television series debuts 2003 American television series endings American romantic drama television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series based on actual events Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series created by Darren Star Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in Los Angeles Television series by Imagine Entertainment