The Bachelor franchise has become a mainstream show of popular culture. It has been on the air since 2002 with the first season premiering for the world. It now consists of over 50 seasons altogether including The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, Bachelor Pad, and other spin-off Bachelor franchise shows. However, the continuous enjoyment it brings to our television screens has not been recognized by the Television Academy. The franchise and the host, Chris Harrison, have never been nominated for an Emmy, continually being snubbed in the reality show categories year after year. This reality show always brings new drama and raises its level every season as it keeps getting better and better. The show was one of the first productions to go back to work during quarantine. The effort of Chris Harrison, the producers, the cast, and ABC deserves to be recognized by the Emmys. Here are some of the reasons why.
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Its Cultural Impact
The Bachelor’s cultural following is unprecedented for a show on the air for this long as it continues to gain new audiences each year. The show used to be for older women to watch, but now the show is directed at males, females, and ages as young as 16-years-old. The age demographic for the show continues to get younger as shown through the producers of the show casting younger casts too. It is indeed a cultural phenomenon as shown through all the memes, podcasts, shows, brand deals, book deals, and more that come out of the show. It has a strong presence on Twitter, Instagram, and all major social media platforms. There is a community that comes together when watching the show. It is one of the longest-running reality shows since the early 2000s; the fact that the loyal following continues to watch every season proves that the show knows what Bachelor Nation wants.
Also, the casts on every show become social media influencers very easily after going on the show and gain a following on their social media platforms. Their platforms easily alter and change our internet culture with their brand deals and podcasts about the show. The amount of people from Bachelor Nation that become influencers after the show is the most than any other casts from other reality shows.
2. Every Season Gets Better and Better
There are multiple seasons that always have a buzz about them because of their unpredictable endings that have never happened before on the show. The last couple of back-to-back seasons have unprecedented plots and twists. There has been Bachelor Arie’s breakup with Becca after they were already engaged to go back to Lauren, the runner up. Then we had Colton’s iconic fence jump after his front-runner chose to leave the show. No one can forget Hannah Brown’s ending with her fiancé already having a girlfriend back home when he was on the show. There have also been iconic seasons of the past that define a year, such as Ben Higgins’s double “I love you” to both of his final two girls and Kaitlyn Bristowe’s drama-filled season with the topic of when to have sex being brought up constantly with the show. Seasons from the past and present all have entertaining and surprising plots that have the audience keep coming back for more.
Every season is not definable anymore since recently the ending may not always end up with a final engagement. We have leads that have remained single after the entire process or a couple only remain dating at the end of the show. The show has adapted to changing times and their younger audience to reflect how love and relationships are always changing too.
3. More inclusivity and Progressive Portrayal
There has been a strive for a more progressive portrayal of love stores to reflect our society’s change and acceptance. However, it has not been until recently that the Bachelor has been including more Black leads for the franchise and representation of the LBGTQIA+ community. Last season on Bachelor in Paradise, Demi was a fan favorite because of her openness about her bisexuality. On the show, she had a relationship with her girlfriend Kristian that the producers brought in for the show in the middle of the season. The show still has a long way to go for the representation to be present on-screen and behind-the-scenes, but the strides are present and should be recognized as some shows still lack diversity.
The Bachelorette was also one of the first reality shows reflecting strong female empowerment by giving one woman control of the process. Trista Sutter was the first bachelorette and felt the public scrutiny of having a woman dating a group of men, even though the Bachelor was fully-accepted by the public. The double standard was broken by production as they continued to have strong female leads presented.
Tayshia Adams is our current bi-racial Bachelorette, and next season we will have our first black Bachelor, Matt James. These back-to-back seasons will allow for representation to be present for our society’s changing times.
4. The Franchise Stretches Across Continents
The Bachelor has gone international with the franchise having multiple versions in other countries, such as The Bachelor U.K., The Bachelor Australia, The Bachelor Canada, and The Bachelor New Zealand.
These seasons in other countries have more variety in leads, plots, representation, and more. The shows have different rules that vary across the shows, such as giving a golden ticket instead of a rose. It is also interesting to see the different vocabulary that other countries use on the show, instead of the repeated words we hear on the U.S. show, such as “journey”, “clarity”, “falling in love”, etc.
This shows that the Bachelor is a cultural phenomenon across the world, not only in the U.S. It will be interesting to see if other countries develop their own form of the Bachelor as time goes on.
5. Chris Harrison’s Hard Work
Chris Harrison has been on our television screens for more than 20 years and deserves an Emmy already. His hard work on the Bachelor is clearly present as he has remained the only host on every main and spin-off show the Bachelor. He is away for weeks at a time to host the show and he also produces the show.
He forms close relationships with the production and all the cast members. It is clear that he cares for all his leads and the contestants and just wants everyone to find love. He is an ordained minister and has married many Bachelor contestants over the years.
Chris Harrison has had to deal with all the drama that feels mentally and emotionally draining for us as the audience, how do you think he feels after 20 years? Especially, after all the years with the changing atmosphere of the show with different polarizing leads. Chris Harrison’s continuous work deserves to be recognized as a host and for his reality show that he has formed and shaped.
Chris Harrison physically ran and exerted energy to go after Colton after he jumped the fence, and has been verbally assaulted by some of the contestants who leave angrily after being kicked off the show. This man has deserved an Emmy for a very long time. Chris Harrison basically carries the show most of the time, and the lack of recognition is sad.
6. The Show Encourages Love
The show has always encouraged love in whatever format it may come, even if it’s in three weeks as Clare Crawley just did. The fact that the show was able to start filming again so quickly after quarantine in a safe and healthy manner to bring us entertainment must be recognized. The enter cast and production put such hard work into a show so that we can have new content in this crazy year. Chris Harrison wanted the public to have some sort of normalcy on their television screens, even if the Bachelor format may look different. It is the same love story and drama that Bachelor Nation craves every week, even without all the traveling and extravagant dates. It is amazing that the show was able to adapt so quickly and gives us a gift to end 2020.
The show has a cultural presence and a public attraction that is undeniable. The show is always evolving and produces good television for its audience. The Television Academy has to nominate this show for all its dedication.