{"id":533856,"date":"2026-03-20T01:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533856\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T01:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:35:07","slug":"abc-loses-millions-if-taylor-frankie-pauls-bachelorette-doesnt-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533856\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC Loses Millions If Taylor Frankie Paul’s ‘Bachelorette’ Doesn’t Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tABC could be out tens of millions of dollars if it can\u2019t find a way to salvage \u201cThe Bachelorette<\/a>,\u201d according to sources familiar with the show (and the current predicament it finds itself in). That includes license fees to Warner Bros. Unscripted TV, marketing dollars and other loss of revenue.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the release of a 2023 video showing star Taylor Frankie Paul<\/a> throwing chairs at her estranged partner Dakota Mortensen \u2014 and accidentally hitting her child \u2014 ABC abruptly pulled the show on Thursday, after having sworn throughout the week that it had no plans to do so.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last-minute pre-emption causes a host of problems \u2014 especially because it doesn\u2019t own the show, with comes from Warner Bros. TV Group. Warner Bros. distributes the show internationally to outlets like Rogers\u2019 Citytv in Canada, so it wasn\u2019t clear on Thursday if \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d might still wind up on TV somewhere. While ABC had immediately scrubbed Paul and \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d from its website by Thursday afternoon, it still appeared on the Citytv+ website<\/a> at midday. (UPDATED: Citytv has confirmed that it will air a repeat episode of \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d\u00a0in the timeslot, in simulcast with ABC.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to insiders, Warner Bros. execs are taking a wait-and-see approach to what is happening, while staying in contact with ABC. (The studio gets paid the show\u2019s license fee regardless of whether the show ever airs.) Sources at the studio were shocked by the video, having found out about it at the same time ABC did on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd yet, some can\u2019t say they were surprised by the sudden turn of events. According to sources, Warner Bros. had concerns with casting Paul, given her well-known history of domestic violence \u2014 after all, it\u2019s documented at the very start of \u201cThe Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re collateral damage, to be honest,\u201d said one source. But according to insiders, as a seller, Warner Bros. agreed to Paul as the face of \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d after ABC noted that Paul and \u201cMormon Wives\u201d was an important franchise for the company.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarner Bros. Unscripted is also behind \u201cBachelor Happy Hour\u201d podcast in a partnership with iHeart Media.<\/p>\n

\n\tIronically, this season of \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d was meant to be a reboot of sorts for the franchise, which hasn\u2019t aired since summer 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Bachelor\u201d franchise had been in a bit of a turnaround after a shift at the top last year, when showrunners Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner departed following reports of \u201ctoxic\u201d workplace allegations. They were replaced by \u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d showrunner\/EP Scott Teti.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith all the changes to the franchise, the cycles changed somewhat, and \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d took summer 2025 off \u2014 hence its return, this time to winter\/spring 2026. (\u201cThe Bachelor\u201d traditionally airs in winter, but it has also moved its time of year airdate.)<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d scandal may now require another reboot for the franchise. In another irony, it was \u201cThe Golden Bachelor\u201d that is seen by many as having brought a bit of heart and emotion back to \u201cBachelor\u201d nation.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, no one seems to think this is lethal to \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d or \u201cThe Bachelorette.\u201d If anything, insiders predict that Paul\u2019s \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d will still see the light of day \u2014 perhaps just on Hulu, or maybe even in ABC\u2019s summer schedule. But first, they expect to see plenty of mea culpas from Paul.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter all, the paradox of reality TV is the public often derides it as \u201ctrash\u201d \u2014 so when something like this comes along, it\u2019s not totally unexpected or seen as a death sentence for a TV show in the way that it might permanently harm a professional actor or their scripted series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ABC could be out tens of millions of dollars if it can\u2019t find a way to salvage \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88,90715,64613],"class_list":{"0":"post-533856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-taylor-frankie-paul","11":"tag-the-bachelorette"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}