Hooking Up Part 2, July 21 Episode Review 7/20/05

Consider these dating sites as you read about Hooking Up.

In the second hour of the ABC News documentary series "Hooking Up," Amy, a realtor and inveterate optimist, brings Chris, a professional poker player whom she believes could be her soul-mate, to meet her sister and brother-in-law. Their opinion of him is not what she had expected and propels her back to the dating scene, even more determined in her mission to find a husband. Meanwhile, Maryam, a photographer, asks her suitor on their first date if he's gay. Despite this awkward opener, it's clear they are intrigued with each other. And Cynthia, who manages a hair salon, goes on a date with a professor she met while "speed dating" and tries to decide whether their age difference is too great to overcome. "Hooking Up" airs THURSDAY, JULY 21 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network and continues Thursdays through August 11.

Once stigmatized as the last resort of desperate souls and lonely hearts, today internet dating services are a billion-dollar industry used by an estimated 40 million Americans. "Hooking Up," a five-part documentary series from the producer behind the award-winning ABC News series "Hopkins 24/7," "Boston 24/7" and "NYPD 24/7," offers an intimate look at the sometimes bewildering, often hilarious, and occasionally frightening world of online dating.

Like the "24/7" series, "Hooking Up" puts a particular aspect of our culture under a microscope, focusing in this case on the yearnings, trials and tribulations of eleven Manhattan women. Their experiences - the connections, the rejections, the dating disasters - are a reminder that, for better or worse, every date is an adventure into uncharted territory.

Terence Wrong is producer and executive producer of "Hooking Up." Brad Hebert and Bryan Taylor are co-producers. Rudy Bednar is the senior executive producer and Phyllis McGrady is the executive-in-charge.