As competing dating shows flaunt modern norms, the ABC franchise finds itself mired in scandals and stymied by its traditional approach to love.
Its flagship series, “The Bachelor,” a fixture of ABC’s winter programming schedule for nearly two decades, has not been seen since last March, with no star or premiere date announced for its return.
Ratings for last year’s finale of “The Golden Bachelor,” an attempt to reinvigorate the dating franchise by casting older contestants, dropped by nearly 60 percent compared with the inaugural season.
And “The Bachelorette” was on life support, failing to air last year after two underperforming seasons and a devastating reveal on live television.
All of that was before ABC abruptly pulled the plug on the new season of “The Bachelorette,” starring the influencer and reality star Taylor Frankie Paul, who ABC had hoped would lead a ratings renaissance. The season had been scheduled to premiere on Sunday, but a leaked video showed Ms. Paul assaulting her partner in 2023.
Once considered the pre-eminent dating competition series in the United States, “The Bachelor” and its spinoffs have been plagued by a revolving door of executives, innovative competitors and a stream of contestants with troubled pasts. Viewership of “The Bachelor,” which regularly drew nine million viewers per episode in 2016, according to Nielsen, has fallen by nearly three-quarters over the past decade.
“It’s going to be tough to relaunch it, because people will be asking questions,” said Ryan Callahan, a former producer of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” about the prospect of reviving “The Bachelorette” after the Paul controversy. “‘Did they vet this person properly? Are they pulling a fast one on us again?’ Something like this breaches the faith of the viewer.”
On an episode of the podcast “Bachelor Party,” after learning in real time that Ms. Paul’s season had been scrapped, Rachel Lindsay, a former Bachelorette, was more definitive.
“I think it’s over,” Ms. Lindsay said. “The name ‘Bachelorette,’ ‘Bachelor’ is tainted at this point. How do you move forward past that? You can’t.”
When ABC agreed to cast Ms. Paul in September, it knew that she was on probation after pleading guilty to aggravated assault in the 2023 encounter, which involved Dakota Mortensen, who is now the father of one of her three children. On Wednesday, when she was promoting the new season of “The Bachelorette” on a morning talk show, the network was aware that both Ms. Paul and Mr. Mortensen were the subjects of a domestic violence investigation by the police in Draper, Utah, after an encounter last month.
The network needed a ratings win, though, and Ms. Paul had more than seven million followers across Instagram and TikTok after starring in Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” where her tumultuous relationship was front and center.
Then TMZ published the video of the 2023 assault on Thursday. In it, Ms. Paul, who was initially also charged with domestic violence and child abuse, kicks and throws metal chairs at Mr. Mortensen.
Disney, ABC’s parent company, did not respond to a request for comment. Warner Bros., which produces “The Bachelorette,” declined to comment.
Before the announcement of Ms. Paul’s season, executives at Disney were in reset mode, leaning on offshoots like “The Golden Bachelor” and the friskier “Bachelor in Paradise” as “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” fell off the production calendar.
“We’re only going to roll these out as they come together and meet the bar of excellence that the tradition of the show has set,” Craig Erwich, Disney’s president of television, told The Wrap last spring.
In July, ABC announced that Scott Teti, a former producer of the reality shows “Flavor of Love” and “Summer House,” would take over the responsibility of relaunching “The Bachelor.” He had led that summer’s season of “Bachelor in Paradise,” and was later handed the keys to “The Bachelorette,” as well.
