WHO WANTS TO MARRY MY DAD?:
Season 2
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One single father looking for love among several attractive women. But he will not be making the choices.

Can his daughters choose the right woman to be their prospective stepmother?

Recaps by Gordon Pepper, GSNN


FACT FILE:
EP: Bruce Nash, Scott Satin
Packager: NBC Universal Television Studio, Nash Entertainment, Satin Productions
Airs: Mondays at 10:00pm ET on NBC


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Episode 2.1 - June 21

This all started with a little show called "Meet My Folks" (and some people
could argue that it started before that - back to a little movie featuring Ben
Stiller, Robert DeNiro and a very famous lie detector scene). This turned into a show that I originally panned (giving a D to it) that lasted for 2 seasons in its original format, then last summer turned into a "Bachelor-esque" dating show which, according to the promos, "captured America's heart". Well, it didn't do that for me, but since I covered the show in it's original format, I figured I may as well cover the show in this one.

So without further delay, here is the second series of "Who Wants to Marry My Dad!"

Here's the synopsis - daddy wants to find love, and he gets a collection of lovely women to date - and hopefully marry. The catch? The selection of who gets to stay or leave is not made by daddy - but from his three daughters. Hopefully, they will do a better job than the kids in the first edition, as daddy wound up not marrying who they selected - but they are still all good friends (what exactly does THAT mean? Well, we didn't wind up clawing each others eyeballs out, so we are good friends? Well?)

We start at Saturday at 10 am, at the (pseudo) residence of the Oklands. Dad is excited to meet the women, while the women decided that he will meet the women undercover. Before we meet the women that daddy will pick from, let's meet the daughters -

Jennifer, 27, the middle sister - She wants to bring a reality check to the show. You're in a fake house with fax machines waiting to go off with wacky info, cameras all over the place, and a man with a lie detector in your basement. Yeah, good luck on the reality check.

Brooke, 24, youngest sister - She's going to go on her 'gut' feeling. That can't possibly be a good thing on this sort of show.

Nicole, 27, the oldest sister - She's looking for dad to find the women of his dreams. Since we know the record of how this works out (True Love - 1, Thanks but no thanks - 8,700,456,083), I leave Nicole the same advice for Jennifer.

So we know nothing so far about the actual guy that everyone is talking about, but who needs to know anything about him? Let's meet the women who will be going after the anonymous guy...

Reality Dating Contender #1 - Meryl, brunette, 40, divorced, 3 children. She is here because she is hoping that dad is "her guy".

Reality Dating Contender #2 - Michelle, blonde farm girl from Missouri. She hasn't found what she's looking for, so she's come all the way to California to find it.

Reality Dating Contender #3 - Debbie, blonde (almost the exact same hairstyle as Michelle). She is used to wearing the pants in the family - and the wants someone to share those pants with her. Sounds kinky - but is she the right fit for a seemingly easy-going dad?

Reality Dating Contender #4 - Nicole, long brown hair, 40, single, never been married, no kids, 3 cats. She tells the kids that she can't wait to meet
everyone and she looks like an early favorite here.

Jennifer says that if anyone seems superficial or fake, they won't be hanging around too long. Right after that we get... Reality Dating Contender #5 - Sharon, 34 (?), blonde cropped hair. She is bubbly and says that fate has brought her to the show, telling the daughters that "I am hear to hopefully meet the man of my dreams, and hopefully your dad's going to be it." If that doesn't sound fake and cheesy, nothing does. The other contenders comment that she has great legs, while I am wondering why someone who could be the girl's sister is applying to be their mother figure. I don't see her sticking around for too long.

At least Sharon didn't hug the kids. Reality Dating Contender #6 - Tammy, shoulder-length brown hair - does, adding that her strategy is to win over the kids - which is smart when you think about it, since they are the ones who are making the decisions.

Reality Dating Contender #7 - Layne, brownish-blondish, 42. Her strategy is  to just be herself and let the kids fall in love with her. Sounds very altruistic - but is it realistic?

Reality Dating Contender #8 - Stacy, 39, brown hair with a white streak on top. She has men who are her best friends - she now wants one that she can spend the rest of her life with. She asks the daughter is they are tough critics. Nicole's response - "Wouldn't you like to know?" I have a feeling they will all be knowing soon...

