These ‘Shipmates’ Are Looking for Love

As summer draws to a close, viewers will see plenty of stormy seas on KCBS-TV starting this week. “Shipmates,” a new unscripted dating series set on the Carnival Cruise Lines’ Fun Ships, will premiere today at 3 p.m., and station officials and the show’s producers are optimistic that it will give a boost to KCBS’ afternoon lineup.

Each installment will focus on a single couple on a three-day, two-night date aboard a cruise ship, and will follow them from their initial meeting through their farewells. “When most people go out with someone they don’t know, they can be polite for a few hours,” said John Tomlin, one of the creators and executive producers to the series. “When they’re stuck together for three days, they stop being nice and start being real. They can either really like each other or really get on each other’s nerves. Looking at some of these couples is like watching a train wreck.”

Host Chris Hardwick, formerly of MTV’s dating show “Singled Out,” said the participants have strong personalities, and “they either love or loathe each other.” The syndicated series replaces the canceled “Curtis Court” and will lead into the hit “Judge Judy” courtroom show. Love on the water also will appear later next month on Fox’s “Love Cruise: The Maiden Voyage,” a prime-time, unscripted series featuring singles living and loving on a private yacht.

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Compiled by Times staff writers