Therapeutic dating show
I'm not a fan of dating shows, but I loved this one. I started watching it because it was compared to His Man. In my opinion, this one is much better. It may not have such a spectacular love story, but it has so much more.The participants were surprising. They were completely different from the first impression they gave.
One who looked boring and rough, but was actually hiding so much emotion.
One who seemed confident and sociable, but actually felt inferior to the others.
One who seemed so perfect that others didn't dare enter into a relationship with him.
One who acted friendly and like a big kid, but looked after others all the time.
One who seemed to have nothing to hide from other people, but was in fact shy.
One who seemed too direct to others, but deep down was lost.
One who was still very young, but surpassed everyone else in maturity and put too much pressure on himself.
One who seemed carefree and sociable to everyone, but experienced loneliness in such a way that others did not notice.
Watching each episode, I felt like I was attending a therapy session where I was taught to love myself.
At one point in my viewing, I noticed that I stopped caring at all about who would form a couple with whom. I only cared about how the bond between the participants developed. Watching the friendship form between them was the most important part of the show.
It was therapeutic, relaxing and brought me peace of mind.
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a heartfelt reality dating series
Overall: my goal for reality dating series is always for them to make friends and have minimal heartbreak, any couples are icing on the cake. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala.Content Warnings: ep 1 briefly mentioned a partner's death
What I Liked
- the friendships
- guys were genuine
- dinner conversation starters where they all answered (such as hobbies) but they also were free to ask their own questions (such as how one guy asked how many exes everyone had although I personally think that's an irrelevant/not good question to ask in the very beginning)
- how they had a date that was both kind of their choice but kind of up to fate
- smart decision to not let them say their age or occupation right away. I think people get fixated on those things when in reality personality, values and goals are much more important compatibility-wise
- the country/mountain setting
- the episode with the guest
- episode 9 was very heartfelt
- production value
Room For Improvement
- felt very similar to His Man (with the phone calls) and I would have liked if they had forged their own path
- dragged out the whole eliminating someone for too many episodes
Comparison to other m/m dating shows
1. Boy Romance (Taiwan, currently airing)
2. His Man seasons 1 & 2 (South Korea). Excellent production value though a bit repetitive with the number of phone calls.
3. Bromance (Thailand) is also on Gagaoolala. This is the typical Bachelor/Bachelorette set up with a bunch of people competing against one another to be with the 1 bachelor. I didn't like this because they could have all been hitting on each other and we have multiple couples! I got kind of bored and skipped a bunch.
4. Love House seasons 1 & 2 (Vietnam) on YouTube (most have English subs, this is ep 1 of season 2 no subs though https://youtu.be/TKzT_nHfVTA ). I liked this set up more than Bromance because the guys could all pursue one another. I didn't like the "secret couple" aspect and dividing them up based on sexual position seemed odd (can't they discuss that in private???) Season 1 was also the most brutal "rose ceremony" I've ever seen in any dating reality show. Season 2 was better.
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Such a genuine reality TV show
I have been watching Taiwanese BL Drama/Movies for so long and always awaited for a reality TV show for the LGBTQ++ community.Although this show completely copies the korean show "His Man 1/2" however I liked the genuineness in this show.
Everyone of them interacted with the crew member now n then. And they made it look like a scripted itinerary rather than spontaneous ones.
Most cast members were very reserved in expressing, which I think is Because of the VERY SHORT period of time being together. But I wish it was a bit long, like 15 days or a month so that all of them could open up. Also I wish we could see more of raw clips like cooking, cleaning up the house, taking care of the outside yard etc.
Especially the last two casts were too reserve to express but they were the most interesting ones to my finding.
Thanks for bring it up on light. This is such a fantastic show.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Heartwarming Show Depicting Friendships and Love
I have been watching reality tv dating shows for as long as I can remember and no matter how much other people found it refreshing and true, I always felt every moment of it was scripted. Whether it is about their interaction, connections, fight or arguments, for me everything felt fake and too much formulaic.Surprisingly, “Boys like Boys” was like a new refreshing introduction to me to Taiwan’s first LGBTQ reality dating series. While observing the episodes, I saw how realistic it felt to watch a relationship as it progresses from friendship to dating in real life. For me, It was as pragmatic as a reality tv show can get. The most positive thing about it was that the show focused on the contestants getting to know each other, developing a good friendship before getting into a relationship, which is what ideal relationships come close to. The way every contestant was not afraid of speaking out about their feelings and what they want without being too dramatic felt good to watch. Personally for me, I felt a lot closer to Eri, as I found him to be a genuine and real person; well he has a very kind and good heart. The show had a total of six contestants named Bobo, Shih-Feng, Nio, Gino, Guan- Yu and Eri. The introductory scenes were nice and everyone seemed unique, kind; they respected each other so much that they made sure to ask each other pronouns so as not to offend anyone and make them uncomfortable. Gino and Guan-Yu were one of the couples who I thought had a wonderful chemistry. Eri’s friendship with everyone was my favorite part about the show, especially with Bobo, who was also one of the contestants. As the show kept moving two more contestants, Jiang- Han and Susu were introduced. Personally, I felt more connected to Eri, Bobo and Gino.
