THE MARKETING-MANUFACTURED DILEMMA.

Shows like NBC's Today burn through a lot of material. This morning I saw a perfect example of the marketing-manufactured problem, now solved by Websites and TV psychotherapists. Today's angst-aggravator:

Couples-who've-moved-to-another-town-struggling-to-find-other-couples-to-make-friends-with.

Did you know there's an epidemic of duo-relationship frustration? Today cleared it up today. You can try to go see the segment on their Website, but they haven't made it easy. Look under "Video from Today," and good hunting, though I can save you the trouble, unless you want to laugh firsthand.

See, it's almost like dating all over again, according to the Today-recruited sufferers. Will she like her, and if she does, will he like him? Well, at least the couple have each other to talk to about the other couple on the way home from the "date." Yes, this is probably the greatest thrash since the discovery of pitfalls surrounding kids' playdates. And this ongoing exploration of 21st Century sociology undoubtedly required a team of publicity experts, PR agency flacks, writers, producers, camerapersons and other technicians, TV show bookers, and the Today resident shrink (and contributing editor to Cookie Magazine), all to slip in a teeny plug for three you-guessed-it "coupling" Websites (who aren't getting a plug here -- go Google-Ask-SearchMash 'em yourself).