Bachelor Joey with Daisy. Photo courtesy of ABC.
Say it ain’t so, WFAA.
I love Luka Doncic and the rest of the Dallas Mavericks — I’m a MFFL — but how can you preempt Monday’s penultimate episode of Joey’s season of The Bachelor for, gulp, a basketball game?!?
Bachelor-watching isn’t the most intellectual pursuit — no lives were ever saved nor wars averted during The Bachelor’s 28 seasons on ABC. But the reality show, initially hosted by Lake Highlands High School graduate Chris Harrison and helmed now by NFL veteran Jesse Palmer does have a few redeeming qualities.
Besides the obvious escapism and quest for love eternal, the show can be entertaining as we follow one man and 30 women traveling to a different country each week. The group is serenaded by up-and-coming musicians, confronted with athletic challenges and graced with once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Okay, okay. There’s also manipulation by cutthroat producers, backstabbing by self-indulgent contestants “in it for all the wrong reasons” and shenanigans by women who can’t hold their liquor.
My Bachelor-watching group, a cluster of moms now entering the grandmother phase of life, take turns hosting in our homes. We match our menus to the theme of the episode, with cocktails, food, decorations and party favors to coordinate with the destination du jour. We print color rosters and score sheets, and award prizes to those with the highest — and lowest — scores at the end of the season.
This conflict with the Mavericks is messing with our mojo.
Next Monday evening’s episode is called “Fantasy Suites,” because Joey Graziadei will invite the final three women, on consecutive nights, into a hotel suite to spend the night for the first time before he asks one of them for their hand in marriage. All three of the girls have said they love him. Now, he must choose just one.
If you’re like me and you’ve already invested eight weeks in Joey’s quest for matrimonial bliss, the folks at WFAA say you’ll need an antenna to watch the Fantasy Suites episode in its entirety Monday night at 7 p.m. on channel 8.2. They’ll also re-air the show Tuesday morning at 2:11 a.m. on channel 8. As for me and my crew, we’re heading down to Waco, where KXXV-TV will be showing The Bachelor just as ABC and the good Lord intended — on regular TV at 7 p.m. Monday night. The real question is — will Joey pop the question to Daisy, Kelsey A. or Rachel when it’s all said and done? And it’s no fair checking Reality Steve for the answer. Like all important life questions, you — and Joey — have to go with your gut on this one.
