On “The Bachelor” TV show this season, bachelor Jason Mesnick goes on a date with blonde, flighty bachelorette Natalie in Las Vegas.

At dinner, he asks what she’s interested in, other than fashion and partying.

“I like bears,” she says, without a hint of irony.

“What kind of bear — like koala, or…?” he asks.

“All bears,” she said. When she was a kid, she lost her teddy bear and was depressed for like a week, she added.

Jason sent Natalie home that day, but I was a little surprised she didn’t make it all the way to the proposal. It’s happened before that the final rose goes to one of the least substantial contestants.

Bachelor Jason Mesnick is local this time (from Kirkland), he has a kid, and he seems more grounded.

“Seems” may be the operative word. He says he’s looking a woman who’s full of life but is all done partying so she can be a committed mom to his young son. Oh, and someone who looks great on national TV…good luck with that one.

While the show is addictive, trying to figure out who the bachelor or bachelorette is going to pick and puzzling out people’s personalities, it’s also supremely irritating.

Though part of the fun is, of course, rolling your eyes and saying “oh, gross” at the inanest scenes.

And there’s a lot of inanity. The conversations, for example. Maybe they really are that simple, or maybe the producers just edit anything interesting in favor of the tired, “I don’t want you to think I’m holding back” and “I am sooo ready to be a mother.”

My idea of a good date is one where the conversation is really interesting. That doesn’t seem to be a pre-requisite here.

Hyperbole and generalization seem to be the rule of thumb for TV-worthy interactions.

For example, the word “amazing” comes up a lot. When Jason meets contestant Stephanie’s young daughter, he says she’s an “amazing” kid and has so much in common with his 4-year-old son, Ty. “They both love life, love to run and play…” he gushed to the camera.

As opposed to all those other kids who hate life and hate to play and run…amazing.

But the biggest problem is that the women are absolutely unreal. Most are in their 20s, some as young as 23 and 24. Even 34-year-old Stephanie seems positively ancient, and she got sent home last week.

The women are thin, glamorous, impeccably coifed and unbelievably boisterous. They’re always arriving for one-on-one dates and screaming “Oh my GOD!” (and not with fear) when they see they’ll have to go zip-lining or bungee jumping or on a helicopter ride.

But would the producers ever consider doing a “Bachelor” with real people — people who are maybe a few pounds overweight, less than picture-perfect, cynical, goofy…human?

I know what they’d say: No one would watch that show.

Those are, after all, the people we see every day, they are ourselves. Would we turn on the TV at night to watch them some more?

Hmm….maybe to keep men’s expectations of women realistic?

But they do seem to be doing a fairly good job of that themselves, albeit with no help at all from TV, movies and magazines.

After all, in the real world, women of all shapes, sizes and personalities have found themselves with the metaphorical last rose, with the bachelor of their choice. And they never had to bungee jump to get it.

Sarah Koenig is education reporter for the Enterprise. She can be reached at entschools@heraldnet.com.