‘Bachelor’ Ben And Lauren’s Reality Show: A Lame Attempt At Boosting Ben Higgins’ Political Career, Total Snooze-Fest Ahead?
The premiere of Bachelor star Ben Higgins and his fiancee Lauren Bushnell’s new reality show, Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After, doesn’t make its debut until October, but it’s already getting negative press with the words “boring” and “dozer” being used to describe the docu-series that may help (or hurt) Ben’s aspiring political career.
Even Ben Higgins doesn’t know what fans will see the couple doing when they watch the show — other than campaign for political office and watch Netflix — a huge red flag unless you need to find a show that will cure your insomnia.
Golf's tiring pic.twitter.com/dq4SchSuyf
— Lauren Bushnell (@LaurenBushnell3) June 28, 2016
According to ABC-owned Freeform network, Ben and Lauren’s new show will give fans an “inside look at the road to the altar” and will also explore Ben’s “political career options.”
It sounds like a lovely show that stars a sweet couple who found love on TV, but is it enough to engage the audience? Moreover, will there be any drama to keep fans from falling asleep? After all, isn’t that what people love about reality TV shows?
#BenandLauren can’t wait for you to watch #BenandLauren: Happily Ever After! pic.twitter.com/TZ1EwI2fPu
— BenandLaurenTV (@BenandLaurenTV) June 22, 2016
Freeform executive Karey Burke states that Ben and Lauren are the “biggest Bachelor couple of the last 10 years,” but some viewers would beg to differ, especially when it comes to watching someone’s life play out after the final rose ceremony.
“I’m personally offended on behalf of Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici, but it’s fine,” writes Huffington Post‘s Claire Fallon. “Still, what’s the point? The Bachelor focuses on a journey to love, but a show about a couple just living doesn’t have the same dramatic frisson.”
And that’s exactly what the show will be about — Ben and Lauren living their life — and even Ben isn’t quite sure how exciting that will be.
“This new show is just our lives,” Ben tells E! “Everybody wants to ask us what they’re going to see and we don’t know yet.”
When asked if they would be shown watching Netflix on the show, Ben piped up and said, “There might be a little bit of that…we’re on the couch and we’re ordering takeout and hanging out, so I think there will be some of that.”
Riveting television, don’t you agree?
Huffington Post‘s Claire Fallon summed it all up when she wrote, “So, we’ll get Ben stumping on the Colorado campaign trail and Lauren doing … things. TBD things.”
Well, that and Netflix on the couch.
Lauren tells E! that she’s not quite sure what direction her career as a flight attendant will take now that she’s found love on TV and is filming the upcoming Ben and Lauren series.
She admits that she hasn’t worked as for Alaska Airlines since she went on the Bachelor and may do something completely different like start a lifestyle blog, something many other Bachelor and Bachelorette leads and contestants have done in the past.
So, we can add watching Lauren blog to the list of what viewers will see on Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After.
Very low-key on the drama, something that’s unheard of in reality TV shows these days. Even during the journey to find love on the Bachelor and the Bachelorette there is controversy and frankly, many viewers watch just for the drama.
Oddly enough, Ben admitted to People that he and Lauren are not watching JoJo Fletcher’s season of the Bachelorette because instead of “consuming themselves with the reality TV show, they wanted to “step away and take time for each other.”
Yet they will be consumed with filming their own reality show all summer, so there’s that.
The Ringer offered up an alternative to the Ben and Lauren’s new show, one that they say will be yet another “Bachelor-spinoff sleep aid.” The suggestion? A show starring Season 11 Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe and her fiance Shawn Booth.
“Just once can we get a post-show spinoff that isn’t a thinly veiled PSA for true love waits? [Kaitlyn and Shawn] are perhaps the realest pairing in recent Bachelorette history?—?sexually active adult humans who decided to date after their season rather than get married right away. For a realistic portrayal of human courtship, please give them a show.”
Kaitlyn and Shawn entertain their fans on a daily basis with their hilarious Snapchat stories, and there is no doubt they would keep viewers entertained if they were offered their own reality TV show.
However, their unique brand of humor obviously wasn’t a good fit for Freeform, so we’re going to have to give Ben and Lauren a shot. Let’s hope that they don’t turn out to be the couple’s version of TLC’s Duggar family spinoff, Jill and Jessa: Counting On.
Are you looking forward to watching Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After in October or do you think it will be a snooze-fest?
[Image via ABC Television Network]
