The Bachelor
I admit it. I’ve watched “The Bachelor” since the very beginning. Something about
it got me hooked, and now it’s one of those guilty pleasures I can’t seem to shake.
But lately, what started off as fun and fluffy has turned in to more of a car wreck.
The premise is awesome – it’s the kind of Cinderella story that every girl loves.
The prince goes around trying his slipper on every pretty maid’s foot in attempt to
find his true love. And keeping all the maidens locked in the castle together while
he goes through “the process” makes for interesting side stories when cattiness and jealousy come into play. After all, there’s only so much of one prince to go
around.
Yet alas, the fairy tale has gotten old. We have seen other sides to the prince that
we do not like. We’ve seen uber-popular “Bachelor Bob” set new records with sloppy kisses, only to dump his chosen lady-love mere days after gracing the cover of People magazine. And after professing his hesitancy with commitment from the highest mountain, he plunged head-first into happily-ever-aftering with a beautiful soap opera star. Hearts were broken, but Bob was forgiven. After all that, he’s a
married man now, game over.
Then some cocky football player used the show for his own person PR campaign. The girls were young and outrageous, taking shots from a beer keg and falling down silly all over themselves. We weren’t suprised that the romance didn’t last there. It was all for play, and we knew it.
And now we’ve got this new guy, a 40 year old professional Bass fisherman. There areladies vying for his attention, seasoned veterans of the dating wars, most in their
thirties. This isn’t a game anymore, this is combat. And it’s pretty nasty. I don’t know when I’ve heard as many words “bleeped” out of one person’s mouth on
prime-time television! Where are Jerry Springer’s bouncers when you need them? This is hard to watch. Can these amazing, beautiful women feel so desperate that theybreak down in tears for all of America to witness? Over some guy they’ve known for 2 weeks? Come on, people! They’ve seen the show, they know how it works – and yet,the drama continues.
By the way, this time around, I’m rooting for Mary to get the guy. I can’t see her
go through heartbreak a second time.
I think it works better when the show is in “Bachelorette” mode. There are been
two Bachelorettes so far, and both are in happy relationships with the men they
chose. Women just make better decisions. And men can handle competition more
easily. At least that’s how it looks on “reality” TV!
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