Apparently, the 18th installment of The Bachelorette is set to start tomorrow night on ABC, according to Politico’s Joanna Weiss. She argues that despite their “shocking and subversive” reputations, The Bachelorette and its dating show kin “might be the most conservative shows on television.”

“If reality TV reflects actual desires, then these shows are a telling statement about the culture wars — a suggestion that the dream of traditional marriage, the kind that leads to starter homes, little league games, joint IRA accounts and the attendant political priorities, is still very much alive, no matter your political persuasion,” Weiss writes. “In reality TV land, singlehood isn’t a newly desirable state, but rather a purgatory that people will exit as soon as their finances allow, or they meet the right partner, or an army of TV producers steps in to intervene.”