Call Me Old, But ‘The Bachelorette’ Is On Too Late

By Nicole Gallucci @nicolemichele5
Published July 3, 2023, 8:59 a.m. ET

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Bachelor Nation, you up? If it’s 11:00 p.m. on a Monday night I sincerely hope not.

After years of the Bachelor Franchise airing episodes of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise on Mondays (or Tuesdays) from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. ET, Season 20 of The Bachelorette toyed with tradition by premiering in a new time slot: 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET. Gasp!

Call me old, but as an East Coast girlie hoping to bank a full eight hours of sleep before a long week ahead, that’s simply too late. For years I cherished cathartic Monday-night recovery sessions spent unwinding to mindless, guilty-pleasure romance and reality TV. But I cherish sleep even more. And I don’t want to watch a bunch of grown men fight while a love story unfolds in the background if it means I have to go to bed even closer to midnight.

For Bachelor Nation members looking to start their weeks off by turning in a respectable hour on Monday — perhaps 10:00 or 10:30 p.m. — on demand and next-day streaming options for The Bachelorette have never looked so good. I know we’re only one episode in, but if The Bachelorette Season 20 airs too late for a major chunk of viewers to tune in live, there’s a serious chance the fandom and broadcast ratings alike will see negative effects of the new scheduling.

Over the years, live-tweeting new episodes on Mondays has become a great unifier among members of Bachelor Nation. But if the scheduling shift deters loyal viewers from watching episodes night-of — which early complaints seem to indicate — that real-time community could suffer.

Even more concerning than driving a wedge in the fandom is the fear that the new time slot may lead to a dip in day-of ratings. The Bachelorette Season 19, which starred Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey, premiered in mid-July with a same-day audience of 2.9 million viewers, while Lawson’s late-June season dropped to 1.9 million in its first week.

Lawson is only the fifth Black lead in franchise history, and in the past we’ve seen those involved with the franchise attribute lower viewership numbers to diverse casting choices. In 2018, Bachelor creator Mike Fleiss (who recently exited the franchise after more than two decades) memorably noted that ratings were down for the first Black Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay’s season. “I found it incredibly disturbing in a Trumpish kind of way,” Fleiss told the New York Times. “How else are you going to explain the fact that she’s down in the ratings, when — black or white — she was an unbelievable bachelorette? It revealed something about our fans.”

The unconventional scheduling shift certainly hasn’t done Lawson’s premiere any favors, so I only hope if same-day viewership continues to be lower than in seasons past, the fan-favorite contestant and her race aren’t seen as sources of the drop. When Lawson was cast after The Bachelor Season 27 I was more excited to watch The Bachelorette than I’ve been in years, but if I wasn’t covering the show for work there’s no way I’d be tuning in night-of to watch a two-hour episode wrap at 11 p.m. ET. And I’m not alone in that decision.

This year, ABC scheduled the Kevin and Frankie Jonas-hosted game show Claim to Fame in the prime 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET slot ahead of The Bachelorette, hence the time change. But the move definitely raised eyebrows, especially considering the franchise is still a stable source of viewership for the network.

It’s unclear if The Bachelorette’s new time slot will remain should the show return next year for Season 21, but we do know that ABC plans to debut its new senior citizen dating show, The Golden Bachelor, this fall on Mondays from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET, which is just as — if not more! — baffling.

Even more so than The Bachelorette, The Golden Bachelor had the opportunity to be home run hit for family viewership. But are families going to stay up until 11:00 p.m. on a Monday night? And do you expect seniors, who should be a key dynamic for the new dating show, to push their bedtime back? Be serious, ABC.

The franchise has survived its fair share of drama, controversy, and shake-ups over the years, but can The Bachelorette bounce back from this late-night slot? Only time will tell. But there’s no denying this… is the most dramatic time change in Bachelor Nation history.

New episodes of The Bachelorette Season 20 premiere on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET (UGH!) on ABC. Episodes are available for next-day streaming on Hulu.