CBS has just signed on a new reality show tentatively titled “Arranged Marriage”. The series will follow four adults, age 25-45, who are so unlucky in love they are willing to let their family and friends choose a spouse for them. The couple, once chosen, will exchange vows as part of the show and then let cameras document their first (awkward) days of marriage.

The premise is eerily similar to Fox’s “Married by America”, where the audience picked a spouse for the contestants. Personally, I would trust America to find me a suitable mate before I would trust my loved ones but maybe that’s just me. There is one big difference between the shows, CBS is going to frontload the series with a wedding so there is no backing out. On “Married By America”, no one actually got married.

“Arranged Marriage” is being developed by “Project Runway” and “Top Chef” producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz which is promising but you have to wonder who they will get to participate in the show. It seems hard to believe that stable adults would enlist themselves into a legal marriage with a stranger, especially when the marriage is being set up by a production company called Magical Elves. I guess people have done more for less, and who knows, maybe it will actually workout. Look at the original “Bachelorette”, Trista and her husband Ryan Sutter. They have been married for five years and are expecting their second child. But they are definitely the exception to the reality show romance rule. If you think you could handle getting married on TV, you can find casting information on the show’s official site.