Thinking About 'The Bachelor'

I watched a lot of television with my family last week, including "The Bachelor" last Monday. I meant to write something about this earlier, but didn't know exactly what to say.

My initial interest in the show was the fantasyland world of Jake, who was lucky to be thrown into the paradise of beauty with all those women seeking his affection, romance, and matrimony. It's a really strange thing, since very few people will ever have a choice like that, even over years of dating. I was getting a kick out of it a couple of weeks ago, and I posted on Ali as a hottie for one of the babe blogging posts.

But scroll ahead at the video to the last couple of panels. Ali comes off as an extreme case. She's almost childish in her self-absorbed indecision. Love does that, I know, but I couln't help feeling for some of the other women, especially Tenley, who -- while obviously self-absorbed by her own divorce (unable to move on) -- seemed more genuine after all compared to Ali.

Also interesting was Vienna, who my wife thinks is too "underclass" for Jake. I've kinda got a soft spot for her, although the US Weekly story last week put a little chill on that: "EXCLUSIVE: Bachelor's Vienna Drained Ex's Savings on Boob Job." See also, "Vienna Girardi Accused of Cheating on Marine Ex, Draining His Bank Account to Pay For Boob Job."

Last Monday's segments featuring Jake meeting the families was riveting television. He's asking the fathers for the hands of their daughters. That's an extremely conservative tradition, and one I think is good. When I first starting having dinner at my wife's dad's house, some of the evenings felt a lot like that. I don't remember specifically asking my father-in-law if I could marry his daughter, but the ritual of approval in those first few months was an extremely powerful experience.

In any case, preview's of tonight's show here. Ali is back!