Why are we so damned fascinated with dating shows?

Ah, summer. Time for barbecues and flip-flops and beaches. But it's also time for summer throwaway shows and trashy reality programming on the major networks. So you also know what that means: time for yet another show where pretty women get to whine about how they can't find a guy.

The latest example is a new ABC show called How to Get the Guy, debuting June 12, that follows around four women as they do anything they can to find the man of their dreams. According to this New York Daily News article, the women will go around the country applying the super-aggressive man-catching lessons imparted by a couple of dating coaches. Yeesh. Sounds scary, if you ask me.

What I want to know is: how is this different than the show ABC had last year that followed a bunch of pretty women around on online dates? Or Lisa Loeb's show #1 Single? Or any other friggin' show that shows lovesick women eating dinner with piggishly-portrayed men? And why is there an audience for any of this? One of these days, I want to see a show where average-looking people try to date. Oh yeah, there's the creepy-but-engrossing VH1 show Can't Get a Date. But it seems like I'm the only one watching that one.