Videomate: Men
Decoder Ring
Slate Podcasts
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2019
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Videomate: Men is a VHS tape released in 1987 featuring 60 single men pitching themselves as dates to women on the other side of the TV screen, who could connect to these eligible bachelors from the comfort of their homes. In retrospect, Videomate: Men is bizarre and hilarious, but at the time it was one of many manifestations of what was known as video dating. To find out how anyone thought this was a good idea, Decoder Ring examines the weird and forgotten world of video dating in the 1970's, 80's, and 90's to find out why video dating once seemed like the future, and if that future is still yet to come.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 1987, Blockbuster video stores in Southern California were doing a brisk business renting dirty dancing and alien, full metal jacket, and Ferris Peeler's Day Off. |
| 0:17.9 | But up at the counter, next to the Red Vines and the M&Ms, there were usually some other VHS tapes for sale, the kind of niche titles and curiosities a person might buy on Impulse. One of them, priced at 2995 and with a runtime of 90 minutes, promised footage of 60 single men, all looking for dates. |
| 0:39.1 | The love of your life could be on your TV tonight, it said on the box. |
| 0:43.2 | It was called VideoMate, men. |
| 0:46.4 | Are you a little crazy? Do you like to laugh a lot? |
| 0:49.9 | Do you like to take long walks along the beach or drive along the ocean with the top down? |
| 0:55.0 | Boy, have I got a guy for you? |
| 0:58.2 | He's warm, passionate, very honest. |
| 1:02.0 | Who's this wonderful person you're asking yourself? |
| 1:05.2 | To me? |
| 1:10.3 | Video mate men. There was also a video mate women, opens with poorly rendered palm |
| 1:15.6 | treats flying by before getting to the guys. |
| 1:18.6 | LA-based men between the ages of 18 and 60, all white, in sweaters and suit jackets, |
| 1:23.6 | with fluffy 80s haircuts and moustaches. |
| 1:26.6 | Looking straight at the camera, they |
| 1:28.8 | pitched themselves directly to whoever's watching. Seriously, if you're looking for the kind of guy |
| 1:33.7 | who's going to spirit you off into a Beverly Hills sunset and a Lamborghini or a Mercedes, |
| 1:38.5 | well, you better fast forward onto the next guy. If the idea of hopping into my Honda and snuggling up close to me and my dog and |
| 1:46.3 | heading off to the San Gabriel Mountains to watch the sunset from around a cozy campfire, |
| 1:51.4 | sounds good to you. Well, then, I'm the man for you. |
| 1:58.2 | After each man speaks, various statistics appear on screen. |
| 2:02.4 | Weight, height, occupation, religion, and a code. |
... |
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