Survival of the cutest

Paris, "The City of Lights," renowned for its beauty and romance, descended into the depths of "love lite" when ABC's "The Bachelor" recently came to town. \nAlthough the main character is a handsome emergency-room physician and there are 25 single, beautiful women along with a French chateau, limousines, champagne and bundles of red roses, the one word that repeatedly comes out of my mouth when hearing someone discussing the latest Parisian installment is "yuck". \nYuck for the shallow, cheesy nature of the show. Yuck for the notion that anyone would choose the person they're going to marry in a time span of six weeks, and on national TV no less. And yuck for anyone who actually buys into yet another superficial display of 15 minutes of fame.\nPerhaps "The Bachelor" would not bother me so much if the concept was actually successful. The last bachelor, NFL quarterback Jesse Palmer, called it quits with his chosen soul mate, Jessica Bowlin, just one month after the show's finale. I guess that is what happens when you go with your "gut instinct," as Jesse told Jessica in the finale. Bowlin did note that the show failed to present "ideal circumstances in which to start a relationship" -- a belatedly observant remark that the 10 million viewers who tune in to the show every week seem unaware of. "The Bachelor" is now, as Jesse might say, 0-for-5 in creating happy, lasting relationships. Big surprise there.\nIt's not that falling in love isn't wonderful. It's just that the cliché-packed show has gone too far, too soon in the name of love, not to mention credibility. The entire premise of "The Bachelor" consists of watching people instantly (think two weeks) declare their love for one another. And somehow, in this process they call "love," the contestants seem to forget all the bachelor's dates with the other women. Somehow, each contestant seems to push aside the bachelor's multiple love declarations and numerous make-out sessions.\nThere's another thing that gets to me: In the last episode of each season, the bachelor must choose between his top two contestants -- always a drawn-out, agonizing process. I don't know about you, but if I were one of the contestants, it would bother me that the man I would supposedly be spending the rest of my life with found another woman to be almost as rose-worthy. \nAnd how is it that all 25 women are so deeply attracted to this one man? What if one of the contestants actually looked beyond the bachelor's handsomeness and the TV cameras and found the chemistry simply nonexistent? How come that has never happened? Could it have something to do with the '15 minutes of fame' concept?\n"The Bachelor" is ABC's own humiliating version of a harem of women (all slim, attractive and mostly blonde) vying for a single man's attention. It's a demeaning display of "survival of the cutest" at its best. These women have got it all wrong: they don't need a man; they need a lesson in the true meaning of love.