'The Bachelor' Season 19 Premiere to Air Live

The new season of The Bachelor will be making franchise history in 2015.

The Bachelor's 19th season, featuring The Bachelorette vet Chris Soules, will premiere on Monday, January 5th. And it will be a special, THREE-HOUR premiere. Oh, and it'll also be broadcast LIVE.

Well, except not necessarily in the way some might hope...

The premiere will feature the traditional prerecorded moments, such as the limo drop-off and the opening cocktail party, but there will be considerable portions of the show that will be broadcast live. It's expected to be similar to the After the Final Rose specials, with Chris Harrison hosting the episode in front of a studio audience, with Bachelor franchise vets providing commentary alongside current contestants. ABC is looking to capitalize on the resurgent success of The Bachelor franchise.

The 18th season, which featured Juan Pablo Galavis as The Bachelor, was the show's most watched season in three years, and it gave ABC the momentum to spin that off into what ended up being a pretty successful season of The Bachelorette, with Andi Dorfman as the belle of the ball. This all culminated in one of the summer's most surprisingly successful series, Bachelor In Paradise, which managed to earn a second season by the time it wrapped.

Basically, ABC is going all-in on The Bachelor franchise. And, given its success, I can't say I blame them. Although three hours is seriously too damn long for a premiere, in my opinion. No matter how likable the new Bachelor is.

Via: TVLine

Credit: USA Today