Read the complete article here-
https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/01/11/boys-like-boys-series-review-ep-1-to-10/
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This review may contain spoilers
love & friendship
What I like about it:1) The participants are not shy / open to talk about some deep & heavy topics like bullying, love life etc. There are a lot of crying. I found myself feeling closer to them more than the participants in His Man.
2) The intimacy. Like Gino hugging Guanyu or Gino helping Guanyu tucking in his shirt 🙈 or Gino groping Guangyu's butt or even his penis or Gino mentioning how big Guanyu's penis is hahahah. Even though they didn't show him groping (only through what was mentioned by either Guanyu or Gino) but I think this interactions are very natural for people who like each other. They're boys after all. I'm glad the show is not being too prude. And that kiss in the tent? 🫣 Tbh watching His Man 2, I know it's a Korean gay dating show, but I can't help occasionally feeling like they're straight guys acting as gay guys for a show 🤣
3) The friendships shared between all of them. I just love the bonds between them especially between Eri and Bobo. Can't believe they can be so close in such a short period of time.
4) Speaking of time, I hope season 2 would be at least 8 - 10 days.
5) The diversity of the participants. For example, Nio identified as bisexual. Some others though not identified as bi, have dated girls before. Eri, who identified himself as he/him/his pronouns despite being so pretty having long hair and wearing makeup.
What I don't like / What could be improved:
1) I really don't like the voting to leave or stay. This is a dating show. Not some kind of survival show 💀 It's really hard to watch that part. I hope there's no such thing like that in season 2.
2) I know this is His Man inspired but at least do it properly. I don't see the point of making a secret phone call when the call is made to a phone in a room shared by four people and the conversation is heard by other people in the room?? Each of them have a mobile phone. So the call should be made to the mobile phone instead. Anyway, hope you can come up with a better concept in the next season.
3) The kind of topics that can or can't be discussed. For example, the role in the bedroom topic raised by Jia Hang. Obviously it caused quite a stir and some tense in the room because some people are not comfortable to discuss about it openly. I mean who would? The show is watched by people all over the world. Why would strangers from the opposite part of Taiwan learn what is their role in the bed? 🙄
Final words, Nio ma boy, reminds me a lot of Seonwoo from HM2. Like boy can't decide who he actually likes until the very end, he chose Bobo. I mean what? Besides when he confessed to Guanyu that he likes him, it was already too late because Guanyu already fell hard for Gino. Anyway I'm rooting for Guanyu Gino couple. I hope they can overcome the challenges they faced, the one that they fought during the last two days of the show, and officially become a couple once Guanyu moves to Taipei :) I got a feeling that Gino is someone who prefer to live together with his boyfriend. So I hope they can work it out somehow.
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who's cutting the onions
excuse me?? i had no idea that i signed up for an emotional rollercoaster and I loved every single second of it. even though the format is similar to the Korean dating series 'his man', I felt like they just took the concept of phone calls but put their little twists on it. i disagree with many people saying that the elimination part was unnecessary because they all put their hearts into recording their tapes, it deepened their relationships and enabled a person to realize how important he is.anyway, 10/10 would recommend for honest, raw and genuine heart-to-heart conversations, watching mature people openly communicate, and beautiful relationships blossom, both romantic and platonic.
ps: I love eri and bobo sm, they stole my heart <3333
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I wasn't doing that but since everyone is comparing, here I go
The only dating show I was able to watch and finish is His Man (season 2 was better then the first too) and this show was advertised like a similar one so I gave it a try. I see a lot of people saying they prefered this one but it is not my case. I agree that the cast was more friendly but this is a cultural difference and in the end both casts are real life friends, it just shows that people express themselves in a different way. A big part that got me curious about HM is that, many countries don't have any gay dating show and a country like SK did it despite homophobia being the norm there. And I think it added a thing to the show in the sense that you have some 30+ yo man that haven't yet come out and get to be themselves and get to know people freely for a week at least. On the other hand, BLB had a way more various cast and they seem to know themselves better. It did turn into a friendship show which didn't bother me at all.I think my main issue with that one compared to its inspiration is that the story/editing didn't do it for me. I know the budget is not the same but a lot of moment were confusing. The phone call were you ask someone to pass it out to the one you want to call. A bunch of scenes where they're filmed standing like Sims like the scene were they danced in line and it just doesn't feel natural. If the relationships feel genuine, the way the show edit anything is weird in my opinion. The fact that for 3 episodes they do anything but the main plot is that someone is leaving and in 5 minutes we learn that nobody is leaving.
I try to think about some questionnable producer's choices like the editing of them showering for 1 min, or them just randomly stretching in front of the house, idk
I also feels like the interviews felt unecessary. It's supposed to be an insight and help with knowing what's going on in their head but they mostly just made superficial observations about the scene we just saw.
Overall I still like it a lot and without HM existing I feel like I would make the same critics, I wouldn't mind a S2 at all, it was still really enjoyable mainly beacause of the cast. I think both the cast of HM and BLB are good, I always find a few of them that I can relate to but it's also about preferences. I'm from France but I feel like my temperament is closer to some of the hm2 cast and watching someone saying he grabbed my d*** two times or them talking about their group bath isn't the most confortable to watch for me.
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