I can only imagine how revolutionary the first season of The Bachelor must have been. Back then the premise was: regular guy with a normal job looks for love with a regular girl with a normal job, and the entire nation gets to watch the romance unfold. It was a simpler time (2002), and not every date needed to start with a helicopter ride and end with a private concert. Even the finale was pretty calm: Alex Michel gave his final rose to Amanda Marsh and asked her to be his girlfriend. But now, 19 seasons and 14 years later, things have gotten way out of hand.
The Bachelor and all of its spin-offs continue to be popular, and they’ll likely be taken off the air only when they’re yanked out of host Chris Harrison’s cold dead hands. But maybe the show can go back to a time before professional soccer players and wedding-dress designers tried to find spouses amid wine-throwing fights and scandalous midnight hook-ups. A time when everyday people could go on some dates and have a good time. Hey, a girl can dream.
