Marriage Rates Are Plummeting. Why Are Reality Dating Series So Popular?

Marriage Rates Are Plummeting. Why Are Reality Dating Series So Popular?

(Link): Marriage Rates Are Plummeting. Why Are Reality Dating Series So Popular?

Why the dating-and-marriage storyline still appeals so much to audiences who are increasingly opting out of the tradition.

by Joanna Weiss

Follow conservative punditry over the past few years, and you might think America is becoming a nation of unrepentant singles.

Last July, Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance warned a conservative think tank about a “civilizational crisis,” marked by declining marriage and birth rates, and promoted by the “childless left.”

 Census data that shows low marriage rates among millennials and Gen Z-ers — only 29 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds were married in 2018, compared to 59 percent in 1978 — begets headlines bemoaning a “marriage crisis” or predicting “the end of marriage in America.”

But if the dream of marriage is dead, you wouldn’t know it from the trailer for the upcoming season of ABC’s “The Bachelorette.” The three-minute video, released last week, features a single schoolteacher named Michelle Young, a herd of healthy male suitors vying for her hand and a shimmering word cloud of courtship cliches:
“I’m looking for my soulmate.” “You give me goosebumps.” “When I’m with him, I feel fireworks.” Young declares that “I’m ready to fall in love,” and she wants more than just romance. “Miss Young,” one of her students says, “is looking for a husband.”

700 Club Host Pat Robertson to Retire From Daily Hosting Duties after 54 Years

700 Club Host Pat Robertson to Retire From Daily Hosting Duties after 54 Years 

Robertson announced on today’s “700 Club” television program that he is retiring. He will only occasionally be showing up on the show to answer viewer questions or offer commentary now and then, but he won’t be hosting the show as much.

Robertson has been in semi-retirement in the last ten or so years, so this is really nothing new. He’s going to stop hosting the show on a daily basis, and his son Gordon will take over – but this has actually been the format of the show for years now.

I don’t recall exactly when, but sometime in the last 5 – 10  – 15 years, Pat would take a few days off from the show and his son would take over, so this is nothing new; I don’t know why Pat or his show is acting like this is a new development.  

I wish Pat would not be giving any more viewer advice. As I’ve blogged about time and again on my blog (do a search for “Pat Robertson” on this blog, and also see the Robertson-related links at the bottom of this post under “Related Posts”), Robertson more often than not has given some pretty insensitive advice to older single women, jobless adults, and other people.

(Link): ‘700 Club’ host Pat Robertson steps down after 54 years

October 1, 2021

Pat Robertson, who turned a tiny Virginia television station into a global religious broadcasting network, is stepping down after a half-century running the “700 Club” on daily TV, the Christian Broadcasting Network announced on Friday.

(Link): Pat Robertson steps down from ‘700 Club’ after hosting the show for over 50 years

Robertson, 91, said in a statement that he hosted Christian Broadcasting Network’s flagship program for the last time on Friday.

NORFOLK, Va. — Pat Robertson, who turned a tiny Virginia television station into a global religious broadcasting network, is stepping down after a half-century running the “700 Club” on daily TV, the Christian Broadcasting Network announced on Friday.

Robertson, 91, said in a statement that he hosted the network’s flagship program for the last time on Friday, and that his son Gordon Robertson will take over the weekday show starting on Monday.

“I will no longer be the host of the ‘700 Club’ after, I think, 54 years of hosting the program,” Robertson said on the show on Friday, although he vowed to return from time to time, if he’s had a “revelation” he needs to share. “I thank God for everyone that’s been involved. And I want to thank all of you.”

NetFlix’s “Sexy Beast” Blind Dating Show

NetFlix’s “Sexy Beast” Blind Dating Show

I’d think the only thing worse than going on a blind date is a “sexy beast” blind date, where you have to wear a big, weird mask.

