Hi, friend!

Last week, Love Island USA and Love Island UK both premiered. The first few episodes of the American season have totaled more than 824 million minutes streamed on Peacock, signaling that interest in the show is bigger than it’s ever been among American fans.

When it comes to reality dating shows, the Love Island franchise is the best on TV. Americans are finally watching, but the season that converted most of them—USA Season 6—was an anomaly, and if that's all you've seen, you're missing out on what made it a cultural phenomenon.

Across the franchise, the premise is the same: for two months each summer, a group of young, hot singles head to a tropical villa, couple up, and then producers spend the next eight weeks trying to break them up. New bombshells arrive constantly to shake up and test couples’ bonds, contestants publicly choose their partners during dramatic recouplings, and anyone who can't find a connection is dumped from the island.

The magic is that it airs almost in real time. New episodes drop six nights a week(!), viewers vote on their favorite islanders, and the audience essentially becomes part of the show. The result is a reality TV phenomenon in which millions of people become emotionally invested in relationships that began approximately 4 business days ago. It’s essentially Bachelor in Paradise meets The Truman Show.

For a show asking 30-50 hours of your summer, the season you choose to devote your time to matters, and they’re not all created equal.