We’ve already got the official word from Bravo that Millionaire Matchmaker will, indeed, be returning for Season 8, with this news coming out before Season 7 had even wrapped!
Clearly, Patti and her new crew have been doing something right this season and have managed to maintain relevance where other once-popular shows have failed to demonstrate the same kind of staying power. So, what exactly has been the key to success for Millionaire Matchmaker over the long haul and, more specifically, during Season 7? Let’s take a closer look:
Patti and crew wrapped up Season 7 on a special night with a very special guest. NeNe Leakes enlisted Patti’s help in setting up two of her Bridesmaids but, as it turns out, Patti is the one who seems to have benefited most from the arrangement. Millionaire Matchmaker was moved to Sunday night for its finale and followed Married to Medicine and The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s crazy (and most watched episode in franchise history) reunion part 1. This coveted time slot and NeNe’s appearance helped vault Matchmaker’s finale to season and series high ratings of 1,862,000 total viewers.
Despite its finale success, however, Millionaire Matchmaker Season 7 saw huge ratings discrepancies over the course of its 18 episodes. Early on, when celebrity guest daters included Jonathan Cheban, Courtney Kerr, Top Chef’s Stefan Richter and RHONJ’s Rosie Pierri, Matchmaker was averaging well over a million viewers per episode. Then, you may remember, around Valentines Day the show went on a three-week hiatus. I’m not sure if some viewers forgot about the show in the mean time, were simply less interested in the later-season daters, or ruled out Thursdays on Bravo altogether thanks to Patti’s new follow-up act: Online Dating Rituals of the American Male, but viewership hit a steady decline for the remaining episodes.
This season marked a big change for Millionaire Matchmaker. It was a season of out with the old and in with the new. Patti brought on new matchmaking employees, a new office, even a new outlook on love thanks to her personal relationship success (and some advice from fellow Bravolebrity Dr. V). Personally, I also felt something of a shift in the show’s feel. It seemed like there was less focus on the actual date portion of the show and more time devoted to Patti and her crew’s witticisms and antics. It also seemed like the follow up tidbits about the continued relationships between the daters were more generic and less informative than seasons past. (Admittedly, this was the first full-season I watched in a few years.) I did really like seeing all the Bravolebrity guest daters and, to me, their appearances best explain the ratings question posed above.
Clearly, Bravo made the judgement that whatever went down this season was a big enough success to warrant renewal. If it were up to me, Millionaire Matchmaker Season 8 would keep the new crew and format as well as adding in as many celebrity (and especially Bravolebrity!) daters as possible, but give us a little bit of a fuller picture of what happens to the couples post-show. Perhaps even adding a follow up episode at the end where we check in with any couples that are still seeing each other? Is it just me or did Patti used to do this in seasons past? What happened to the Millionaire Matchmaker Reunion??
It seems that no matter how long Millionaire Matchmaker goes on it will continue to find an audience, especially as it continues to adapt and change. What did you think of Millionaire Matchmaker Season 7 and what do you think Patti should change for Season 8?