(Link):  THE DEVIL’S IN THE DATE-AILS IN TRAILER FOR NETFLIX’S FANTASTICAL REALITY DATING SHOW, ‘SEXY BEASTS’

(Link):  Sexy Beast: Everything We Know About Netflix Dating Shows

(Link): ‘Sexy Beasts’ Takes Blind Dates to a Very Weird New Level in 1st Trailer for Netflix Show

By Erin Crabtree

Just when it seemed like reality TV dating series couldn’t get any stranger, Netflix gave the world a glimpse at its new show Sexy Beasts, which features individuals searching for love while wearing prosthetics. 

The first trailer for the series dropped on Wednesday, June 23, and quickly took over the internet due to its odd premise.

“Sexy Beasts is a new dating show where real-life singles sport elaborate makeup and prosthetics to put true blind-date chemistry to the test,” Netflix tweeted.

The video opens with a woman dressed up as a panda telling her date, who is made to look like a bull, “I wanna get married, I wanna have babies before I’m, like, 26. Do you have health insurance?”

I’m a Virgin, So Why Am I Being Slut-Shamed? by Ashley Iaconetti

I’m a Virgin, So Why Am I Being Slut-Shamed? by Ashley Iaconetti

(Link): I’m a Virgin, So Why Am I Being Slut-Shamed? by Ashley Iaconetti

Excerpts:

“Bachelor” contestant Ashley Iaconetti on why a girl can act sexy without, you know, having sex.

Apparently I can’t be a virgin because I have my belly-button pierced. Or because I live in New Jersey. Or because I kissed Chris Soules “like that” during my appearance on The Bachelor. During my time on the show, social media was flooded with absurd judgements and arguments as to why I couldn’t possibly be a virgin.

It’s been odd and frustrating to see people debate the status of my hymen (!) on Twitter — seriously, people, that’s what you’re using your time tweeting about? And many people don’t just doubt my claim, but flat-out declare I’m a liar.

….I believe a girl can be sexy without having sex.

ABC Won’t Let Us Forget That the New Bachelor Is A Virgin. Is That A Problem? by L. Bonos

ABC Won’t Let Us Forget That the New Bachelor Is A Virgin. Is That A Problem? by L. Bonos / Lily News

(Link): ABC Won’t Let Us Forget That the New Bachelor Is A Virgin. Is That A Problem?

Excerpts:

Past contestants say the show sometimes talks around sex in a way that feels exploitative

By The Lily News, Jan 6, 2019

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Lisa Bonos.

Last night, this season of ABC’s “The Bachelor” premiered. Its lead is Colton Underwood: a 26-year-old former professional football player who, when he appeared on “The Bachelorette” this past summer, delivered an announcement that surprised many. He’s a virgin — and now, as he steps into the spotlight, ABC will not let us forget it for a moment.

Conversations with past Bachelor Nation virgins reveal the reality show and its spin offs often use wholesome things — such as virginity and the search for a husband and wife — as ways to talk about the more titillating aspects of dating, in ways that can feel exploitative.

Youtubers Taste-Test Disgraced Evangelist Jim Bakker’s $175 ‘End-Times’ Food Bucket – And It’s Hilarious

Youtubers Taste-Test Disgraced Evangelist Jim Bakker’s $175 ‘End-Times’ Food Bucket – And It’s Hilarious

There is a video embedded on this page below (on Raw Story):

(Link): Youtubers Taste-Test Disgraced Evangelist Jim Bakker’s $175 ‘End-Times’ Food Bucket – And It’s Hilarious

by Bob Brigham

Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker’s doomsday buckets of food received a culinary review from Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal of Good Mythical Morning, the Friendly Atheist reported.

“Today, we taste the apocalypse,” the review began. “When we heard televangelist Jim Bakker was selling doomsday food stored in buckets, we knew we had to get our hands on it.”

“He went to prison for accounting fraud, but now he’s back and selling giant buckets of non-perishable apocalypse food,” they continued. “I just want to say, we do not endorse Jim or his food, but we sure do want to eat it and rank it.”

