What season of ‘The Bachelor’ are we on?

Some shows are simply too good to cancel, and — love it or hate it — The Bachelor is among them.

It doesn’t have the story demands of shows like Succession or The Last of Us, which allows The Bachelor to come back, time and again, with fresh seasons for fans to eat up. Drama is eternal, where reality television is concerned, and The Bachelor has drama in droves.

The series has been a favorite since its very first season debuted back in 2002, and it’s held onto a persisting popularity ever since. It hasn’t missed a single year since that long-ago debut, putting out at least one season — sometimes two — even through major political moments, global pandemics, and any hiccup the world can throw at it.

How many seasons of The Bachelor are there?

Its been 22 years since the very first season of The Bachelor aired on ABC, but the popular reality show’s seasons don’t quite line up with its years on the air. Back in its early days, the series occasionally aired two seasons in a single year, and put them out on an altered schedule to what its maintained over the last decade and a half.

Between seasons 1 and 8, The Bachelor aired one season near the start of the year — between March and April — and a second season in the Fall. That led to a surge in extra seasons during this time, which likewise pushed the show to sport more seasons, in total, than the number of years it’s been on the air. Starting with season 9, it shifted to a once a year schedule, and likewise pushed its schedule up to begin with a mid-January debut.

The 2024 season of The Bachelor will be its 28th season overall. Since the show only airs a single season a year these days, that makes this the first season since The Bachelor 27‘s Zach Shallcross won over Kaity Biggar in 2023. Season 28 will see 32 separate women compete for Bachelor Joey Graziadei, who barely lost out to victor Dotun Olubeko in The Bachelorette‘s 20th season.