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The HOMETOWN visit has become a staple of the dating-competition reality show. When the battle has wound down to its final few competitors, those remaining romantic prospects are provided with the opportunity to bring the object of their communal affection back home to meet the folks. That this regularly feels more like obligation than a gesture of romance should go without saying: The combination of cameras and the persistent need to please make for encounters that rarely shock.
Furthermore, it is a familiar but likely outmoded idea that one can learn much about a person by watching them interact with their folks. Everyone, even those who are most outrageous, turn a little timid when staring down Mom and Pop.
Or at least, so it goes with those selected to participate in "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," ABC's reliable heart-tugger franchises. These shows prize family values as highly as the quest for love; over the many versions of both shows, rarely have the families turned out to be something less than functional.
Such is the case on Monday's episode of "The Bachelorette" (9 p.m.), when DeAnna Pappas travels to visit the families of her final four paramours: Jesse, the professional snowboarder trying to extricate himself from the friend zone; Jason, the single father looking to complete his family; Jeremy, the...