Small Batch: 'The Bachelor' Farms Iowa For Fresh Meat

Carly tries a song to charm The Bachelor, Chris Soules, on the premiere of ... well, The Bachelor, obviously. This really happened, see? We weren't lying.

Rick Rowell/ABC

From the time we started Pop Culture Happy Hour, Stephen Thompson and I have occasionally heard a plaintive cry: "Why do you guys mention The Bachelor?" And it's true: we do. It comes up from time to time as a strange example of perplexing television, but we would never let it run roughshod over an entire episode.

We will, however, seal it tightly in its own Small Batch Edition of the podcast for those of you who, like us, find yourselves weirdly drawn to this much-tweeted-about, much-scoffed-at, often baffling show that started a new season Monday night with a three-hour (!) premiere. We'll talk about the man at the center of the fury, the state from which he hails (which the show talks about as if it were located on the moon), the women trying to win his heart, the influence of booze and booze-shaming, and lots more.