Watch it for all the wrong reasons - there's a new season of Married at First Sight NZ that will take you away from the complexities of life
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Obvious product placement that's laughably bad, kiwi scenery blended with the tropical beaches of Vanuatu, and women in bikinis - because naturally, everyone's first date involves water.
Married at First Sight NZ isn't going to wow the entertainment world with its deep insights on the human character.
"From my point of view, it's just ice cream TV that I just stuff in my face and feel bad about afterwards," says TV reviewer Karl Puschmann.
But it's surviving in a world when local TV news is circling the drain.
"It's different strokes for different folks," says Puschmann.
"We have had some fantastic local dramas come out in the last year ... After the Party was just brilliant ... so we should be funding those. We need to see our stories, ourselves reflected through the media that we're consuming.
"That also includes stuff like MAFS and house renovation shows, cooking shows ...that is also a part of the culture ... they're still reflecting that part of New Zealand that exists.
AUT senior lecturer and reality TV expert Dr Rebecca Trelease, has experienced the genre from both sides - she wrote her thesis on the subject, and was a contestant on The Bachelor in 2016. Photo: Sharon Brettkelly/The Detail
"With [TV] 3's precarious position, it does feel like there is a lot riding on this. Mainly because this is their whole brand now. They've jettisoned everything of what we know as Three to bet the house, quite literally, on reality TV.
"If you can just turn off all basic critical functions, you might be able to enjoy these shows as well. Like myself."
The Detail today also talks to AUT senior lecturer and reality TV expert Dr Rebecca Trelease, who's experienced the genre from both sides - she wrote her thesis on the subject, and was a contestant on The Bachelor in 2016.
"I'm so invested," she says of the new season of MAFS.
"It's three hours a week, and I'm invested and I'm wanting to watch it at 12 o'clock when it's released on the streaming platform instead of waiting until 7.30 in the evening for broadcast television. It's changing my schedule!
"When it's got the power to do that, that's incredible. It's making us structure our lives around being up to date."
Why would anyone sign up to a programme that shows contestants at their worst?
"When you watch people do really well, when you see those relationships work, when you see the love blooming ... imagine getting that for yourself. It would be amazing. Imagine if it could actually happen, and you were a part of that, and it got to happen to you.
"To me that was a dream come true. It was like living in your own romantic movie." The proof in the pudding was the fairy tale of Art and Matilda from the very first season, still married and with children.
So was that what happened to Trelease on The Bachelor eight years ago?
"Unfortunately it wasn't the same type of experience," she says.
Karl Puschmann says the show "gives you permission to indulge in gossip, to embrace your worst human instincts in the name of entertainment", but he only wants the best for MAFS.
"I sincerely hope that this awful show returns next year and is even worse, in all the best ways," he says.
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