[cue David Bowie] Ch-ch-changes . . .
THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL CHANGES EVER CAME TO PARADISE!! OK, that’s just me mocking The Bachelor franchise’s tendency to mock themselves with their self-referential (self-reverential?) proclamations. But with a new showrunner (Scott Tedi) taking over the franchise1, some badly needed fresh air blew over the season Premiere of Bachelor in Paradise.
Paradise has moved from a beach in Mexico to a tony resort hotel in Costa Rica. Rather than having Paradisers walk down the steps to the beach to introduce themselves, they rolled up in limos accompanied by hip-hop music. And the entire production had a different look, feel, sound (lots of snippets of cool dance tracks played throughout), and pace from what we were accustomed to.
But if you came for what we come to Paradise for – pecs and abs, busts and bottoms, and love triangles among people who’ve vibed with each other for five minutes – well, that’s still the stuff of Paradise, albeit with a new and improved soundtrack.
A recap of the first episode of any season of Paradise is generally futile, for as Jesse pointed out after the Rose Ceremony (mocking himself with a self-referential (self-reverential?) proclamation), “Everything is about to change.” With that said, here are some of my highlights and things I’m looking forward to.
The return and exit of Sam The Sham. Paradise has sometimes been a place where Bachelor/Bachelorette Villains rehabilitated their image. Fortunately, Jenn, who triangulated herself between Spencer and The Sham, gave her Rose to Spencer, sparing us from The Sham’s toxicity.
Men Acting Badly – So long to any further beef between Hakeem and Ricky over the meaning of someone being “vanilla.” Hakeem was loud, annoying, but occasionally hysterically funny. Ricky was loud, annoying, and loud. Both were probably cast by the New Evil Genius Producers (NEGPs) to provide one week’s worth of drama. Mission accomplished. ✔︎
Dale comes to Paradise four years after the end of his on-off-on-off engagement with Clare Crawley. Per the reactions of all the girls, he’s the hottest guy in the world, much less in Paradise. But his radar is faulty. With literally every girl to choose from, he begins a “relationship” with Kat. Can’t wait to see the meltdown of this.
Feelings in Hallmark vs. Paradise. In a Hallmark movie, it’s near the end that one of the leads is urged to tell him/her “how you really feel.” In Paradise, telling someone how you feel also happens at the end, but “the end” means just before The Rose Ceremony, to someone you vibed with for 10 minutes, and before your feelings change when somebody else arrives at the beach and it’s your week to give out a Rose to the new girl while telling her how you really feel.
The Arrival of The Goldens. I was very skeptical about this before the Premiere. But with the NEGPs running the show and seeing the coming attractions, I’ve traded some of my skepticism for curiosity.
In general, I loved the work of the NEGPs at changing up the look and feel of the show without losing its soul. Whether these changes continue to work in their favor is an open question. See you next week.
- The prior showrunners were sacked due to accusations of a toxic work environment. Declining ratings and much negative commentary about the franchise didn’t help. ↩︎
Ray's Musings 
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