Parents' Guide to Singletown

Viewers' enjoyment of this reality show will largely depend on their tolerance for and appreciation of awkward flirtations and romantic heartbreak. Good cringe? Bad cringe? Singletown is at least well done, for this type of show. The contestants are attractive and come off as relatively genuine, the show is set in a particularly lovely corner of London, and there's pleasantly tart narration from an unseen commentator who takes the piss, to borrow a British expression, with contestants, their dates, and even the demi-celebrities directing the action.

At the same time, there's no evading the fact that Singletown is playing God with real people's real romantic lives (yes, they volunteered for the meddling, but still). It's not enough that the show sets up contestants in neighboring apartments with gigantic prints of their exes watching over them, it also takes pains to ignite jealousy, like in one scene where two participants are directed to wander past a brunch at which their exes are flirting with new love interests. Clearly, Singletown is an exercise in wish fulfillment for viewers who are themselves aching for a break from their humdrum relationships, so it'd be nice if the show stuck to watching participants enjoying their newfound freedom rather than orchestrating artificial situations that produce real pain. It just feels mean-spirited in a series that could be all guilty pleasure instead.