Television is a technology of intimacy, bringing things close,1¹ but it also promises to match people up – with advertisers, with programmes, with other people. Historically this matching has been an inexact mechanism, with television providing content to a broad public and leaving the viewers themselves to sort out questions of compatibility. Even in the more recent age of narrowcasting, streaming and on-demand services, the onus of finding a ‘right match’ still lies with viewers, who have now become their own programmers as they sort through a sea of options. Despite – or because of – this inexactness, television has been highly reflexive about its role in the matchmaking market, not only by developing intricate ratings measures to track successful viewership matches, but also by turning (romantic) matchmaking into content. Indeed, in reality-based forms television has itself long played matchmaker, making entertainment out of the often arduous process of whittling down a romantic field to one compatible partner, from the classic gameshows The Dating Game (ABC, 1965–73; synd. 1973–2000) and Blind Date (ITV, 1985–2003) to the international reality franchise The Bachelor (ABC, 2002– ).

中文翻译：

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情感科学：电视上的算法爱情匹配

电视是一种亲密的技术，使事情接近，1 ¹但它也承诺将人们与广告商、节目和其他人相匹配。从历史上看，这种匹配一直是一种不精确的机制，电视向广大公众提供内容，而让观众自己解决兼容性问题。即使在最近的窄播、流媒体和点播服务时代，找到“合适的匹配”的责任仍然在于观众，他们现在已经成为自己的程序员，因为他们在选择的海洋中进行分类。尽管——或者因为——这种不准确，电视一直对其在婚介市场中的角色进行高度反思，不仅通过制定复杂的收视率措施来跟踪成功的收视率匹配，而且还将（浪漫）婚介转化为内容。事实上，电视本身长期以来一直以基于现实的形式扮演媒人，The Dating Game (ABC, 1965–73; synd. 1973–2000) 和Blind Date (ITV, 1985–2003) 到国际真人秀特许经营权The单身汉(ABC, 2002–)。