I had a truly sobering experience the other day. I’ve always considered myself to be an occasional consumer of reality television, but Monday’s announcement of the upcoming lead for “The Bachelorette” reminded me that I’ve now spent most of my time in college ‘ironically’ following the absurdity that is Bachelor Nation and its offshoots. Congratulations to Clare Crawley on her upcoming pursuit of love on TV. Equal kudos to ABC for lulling me into the laughable notion that I wouldn’t get hooked on watching pretty people bumble into love on TV.
We are almost 18 years into the grand experiment of love on reality television, but only now are we finally getting some hints of meaningful change from various sources. While the Bachelor franchise dominates the reality TV dating conversation, new and outlandish programming has pushed the boundaries of what we can expect from reality romance.
“Love Is Blind” finished its run on Netflix this past week with self-confidence and increasingly rabid fans on social media. The show doubles down on the express-romance of reality shows like “90 Day Fiancé” by sending 30 adults through 10 days of speed dating that could culminate in a proposal. The catch, however, is that the contestants cannot actually see each other until the moment of proposal, hence the title of the show.
Couples that agree to an engagement then go on vacation to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, intermingling with the others that settled on a partner and stoking further drama based in hypothetical couplings and second thoughts.
Yes, it’s all absurd. Ordinary courtship died an unceremonious death long ago, and our entertainment options reflect that.
Netflix’s foray into reality dating is not exactly a challenger to “The Bachelor,” because they do not compete for the same network ratings. However, the mounting pressure combined with new ideas around the industry and societal awareness in general has forced Harrison & Co. to change with the times. “The Bachelor” franchise finally cast its first African American lead in 2017, and this year’s Bachelorette will be the oldest lead ever cast in the series at 38.
This in particular is a remarkable break for the series, which has never had a Bachelorette older than 32. 85% of women annually competing on “The Bachelor” are younger than 30, giving the show well-deserved scrutiny for age bias along with many other problematic trends in casting.
Crawley’s casting in the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette” will hopefully bounce the series back from a truly calamitous and thrilling season of “The Bachelor.” Much of the show’s drama comes from the fact that featured contestants are relatively young and prone to senseless infighting. Bringing in an older lead will hopefully bring a greater diversity in contestants and ages, but the average age of confirmed contestants to this point is 28.7 years, 10 years younger than Crawley. Even if the age gap remains, the new dynamic of an older Bachelorette with a wide variety of men would be a welcome departure from the show’s predisposition toward young women and uninteresting guys.
While these newer waves in the reality dating scene are interesting, they still have a long way to go until things become truly extreme. MTV had an incredible run of shows including “Parental Control,” “Room Raiders” and my personal favorite, “Date My Mom,” where a lead would go on dates with the mothers of contestants who would then hype up their children in hopes of fostering an unlikely romance.
In short, reality romance TV can always get weirder. It’s just nice to see that programming is finally becoming a good kind of interesting.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker