One of the main points Butler emphasizes about television text is the existence of polysemy, or multiple meanings, which �contributes to television�s broad appeal� (Butler, 6). Television �contradicts itself frequently and haphazardly [presenting] many heterogeneous meanings in one night�s viewing� (Butler, 6). This is definitely true for Miss Match, which airs from 9 to 10 p.m. on Fridays with a 2.5 rating, 8 share among adults 18-49 and 6.2 million viewers overall (TVbarn, par. 3). Whether the whole series has been watched or just a few minutes, a sense of confusion may befuddle the audience because, despite Star�s insistence on the show being about romance, its stance on relationships, careers and women is extremely conflicted (Byrne, par. 10). On one hand it seems to be pro-romance and Damsel-in-Distress. On the other it seems to be pro-independence and Miss Self-Sufficient.

Miss Match, still in its first season, has been called a hybrid of Ally McBeal, Sex and the City, Emma and Clueless. The series, like Ally McBeal, could be called a �dramedy� with the �aspects of sitcom, soap opera, courtroom drama and MTV� (Creeber, 45). It has the comedy of a sitcom, the relationship drama of the soap opera, court cases and a pop artist, Macy Gray, singing its theme song. It takes place in California, and the sets vary between Fox�s law office, Victoria�s bar, Kate�s house and a few other rarely seen settings. The scenes are shot with a single camera.

Kate Fox is �kind of a Sweet Valley High doppelganger for Carrie Bradshaw� (Sawyer, par. 2). She has a little bit of Ally in her, as seen in her career as a lawyer, specifically a divorce attorney, at the law firm of her father, Jerrold Fox. There is some of Clueless� Cher in her as well, which is shown in her side job of being a matchmaker for various individuals, who range from friends to judges to strangers in a bookstore. She has a sweet and happy disposition shown in her optimism for her cases, both law based and love based. Her character is based on Samantha Daniels, who is a divorce attorney turned matchmaker.

There are many other protagonists in the show that are comparable to Ally McBeal characters. Kate�s main interest, or Billy of the show, is in Michael Mendelsohn, an architect she usually uses as a date for her lovelorn clients. There is definitely some romantic tension between the two of them. Victoria, comparable to Ally�s Renee and Cher�s Dionne, is her best friend and confidante. Nick Paine, the Richard Fish, is her arrogant legal partner. Claire, the Elaine, is her meddling and witty office manager.

Miss Match has two opposing viewpoints. The very first contrasting image of romance versus independence is shown in the basic formula it follows each week that consists of a divorce court case and a love match; both are usually connected or related in some way. For example, in �The Love Bandit,� Kate pairs up her gynecologist with a guy, who seems sincere but turns out to be a scam artist. The court case of the episode then deals with Kate prosecuting him for fraud. Before the audience could possibly get comfortable in believing in the genuine emotion of love, romance and the institution of possible marriage, the writers usurp the feeling by twisting the story into one of deceit.

A second and very obvious contrast is within the title, Miss Match, which is a homonym for the word �mismatch.� According to Dictionary.com, a �mismatch� is an unsuitable pairing. The �match� in the title could be seen as a shortened form of �matchmaker,� someone who arranges marriages. It could also be seen as it is, meaning a counterpart and harmonizer. �Miss� is a courtesy title for a single woman, and �to miss� is to fail. Putting the two words together, a few definitions can be derived: a single woman who arranges marriages, a harmonizing single woman and a failed pairing. Depending on how it is looked at, the title can have a positive connotation for romance or a negative.

A third differing of viewpoints is found in Kate Fox herself. Like Ally, she is �double-coded, at once an independent professional woman in charge of her destiny and a vulnerable... figure waiting for �Mr. Right� to come along� (Creeber, 45). One minute, she will say it has not occurred to her that there might be some people who enjoy being alone (Sawyer, par. 4). The next, she will tell her therapist she is happy being single and does not care if she is in a relationship or not. She is a successful attorney and it is assumed she is financially stable because she owns her own home. However, she still gets giddy over the prospect of a date with Michael in �Bad Judgement.� In �The Love Bandit,� she whines to her father that she wants to be tough like him, and he, after calling her a �killer dolphin,� pats her on the head. It is hard to take her seriously in this scene because of the way she is laying on a couch with the camera looking down on her. In �Jive Turkey,� her own heart, sweetness and lack of killer instinct are evident when she tries to get a rapper joint custody with his children, her parents to have dinner in the same house and to pair up two lonely people.