Reality Dating Contender #9 - Sarah, earlength brown hair - is concerned
about relating to the girls, since she was brought up with just brothers and no sisters. She has a 13 year old son, and was hoping that the girls would like a brother. Nicole seems hooked on her, and she may be a contender as well.

Reality Dating Contender #10 - Lola, short black hair. Her strategy is to keep her eyes and ears open and remember everything that she has learned. Now she doesn't say anything about love. Could she be the villainess of the show?

Reality Dating Contender #11 - Suzanne, 39, sporting a blonde mullet and nice shiny long Dracula-style incisors. Her strategy is to think with her heart, open up and get to know the family. She strikes a chord with Brooke and I think she may be sticking around.

Reality Dating Contender #12 - Tina, 36, cheeklength blondish/brownish hair, very tan. Her strategy is to be very honest and she tells the women that she's there to find a family.

Reality Dating Contender #13 - Melanie, 38, shoulder length blonde hair in an almost Susan Dey-like setting. She wants a ring on her finger and a wedding to be planned. She gets points for eagerness, if not naivete.

The daughters tell the 13 candidates that they will meet dad soon - but first
of all, Nicole reads a letter from her dad, who we find out actually does have a name - Marty. The letter states how excited he is to be on the show, and how he wants to find a women since he has worked very hard in his life. While they are reading the letter, Nicole starts to tear in the middle of it. That gets the traditional Awwwww from the contenders and a traditional AwwwwBARF from me. I have a feeling I will be using that phrase A LOT when it comes to recapping this season.

Jennifer tells the contenders that the show is "Who Wants to Marry My Dad", and to start, the women will get to go out shopping... for engagement rings. Gee, no underlining theme for what the producers are really looking for, right? At the ring store, the manager (who looks suspiciously like Burt Luddin) tells the women that they will be escorted into a private room one at a time. They will have two people escorting him - a blonde woman and "Craig" - who is actually Marty in disguise. Here's the first secret that the show is pulling, and I actually like it.

Does Marty like what he is hearing from the women? Maybe, but when the women ask him questions about the rings, he comes off as knowledgeable as a brick-layer being asked about the finest in perfumes. As Marty talks to the women, it seems that Michelle seems wishy-washy about the experience, but Suzanne wanted to go on because it seems to her like the dad would be serious about finding a relationship - and that's what she's looking for. She gets LOTS of brownie points for the answer.

Debbie says that this show has more class than the others dating shows (have you actually SEEN the first season of this show, Debbie?). Marty asks the women if they are ready to get married - and we get yes's from most of them - but Lola isn't too sure and my self-proclaimed villainess may not stick around long enough to be a villainess. Sharon says that you never know - and that's not a good thing to say either. Even worse is Sharon asking Marty if he's married - and it may be time for Sharon to be shown the door.

As for the other ladies - Sarah thinks that this would be a great story for
the grandchildren as she says this with a wink, while Nicole says that if this
doesn't work out, she's going to go back to the jewelry store and ask "Craig" out. Little does she know...

We go back to the house, and the women are greeted by the daughters, who give them a tour - which includes a bedroom with all of the women living together. Not only do they share the same bedroom, they also have to share the same bathroom, which gets the women groaning like they found out their airline meal would be fried oysters covered in mozzarella cheese. With that, the ladies are sent to retire for the evening - and they still haven't formally met the guy they are pursuing.

They will meet him early Sunday morning, as they are unceremoniously woken by the daughters at 7am. After the early am scramble, the women congregate to the main room, where the door opens up and in walks... a delivery man with a note. The note reads that two of the 13 women will now be eliminated - without ever getting to meet the father. The girls look at each other, stunned, while the women are wondering which two of them would be leaving without even knowing that they already met the guy that they are competing for. Now THAT'S harsh.

The girls say that it really sucks, while Nicole starts to bawl again. The daughters go into the back to discuss who they will cut. They start to talk about Tina and Michelle and Sarah and Debbie - but they can't come to a consensus on any of them. The fact that they don't even know Marty's reaction to the women makes this even tougher - but they decide that the eliminated women are... Tina and Debbie. Tina thinks that it's fate, while Debbie is disappointed, but she enjoyed her stay. Sharon was upset because Debbie was the 'mother' of the group. Well, its obvious that the girls didn't see the jewelry store tape, because if they did, Sharon would be one of the people escorted out the door. Tina and Debbie are escorted to the MMD Shuttle Escort Service, which reads... "Here Today, Gone... Today." Nice. I wonder if Debbie still thinks that the show is as classy as she thought it was...

