Will you be watching this season's offering of The Bachelor? No doubt you're aware of the series, which, with all its red roses allows a single guy to (hopefully) find the gal of his dreams, at least as far as reality television is concerned. Say what you will about the truthfulness of the relationships formed on the show, which along with sister program The Bachelorette has been on for what will be thirteen seasons, but if you'll recall the first bachelorette, Trista, met and married her man Ryan and they're still married, with two kids. Aww!

This season's Bachelor, however, featuring Jason Mesnick, has a twist. That twist is Tyler, who happens to be the bachelor's son, and who is prevalent in the goings on of the show (at least what I can see from the ad promos). Not only is the Jason looking for true love, but also a mother figure for his son. Good luck with that one, ladies! I wonder if this means the show's producers are trying for more of a family feel to the programming--and by 'family feel' I mean less trashy sleeping around with all the contestants in hot tubs.

I'm sure the addition of an adorable child was done no doubt to boost ratings. It also might just open the door to a new audience, like me, who are interested to see how all this business will play out when there is a child involved. Now, I know the whole thing with reality television being, well, not real, in a lot of instances. This concerns me as the child involved may not fully understand what's going on. What's more, he could be disappointed or saddened by the outcome--will Jason choose the woman that makes the best wife or pick the woman Tyler thinks is the best and therefore might be a better match? More to the point, is it all right to play with a child's emotions...on national television?

So, are you gonna watch or what? I'll probably check it out, but will probably pass because I don't want to see a little kid get manipulated just to stimulate ratings.