Can I Get My Friend Gyasi To Watch The Bachelor? Week 2: Must See TV

-Milhouse

If you're like me, then you've watched The Bachelor this week and you're probably wondering why I chose this week to talk about something like "Must See TV" considering the lack of anything that happened, especially in the first hour of the broadcast? Am I even qualified to talk about "Must See TV" I mean, hey, sure, I took a History Of Television class the first semester of my Sophomore Year of college, which was back in 2013, but I've still got the notes around here somewhere *shuffles through important papers* and I believe I've got as much moxie as Olivia (reigning MVP, which you can't argue because would a not-MVP get a rose during a group date??) to pull this off.

(Lost? Click here then here to catch up)

So what is "Must See TV"? Well lucky for you it's not a trick question. It's appointment watching, it's programming so important that you make a point to watch it when it's on TV (or in my case, computer) instead of making your VCR DVR pick up the slack. The Bachelor is on Monday nights and that's when you should watch it. Maybe you're smart and you start it an hour into it's two hour broadcast (!!) because you're sick of watching commercials for The Muppets-does this take away from the experience of watching that night? It's actually one of the most rewarding things you can do (the same rule applies for fast forwarding during pesky timeouts during basketball games).

But that's getting off track from the importance of Must See TV. The theory of it is that it's a cultural and social agreement we've all made with one another, that there's something important enough, something essential enough to our pop-culture intake that we gather around the ole idiot box and unite as a nation-as a community, like some kind of Voltron-and experience this together. The phrase became popular back in the 90's when NBC needed a slogan that was just as strong and powerful as their lineup. Now a-days it's just a common idiom, but considering television's future is foggy at best, there's no telling how it'll be remembered. Sorry, that's probably a little more inside-baseball than what you cared for, it's to be expected with a television writing major *tips hat*.

The most recent example for network TV I can think of that was prime Must See TV was Lost which just happens to be on the same network that The Bachelor is on: ABC. So ABC's got a good track record with this, right? Lost is absolutely one of the strongest television dramas I've ever watched, so it only makes sense that a network would be able to replicate that adrenaline rush you'd feel from watching that and applying it to another show on their docket. They've cracked the code, they know what they're doing and we should take comfort in that. The world needs content to keep it engaged and hot damn if The Bachelor isn't answering that call.

Though I should say, and if you watched this week's episode then you know, that the first hour of the episode was kind of under-par. I'll admit it, because I've got nothing to hide, it was boring, but consider who was taken on the solo bolo date....I can't even remember who it was, but I'm pretty confident it was Amanda, who's vocal patterns short circuit my brain. It was a hot air balloon ride followed by a picnic. Not exactly riveting stuff and it took up a significant chunk of time. But things got interesting when the group date occurred (Gyasi, if you're confused than I should say that a group date is just what it sounds like: 9 of the women go on one date with Ben which makes about as much sense as magnets). 

Olivia took charge and secured herself with Ben for I'd say about 80% of the group date, cus muh girl knows strategy (and the other women were furious at her, which is a real pot calling the kettle black mentality to have if you ask me, but whatever). Tension was growing and has been for some time, tension comparable to figuring out how to get the hatch open in Lost, I'd say. Then later on during the group date (which I guess is like an all day affair, which sounds exhausting) Ben sits down with Jubilee, arguably the most normal person on the show and more tension rises. The unexpected happens, a move you didn't, nay, couldn't see coming a mile away. Another solo bolo date, this time with Lauren H. who is epitome Kindergarten teacher (and equally as boring as Amanda's date, if I'm being onions-I believe this was producer interference making him go on two consecutively boring dates with women he doesn't really have chemistry with). 

(Sorry to get all recap-y on ya, I promise it's almost done)Then of course there was the cocktail party where things escalated; proverbial tridents were thrown and yeh, I definitely uttered this (how could you not?) then Must See TV happened. Or rather The Italian Stallion's 1993 epic happened. The episode ended on a cliffhanger, a move so unprecedented, so unexpected that I wouldn't've been surprised if it had ended with one of these 

followed by mass hysterical laughing, because how else could you cope with something like that.

Shows now days, they're too concerned with wrapping things up nicely in their concise time frame once a week. The Bachelor though? Well we learned this week that maybe making us wait just a little bit longer is gonna ensure a sweet, sweet payoff for next week, because you know something good is up their sleeves. I trust that and you should too (how could I not trust a show I've been watching for four weeks now and also a "Next Time On" that followed this week's ep).

So why should you watch The Bachelor, Gyasi? Well I don't know about you, but I'd hate to find myself in this situation, because pride was getting in the way of letting me be a part of the bigger conversation. (yeh, I don't know how I ended up at that end point either, this isn't my best work)