‘Single’ Hits on Dating, N.Y.-Style

An intermittently interesting peek inside New York’s dating scene and at a handful of the women who troll its sometimes treacherous waters is the subject of a frothy eight-part documentary series debuting Sunday at 8 p.m. on the Women’s Entertainment (WE) Channel.

“Single in the City” is a baldfaced bid to mine much of the same territory as HBO’s popular “Sex and the City” series, albeit from a “reality” perspective. It’s also from a basic-cable perspective, which means keeping the explicitness meter out of the red zone.

The hourlong program was taped on location in Manhattan last summer, which accounts for the repeated glimpses of the World Trade Center towers. Viewers get brisk introductions to 11 attractive (at least physically) twentysomethings, who are all trying to balance oft-conflicting needs for independence and companionship.

And if we’re to believe these ladies, the pickin’s can be pretty slim.

“If that’s all that’s left, may God strike me lesbian tomorrow,” says attorney-singer Lauren.

With nearly a dozen women to get to know, the cutting between story lines can be abrupt, which can be a blessing and a curse. If you’re stuck listening to one character’s obnoxious blatherings, you know it will be only a couple of minutes before the show moves on to someone else. Yet if you’re eager to see what happens after Allison steps out on her boyfriend with a new man, only to see him at the same nightspot with another woman, you’d prefer to linger awhile.

But as the furious dating action rolls on, and particularly by next week’s episode, the rhythm of the program begins to settle in nicely. And although to know all these women isn’t necessarily to love them, just sitting back and watching can be rather fun.