Reality AF: How Netflix Is Burying The Bachelor + What to Watch This Week

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our new column, Reality AF. Every Monday, Terry Terrones will check in and talk about the state of reality TV, plus provide a Top 5 list of what’s coming up this week that you should not miss.

Thanks to Netflix, The Bachelor franchise is dead.

No, ABC hasn’t canceled its long-running, controversial, dating and relationship reality series. But The Bachelor has evolved into the old guy at the club: Uncool, trying to attract a younger audience that isn’t interested, and just enough out of sync with the times that it can make you feel a bit awkward being around it.

Don’t get me wrong, I used to love The Bachelor. When it debuted in 2002, I was instantly hooked. Its odd premise, high level of cheesiness, ridiculously metaphorical dates, and its human Ken doll host all led to audiences enjoying it for its saccharine view of love but also the ability to mock it in good fun.

When The Bachelor eventually embraced what audiences loved about it, the show practically became a parody. From there the series blew up, leading to multiple spin-offs and becoming part of the pop culture zeitgeist for two decades. Even if you’ve never watched an episode, chances are you have been invited to a viewing party, understand what it means to “catch feelings,” and have heard “do you accept this rose?” a dozen times, likely out of context.

If you’re a Bach fan, you’ve also wondered why Chris Harrison had to tell everyone there’s one rose left at the Rose Ceremony. We can all see the rose table, Chris!

Make no mistake, The Bachelor, along with The Real World, Survivor, and The Amazing Race, is one of the godfathers of reality TV. That said, it’s also out of touch. Part of that is due to the series being embroiled in endless controversies and several contestants going on the show only to boost their social media following. Many simply aren’t there for (I’m so sorry…) the right reasons, which dilutes the quality of the series.

With all that in mind, an even bigger issue for The Bachelor is Netflix, which has put its own twist on the dating show format and scored with several series that are bingeable, risqué, unique, and still have all the tongue-in-cheek playfulness The Bachelor was built on but with few of it’s foibles. Simply stated, Netflix dating programs are fun, fast, sexy, and silly.

This is best exemplified by two shows hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, with the pair supplanting Chris Harrison as the go-to hosts for reality relationship shows due to their openness about the troubles in their own relationship. They give their series a gravitas Harrison lacked, yet still keep the mood light.

In Love Is Blind, contestants can’t see each other, they can only talk and get to know each other while inside individual pod-like rooms. They then must decide if they want to get engaged, then they’ll meet in person and see if love grows.