Every Monday night, for 10 or so weeks each year, I spend the last two hours of my day sitting on my couch and watching The Bachelor. I turn on ABC (yes, I still pay for cable) to watch a bunch of singles, many of whom are named Lauren, vie for the heart of one eligible man. The women will fight over intentions—who has the right ones, and who has the ulterior motive of just being on TV—and the bachelor will agonize over the Most Important Decision of His Life. He’ll take a fortunate few on one-on-one dates where he’ll hold their hands over uneaten pasta and listen to them share stories of trauma. Maybe he will fall in love and propose by the season’s end. Maybe he will jump over a fence and run away instead. Who knows!
The drama is ridiculous—and the stakes couldn’t be lower—but I am always on the edge of my seat. And I’m not alone. For 20 years, millions of viewers have deemed themselves part of this community, otherwise known as “Bachelor Nation.” Whether you’re hate-watching The Bachelor, choosing to ignore its existence entirely, or devouring the show in earnest rapture, its impact on reality TV and on our culture is as undeniable as it is problematic.
The extremely popular dating show is just one of many series that my colleagues and I reflected on for TIME’s new list of The 50 Most Influential Reality TV Seasons of All Time. The entries, which range from the 1949 second season of Candid Camera to this year’s chaotic season of The Masked Singer, demonstrate the outsized influence the genre has on our society, politics, and culture. If not for reality TV, would Harry Styles even have a career? It’s a question that keeps me up at night.
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