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The Bachelor on ABC

In the promos leading up to the premiere of the 16^th season of ABC’s The Bachelor (Mondays, 8:00 p.m. ET) viewers saw a montage of one distraught woman after another crying hysterically, sometimes on someone’s shoulder or huddled alone in a dark, lonely corner. In the background, Andy Williams gleefully sings, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” giving the promo an devilish edge. Yes, it’s back -- and as train-wreck-y as ever. Over the course of 16 seasons, The Bachelor has remained true to its formula of success: pit women against one another in a highly competitive environment, manufacture romance, add some booze, and voila! Ratings gold. And while people’s behavior on reality shows has increasingly grown more extreme, The Bachelor – though tamer than its counterparts on cable television – can still compete with the best of them when it comes to cattiness and craziness. For trotting out troubling gender portrayals, language, and sexual content, the January 2nd season premiere of The Bachelor has earned the title of Worst TV Show of the Week.

This time around, the show recycles yet another rejected former contestant. Winemaker Ben Flajnik, the jilted lover of last season’s The Bachelorette, attempts to find true-love once again on national television (because the show has such a great track record – 1 out of 15 couples are still together to this day, but who’s counting?) (Note to Ben: if you really wanted to find true love on a reality show, maybe you should have gained 200 lbs and gone on The Biggest Loser instead, since so many couples from that show have gotten engaged.)

Of the 25 female contestants on the show, it’s a given that more than a few have been cast to fill a particular archetype. There’s the crazy one: Jenna, the wannabe Carrie Bradshaw blogger from New York. The closeted lesbian: Monica, who misses her dog more than anything. The Villainess: Courtney, the model from Santa Monica who – in case you didn’t hear it the first time – will continually remind you that she’s a model.

Once the cocktail party starts, the claws come out. When Jenna hears that Monica feels lukewarm about Ben, she questions why Monica doesn’t leave right away. Monica responds, “I don't give a (bleeped s***) about you and Ben.” Monica begins telling the other girls that she doesn’t like Jenna. As the wine flows, the tension rises. Jenna becomes even more annoyed by Monica when the women start to notice that Monica seems more interest in getting to know Blakely than Ben. Jenna tells another constant, “[Monica] is here to stir up (bleeped s***) and to cause drama.” Monica warns, “If this girl punches me in the face, I'm going to (bleeped f***) her up!”

A futile attempt to reconcile ensues. Monica tells Jenna, “You’re a girl. You’re here. We’re on the same terms tonight.” Jenna snaps back, “You’re a girl. Maybe we can share a tampon sometime.”

After that, the gloves come off. Monica announces to giggling women around her, “If she comes at me later, I will cut her (bleeped f******) face off…You’re not even that cute…I am nice until a point, and then I'll say (bleeped f***) her.” “Why does she hate me out of nowhere?” Jenna asks Rachel, who replies, “Because that’s what girls do.”

The girls also flaunt their sexuality to win a man, judging by the lengthy extended trailer at the end of the episode. Viewers can look forward to model Courtney inviting Ben to go skinny dipping. Their nudity is obscured by black bars as they walk into the ocean. In voice-over, Courtney sneers, “Girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Game over, ladies.”

Recently, the PTC released a study that examined the troubling gender portrayals on the most popular reality shows on MTV. Here are some of the more alarming findings:

·         Only 24% of what females said about themselves was positive.

·         Females talked about sex acts more than men, talked about sex more graphically than men, mentioned sexual body parts more than men, and talked about intercourse and preliminaries to intercourse more than men.

·         Most popular derogatory terms referring to females: “Bitch,” “stupid,” “dirty”

The Bachelor echoes these findings with its emphasis on pitting women against one another and showcasing backbiting, unhinged behavior. Certainly, as a broadcast series, it cannot compete with Jersey Shore when it comes to outlandishness and sexuality. But judging by the looks of it, season 16 of The Bachelor will definitely try.