‘The Bachelor’ premiere: Jimmy Kimmel to host ‘Here for the Right Reasons’ aftershow
Just in case Jimmy Kimmel did not have enough on his plate given that he is set to host the upcoming Academy Awards, you can now add this to the list: He will be hosting a special following the premiere of Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor” on Monday night.
There may not be too much known about this special at present, at least beyond the fact that the name is “Jimmy Kimmel Live: Here for the Right Reasons,” and it will likely feature a wide array of show-related content. We also expect that this is going to be plenty of fun, given that this is a show that is often ripe for parody. Kimmel himself has been a longtime supporter of the franchise, and even earlier this year had Jennifer Aniston (another fan of the show) make predictions about who she thinks will go far. This in itself made many longtime fans of the show incredibly happy.
This special is a change from last year, which is when ABC opted to do “Bachelor Live” hosted by Chris Harrison for the first few weeks of the season until “Castle” came back. While this show had its moments, it never quite found the right tone and the ratings were a mere fraction of the lead-in. It’s probably one of the reasons why ABC tried something different with “After Paradise” hosted by Michelle Collins and Sean Lowe over the summer. This show came under fire in its own way for not having Harrison around.
Moving forward, what ABC needs to figure out if they want to do a permanent aftershow is a way to balance what people love about “The Bachelor” with a new voice — our feeling is that they need an experienced comic / host like Kimmel (but with more availability) to do a show like this. They also need fewer guests and to smooth things out. Less fan polls in particular, since those were always painfully obvious and a complete waste of everyone’s time.
Throughout this month, we’ve been spotlighting some various contestants on this season of “The Bachelor.” If you want to read more about them, you can do so over at the link here! (Photo: ABC.)