As The Bachelor stumbles, other reality shows heat up

Nielsen ratings for The single person’The most recent season finale (Season 25, which featured Matt James as the eponymous singleton) was down about 25% in total viewership from the previous year, echoing the overall drop in ratings for the franchise. Whereas before Bachelor seasons have had tens of millions of viewers, the most recent are well below that number, while ratings for the Bachelorette (now in season 17) are less than half of the 16+ million who watched the first season. the Bachelor the franchise took many successes lately, but his exodus of viewers may also be related to the fact that so few of his last couples stay together, which begs the question: is it even possible to find true love in a dating series in reality? Yes, it happened, but the cases are extremely rare. More often than not, the couple go their separate ways soon after the show ends – if they do it even for so long – leaving Bachelor / Bachelorette viewers looking for the interest of watching these dozen episodes in the first place.

And yet, The single person’The low romantic batting average hasn’t deterred young singles from seeking love on TV or, more likely, seeking fame through reality TV. The franchise didn’t create the genre, after all it would be The dating game, which has seen a few incarnations since its debut in 1965, and recently made a horrific comeback in ABC Celebrity Dating Game, with co-hosts Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton (who are clearly sulking). But after The single person launched in 2002, its success quickly led to imitators who would change their minds, like that of VH1 Naked Dating or Fox’s Joe millionaire (the twist: he wasn’t really a millionaire). Some popular series go even further into the courtship arena, such as Married at first sight ‘s matchmaking experience, now in its 13th season, or 90 day fiancé ‘s on TLC, in which international couples must decide together forever (or at least marriage) before the holder deadline.

Recently however, the most interesting advancements in reality dating have come from streaming services, which are jumping into the fray as The single person is faulty. This week, Netflix launched one of these more bizarre efforts: Sexy Beasts, based on a 2014 UK series. Assuming that personality trumps physical attraction in the importance of dating, contestants on Sexy Beasts undergo a facial transformation using “advanced prosthetics”, changing their usual personalities to that of a demon, panda, beaver, etc. The results are often downright hard to watch – or, as we’ve dubbed them, “Nightmare fuel”.

It should be noted that if the facial features are obviously distorted in Sexy beasts, body types are not, so the beaver proclaiming he is an ass man can always check out his potential dates for his favorite feature film. What’s odd is how the contestants’ actual personalities pierce their bizarre new facades, like a party panda, a self-confident pixie, or a mouse that ironically seems arrogant. When the competitors are eliminated the Sexy beasts, their real faces are revealed and Too Many Dating Hopes come up with a comment that is a version of “Oh my gosh I’m gonna kick myself if they’re really beautiful” which negates all interest in it. ‘company.

An earlier Netflix effort had a similar concept, but executed it with much more success. In Love is blind, men and women in search of love communicated with each other only from separate pods, where they could talk but could not see each other. The relatively successful experience actually resulted in still-in-place marriages and other strong emotional bonds within the group. Viewers can judge for themselves how good these relationships are when Netflix launches a follow-up, Love is blind: after the altar, July 28. The series seemed to validate the theory that personality is more important than attraction when it comes to choosing a romantic partner.

Don’t Say That To The Multitude Of Beach Dating Shows: In the reality TV landscape, it didn’t take producers long to find ways to put ridiculously beautiful people in as little clothing as possible. , placing the emphasis on the physical aspects of competitors over anything else. Baccalaureate In Paradise debuted in 2014, bringing together the scraps of the franchise in a Mexican resort. On a related note, while Hulu is content to host popular movie streaming seasons Island of love, Netflix offered its own version of the complex with Too hot to handle it, leading her bikini-clad and Speedo-clad singles to believe they were on a Island of love-type, show focused on libido. But the twist is the addition of a virtual assistant, Lana, who records and listens to the candidates to make sure there are “no kisses, no heavy hugs and no complacency of any kind. “with the aim of getting the young and excited to focus on emotional connections instead. Each violation results in a price reduction of $ 100,000. By the second season, the contestants stopped pretending to care about money. (Netflix took the hit series even further by writing the first season Too hot to handle it contestant Chloe Veitch in the second season of her social media reality experiment The circle.)

