Posted in: ABC, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: opinion, the bachelor

The Bachelor: To Save Itself, The Franchise Needs to Go Away for a Bit

As controversies and criticisms swirl, ABC should consider putting The Bachelor on hold for a while and retooling the franchise to save it.

The Bachelor franchise has been through the wringer these last few years, facing numerous allegations of racism, sexism, and now a hostile work environment amid mass layoffs behind the camera. They have also announced that The Bachelorette will not air in 2025 and is "on pause". Bachelor in Paradise will be filmed this spring to air later on in the year. The Golden Bachelor was a success, but the break-up of the couple and controversies that came out of that show bled over to The Golden Bachelorette, and the ratings showed that. What it might be time for is to put this whole franchise that we know and love "on pause".

The Bachelor Can Go Away For A Year

Setting the controversies aside for a second, the show itself has been in a rut for a couple of years now. Anyone who watches the show knows to follow along with the show's hashtag and get the various reactions from Bachelor Nation as it airs. Frankly, that is way more entertaining than the show at this point. The current Bachelor, Grant, seems like an okay guy, but he could not look less interested in being on the show, and even some of the women this season are questioning how it could even be possible to fall in love so quickly.

Every season follows the same patterns now from the odd introductions on the first episode, to the troublemaker contestant stirring the pot in the middle of the season, to the actual feelings in the last couple of episodes. It's the same thing over and over, and the fans have noticed. Not to mention, they got stuck casting people from previous uninteresting seasons to lead and then acting surprised when they got a boring lead. It is very obvious that most on the show have given up pretending they are there to find a soul mate and instead are there to start their influencer career.

What it feels like The Bachelor needs to do is take a year off. They have done some periodic resets over the years, but I mean a hard reset. Take a year and retool a few things so that we can get back to the romance of it all. Make us fall back in love with the show and the people on it again. The seasons of The Bachelor and the spin-offs that worked best were the ones that kept the central premise of the show front and center: someone is there to find their person. Stop making it about the drama between the girls and boys on the show and let that stuff play out organically. So much of it feels so forced now.

There is no doubt in my mind that the troublemakers are kept around by the producers, forcing the star's hands to keep them around for the drama. Do away with that. Change some rules, make it so The Bachelor has to talk to everyone each week so they have a more informed decision, and we can fall for more contestants on a deeper level. Give us three group dates instead of two to keep the groups smaller and more of them get a chance for us to get to know them.

Messing with the formula is their only shot here, as the audience is so tired of trying to defend this franchise to others amid all of the problematic stuff surrounding it. After 60 seasons, with little changes made, some drastic ones are needed, or we viewers won't be willing to give a rose to the show anymore.

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