10 ponders “What do we do with Bachelor?”
10 acknowledges it is facing questions over the best way forward on The Bachelor franchise.
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With the ratings year now over networks are now reflecting on the changes they are making to their announced plans for 2022.
10 counts successes such as I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!, Amazing Race, Australian Survivor, Have You Been Paying Attention?, Gogglebox, and The Cheap Seats amongst its successes, but in an interview with Mediaweek, Beverley McGarvey concedes there’s work to be done on The Bachelor franchise.
“The thing we need to do a lot of work on next year is around The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. We’re very happy with Celebrity MasterChef and very happy with The Dog House at the back of the year. So now we need to go “what do we do with Bachelor? Can we get it back to its glory days?” Often with those legacy formats, there are pivots that you can make, there are things that you can do, and shows like MasterChef and The Block that have been on the air for more than a decade prove that a format can go for a long time when you carefully manage it, and sometimes it’s cyclical.”
I’ve noted before the predictable format is arguably now more problematic than the casting, but the show could potentially work in a 9pm slot and BVOD lifts if 10 can finance a new 7:30 show (I’m just not sure it can).
McGarvey also addressed questions of whether the Wednesday / Thursday slots were still the best approach for the show and titles in general. To be fair it has worked a dream for Gogglebox.
“We don’t consider Wednesday 7:30pm any less important than Monday at 7:30pm for example. We need to make sure that we can offer our clients consistent audiences across the board and across the week. Those nights are very important to us. Earlier in the year, shows like MasterChef aired up until Thursday, so we do think those nights are important. We have commissioned a few things next year that will play later in the week,” she said.
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14 Responses
Channel ten seems to keep shows going if they are watched by the demographic they are aimed at, even if ratings on the whole are low
What kills it for me is people saying they are in love/falling for him or her/scared and terrified/never felt like this….after knowing someone for 2 hours!! It’s the same every season. No one seems genuine. Everyone seems to be there for the blue tick……
As a part-time Bachie watcher… I agree with the comments re casting a celeb. If you can bring someone famous to the table, then no issues – ratings gold.
But if you can’t, then the predictability needs a shake up.
Take us into the casting side of things – perhaps using a Millionaire Matchmaker style “mixer” event before the red carpet arrivals, or better yet, bring Patti Stanger from said show in as a coach/matchmaker for either the “contestants” or for the Bach themselves. She would give them a good yell for the antics they usually pull off. You don’t want it to becomes too MAFS-y, but surely some kind of “expert” intervention would be a different angle??
And make the Bach actually organise the one-on-one dates…. let’s see fancy dinner plans fall through because of a double booking and dirty street pies back on the menu again.
I totally agree with this and they could assist with talking through pre elimination would make it interesting. Patti would be great too lol. Listen Ten!
Yaaassssss!!!! Thank you kadacki for your support on this! A pre-elimination briefing would be great. It’s always obvious that there’s 1-2 people in the bottom. Let’s tease them out and compare the pair with the help of Patti. Then let the scrag fight or testosterone-battle and desperation from the bottom two play out.
I look forward to it Ten!!!! You’re welcome. 😉
If they can get Dr Chris as the Bachelor for 2022, no doubt that will solve all their problems. I think they should only do one of the shows for next year, probably only Bachelor, as that is the (slightly) more popular one over Bachelorette. I don’t think it has helped that Seven over the last 2 years has had Farmer Wants a Wife in the schedule before the Bachelor has started, and that has impacted, both being similar shows. I agree, the format is very predictable, which make me wonder….how has it managed 20+ seasons in the US? Because the contestants are bonkers? They either need to cast someone famous as Bachelor next year, or perhaps try something new, like a local version of Too Hot to Handle or Love is Blind. The issue is Bachelor still does well in 10’s younger demo, but it needs a broader audience to justify the cost
I’ve watched every Australian season, but my interest has gradually declined over time. In my case I think the whole show is just too repetitive.
Lets’ start with the contestants, they’re all young, attractive and most are there for their 15 minutes of fame and maybe more. In a general sense, the cast from one season to the next look much the same, only the names change.
The format. They always set someone up early on to be the ‘villain’. You know really from night one, who are the 3 or 4 genuine contenders and the rest are just there for the drama. And the dates, if there’s ‘drama’ between people in the house, you know they are going to end up on a group date together and there will be ‘drama’.
I like the idea of the show, but it’s all too predictable and similar. What would I change? First the cast, really mix it up with ‘real’ people, not Instagram types. People of all shapes and sizes. People over 40 and even 50. Tone down the ‘drama’, let the…
I agree. It really all falls on the casting. Stop trawling instagram for ‘suitors’. I also would love to see a seniors version of the Bachelor/Bachelorette, or at least a far more mature cast for one season.
Also, never do the key to the lead’s time any time they want thing ever again as per Jimmy’s season, it sucks up so much airtime and lowers any suspense. A first impression rose, fine; but no secret powers!
Ten points for a return to a fuller sparkle for Brooke’s mansion. Jimmy’s season’s sparkle level was woeful. I think Ten needs to rewatch classic vintage US seasons for some tips re casting. But the US Bach shows have taken on board our level of sparkle and and are now using overhead sparkly mansion shots, too!
The US version started about 20 years ago. Those who started watching back then are now much older than the 20 somethings that are cast each season, so maybe it’s time the show upped the age category to help the longer term viewer better relate to the cast. Yes the Australian version isn’t that old, but i’ll bet many who watch the Australian version started out with the US version.
I like your seniors idea, I believe there would be a curiosity factor if the bachelor/ bachelorette was in their 60’s or 70’s. It would have a very different feel to it even if the format didn’t change.
They need to cast The Bachelor better. Jimmy was boring, there must be more exciting guys out there. Editing needs to change. You can pick the winner in ep 1 most times. And less contestants as the first few weeks of eliminations, you don’t have a clue who they are, viewers need to be invested. Brooke’s season was good but winner was so obvious.! Hate to say it but the might need a celebrity to infuse some interest in the show.
kill it.
I think they could try a couple of scenarios.
Second chances – where all contestants and bachelor(ette) have all been married before.
Combine the two shows. Have the bachelor and bachelorette looking together (similar to the sisters looking together but less boring) this may spice things up a bit dramatically.
Just put the Bachelor and the Bachelorette together, and wrap it all up in half an hour!
It was the programming, during Olympics and Bachelorette’s placement too, along with poor promotion and bad casting, just never had any buzz or excitement, even recent years had that. The finale numbers were just awful.