TV-ARGENTINA: TV Program Plays Match-Maker

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jul 28 1998 (IPS) - For 27 years the weekly television show “I Want to Get Married” has been successful in helping people do just that. So successful in fact that the programme will now be aired daily.

The host of the show, 70-year-old Roberto Galan, does not anticipate any substantial changes – “it’s like Coca-Cola: the success lies in always making it the same”, he says.

Galan believes that althgough his programme does not seek to appeal to large audiences, it does provide a “social service”.

“Solitude is universal and always has existed,” he says. “Our program provides a service, a hospital for those lonely souls, of which there are more than people think.”

Indeed, since promotion began for the daily show last month, 50 people have been calling every day, more than double the calls received by marriage agencies. The producers will finance travel for people from the interior provinces, and for their stay during the duration of the taping of the programme.

Producer Alicia Paseri, that like in other years, couples that emerge from each programme intending to marry will receive not only a honeymoon trip, clothing, a party and the furniture for their homes, but also will be honored with a televised wedding.

“Throughout all these years, we have married innumerable couples, and we know that many others got together without getting married, or they got married much later”, says Paseri.

The most memorable wedding for viewers and the most controversial one was that of a dwarf couple, who today have three children and remember the show with much emotion and gratitude.

Like a god-parent, the channel “America TV ” has sent Jewish couples on trips to Israel and in the coming season will give a trip to paris as a wedding present – which of course will be covered by the TV cameras for the Argentine public.

“I Want to Get Married” starts out like any marriage agency, but there are no fees. Interested parties are screened by producers in order to determine their profiles and expectations. On that basis, each programme is planned with four women and four men who have some affinity to each other even though they have never met.

The decision to participate in the program and not resort to a marriage agency is largely based on the image of Roberto Galan, a serious and respected man with a long history in television.

But not only the host is a guarantee that everything on the show is legitimate. Paseri explains that on television, candidates cannot lie because they can immediately be caught by someone who knows them.

“It’s impossible for a married person to come to the station and say she is a widow, or for a man who mistreated his wife while he was married to deceive us, without being denounced once they appear on television. That gives us reassurance”, says Paseri.

Throughout the program, which is taped in a small, romantically decorated studio, Galan invites participants to talk about their life and hopes for the future.

“The majority of people weanting to get married are are women, but couples come in in all ages. This year, we have been surprised at the number of younger people interested in participating,” Paseri says.

The show introduces, for example, women and men who have lived with one of their parents until their death, and who now find themselves alone. There are some who never had a relationship because of shyness; people who left relationships because of abuse, or widows and widowers who do not want to spend the rest of their days alone.

Galan usually conducts the interview in a way that enhances the attractiveness of the participants, and urges them to “stop crying over spilled milk” when someone’s unhappy past takes up most of their conversation. A profile that is too melancholy could deter someone who is looking for company to overcome their own sadness.

And then there is always the display of personal possessions, which are always humble, but which can contribute to the profile of a candidate. “Women seek economic security and companionship; they don’t concentrate so much on physical appearance – as do most men,” says Paseri.

In the end, men and women make their choices in writing and give their letters to the host, who delivers the final verdict: “A couple has been formed,” he proclaims, when there is an agreement.

There is not always a successful match, and many apply again because they weren’t chosen.

Once a couple is formed, the producers give them tickets to films and the theater, they pay for dinner and dance dates, and they let the seed grow. If there is a wedding sooner or later it is televised.

“Only once we had a couple who knew each other from before and faked the situation in order to get the gifts. But we sued them and won,” said Galan.

The program, as he himself acknowledges, is “a rarity” these days in which contact between women and men seems to be easier. It looks naive but genuine to the audiences who participates from their homes, in that ephemeral moment in which Cupid’s arrow goes through the heart.