It’s Only a TV Show, but ‘Change of Heart’ Puts Couples to a Test They Sometimes Fail

It’s the emotional equivalent of “Rollerball,” Norman Jewison’s 1975 futuristic film about stage-managed violence and the survival of the fittest. A young couple, together for less than a year, voluntarily agree to go on blind dates with other people and then talk about them and the problems in their own relationship on national TV. Then, it gets worse. With the show’s host egging and prodding them on, the couple bickers with each other. He’s cheap and his feet smell. She’s a lousy kisser, and Lord help me when she has PMS. Next, the blind dates pop in and relate the highlights of those outings. Finally, after suffering all that, each half of the couple decides right there on the spot whether to stay together or dump their mate for good.

“Change of Heart,” the new dating show on which these relationship dramas unfold, is the brainchild of Scott St. John, who was also one of the forces behind “Studs,” a similarly raucous dating show that made a splash several years back. He decided that combining a talk show, like “Jerry Springer” or “Sally Jessy Raphael,” with a dating or relationship show would make for a fun and commercially viable twist on familiar forms.

“Dating is so omnipresent obviously. Everyone can relate to dating and being unsure about a relationship, whether to pursue it more seriously or not,” he said. “And this way it would deal with relationship issues but it would be less severe than the talk shows. There’d be no heavy stuff . . . but it could still be juicy enough to capture that talk-show audience.”

Since its debut in September, with little hype, the show quickly clicked with audiences. Following “Jerry Springer” in Los Angeles, “Change of Heart” beat everything in its time period except for “The Tonight Show” during last month’s sweeps. In big cities around the country, the show has enjoyed similar results.

“My boyfriend loves to watch the show because it’s so evil. It really is a sadistic idea to take a couple and have them go out on each other and then flaunt it in their faces,” said Angela Box, 26, a former show contestant, who actually was one of the lucky ones. Despite the fact that her boyfriend went on a seven-hour date with “a so-called model,” long enough to drink two bottles of wine and hold hands, both she and her lover chose to stay together. About 50% of the couples, on the other hand, break up, according to the show’s producers.

“We are doing a public service by helping people get out of their bad relationships,” joked--well, at least half-joked--St. John, who also serves as the show’s executive producer. “Part of what makes the show work is that it’s real. That decision they make about their relationship at the end gives the show jeopardy, makes it compelling. And seriously, if a relationship cannot survive one blind date, then how strong is it?”

Some Couples Stay Together

Chris Jagger, host of the show, which airs on KCAL-TV at 12:10 a.m. weeknights with repeats at 5 p.m. daily, is more surprised by the couples who stay together.

“They’ll be on the entire half-hour just ripping each other apart and they’ve been on really good dates with these new people, but in the end they decide to stay together,” Jagger said. “And I’ll be thinking, ‘What? Are you kidding me?’ ”

The ugliest moments, or, perhaps, the finest from the point of view of the viewers and the show, occur when one half of the couple chooses to stay together and the other decides to move on. Jagger said that there have been only a couple of times in the show’s short history that the jilted partner has choked back tears. More often than not, he contended, the dumpee has seen it coming even when the shock and embarrassment on his or her face is impossible to conceal.

“It doesn’t surprise me that people use the show to break up with someone,” Jagger said. “We’ve all been there and it’s hard to actually break up. So I see the show as a good thing. Why subject yourself to a relationship that isn’t really working? I don’t know if people get some kind of TV courage that enables them to do it on the show in front of an audience easier than just at home. Maybe that’s it. But you have to remember that these are relatively short relationships measured in months. They aren’t hard-core long-term marriages or anything like that.”

Even for couples who survive the ordeal intact, the torture of sitting there watching and listening to romance involving their lover and someone else can be excruciating. Aimee Bender, 25, who stayed with her boyfriend of seven months after the show, admitted that it hurt to watch while her partner sat with his arm around another woman and talked about how beautiful she was. She said that her family, watching at home, would have pummeled him on the spot if they had been there.

For Angela Box, 26, who said she was certain her relationship would survive the experience, the anguish arrived before she even appeared on the show.

“I had a nice little lunch date, but my boyfriend’s date went on for seven hours,” she said. “I was calling and calling him, freaking out. I was a mess. What have I done? I’ve pushed him into the arms of this other woman. Then we get on the show and I see her. . . . It was almost a ‘Jerry Springer’ episode. I really wanted to punch her in the face.”

A Good Shot in Late-Night Slot

Telepictures, the syndication arm of Warner Bros., bought the show several years ago, St. John said, but sat on it, waiting for an opportune moment to throw it on the air. With the recent failures of talk shows hosted by Sinbad, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Magic Johnson, the studio figured this alternative would have a good shot in late night.

St. John admits that it’s the squirm factor that provides much of the show’s appeal. All the participants, both couples and the single blind dates, are prompted and interviewed extensively before and after the dates. Though the actual show isn’t scripted, producers brief everyone before the taping about what issues and questions Jagger will pursue.

Insulting Comments Are Encouraged

These, of course, include the characteristics each partner dislikes most about their mate and whether there was any romance--touching, kissing, even sex--on the dates. Participants are additionally encouraged to jump in with insults about their lovers and their rivals as often as possible.

“That’s what makes it fun because the audience wants to identify with one member of the couple,” St. John said. “They want to see them with someone better, a nicer guy. And they like to see someone in a bit of discomfort. People watch TV for drama or comedy. Some kind of heightened reality.”

But why do couples volunteer to subject themselves and their relationships to that kind of agony?

They do get paid--$250 each, plus a date financed by the show. Many, but not all, are aspiring actors, who use the show to showcase their own personality and gain some exposure. And for others, like Jerry Mosley, a 30-something firefighter, it’s simply for kicks, to see what else is out there.

“I’d been dating my girlfriend for about four months and I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to get serious with her,” he said. And the show actually helped, Mosley added. Even though he had to endure his girlfriend telling the world that he’s “cheap,” he countered by complaining about her “big-time PMS.” Despite that, and other revelations, he said the show actually brought them closer together.

“It is like watching a near-accident or one of those high-speed chases where you don’t know if the guy is going to get away or crash into wall,” Mosley said. “But the show made it easier for us to discuss some issues about our relationship in a lighthearted way without a big blowup or the usual drama. It was fun and it helped make us more clear about each other.”

* “Change of Heart” airs on KCAL at 12:10 a.m. weeknights with repeats at 5 p.m. daily.