As I scroll through my Snapchat stories every Tuesday morning, I am confronted with pixelated images of JoJo Fletcher donning some skimpy bikini or sparkly ball gown.
“The Bachelorette” is a crowd favorite. There are viewing parties, wine nights and even brackets to guess who wins the final rose.
This show takes up two hours of our lives each Monday evening and regardless of those precious hours being whisked away via catfights, pool parties and dates gone awry, we take joy in seeing good-looking people doing stupid things.
I don’t exactly have an answer for this timeless question. Reality television dates back to Allen Funt’s series, “Candid Camera,” which debuted in 1948.
ABC’s “The Bachelor” began in 2002, followed by “The Bachelorette” in 2003. There are 32 seasons combined.
For 14 years, millions of Americans have tuned in to witness the countless blunders of hopeless romantics.
I’m just wondering what the glue is to keep up such a record fanbase alive and how said base doesn’t get tired, bored or indifferent about the entire process.
Are we so hopeless in our romantic lives that we watch other, far more unfortunate individuals, falter even more than us?
The truth is, “The Bachelorette” makes me feel good about my life. I have morals and friends and I’m confident that my title would list something more empowering than “Canadian” or “Hippie.”
I like seeing innocent people cry for senseless reasons. I enjoy when the villain of the show, who is clearly hired on to create drama, is overconfident and bullies the other contestants.
It’s great and so utterly unrealistic from our actual lives that it makes for fantastic entertainment. The idea that these people on our screens are actually “real” is so far-fetched that I can’t really wrap my head around it.
I know, I know ... “Jessica, we all saw Ben Higgins at Little 500 — he’s clearly real!” But is he?
He came back to his alma mater, shrouded as a man who found true love, but he is a celebrity. Once people step foot on “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette” set, they’re no longer simpletons of this universe.
They are the subjects of many preying eyes in this country.
Although Higgins apparently found his true love on the show, he wasn’t charioted around the stadium for his conquering of modern day romance.
I can assure you, there were many fathers, boyfriends and husbands who attended Little 500 who could just have easily claimed true love. They didn’t get to be the center of attention.
I’m certainly not criticizing the show. I think it’s a masterpiece that defies our human attention span.
It’s just interesting to witness such a phenomenon develop and morph from season to season.
I was seven years old when that first season came out. Now I’m 21. God knows if we’ll still be watching television when I’m 30 but if we are, I’d be hard-pressed to say “The Bachelor” won’t still be airing in 2025.
Truly, I think the series has worked so well because this type of reality television is quite possibly the antithesis of reality.
jlkarl@umail.iu.edu
@jkarl26
