Bachelor Premiere: Why Clayton Echard's Season Will Be Underwhelming
The Bachelor premieres Monday and the leading man of the franchise, Clayton Echard, is likely going to lead a season that will be underwhelming to fans who have been forced to wait a mere couple weeks without any Bachelor content — a rarity these days. This is no knock on Clayton, who by all means seems to be a generous man with a genuine desire to find true love. It's more an indictment on the general direction of The Bachelor, which has been lagging in quality to The Bachelorette in recent years.
In particular, the franchise has dropped the ball in casting male leads in recent years. Arie Luyendyk Jr. was plucked from obscurity and wound up being overwhelmed by the show's most crucial decision. He broke up with franchise mainstay Becca Kufrin in a confusingly public fashion. Then, instead of casting fan favorite Jason Mesnick from Becca's season, The Bachelor went with Colton Underwood, overexerting itself on the fact that he was a virgin in a decision that has backfired spectacularly. The next season, despite overtures from the fan base to cast its first Black lead in Mike Johnson, the franchise chose Peter Weber, who might be the worst Bachelor in the history of the show. After the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed, the franchise had no choice but to cast a Black lead, and instead of choosing a previous cast member, of which there were plenty of eligible Bachelors, it decided to pick best friend of fan favorite Tyler Cameron, Matt James. While he was a serviceable lead — and deserves some credit for still dating the person he chose — his season was shrouded in controversy created by then-host Chris Harrison.
What plagued Matt's season was also the bullying and nasty comments between the women contestants, a trend that will likely continue in Clayton's season. While the franchise has made strides in casting diverse contestants and leads — Michelle's season featured the first Black couple on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette — the producers still haven't learned that drama does not need to come in the form of people who are mean to one another just for the sake of being mean.
Apparently, Clayton falls in love with three women on his season, indicating he may fall victim to some of the indecision that caused Ben Higgins to earn the ire of fans. This lack of instinct in knowing who he wants could cause members of the cast to turn against each other. It will make for good television if the tension is respectful, as it has been with most of the men who have made it far on each of the past several Bachelorette seasons.
There is still a disparity, however, in how the show edits male contestants versus how it portrays its female contestants. This season of The Bachelor would be better off if it cast less Victorias (referring to all three Victorias from the last two seasons) and more women who are interested in finding love rather than attempting to build their platform by ostracizing themselves from other women in the house. Clayton might be easy to root for, but ultimately he doesn't make the casting decisions. That will likely be the main reason his season is criticized.
The Bachelor premieres Monday at 8pm EST on ABC.