George Santos Expelled from Congress and 'The Golden Bachelor'

By Andrew Sanford | TV | December 1, 2023 |

By Andrew Sanford | TV | December 1, 2023 |

In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer and Bart are faced with the prospect of watching a space launch on TV. They do not handle it well. Homer tries desperately to change the channel, but the batteries fall out of his remote. He scrambles to get them back in when Bart chooses a more direct mode of action. He dives forward and unplugs the TV, saving them from “another boring space launch.” I react similarly when The Bachelor comes in.

I’m not here to knock anyone who likes The Bachelor or its 30,000 iterations. Watch whatever bad television you want. I’ve spent several hours this holiday season watching Christmas Specials from the 70’s. They are not good, and I love them. The Bachelor isn’t my kind of bad TV. The closest I’ve come to watching it was by devouring the parody Burning Love. The second closest was an episode of Nathan For You, where he created a Bachelor-like show. The third was last night on Jimmy Kimmel: Live.

Kimmel spent time in his monologue to talk about The Golden Bachelor and pivoted to George Santos, who was finally expelled from Congress earlier this morning.

Kimmel couldn’t help but compare Santos’ expulsion to the popular ABC dating competition show for “olds.” Jimmy took things a step further by mashing footage of Santos and GB star Gerry Turner. It’s pretty hilarious and relatively seamless. The show then cuts to Guillermo interviewing Santos on the Capitol steps.

Kimmel takes a moment to joke about Santos being kicked off of Big Brother next, and that feels incredibly close to the truth. I can’t presume why Santos has done all of the things he has done. Perhaps he knew he would be caught. Then, he decided to lean in so he could get a bunch of embarrassing sound bites and stories. All this could, conceivably, lead to a successful reality TV career. It feels too easy. I’ll stick to my 1970s Christmas Specials. No criminals in those! … Oh no.