Netflix has innovated the genre in other ways as well, stretching the subject of the relationship in different directions, including first impressions. In the streamer’s original first dating series, Meetings around, who debuted in February 2019, a hopeful date has five blind dates, and only one will get a second date. It’s fascinating to watch these strangers slowly open up and get to know each other, for better or for worse. Meetings around grabbed the headlines with his second episode, as one of candidate Gurki Basra’s date Justin made ignorant comments about arranged marriages in his Indian culture. Gurki became an online hero when she quickly told Justin that they were having a ‘culture clash’ and that they would never see each other again, and that they were the only one. Meetings around competitor this season to choose no one for a second meeting. Maybe love really conquers everything, though: She’s started dating series director James Adolphus.

Meetings around ‘The third episode featured a man on five more dates with different men, a refreshing and long-awaited inclusion of queer romance. There have only been a few examples so far, like the 2003 Bravo series Boy meets boy, or the branching out of Demi Burnett and Kristian Haggerty and subsequent engagement on Baccalaureate in paradise, a first for the entire franchise. (In typical Bachelor mode, they’ve since broken up.) But HBO Max’s 12 Christmas dates, created by Love is blind and Married at first sight producer Sam Dean, actually featured a gay suitor, as well as a straight man and straight woman, all trying to find the perfect person to bring home for Christmas. While Garrett Marcantel was rejected by the guy he chose, he ended up bringing all of his other dates to meet his mother on her first visit to the house in years. This meeting was much more moving than the vast majority of Bachelor to finish.

Netflix also bought an Australian series, Back with the ex, who followed four former couples trying to give their love another chance. Some still kept strong emotional ties, like Diane and Peter, still so enamored 28 years after their first meeting, despite a considerable distance of time and kilometers. Elsewhere in Back with the ex, it was interesting to see how quickly several years old fighting resumed. In the end, despite an obvious attraction between the four couples, neither of them managed to stay together, for while the affection they had for each other remained, all the factors that made them separated in the first place were also. (Diane and Peter, who clearly love each other, cannot move beyond the long-distance status of their relationship, as they live in separate countries).

HBO Max’s upcoming offering is less inspired: On Fboy Island, which debuts on July 29, three outgoing young women must determine which of their 24 suitors at the resort’s edge are “Fboys” and which are actually cool guys. This sounds suspicious, because many times the “nice people” billed on these shows don’t turn out to be really nice. You have to credit HBO Max for the curve, but, as with Sexy beasts, it’s a pretty weak one, and the Fboys are pretty darn boring (one conceited contender suggests, “I know I’m intimidating to watch”). At least Fboy Island has an impressive pedigree, as he is created by The single person‘s Elan Gale with Sam Dean as part of his production deal with HBO Max – so hopefully this turns out to be nicer than his name / premise suggests.

Reality encounters series are increasingly entrenched in the streaming landscape, aided by a smart release schedule – with episodes released in weekly batches, so you can binge watch but not cycle through the entire season. in one fell swoop – which fuels social media discussion and anticipation. But viewers have been addicted to reality TV since the early days of The real world and Survivor, fascinated by real life people who will open their lives to the camera. What we are looking for are the rare and magical moments of real human connection and honesty, like falling in love through a wall on Love is blind, the initial spark of attraction spied on Meetings around, or heartbroken, Garrett reconnecting with his mother at the end of 12 Christmas dates. The best of reality dating series can also offer valuable life lessons. For example: when someone shows you who they are, believe them; what a person looks like is much less important than how you feel when you are with them; and perhaps most tellingly, stop fantasizing about your ex because chances are you broke up for a good reason. These innovative takes favored by streamers may ultimately be more appealing to viewers than the slim chance of witnessing true love blossoming in the air.