Love is ON the Air
What
woman hasn’t called, texted, or met with a friend to discuss how a date went or
how a relationship is or isn’t progressing? From the time we are still in grade
school, when we ask “Do you think he likes you? What did he say to you?” it
seems we are programmed to love hearing about love.
Maybe
that’s why there’ve been countless movies, books, and TV shows with a
relationship at their center. However, in 2002, reality TV took romance to a
whole other level with its show The Bachelor.
ABC actually passed on the idea when it was first presented to them, but when
the creators said they thought they could get a proposal at the end, ABC
decided to take a chance. It worked out well for the network. Twenty-two seasons
later, the show has become one of television’s biggest successes. It averages
eight million viewers in the US, and there are variations in eighteen countries
that include the Middle East, South America, Australia and Russia. The US also
has The Bachelorette, Bachelor in
Paradise, and The Bachelor Winter
Games.
Bachelor
Nation, as it now likes to call itself, has spawned fantasy leagues, drinking
games, and viewing parties. In just one US season, The Bachelor garnered more than 22 million dollars in advertising
revenue. And it seems that there is not a day that goes by in which some
current or former Bachelor contestant is featured in articles on the Internet.
Yet, ironically, only two of the twenty-one US Bachelor pairs are still
together. The Bachelorette has a
little better statistics with 6 of the 13 still a couple. By this time, it’s
clear, that for most, the perfect romance will sour soon after the final
credits. So why do we still watch in such huge numbers?
Some
have speculated it’s because of our innate interest in dating stories. We like
to hear about, read about, and talk about romance that is unfolding. Even if
we’re not sure what we’re seeing on the show is completely real, it feels as if
we get to tag along on fantasy dates and watch developing relationships filled
with both romantic promise and tearful frustration.
Some
say The Bachelor franchise is so
popular because men talk about their feelings and emotions on the show. In real
life, it’s often hard to get men to do that, so women are fascinated to hear
the show’s hunks let themselves be vulnerable and express their emotions
freely.
Knowing
how popular the whole franchise is now, I wondered what it might have been like
to first imagine such a reality show and then pitch it to get it on the air.
Though my new novel, Looking for Love,
is in no way related to The Bachelor,
it was a lot of fun to create characters who were a part of a crazy journey
into reality TV romance. It was interesting to envision no real budget or
developed plan for what would happen once the show got the okay. In the end, I
think Looking for Love shows readers
that romance is and is not what we expect it to be.
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