Dating Around
5ファースト・デート
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
One person, five blind dates, one callback, no host; the cleanest dating format ever aired.
Dating Around, created by Chris Culvenor and made by Eureka Productions, was Netflix's first original dating series. Each half-hour episode follows one single person through five first dates. The dates, filmed at the same bars and restaurants, are cut together so the five evenings run side by side, with no host and no talking heads. At the end the lead chooses one of the five for a second date. The first season, released on Valentine's Day 2019, was filmed in New York; the second, released in June 2020, moved to New Orleans.
The first season's six leads and their dates span ages, races and sexual orientations. Luke, who looks like a player but says he wants something serious, kisses more than one date and chooses Victoria. Gurki, independent and open about her divorce, has a tense date with Justin, who tells her he could never trust her because she has been divorced; afterwards she is in tears. She is the only lead of the season to choose no one. Her episode ends with her walking down a street alone and smiling at a handsome stranger, who was James Adolphus, the episode's director; the two later became a couple.
Lex, a stage designer and the series' first gay lead, is asked for a second date by a man he is not interested in, and chooses Cory. Leonard, a widower, finds himself taking a dance lesson on his first blind date; all his dates are over fifty, and he chooses Dianna. Sarah, a tech recruiter who ends one uncomfortable date early, chooses Matt, who won her over with a can of Narragansett beer. Mila, who knows New York fashion far better than dating, chooses Charlotte after a kiss in the rain.
In the second season Justin chose Ann, though she had cut their evening short; Ben chose Alex; Deva chose Maria; Brandon chose a date who was about to move to Texas; Demi chose Zach over Allan; and Heather, a make-up artist, chose Ernesto, who arrived for their second date with a brass band on Bourbon Street. The two became a couple.
Starring
LukeParticipant
The first season's opening lead, a man who seems a player but says he wants something serious, and who chooses Victoria.
Gurki BasraParticipant
An independent divorced woman whose date with Justin turns bitter, and who chooses no one for a second date.
LexParticipant
A stage designer and the series' first gay lead, who chooses Cory.
LeonardParticipant
A gentle, well-read widower dating again, whose dates are all over fifty, and who chooses Dianna.
SarahParticipant
A quick-talking tech recruiter who cuts one date short and chooses Matt.
MilaParticipant
A New Yorker who knows fashion better than dating, and who chooses Charlotte after a kiss in the rain.
Why it matters
Dating Around strips the dating show down to the part almost everyone knows: the first drink, the small talk, the moment one person decides about another. With no host, no prizes and no confessional interviews, it lets awkwardness stand, and it gives a gay man's dates and a widower's the same unhurried attention as anyone's. Its sharpest episode is about judgement. Gurki's date with Justin shows how quickly a stranger can decide what a divorce says about a woman, and her choice to take no one on a second date turns rejection into self-respect. Cutting five evenings together also shows something about choosing itself: the same stories land differently with each person, and chemistry starts to look less like fate than like timing. The show's own postscript, a director who became Gurki's partner, is a reminder of how much of any dating show happens off camera.