TLC’s Psychic Matchmaker Premieres Friday May 1

Psychic Matchmaker TLC
Debbie Graham reading a client. Credit: TLC

I may or may not be dating. I may or may not have seen a psychic or two ( … or, um, four) in my life. So when I heard about a show that combines dating and psychics, I thought, “Well, yeah, of course … WHY NOT?!”

TLC Psychic Matchmaker
Debbie Graham reading a client.
Credit: TLC

Actually, that’s not what I thought. I thought, “What lows will reality TV sink to next?” But, you know, I think we scraped the bottom of the barrel with Neighbors With Benefits, so we might be back on the upswing. Enter Psychic Matchmaker, TLC’s new series, which premieres tomorrow night (Friday, May 1) at 10:30p ET/PT (9:30p CT).

It’s guilty pleasure TV, and nothing else. But let’s be fair: It’s Friday night TV. Aren’t we all worn out from thinking about work all week? Isn’t Friday night a great night to lie on the couch and watch a woman read others’ auras to tell them who they should date?

The show promises to “use intuition to match soulmates,” and follows psychic Deborah Graham, a South Florida woman who uses her sixth sense and her ever-growing “date-a-base” to match her clients with their soulmates. This season will deliver 12 half-hour episodes, with the first 2 premiering back-to-back tomorrow night.

Quick background on Deborah: She’s a wife, mother of two and psychic matchmaker. I’m not sure if she’s always had the psychic gift, but we learn in the first episode that her family is very supportive of it. She has clients that hire her to find matches, but she can’t turn off her psychic abilities, so she gets readings on people all over the place: family barbecues, the store, the gym, driving down the street. And she uses those readings to pair them up, in hopes that people will unite with their soulmates (especially their twin flame soulmates, who are, apparently, their one and only true match on this whole gigantic planet of ours).

To be totally honest, I’ve seen some psychics that seemed pretty unique and real. I know there are plenty of folks who disagree with me, but I am open to the idea that perhaps we have a sixth sense, that some of us have tapped into. On the other hand, I’ve also seen some fakes (but they were fun, and harmless!). I don’t necessarily believe there are as many true psychics out there as there claim to be, and the jury’s still out on Deborah. (By “jury,” I mean the jury of one, which is my brain.) Something about her, or maybe just the show itself, seems a bit too scripted, and some of her statements seem a bit too general. I’ll have to watch and see how this all plays out, and if she becomes more convincing to me throughout the season. In the meantime, it’s a fun, lighthearted show that’s good for vegging out to during Friday night couch-time. Guilty pleasure TV? Guilty as charged.