'The Bachelor' gets lowest ratings ever as...

The Bachelor 2012 is coming in with the lowest ratings ever in the history of this show. Has it outlived its entertainment value since no one seems to survive a Bachelor relationship, or is it because Brad and Emily spoiled the fans?

Last night's Bachelor episode came in with an 8 percent drop in the ratings from the week before, which awarded the lowest ratings to a Bachelor episode in the history of the show. While the NCAA and BCS National Championship aired on cable, and this did offer all the networks some competition last night, but The Bachelor didn't even beat out Two and a Half Men, according to the Celebrity Cafe.

This season's Bachelor has a nice guy, where as last season saw Brad, who was a villain even before stepping on the set of the show for dumping two women in a previous season. Then the Brad and Emily saga went on for so long that it became like an ''after the Bachelor" soap opera. It held the fans' interest for months after it ended. This is the 16th season and maybe the show's glory days were over already, but Brad Womack worked to revive it for a season?

When at the grocery store you see two tabloids side by side, with one dishing the dirt about a celebrity and the other sporting headlines that another celebrity is a nice guy, which one gets picked up first by the shopper? The one dishing the dirt. This might work for this reality show too. Brad came on like a bad guy, he even got slapped in the face by one of the girls as she got out of the limo. This gravitated the viewers to the show. Ben is just nice, and no matter how many words get used for this in the headlines, it's still boiling down to "Ben is one nice guy."

Many would love to see this "nice guy" Ben find love and settle down, but his journey while doing this doesn't seem very promising in the entertainment department. He's not a Brad and Emily kind of venue. Last night's play at the community theater was enough to put the fans to sleep.

Another possibility is that the Bachelor's running on fumes, as it's an old show. Did it outlive its entertainment value? Especially since a Bachelor relationship seems doomed from the start. It's not as if it's got a good track record of finding long-lasting love, never mind permanent love. Or is it that Ben's just a bit boring? What do you think?