When Pop Culture Sells Dangerous Myths About Romance by J. Beck

When Pop Culture Sells Dangerous Myths About Romance by J. Beck

(Link): When Pop Culture Sells Dangerous Myths About Romance by J. Beck

Entertainment glorifying or excusing predatory male behavior is everywhere—from songs about “blurred lines” to TV shows where rapists marry their victims.

Jan 2018

Edward Cullen. Chuck Bass. Lloyd Dobler. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That guy from Love Actually with the sign. The lead singers of emo bands with their brooding lyrics.

Many of the romantic heroes that made me swoon in my youth followed a pattern and, like a Magic Eye picture, only with a little distance did the shape of it pop out to me. All of these characters in some way crossed, or at least blurred, the lines of consent, aggressively pursuing women with little or no regard for their desires.

But these characters’ actions, and those of countless other leading men across the pop-culture landscape, were more likely to be portrayed as charming than scary.

Norman Lear, Age 95, Shooting New Pilot About Life, Sex in Nursing Home

Norman Lear, Age 95, Shooting New Pilot About Life, Sex in Nursing Home

(Link): Norman Lear, Age 95, Shooting New Pilot About Life, Sex in Nursing Home

…Now, with TV veteran Peter Tolan, he’s got “Guess Who’s Dead?” a droll comedy set in a Palm Springs nursing home with frisky post “Golden Girl” types. There are also young people as regulars, so the whole thing isn’t liver spots. The show comes from NBC and Sony.

Last year at the Austin Film Festival, Lear and Tolan tested out a reading of a pilot script.

Robert Walden (from “Lou Grant”) and Oscar nominee June Squibb (“Nebraska”) played Murray and Patricia, a Jew and an Irish Catholic who fall in love when Murray’s wife who’s also her sister, dies.

TV Show Triggers Chinese Virginity Debate

TV Show Triggers Chinese Virginity Debate

(Link): TV Show Triggers Chinese Virginity Debate by Y. Zhao

“He asked me whether I am a virgin,” says Qiu Yingying, bursting into tears.

She has just found out her relationship with boyfriend Ying Qin is over, after he found out she had had sex in the past.

The scene from China’s biggest soap opera right now, Ode to Joy, has triggered much discussion on whether virginity is still a prized asset for women in modern China.

Ode to Joy, now in its second season, tells the stories of five beautiful women from different walks of life who live in the same floor of an apartment complex in Shanghai.

The show, a less risque version of Sex and the City, is popular among women for its focus on romance, careers, friendships and the difficulties women face in the big city.

…‘Out-of-dated topic’

Sex education in China is often poor. There are stories of male biology teachers skipping details of the female reproductive system in class and ask students to learn it by themselves.

And parents very rarely share information about sex with their children.

What almost all parents do, however, is warn their daughters not to have any dates before they graduate from university, fearing that they get hurt or become pregnant.

Chinese communities also traditionally expect chastity before marriage.

That means TV dramas are very influential in shaping audiences’ values. They are windows for young audiences, especially young women, to understand sex and sexuality and the ways views are changing.

Double standards on virginity

Zi Yin, a Shanghai-based film assistant producer, told the BBC that even debating the topic was old-fashioned in the 21st Century. She thought it was “disgusting” for the show to make an issue of it.

Dating, Marriage, Male Entitlement, and ‘My 600 LB Life’ TV Show

Dating, Marriage, Male Entitlement, and ‘My 600 LB Life’ TV Show

This is going to be one of those posts that meanders all over the place.

I’m not really sure where to start.

I’ve been watching a cable TV show called “My 600 LB Life” for over a year now. Aspects of content I see on this show remind me of some of the subjects I blog about on here.

I’m not sure exactly why I watch this show, but I find it riveting, and sometimes horrifying. It’s a reality program. Each show features a real-life person who is 600 or more pounds over-weight.

