'The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart' begins

NEW YORK -- Like so many TV shows right now, "The Bachelorette" is on hold. The show's famous LA mansion is empty, but Bachelor Nation doesn't have to do without because Monday night marks the start of a six-episode spin-off which is a mix of music and mating that was finished before the shutdown.

The pitch was simple, "Bachelor in Paradise" meets "A Star is Born," which inspired an obvious title, "Listen to Your Heart." Eight women and a dozen men met to make music well before the pandemic made such gatherings impossible. "This is oddly familiar," host Chris Harrison told me video conferencing in from his LA home adding the show had, "this eccentric, cool, musical twist to it."

"How musical are you?" I asked, adding that I was tone deaf. Not him. "I like to think I'm musical. I love to sing. I mess around a little on the guitar, but it's all in the confines of my house." In fact, I noticed a guitar behind him and asked him, "Is that a prop?" It is not.

Chris chose to quarantine with his girlfriend, Lauren Zima. On her Instagram page, the couple can be seen practicing social distancing while new episodes of "The Bachelor" remain in the future, but in the meantime, Bachelor Nation is ready and waiting for the spin-off.

"There is a community," Harrison concludes, "We have our arms open, and we're ready to bring everybody in and start something new!"