Monday, May 19, 2014

I Don't Know If It's Right But It's Certainly Ghoulish

I usually check in on the first couple episodes of the Bachelor and the Bachelorette just to goof on the whole process. That usually lasts until I am banished from the TV room. It's almost stopped being enjoyable to make fun of the hyper non-reality and perversion of the whole show. The looking for love among a select group of white males or white females has become something that make me cringe instead of enjoy. Let's be fair. I am not the network's target demographic. They want a scripted reality show that give them the fantasy they could never know in their dreamy trailer park lives. I am sure this cycle will be even worse because they have found a twist this time that NO ONE could have written.

Apparently after the show was completed, one of the 'Bachelors' died in a skydiving accident. DIED. But the show hadn't aired yet. What were the producers to do? They could edit out the poor guy but then that would seem cruel or they could leave the poor bastard in the show with all of the viewers having full knowledge that this guy was a dead man walking. Each week he lasts will feel like more time has been rewarded for his life. It's going to be weird every time he comes on screen. Someone should start a deadpool to see how long he will make it through the season because once he is gone, he is really gone. Ya know?

How will I feel if she lets him go early? Will I hate her for dismissing a guy whose about to die? Then again if he lasts for most of the season and is eventually chosen by the Bachelorette, how creepy will watching that whole doomed love affair be?

I am fascinated to see how the whole thing is presented. If it was me I would play up the doomed love affair angle and her ennui of having to choose between two guys. One who lives and one who dies. Only this time we all know who the dead guy will be and that will be what will hook everyone into watching. I don't care about anything else except for the plight of the Doomed Bachelor. Not the best nickname I know. Give me some time to work on a better name for him.

 
When “The Bachelorette” contestant Eric Hill died in a tragic paragliding accident last month, producers found themselves in an impossible position. Hill, 31, had just finished filming several episodes for this season in which he competed for the attention of “Bachelorette” Andi Dorfman. That left the creators of the find-a-soulmate show with many questions, and absolutely no good answers.

Think about it: If you leave his scenes in the show, (which is generally a ridiculous spectacle filled with hot tub hookups), you could look tasteless. If you edit all his scenes, it would alter what actually happened and might also seem insensitive. How would his family feel about either option?

ABC owns the footage, so producers were left to cautiously navigate this awful situation within their own best judgment — something that, we’ll admit, we didn’t have high hopes for seeing.

The normally breezy show isn’t known for being particularly sensitive about tough topics; if anything, it’s famous for exploiting human vulnerability at every turn. However, the show has never experienced a tragedy with timing remotely like this one, so they had to do the best they could and tread carefully in Monday night’s premiere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/05/19/the-bachelorette-premiere-pays-cautious-tribute-to-deceased-contestant-eric-hill-and-its-hard-to-watch/

3 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

That's just a bit TOO much reality for a reality show, isn't it?

DrGoat said...

I've always held that shows like this will kill brain cells faster than meth. Pseudo celebrity B.S. Don't give in Cal.

Kal said...

I do it so I can mock it but I have my limit of exposure. One or two commercial breaks and I am done and need to cleanse my pallet with some old MASH episodes, without laughtrack.