Sweet Escape from Reality

One of my favorite t.v. programs ended the other night---"The Bachelor". And you thought I was going to say, "Meet the Press", didn't you? No, on Monday night we stay home for "The Bachelor", one of the silliest, corniest, mushiest, insipid shows on t.v. But, there's something about the idea of a guy searching for his true love in this world of bad news that brings a ray of sunshine into my life every week. It's sugary sweet, ridiculously romantic, and hard to believe that true love can be found in such a contrived , un-natural way. But when you think about it, what are the odds of finding your one true love in a natural way--in school, a blind date, or over the water cooler? Good luck with that. Oh, but there's always the internet match making methods---beats going to a bar, but oh,so high-tech, sterile, forced ,and yes, un-natural. I mean, what happened to just running into the love of your life at the post office, or making eye contact with that dark, handsome stranger across a crowded room? Far more natural----and about as likely as winning the lottery. You get right down to it, it's really amazing any of us ever got married without today's technology or "The Bachelor"---it's a mine field out there! At least love-searching singles can check out the police records via the internet now. Sort of goes along with pre-nuptial agreements. But, on "The Bachelor", none of those cynical things exist---it's all about romance, fun times, love--and a dash of lust. Sort of like the old show, "Fantasy Island" on steroids.

But, still, there's also something innocent and hopeful about this show. While it's on I forget everything except whether some poor, hapless, loveless hunk will find his soul mate. Poor baby,he is of course a stud-muffin, if there ever was one. He is also usually a doctor, pilot, or heir to some family dynasty, but just has not been able to find anyone to love him! Well, now he must absolutely find The One. No getting out of it this time. The show must go on! It shouldn't be too hard, as he is offered up a bevy of gorgeous young women, all vying for his attention and eventually his proposal to be his wedded wife, or at least his "let's try it and see "girl friend. Most of the relationships crash and burn after the show, but who cares--- it's fairy tale story telling at its best, t.v. style, shot in beautiful locales. But whatta a concept----boy meets girls, picks out several, then a few, then two, then---voila! The One gets chosen and they live happily ever after. Meanwhile, the poor runner-up girl, a.k.a. loser, is hustled out of the way and into the loser limousine, while the cameras record her pitiful melt down of having come so close to finding Mr.Right. More like Mr. Jerk, for mis-leading the poor, very suspecting girl. Life is tough. Maybe she should try the post office.

My husband scoffs, ridicules, and shakes his head all the way through the entire series, but I could swear I saw something that resembled a tear in his eye the other night when Jake finally proposed to Vienna (that actually was/is her name) , and The One. My husband denies this. Maybe he was crying tears of relief that it was finally over. I'll miss it. But soon "The Bachelorette" will come on, the girl finds boy version of the same show. The producers of this show are no dummies--they usually pick one of the more popular loser girls from the preceding show to be the next bachelorette---pure genius. It's payback time for the girls and a second chance for one of our favorite losers to find The One. The eternal search continues and everybody is happy. Like I said ,this is a very silly, corny, mushy, insipid show. Go ahead---watch CNN if you want to. I don't care. Just don't bother me on Monday nights---