For this open forum post, I would like to talk about the only two reality television shows that I watch: The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Both of these shows air on ABC. The Bachelor has been airing since 2002, and the Bachelorette since 2003. On both network and cable TV in the US today there is such a large number of reality shows fighting for popularity amongst viewers. Both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are two shows that have been able to stand the test of time in a competitive TV market and industry (and have remained successful!), and their cast members often remain prominent figures in pop culture.
For anyone reading this post who needs a brief summary of how The Bachelor and The Bachelorette work, here is a brief run-down on the shows. The Bachelor films in the fall and then airs each year from January-March. The Bachelorette films in the spring and then airs each year from May-July. The Bachelor revolves around a single guy (the "Bachelor") who is looking for his future wife, and the producers of the show find him approximately 25 single women to meet and date. Each week the Bachelor will go on both group dates and one-on-one dates with the women and then narrow down the dating pool, until it finally becomes the final two, and hopefully things will end with a proposal! The same exact set-up works on The Bachelorette except it is one woman dating lots of guys.
It is interesting to try and look at these two shows in terms of the cultural diamond. Both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have an interesting team of creators behind them. The producers of these shows (Mike Fleiss and Elan Gale are the two main producers) are both active on social media and in promoting the show, but are never really shown on camera. They impose very strict rules for their contestants during filming. They have been known to have great relationships with some of the cast members, and disastrous relationships with others (even going so far as to call certain cast members things such as "worst Bachelor we have ever had"). It is also interesting to see how the creators market each Bachelor and Bachelorette (for example, with recent Bachelor Sean who was a Christian, most of the marketing around his season focussed on the fact that he observed the traditional Christian belief in waiting until marriage to have sex). As far as receivers of the shows, that would be mostly the women of America. There aren't a lot of male fans of The Bachelor of The Bachelorette (except for some poor husbands or boyfriends that are roped into watching with their significant others). But this is a show that attracts women of all ages; from high schoolers and college students, to young career women, all the way up to moms, middle aged women and even grandmothers. The appeal of a woman or man finding their soulmate at long-last is a theme that seems to be popular with all generations of female viewers. And lastly, these shows are very successful in the social world. Both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette rely heavily on social media to help promote their shows and to help with enagage viewers. Live tweeting is a huge part of each show (I can speak from personal experience as my Twitter feed always changes to all #Bachelor and #Bachelorette when a new episode of these shows is on, and I often join in on the Twitter conversation). As I stated earlier, the cast members of these shows often reach celebrity status after being apart of Bachelor Nation (as the producers call it). Being on either The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is also a great way for a cast member to get endorsement deals or to take their personal business to the next level and get national attention (such as Emily Maynard's jewelry line, Catherine Lowe (formerly Guidici's stationery line), Josh Murray's fitness business, etc). Some contestants even use their experiences from the show to make a profit, such as Courtney Robertson writing a New York Times best-selling memoire about her life to-date, and her time competing on The Bachelor.
There is more then enough information written above (I think!) to have a class discussion about these two shows, but I think there is still more to be discussed. One thing that makes these two shows interesting is that unlike other reality shows of a "competitive" nature, The Bachelor and Bachelorette aren't filmed live. They're each filmed a few months in advance, and this allows for the possibility of spoilers. Both shows are famously spoiled each year by popular blogger Reality Steve. (You can visit his blog here: http://realitysteve.com/.) I won't go into too much detail about Reality Steve as you all can visit his blog if you would like to see more for yourself, but I will say that he gets the spoilers right every season down to the most intricate details (and so far has only been wrong about the final prediction during just one Bachelorette season). I am a huge fan of Reality Steve. I personally see the entertainment value in The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but I also see how much of it is staged and "not-real." I think Reality Steve's commentary is absolutely hilarious, and I also find it fascinating how he is able to find out all the spoilers for each season so early in advance and almost always is 100% correct. So I am a big fan of his. But just about all of my friends and family members who watch these shows are die-hard haters of his blog and spoilers, and are very passionate against "not ruining the magic" of each season. I find this interesting, and my personal perspective is there isn't really much magic to begin with is so much of what you're seeing is manufactured by a few producers and a bunch of Hollywood ideals.
One last thing of note- that there is a popular web series inspired by the The Bachelor and Bachelorette that spoofs both shows called "Burning Love." My personal favorite is the Burning Love Bachelorette edition... I have seen most of the episodes twice. They are completely over-the-top and ridiculous, but it also highlights how the real-life shows can be like that a lot of the times, too. I think the fact that there has been such successful spoof series also just points back to the fact on how much of an influence in pop culture the two original shows have made. Here is a clip for the Burning Love Bachelorette season:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUFbLD6-vgc
I would love to hear if anyone from our class watches either The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, or their spin-off shows, which are Bachelor Pad and Bachelor in Paradise (which I don't actually watch). These shows have definitely made a lasting mark on American TV and other parts of pop culture by incorporating social media and even inspiring a successful spoof series.
-Annaliese
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