Alicia's Reality TV: Playing Matchmaker

By Stephen M. Silverman

Friday September 26, 2003 01:00 PM EDT

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Alicia Silverstone is blonde and 26. Samantha Daniels is brunette and 30-something. But that didn't stop the onetime "Clueless" star from playing the real-life matchmaker Daniels in "Miss Match," a sitcom debuting Friday on NBC.

Early reviews have been favorable -- a rare and promising occurrence for Silverstone, who's had more than her fair share of negative press lately. (Last year, reviews for her performance in Broadway's "The Graduate" might have sent a weaker actress back to waitressing.)

On the new show, her character, Kate, is not only a matchmaker but something of a behavioral specialist -- improving the individuals so their matches can work. Best of all, there's always a resolution within 30 minutes. (After all, this is TV.)

In real life, Daniels and her 4-year-old company, called Samantha's Table, reportedly have a database of more than 10,000 eligible bachelors, and an initial one-on-one consultation costs $400.

But that's just for starters. Count on spending perhaps $10,000 if you want the full works: a deluxe package that can include a fashion stylist and a concierge, as well as other extras.

"A lot of people picture matchmakers like Yenta in 'Fiddler on the Roof,' who's old and unattractive ... and has a hair growing out of her chin," Daniels, a Philadelphia native who now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles (where she has opened a West Coast branch of her service), tells the Associated Press.

"I couldn't be further from that," she added.

Still, when AP profiled Daniels last summer -- shortly after NBC bought her pitch for the series -- the news service did expose some interesting news: She was single.