This leads to the fourth contradictory image: Kate Fox�s career choice and her clothing. She is a divorce lawyer. Her main job is to aid in the splitting of once wonderful relationships. She is also a matchmaker. In this job, she pairs people up in the hopes that something lovely and magical will happen. Clients from both careers provide nice dramatic foils for her. While playing lawyer in the courtroom, she usually wears fitted business attire with a little feminine frill. In the office, she wears simple blouses and flowing tops with A-line skirts, depending on whether she is working on a case or on a matchmaking deal. If the scene revolves around a case, she will wear the more appropriate pastel blouse and skirt. If the scene revolves around one of her matchmaking clients, the shirt will be more colorful or will have a pattern. When chatting with her friends or outside of the office, she will wear anything from sexy little dresses to sundresses to Capri pants and pretty tops to jeans and a T-shirt. It is usually easy to tell when wardrobe is trying to represent the two different Kate Foxes: the self sufficient, happy, independent character and the giddy single girl looking for a guy to love.

A fifth important, though not necessarily contradictory, image is that of food. Kate Fox does not obsess about food. She is shown eating numerous times throughout the series. �With role models like Calista Flockhart, Lara Flynn Boyle and Courtney Cox seemingly promoting eating disorders,� much like Buffy, Kate Fox is �well proportioned� and has a �healthy roundness to her abdomen� (Daugherty, 152). However, food is sometimes used as an emotional tool. Food can be used as a replacement for things that may be lacking in someone�s life (i.e. love). Kate Fox only eats sweets when she is with a man she is interested in -- eating ice cream and talking with Michael in �The Love Bandit� -- or when there is the idea of him -- eating cake while listening to Michael on the answering machine in �Addicted to Love.� In the same episode, the woman she was trying to pair up only ate ice cream when she did not have a man. In other words, she was addicted to love and to ice cream. She needed one of them. When Kate and her ex try to have dinner in �Kate in Ex-tasy,� she ends up going hungry and unfulfilled. One explanation for these scenes could be that they see a guy in Kate Fox�s current stable life, which is already healthy and nurturing, as only added icing. Another one could be that without a man or sweetness, her existence would be bland and boring. A third option, in the case of the woman, a man is the ice cream and sweetness, as well as addicting. A fourth possibility, in the same line of thought, could be that if Kate Fox had a man she would end up being smothered, unhappy and deprived of basic necessities.

Miss Match seems to be a mismatch in its two divergent stances. One message is a woman can be completely happy with a fulfilling career and independence. The second message is a woman needs a man to take care of her and give her a reason to live. There are different instances that illustrate this dramedy�s polysemy, which Butler states to be normal for television. One is the court case and the love match of each episode. Another is its title. A third is Kate Fox�s personality. A fourth is her contrary career and clothes. The final instance discussed is the depiction of food and sweets. Under further scrutiny, it may be seen or argued that Miss Match could, indeed, sway to one side, specifically pro-romance, more than the other. However, since the real world is not purely one thing or another, this dual viewpoint can allow Miss Match to appear more accurate to an average person�s view on love, relationships and romance.

Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications. New Jersey: Wadsworth Publishing, 1994.

Byrne, Bridget. �Miss Match.� Conoe: Lifewise (AP). 3 Dec. 2003. .

Creeber, Glen. Ed. The Television Genre Book. London: BFI Publishing, 2001.

Daugherty, Anne Millard. �Just a Girl: Buffy as Icon.� Reading the Vampire Slayer: An Unofficial Critical Companion to Buffy and Angel. Ed. Roz Kaveney. New York: Tauris Park Paperbacks, 2001.

Sawyer, Terry. �Champagne Bubbles.� PopMatters Television. 29 Sept. 2003. 3 Dec. 2003. .

TVBarn. �NBC PR: Miss Match ratings improve.� TV Barn Ticker. 3 Dec. 2003. .

~* December 10, 2003 @ 4:15 pm *~