Travis Kelce's new dating show 'Catching Kelce' is absurd

As we learned with Aaron Rodgers' brother in the last season of The Bachelorette, any "professional athlete" (seriously, he called himself that) can star in a dating show if he/she is attractive and shameless enough.

During Wednesday night's premiere of Catching Kelce on E!, it became clear pretty quickly that Travis Kelce is both.

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end isn't the biggest superstar in football but he is single, handsome, has a loud personality (and wardrobe) as well as a solid repertoire of dance moves. And that was enough for E! to give him his own dating show.

The concept of Catching Kelce is simple enough: a whole bunch of women compete against each other and vie for the chance to score a relationship with the 27-year-old Pro Bowler. An initial pool of 50 women (one from each American state) was immediately cut down to 20 after Kelce gave them exactly one minute to make a first impression.

Those first impressions gave viewers a very solid idea as to the direction the show was heading in. If Kelce was hoping to meet a collection of mild-mannered women, well, the show's casting directors had other ideas. There were a select few who came off as actual, real-life normal human beings, but a good majority of the contestants came on so strongly and so outrageously that it was extremely uncomfortable to watch. It was like the opening round of American Idol auditions, where people go full whack job just to get on TV.

Immediately upon meeting Kelce, one of the suitors (Ally, from New York) told the camera that she "thought about having his babies" and that she was pretty sure they were "already dating." Shockingly, she was immediately eliminated. Then she began sobbing over a man that she knew for approximately 60 seconds.

Connecticut's representative, Salma, insisted that she felt a connection and chemistry upon locking eyes with Travis and proceeded to use the word "connection" in every sentence throughout the rest of the 90 minute episode. Ultimately, Kelce eliminated her due to lack of connection. It was amazingly satisfactory.

Another woman -- Crystal, from Florida -- told Kelce that she recently caught the bouquet at her sister's wedding and thought that it was a sign for things to come with them, which is definitely a surefire way to score a relationship with a person that you literally just met. (Astoundingly, she was selected among the 20 finalists.)

If that's not cringeworthy enough, yet another (Anika, from Minnesota) spent her 60 seconds talking about her cat and doing cat impressions, and she was also selected into the final 20! Did I mention that these bizarre women also happened to be very beautiful?

While some of the contestants were overwhelmingly weird, others appeared to be interested in more than just true love -- a shocking development for a reality dating show! In addition to potentially finding a partner, fame and attention is a huge part of the reason why anyone -- on either side of the competition -- agrees to go on shows like these.

Kelce, who is most likely using the show to boost his own brand rather than score a life partner, very quickly accused one of the contestants (Lexi, from Georgia) of trying to use him and the show to promote her fashion business.

With Kelce having signed a $46 million extension over the offseason, one of the contestants was up front about that playing a factor in her interest. She said that she "wanted and deserved" the lifestyle that comes with that kind of money.

Immediately after being dismissed, Ohio's representative moved on to her next target.

"I’m going to be honest, at this point I’m just going to try to date a professional baseball player," she said.

By now, you probably get it. It wasn't the greatest group of first impressions, but it was somewhat entertaining in the way that a train wreck is entertaining. You hate yourself for being so fascinated, yet you can't look away.

Fortunately, there are a few semi-normal potential suitors (one of them being Mark Schlereth's daughter, Avery) and there's plenty of show left for others to redeem themselves.

At the end of the premiere, there were 15 women left in the competition and it appears that the show will be as much about their quest to woo Kelce as it will be about their interactions and relationships with one another while living together under the same roof while they try to do so. There was already a dramatic "house meeting" in week one to discuss the behavior of individual tenants, so I'm sure the atmosphere will be just peachy in the coming weeks.

Not surprisingly, the shows seems to compare similarly to The Bachelor/Bachelorette, both somehow still going strong after all these years. For better or for worse, Catching Kelce has more characters and personality behind it, almost coming off as a parody of those relatively straight-laced journeys of love. It's up to the individual viewer whether that makes it more entertaining, or whether it's just too obnoxious to bear.

One thing is for certain: It most certainly falls under the category of trash television. Whether you love it or you hate it, there's plenty to say about it, and that makes it a winner already.