The girls tell the remaining women that their father should be showing up any minute - like right behind them, when he says "Are you looking for me?" All of the women turned around, shocked to see... Craig from the jewelry store. The girls scream in delight, with Nicole being happy that the hot jeweler dude is the guy they are competing for.

Montage about Monty Okland. He worked 6 days a week to put the girls through school. The girls want him to have some freedom and they want to make sure that he has that special woman in his life. Basically, this sound like every other background montage that you've ever heard of. Yaaawwwwwwn.

Marty apologizes for the jewelry deception yesterday and he welcomes them all into their faux house. The daughters set up a mixer so Marty gets some one-on-one time with each of the ladies. Sharon goes first - and Marty gives her a necklace with an 'S' on it. Sharon thinks that she may have had a connection - but she shouldn't be, as ALL of the women get necklaces with their first letter on it. Very sneaky, Marty. Tammy liked his eyes while Nicole, who also gets a necklace, was happy that he wasn't allergic to cats.

When the evening was done, Marty tells the girls that he would like to make a toast to them. He doesn't make a toast to the phone, but the phone rings, which signifies bad news for the ladies. The daughters have to pick the 2 most incompatible women and clear the table. One of those two women will be leaving the house.

That sets up a very stressful atmosphere for breakfast, where none of them are very talkative. Based on the earlier conversation from the episode, I would think that Michele and Sarah would be clearing the table. Sarah, who says that she was never voted least compatible with anyone, will be cleaning up, but the other person is Layne, which means that Michele must have done something right - or that Layne did something wrong.

Someone who will be doing something right is the LIE DETECTOR MAN!!!! Although we get a new lie detector man, we have the same premise as the old show - the daughters ask the women questions, and the Polygraph Test Taker tells the girls if she is telling the truth.

Layne gets to go first as both women are taken to a different room of the house. Layne says that she would let Marty use her toothbrush (TRUE), that she would love him even if he loved Barry Manilow (TRUE) and that she did dye her hair because she heard that dad did not like blondes (TRUE). Interesting. She did say that she was not pretending to like them just to be picked (LIE) and that she would not like dad any more if he didn't have any kids (LIE).

OUCH! Well, I guess there was a very good reason why the kids selected Layne over Michelle. Layne is pretty much toast unless Sarah screws up the lie detector test - and she starts it off on the wrong foot by saying that she would help the girls pay their rent (LIE). She said that she is not a good cook (TRUE) and would find dad attractive even if he was bald (TRUE). She did say that she would flirt enough with their boyfriends (TRUE) and that she was mature enough to be married (LIE).

It looks like the girls were dead-on with their assessment with both of them, and whoever survives this isn't going to be around for long. I think that Layne is toast. The girls thank the women for taking the polygraph test, but they decide to get rid of... Layne. Sarah gives out a smile of relief as an upset Layne wants to know what tests she failed on the lie detector test. Well, now she knows.

But we're not done yet. Each episode, Dad gets to invite a woman for an after-dinner nightcap. The women he picks is... the same woman that he is talking to and thanking her for disguising herself as his sister-in-law. Now before you accuse the show of stealing ideas from The Bachelor, I'd like to point out that Meet My Folks (which created this show) actually used this idea to kick off their second season of the show, so they actually created this idea before The Bachelor did. Needless to say, we don't find out who that woman is as the episode comes to a close.

Before we get to my take, lets look at the little non-disclaimers at the end of this show, shall we? 1. Contestants are paid a stipend just for showing up. 2. Whoever wins will take a trip - BUT they have the option of taking a
SEPARATE trip with someone else that with Marty. (Hmmmmmmmm). 3. The family does not stay at the house where this is being filmed at (Well, Duh.). 4. The daughters MAY have consulted with the producers regarding their choices and decisions (so if you think that the producers told them who to get rid of, they did, and if you think that the producers didn't tell them who to get rid of, they didn't).

My Take? Well, I didn't like this show at all - until I had to sit through two full seasons of The Bachelor. I changed my mind with the first series and this series looks good early. They not only create new dating ideas that other major shows steal (see The Bachelor), but what they do perform, they perform well. This should be a refreshing change from those plain old mushy love shows that redirect the viewer from what's going on as we actually have contestants with personality.

Next week, we'll observe more stunts that the producers pull as we see who the spy is and who else is leaving the happy house.

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