‘The Bachelorette’ ratings improve as Nick Viall – Shawn Booth showdown looms

As we’ve said time and time again, drama sells on reality TV. There may be some out there who act to a certain extent like they want to see happy times for characters on reality TV (especially love stories like “The Bachelorette“), but really they are watching for the trainwrecks. Just remember here that Juan Pablo Galavis’ season of “The Bachelor” was a huge ratings winner, even if the majority of America hated him in the process by the time we made it to the end of the show.

“The Bachelorette” Monday ended up drawing a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic, right when we saw some of the drama hit its peak between Kaitlyn Bristowe suitors Nick Viall and Shawn Booth. We feel like there are some people out there now probably just watching to see if these two end up fighting each other.

We know that there are some out there who don’t like Kaitlyn as Bachelorette for this reason or that, but to us this is commercially the most successful season of the show since the one featuring Emily Maynard as lead. This show rarely draws ratings close to “The Bachelor,” so for it to get a 2.0 in the summer is very impressive. It also raises the stakes more for the finale, which could prove itself to be a really dramatic affair if both Shawn and Nick (or “that guy,” as Shawn calls him) are both still present and a part of the story.

In other news, we’re going to go ahead and say that “The Whispers” (0.8) is done. When you are losing over half of your lead-in, you’re going to have a hard time justifying to anyone why you deserve a spot on the air.

Head over here to get some other news right away on “The Bachelorette” from last night! Also, you can sign up here to gather some further TV scoop on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)