The battle between producers of “The Bachelor” franchise and Chris Harrison’s new dating show “The Vow” has taken another turn. USA TODAY has learned that Fox News Media will promote its new dating show on local ABC stations across the country. As part of a media buy, the promo is scheduled to air on several ABC stations during the week that “The Vow” premieres, putting Harrison’s new show in front of the very audience that made him famous.
The Chris Harrison The Vow marketing push is deliberate. ABC was Harrison’s home for nearly 20 years, and Fox is now buying time on those stations to sell his return to the dating show format.
“The Vow” will premiere on streaming service Fox Nation Nov. 11. The show sees 10 contestants vie for the heart of Oregon mortgage loan officer Jace Cates. Harrison hosts the show and is an executive producer alongside his wife, entertainment correspondent Lauren Zima.
In a promo for “The Vow” released on Oct. 22, viewers get a first official look at Cates, and may recognize another familiar face: Kylee Russell, a former “Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise” contestant. Her appearance ties the Chris Harrison The Vow cast to the franchise it is accused of copying. The promo is the second teaser for the series.
The Fox Nation dating show marks a return to a format that made Harrison famous: the TV personality hosted ABC’s “The Bachelor” franchise and its spinoff shows from 2002 to 2021. That history is part of what makes the Chris Harrison The Vow fight so pointed. He is now selling a dating show on the stations that air the franchise he used to host.
Chris Harrison The Vow legal fight explained
The Chris Harrison The Vow dispute centers on how close the new show sits to the old one. The legal fight started in September 2026. After “The Vow” released a promo that showed Harrison stepping over a rose and saying, “Roses fade, true love lasts forever,” Warner Bros. TV sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fox News Media and Lionsgate. Ahassim Rashid, vice president of anti-piracy and brand protection at Warner Bros., called the new show a “direct copy” of “The Bachelor.”
Fox News Media later responded, claiming that rose petals are a part of the romance genre and not tied to any specific show. Katherine Moran Meeks, Fox News Media’s executive vice president and general counsel, also claimed in the letter that Warner Bros. were “targeting Mr. Harrison” in a “malicious and vindictive manner.” Fox’s reply framed the Chris Harrison The Vow dispute as a question of genre, not copying.
Harrison recently spoke with USA TODAY before the second “Vow” teaser or the media buy on ABC stations. The TV host says that the cease-and-desist letter from Warner Bros. TV feels “personal.”
“I don’t see them going after the 50, 60, 70 other relationship dating shows that have come on in the time that I was there or since I left,” Harrison, 55, said. “There’s been one show that they’ve gone after. Is that a coincidence? You be the judge.”
A Warner Bros. TV representative declined USA TODAY’s request for comment. The Chris Harrison The Vow case is unusual in one respect: the network airing the promos is not the network that owns the show, and the stations carrying them air the rival franchise.
Chris Harrison The Vow: why he left The Bachelor
Though Harrison’s name was synonymous with the “Bachelor” franchise for nearly 20 years, his exit was acrimonious. During the show’s 25th season, Harrison defended Rachael Kirkconnell, a “Bachelor” contestant who apologized for “liking” Confederate flag-related TikTok videos and attending an Antebellum-themed fraternity formal in 2018. At the time, Kirkconnell was competing for the final rose from Matt James, the first Black male lead in the show’s history.
Harrison made his comments about Kirkconnell’s actions during an interview on “Extra” with Rachel Lindsay, who in 2017 was the franchise’s first Black Bachelorette. Kirkconnell later apologized for her actions. She and James announced their split in January 2025, nearly four years after James handed her his final rose.
The Chris Harrison The Vow project is his first return to dating television since that exit. With the premiere weeks away, both sides are holding their positions. For now, the legal fight is playing out in letters and media buys, and the show is moving ahead with its Nov. 11 launch on Fox Nation.