The Bachelor franchise has been suffering in the last several years, and I’m worried it could come to an end without a serious revamp that pulls viewers back in. Throughout the years, The Bachelor and its subsequent spin-offs have become a mainstay of reality TV dating, holding the bar high for new shows that try to exist in a similar space. While The Bachelor is the earliest iteration of the series, The Bachelorette and Bachelor In Paradise have both been popular for years, and The Golden Bachelor side of the franchise is quickly gaining traction, drawing in new Bachelor viewers.
While viewers are interested in Bachelor Nation shows, things have become stale in the last few years of the series. Without new twists and turns in the drama, it’s difficult for the show to still feel fresh and inventive after so many years. Twists like The Bachelorette season 19’s duo of leads can be fun, but it’s difficult to stray from the norm. Rather than bringing in fresh leads who haven’t been on a season in the past or trying new twists, The Bachelor franchise continues to be underwhelming. Things need to change if the franchise is to continue successfully.
The Bachelor & The Bachelorette Are Boring
The Shows Are Always The Same
Although Bachelor Nation fell for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette decades ago, the shows haven’t been performing in the way they did in their early years. Originally premiering in 2002, The Bachelor was a revolutionary concept in reality TV, bringing together a group of eligible women and a male lead who was looking for love. While viewers couldn’t believe that a couple could fall in love so quickly, the weeks of filming and emotional intensity proved to be wildly entertaining. After the success of the original, The Bachelorette proved to be a huge success in the following year for ABC.
While both shows have the same premise, different drama tends to come from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. On The Bachelor, the women tend to be more catty about their issues with one another, while on The Bachelorette, the guys tend to be a bit more reserved about their drama. Both shows have been running for over 20 seasons, and while there have been twists in the series throughout their time on the air, each season is similar. Unfortunately, the lack of diversity in stories from season to season can make the two pillars of the franchise boring to watch.
The Golden Bachelor Is Riddled With Scandal
Gerry’s Left A Stain On The Show
In recent years, there was a push from Bachelor Nation to diversify the shows that the series offered. While The Bachelor and The Bachelorette were both successful for the franchise, viewers were looking for something else to bite into from the creators of their favorite shows. while it had been an idea for several years, The Golden Bachelor didn't actually come to pass until 2023 when ABC converted to an all-reality TV lineup during a major SAG-AFTRA strike. Bringing an older, more mature lead into the fold, The Golden Bachelor had an authentic tone that struck a chord with viewers.
The Golden Bachelor season 1, which featured Gerry Turner as the lead of the series along with a now Emmy-nominated cast of women hoping for his affection, was a massive success, but things didn’t stay positive forever. Gerry, who was presented as a wholesome, sweet grandfather looking for love after losing his late wife, wound up embroiled in scandal after the season’s end. When he and Theresa Nist, his final rose recipient, got engaged, married, and divorced within just a few months, there was a stain on The Golden Bachelor that Bachelor Nation hasn’t been able to let go of.
Bachelor In Paradise Has Plummeted
It Will Return, But Will It Be The Same?
In between the release of the original shows and the release of The Golden Bachelor, Bachelor Nation has seen several other spin-offs from the series. Originally, Bachelor Pad was created as a way to bring singles from the show into a new environment. Competitive in a similar way to Love Island, Bachelor Pad saw singles from the original shows coupling up and competing. While the series didn’t last, the popularity of Love Island UK heated up and pushed Bachelor producers to create Bachelor In Paradise, which had a similar tone to Bachelor Pad, but revolutionized summertime reality TV dating shows.
Bachelor In Paradise brought the singles of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette together to couple up and see if they could find genuine love with one another. Making some incredible matches in the first few years of the series, things began to fall off in later seasons as the show began to feel more produced. When things started going wrong behind-the-scenes and Bachelor producers were accused of an unsafe working environment for the stars, the show took a hiatus and quickly fell off. Though it’ll return in 2025, viewers may not be interested in the drama of Bachelor In Paradise.
How Can Bachelor Nation Revamp Itself & Succeed?
Things Need To Change Drastically
While the majority of Bachelor Nation still enjoys the shows that the franchise puts out, there are things that could improve the franchise as a whole. The redundancy of the original shows from season to season has made watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette more difficult as time passes. understanding the contrived producer-planted situations that some of the contestants and leads wind up in has made the show less enjoyable and the relationships less authentic. Though it is difficult from season to season the storylines have been more boring than ever in recent years, so switching things up could help.
Creating more authentic scenarios for the contestants and leads to experience together could be a great way to revamp the franchise. while Bachelor In Paradise is meant to be a more idyllic setting, the original shows could benefit from a dose of reality. The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette could benefit from more real-life conversations and scenarios. While the franchise is still looking to use the same formula from show to show, varying things could be helpful for viewers who find the content too similar to keep up with. The Bachelor franchise could bounce back with a few tweaks.
