Fate Date rejuvenates dating on college campuses

Author: Nick Fager

We all know that dating on college campuses is nearly extinct. Think about how many times in the last year you have seen a couple out to dinner or a movie, or even heard of a couple going out to dinner or a movie for that matter? The number is surely incomparable to the staggering number of "hook-ups" you hear about on any given Saturday morning. Old-fashioned dating is fading fast, but three Loyola graduates are determined not to let it slip away completely.

Fate Date originally started as a last minute addition to a struggling Loyola College television station in 2002. Three students, Alan Danzis, Joe Salvati and BJ Barretta, decided to televise real blind dates starring their fellow students. Determined to show that dating on college campuses had not vanished but was simply forgotten, the show became a great success on the Loyola College campus. A couple of years upon graduating, the three producers got back together with the desire to expand their idea to other parts of the country. So now Danzis, Salvati and Barretta are starting a brand new season of Fate Date in which they will travel to colleges across the country attempting to salvage the dating scene that has all but disappeared.

What about Fate Date will be different from your average "Blind Date" TV shows, you might wonder? According to Danzis, the executive producer, dates will be more real. "We know you don't have to fake moments, or play dramatic music to get a laugh out of people. The more real we are, the funnier we are going to be," said Davis. Fate Date, in this effort, will look for the awkward moments in each date that always draw laughs, and show them in their entirety, "like when the guy says something to try and impress the girl and she literally rolls her eyes and walks away," Davis explained. The show also features a dating expert who will critique the date and give general dating advice to college students.

Each show will feature a different college visit, and with "man on the street interviews," as well as campus and community tours the show will try to capture the culture and the dating/social scene at each location. "We are the only show to tour campuses and highlight the 'other' side of college life," says Barretta.

The producers of Fate Date have only shot a pilot for the upcoming season, but in a few weeks they are going to begin to locate sponsors to fund the full season. Based on their first experiences with various colleges, they have recognized a strong interest on campuses across the country, where it is generally agreed that dating is not what is used to be. And yes, Fate Date "would love to come to Middlebury," said Davis, - a visit which could take place next fall if they acquire the funding for an entire season. Middlebury must simply sign up for the U Network - a station that incorporates shows created by and for college students - and the administration will be contacted.

Fate Date has the ambition to create an environment that college students around the nation can relate to, learn from and laugh at. Though the show does not mean to suggest that "hooking up" is a bad thing, it does hope to show a fun and forgotten alternative. "You can't relate to America choosing your midget groom or somebody voting you off an island but you can relate to the awkward moments in your own like that you can look back on and laugh with your friends. This IS reality TV. We don't need gimmicks. This is why the show works," Baretta said.