From queer relationships to... politics? Here's how TheBachelor franchise is looking to diversify the show even more.
will go down as one of the most unforgettable in franchise history. With a windmill and a fence jump behind us, and apparently the biggest f***boy ever ahead , we had to get Rob Mills, ABC Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming, on the phone to discuss the promising, and ever-changing, future of Bachelor Nation. just finished with stellar ratings.
Why not? I mean how many relationships have you heard about, especially now, with such a divided country, that fall into turmoil because of that? ... I don't want this to turn into MSNBC, this is not going to be a political roundtable, but certainly nothing is off limits. We should encourage the cast … If we are totally committed to this being about somebody finding a life partner or not finding a life partner, you have to have those conversations.
We're trying to get better and better with that. This season we put the guys’ faces and names out there. … So certainly there was a scenario where [Jed Wyatt’s girlfriend] could've come forward. ... There was a bit of a feeling of failure on our part, especially with somebody who is as great as Hannah. … You have to have some acceptance that we can't find everything. You’re definitely going to see us do that [again]; it certainly helped. There were red flags we found out about.
It’s changed over the years. You do look at who people want. … Like after Becca Kufrin’s season, the last thing you left with is, ‘Oh my gosh, Blake is so heartbroken. He needs to find love.’ And then you find that everything, especially now in the world, everything moves so quickly. People forget about that. Then you have to think, who's going to have the most interesting story arch for 24 hours? With Colton [Underwood], that was a really interesting story.