A Pop Culture Phenomenon

Who knew that "The Bachelor" would rise from the dead. I'm talking about the show, which has exploded this season with ratings that are making it one of the top 10 shows this week. Oh, the trauma and the drama! The actual bachelor himself, Jason, is definitely not rising from the dead, at least in terms of his reputation within the world of people who care about what happens on reality television.

For once the show really did have a shocking finale, with Jason proposing to Melissa, then breaking up with her and taking up with Molly in the space of about 10 minutes on the After The Final Rose show, known as the ATFR in bachelor-speak. ATFR 1 was actually filmed about 6 weeks ago, ATFR 2 was filmed last Friday, they were all in New Zealand last November, but never mind all that. The logistics of how it all played out are less interesting to me than the fact that The Bachelor is once again front page news, and poor Jason is the bad boy du jour in the blogosphere and on entertainment websites and talk shows. And he really is front page news - he and Molly are on the cover of the People magazine that comes out Friday, with a cover headline that screams "The Bachelor Betrayal!" Oh my.

So how about it, Jason? What's it like to be famous? How about you, Molly? Is this what you signed up for when you agreed to go on The Bachelor? Probably not. The show's ratings have been pretty low for the last few seasons, and it was definitely "under the radar" in terms of pop culture relevance. Reality shows are so inexpensive to produce, compared with "scripted" programs, that the network can make a profit even if not that many people are watching. Certainly it's been many years since someone from the show has been on the cover of People. I think it's safe to say that Molly, Melissa and all the rest of the "girls" never expected to have their dating lives dissected publicly from The View to Bonnie Hunt to Jay Leno to Jimmy Kimmel.

As for Jason, as I've said before, fame is a fickle lover and he got dumped big time this week. He was so popular and appealing when the show started and now? Not so much, and like Nadya before him, the more he tries to explain himself on the talk show circuit the worse he's making himself look. It can't be fun for him, but it's sure entertaining for me.