Click on the title of this post to view the audience described in this post.
The fans of the television show, "The Bachelor," seem to take the concept of a reality show very literally. They act as if they personally know the participants and could help them have more successful relationships. This particular post talks about ways to improve the sustainability of the couple at the end of a given show.
Obviously, I cannot interview the bloggers personally, but I think I can gather quite a bit from their posts. In general, the shared social agenda among these bloggers seem to be to have happy endings in relationships. They all seem concerned with sharing their own knowledge of what makes a successful relationship and their advice for how "The Bachelor" participants can be successful as well.
A main characteristic that the bloggers seem to share is the belief that they know the participants in the show. To these audience members, the show is not full of characters that have been carefully selected and edited to create a good television show; instead, it is a documentary about a couple struggling to find each other and stay together. Some even get specific about what certain characters should have done. One blogger even claims to have "the key" to a better relationship for the couple—make the show longer so the couple can spend more time together getting to know each other.
They seem to enjoy the belief that they are part of the couple's lives, giving them advice and understanding their issues and relationship problems. Additionally, they all seem to deny the fact that this is a television show. For example, if one blogger's advice was followed and the couple actually spent the time to date, who would watch it? Who wants to watch a couple date over the course of a year, one on one, without the drama of cat fights and hasty decisions? But to the audience, these are their friends and they care about them and want them to live happily ever after. And they post to help their current friends (whom they know from past episodes) move forward and to help their future friends (from future episodes) succeed.
1 comment:
My friend Bug explained to me that the reason the Bachelor does so well while the Bachelorette failed after one season is that men and women compete differently, and the cat fights and drama around women's competition makes for a much better television show than men's style of competition for a mate. I think Xiandy summed it up pretty well in her post: "Stop having the girls living together and mixing. It's not a natural or normal setting to date and meet someone that you are roommates with. Oh, but that would take the drama out of it. This show is not about feelings, love, or people. It's getting people at their worst and filming it. How sad."
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