Hooking Up Preview for August 4  8/1/05

"HOOKING UP," A DOCUMENTARY SERIES FROM ABC NEWS, GOES INSIDE THE UNPREDICTABLE WORLD OF ONLINE DATING

Part 4 of the Series Airs Thursday, August 4

In the fourth hour of the ABC News' documentary series "Hooking Up," Amy, a real estate broker, deals with her ambivalent feelings about David's commitment to her. She knows Mathew is marriage material, but somehow he just doesn't light her fire. Reisha, an information systems consultant, continues her policy of abstinence, stretching Acie's patience to the breaking point. In an attempt to assess where their relationship is going, she travels to Atlanta to spend what turns out to be a tension-filled weekend with him. Sonja, a health food store owner, goes out with a man she mistakes for Prince Charming until he comes on much too strong. She's soon won over by the warmth and humor of an unlikely suitor. A relationship blossoms, but not before she has to decide between her new beau and Ken, another ardent suitor who also has appealing qualities. And Kristin, a high-profile yoga instructor from Idaho, endures a stream of disastrous dates before meeting a man with whom she finally seems to click -- although there are clues that he may be both more and less than she bargained for -- on "Hooking Up," THURSDAY, AUGUST 4 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

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.