The (White) Bachelor

Since the inception of Reality TV in the late '90s/early 2000s, the three major networks have demonstrated little interest in portraying a reality that adequately reflects the diversity of an increasingly diverse world, and no offender has been more guilty than ABC's The Bachelor.  There have been 23 combined seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and there has never been a non-white contestent in the feature role.  From a framing perspective alone, it is especially egregious that The Bachelor would fail to feature a non-white contestent when both the title and premise suggest their bachelor is sought after and desirable; it's hard not to presume the whitewashing of contestants suggests men and women of color are less desirable.

This is what a man look like

ABC has received a fair amount of criticism (though probably not enough) for what the producers have referred to as "an unfortunate coincidence." Mike Fleiss, The Bachelor's executive producer claimed that "for whatever reason, they [minority contestants] don't come forward. I wish they would." This quote really stood out to me as it transfers blame for failing to represent minority populations onto the individuals that make up those populations.  It's their fault because they've failed to produce adequate candidates, rather than the shows fault for holding such a limited definition as to what an adequate candidate looks and acts like.  This article  (you'll need to sign in through Penrose) points to a law suit filed by two African American men who are accusing ABC and The Bachelor of racial discrimination. Both men are former collegiate athletes who auditioned for the featured role in 2011 and never moved further than the initial casting call.  Because their suit is class action, they are "representing all persons of color who have applied for the role of the Bachelor or Bachelorette but been denied the equal opportunity for selection on the basis of race."

This is what a woman looks like

While it's certainly troubling that The Bachelor has neither featured minority contestants organically, nor as a response to the criticism this trend has garnered, it's also clear they have no intention of representing the demographics that are featured as being anything but despicable.  The Bachelor operates exclusively in stereotypes.  Women are catty and manipulative, men are shallow and aggressive.  Like most reality TV (and television in general), the Bachelor essentially features one body type for each gender and success is measured by purely by how much money people make.  The show centers around the most cliched version of romantic love; roses are given at the end of each episode to the contestants that will move on, dates are typically dimply lit and centered around wine, and contestants constantly babble on about the depth of the connection they're feeling.  This, of course, is nonsense as it's been well established that the show is essentially scripted.  It's troubling to know that The Bachelor continues to pump out season after season of the same exact thing because it continues to work.  Until people stop watching this type of TV, networks will continue to assume we're stupid and this is what we want.