I do not watch the show to make fun of or laugh at the obese people.

I watch, I suppose, because I am interested in their life stories and what drove them to cope with life’s problems by over-eating to the point they become morbidly obese.

I also tune in to learn medical information about what happens to a body once it gets up to 600 pounds.

I learned from this show that not only does the body get a lot of fat on it (obviously), and the heart has a harder time pumping, but obese people can and do develop all sorts of secondary issues, such as painful bumps, scales, and swelling on their legs (which are referred to as, or the result of, things such as (Link): Cellulitis and (Link): Lymphedema).

The majority of the time, I feel empathy for the obese people on this show.

I am wishing them all the best and hoping they lose the weight and recover and get over whatever childhood horror and pain led them to over-eat (most cases of this show consist of someone who turned to food as comfort after they were neglected, molested, or abused in childhood).

There have been a few cases on this show, such as Steve Assanti, Chuck, and James K., where I have little to no empathy at all, because the person is whiny, ungrateful, abusive, rude, or incredibly self-absorbed.

‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ TV Show Scene Perfectly Sums Up What It’s Like To Be Single at 40+ When You Had Wanted to Be Married

‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ TV Show Scene Perfectly Sums Up What It’s Like To Be Single at 40+ When You Had Wanted to Be Married 

I just re-watched a re-run I had forgotten about. It really resonated – maybe not so much at the time, when I was in my 20s when it first aired, but now that I’m in my 40s and still single, like the character in the skit is, I totally relate.

I will embed the scene below in this post, that someone posted on You Tube (I so hope the video is never pulled down. Sometimes, videos are removed due to copyright infringement claims.)

“Everybody Loves Raymond” is a television situation comedy show that started around 1996. I used to watch it every week and still remember the characters and one or two of the episodes.

This show takes place, starts out, in the late 1990s, before many Americans had the internet – dating sites were still a good ways away, and cell phones didn’t really catch on until around the year 2,000 or a bit later.

Even when dating sites first came out and caught on, many singles did not want to use them.

Even up to around 2005 or so, there was a stigma attached to dating sites. If you used one at that time, you didn’t really want anyone to know, because they might think you were desperate or a loser.

I started watching “Everyone Loves Raymond” again in re-runs about two weeks ago – it comes on some of the local cable channels. If you’re like I am – single over the age of 35 and had expected and wanted to marry – you might really relate to the embedded video in this post, too.

To set it up for you if you’re not familiar with the show:

The show is about a guy named Ray who is married to Debra. Ray’s parents, Frank and Marie, live across the street from Ray and Debra.

Ray’s older brother, Robert (a.k.a. “Robbie”), is a police officer who lives with his parents – the guy was married to a woman name Joanne(?), and if I remember correctly, she won the house in their divorce. Joanne dumped Robert for a guy Robert arrested.

For a long time, Robert was too broke and too depressed to live on his own, so he lived with his parents. Eventually, Robert meets Amy, and they get married. But for a good long time, Robert, who is in his early 40s, is single, can’t seem to meet the right woman, and hates being single.

Jan Crouch of TBN Died – and According to Suit, Covered Up Rape of Teen Granddaughter

Jan Crouch of TBN Died – and According to Suit, Covered Up Rape of Teen Granddaughter

I have a hard time feeling sad about Jan Crouch’s death in light of how she treated a teen family member who was raped (see excerpt under second link on page).

(Link): Jan Crouch, co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, dies at 78

• Tuesday, May 31, 2016
• Jan Crouch, a co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network and popular televangelist, has died following a stroke, her son announced Tuesday via a posting on his and his wife’s website. She was 78.

(Link):  Suit alleges TBN covered up rape of 13-year-old

• August 2013
• A granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network founders Jan andPaul Crouch filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that she was plied with alcohol and raped by a TBN employee when she was just 13 — and that her family covered up the incident, rather than report it to authorities, to protect TBN’s reputation