This post contains spoilers for The Bachelorette.
What a difference a season makes. Around six months ago, The Bachelor was in creative freefall following Zach Shallcross’s season, which contained yet another racist scandal within its supposedly vetted cast and failed to connect with viewers on a larger scale. But there were slivers of hope, like the appointment of Charity Lawson as Bachelorette and ABC’s cutting of ties with controversial figurehead Mike Fleiss after more than two decades.
As Lawson’s journey to find love concluded on Monday night, three more installments of the franchise were confirmed for the coming months. But instead of dread, those announcements sparked a strange feeling of excitement—anticipation, even.
“I feel like Oprah tonight,” said Jesse Palmer, hitting his stride as host after Chris Harrison’s exit, during the live finale. As The Bachelorette concluded, viewers were treated to new footage and official release dates for The Golden Bachelor, a senior spin on the show to be led by 71-year-old widower Gerry Turner, and the next season of Bachelor in Paradise, which will feature four former leads. Both will premiere on Thursday, September 28. That was all before Lawson learned that she’ll be competing on next season of Dancing with the Stars, which airs this fall, and a new Bachelor was tapped for 2024.
For the first time in a long time, there was palpable, only slightly manufactured energy during the finale and “After the Final Rose” special. This was, in part, thanks to an impressive rallying of the troops. The studio audience included three former leads (including Gabby Windey and her new girlfriend, Robby Hoffman); the season’s biggest pot-stirring contestant, Brayden; Neil Lane (who was MIA from Shallcross’s season); and—for some reason—past Bachelor Peter Weber’s parents. Was there an explanation for their presence, other than throwing fans off about a Pilot Pete 2.0 season? No! But if you’ve got a deep bench of chaotic characters to trot out for events such as these, why not extend the invite?
Lawson’s love story also had a feel-good ending. Her Bachelorette season had fewer episodes, less international travel, and a later time slot that switched partway through the season. But none of that seemed to matter when it came time for Lawson’s eventual engagement to fan-favorite Dotun Olubeko, an outcome that felt earned, but not entirely predictable. Her 10-episode tenure served as a reminder of what the show does best—and a reset button before the franchise’s next chapter.
After the intriguing one-two punch of The Golden Bachelor and Paradise comes a new season of The Bachelor. Lawson’s runner-up Joey Graziadei, a 28-year-old from Pennsylvania now living in Hawaii, will lead that season, and he has all the trappings of a compelling Bachelor—a punchy job title (the tennis pro’s tagline will absolutely be “Game, set, he’s looking for his match”), unchartered family backstory (his parents split after his father revealed he’s gay), and—for the first time in recent memory—Graziadei feels like he was actually the audience’s first choice for the role.
It’s no surprise that ABC is tripling down on all things Bachelor, given the Hollywood strikes that have stripped scripted programs from fall schedules everywhere. But amid a deluge of newer, perhaps shinier dating shows—from new seasons of Netflix’s The Ultimatum to CW’s FBOY Island—The Bachelor franchise has made clear that it won’t go down without a fight. In the words of Dotun, maybe “a good thing really can be just a good thing.”
