Dating

Poetry on dating sounds all too familiar (Re "Her dates stir the haiku poet's soul," Jan. 16:) Hai haiku poet My dating life echoes yours Is it them or us? Jay Pusnups Santa Monica In regard to the weekly column Single in the City, I am deeply disturbed that I have not read a positive comment about men. I understand that this column is meant to be humorous. However, every week it is filled with disparaging, rude and sarcastic remarks about men. Men are portrayed as fools.

She was the madam of skid row, a working girl whose brothel consisted of several Porta-Potties at the corner of Sixth and San Julian. The johns came to the johns, and Madam TJ reeled them in with a fetching smile and slinky strut, all of it playing out a block from the LAPD's Central Division. There was no more jaw-dropping snapshot of skid row as a rock-bottom depository, a place that existed on its own terms, outside the law and the collective consciousness.

The TV ads for dating services should carry this disclaimer: Notice! The attractive singles used in these commercials to promote our services are not necessarily representative of the dating partners that we may find for you. We cannot guarantee that only beautiful women and handsome men are on file with us. Please don't sign up with us until you fully understand this. Matthew Okada, Pasadena

Welcome to the humanist era of VH1. "I don't know anyone who goes in a relationship saying, 'I don't need openness, I don't need honesty,'" Chad Ochocinco said in the premiere episode of his new dating show, "Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch." As celebrity daters go, Ochocinco is on the holistic end. A star wide receiver with the Cincinnati Bengals, and also a well-liked participant in the most recent season of "Dancing With the Stars," he's sufficiently famous. Yet on the first few episodes of this show, he often appears slightly dorky, as if he were still excited that he could have this many attractive women at his beck and call.

Re Greg Braxton's story "TV Finds Drama in Interracial Dating" (March 22): Among the 115 episodes of "Head of the Class" produced by Rich Eustis and myself, a good many were stories in which students of different races dated each other, fell in love, fell out of love--all the things teenagers do. We made it a policy never to articulate the obvious fact that these relationships were interracial. We wanted, instead, to leave our young audience with the impression that friendship, understanding and love between races is to be taken for granted, not used as a cheap hook for a "very special episode."

Re T.L. Stanley's "Thanks, but That Won't Work Either" (Aug. 12): I agree with her observations on how married folks are out of touch with dating. Is she actually friends with people who would say such inane things? John Coluccio Hollywood

All dating shows exploit the tension between inner and outer beauty, but two new ones make a point of it. "More to Love," which premieres tonight on Fox, is a high-body-mass-index version of "The Bachelor," with 330-pound, 26-year-old real estate investor Luke Conley winnowing a field of 20 "plus-size" women to find a Match Made on Television. (Indeed, it shares an executive producer with "The Bachelor," Mike Fleiss.

Confession: I have cheated on almost every boyfriend I have ever had. No, it's not what you think. I am definitely a monogamous person, but most often, there is a man in my life other than who I am dating. I may not always be in a relationship, but I always have a boyfriend -- a gay boyfriend, that is. For a single woman in Los Angeles, the gay boyfriend brings something to the table that no heterosexual man can do. For me, it's the combo platter -- the best parts of each sex. As an example, let's take my current friend, David.

I read with interest Maria Elena Fernandez's article, "Inside Every Frog Hides a Prince," (June 5) relating Alison Armstrong's philosophy on frogs and princes. This is the exact opposite of what I believe -- a frog is a frog is a frog! Armstrong indicates that a man at a seminar told her that she was a "frog farmer." He implied that she was turning princes into frogs. Rather, I believe that Armstrong might have been a woman who perpetually dated frogs. But I doubt that she created them.