Taylor Swift’s Travis Kelce Era Is the Fall TV Drama I Never Knew I Always Wanted

Kimberly Roots
·4 min read
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Taylor Swift saved the economy, she saved democracy, and now she’s saving the Fall TV season. Because if our girl isn’t at this very moment creating appointment television — complete with an intriguing storyline and a built-in ‘ship — I don’t know who is.

You know what I’m talking about: the Grammy winner’s documented newfound interest in the NFL, courtesy of her rumored newfound interest in one of the league’s star players. Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce reportedly had been “quietly hanging out” for a few weeks before she attended the Chiefs/Chicago Bears game last Sunday, to great fanfare. She sat with his mom. She screamed a joyful obscenity after a touchdown. She flashed cameras a big smile as she left the facility walking companionably next to, yet not holding hands with, Kelce.

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Their romance may not be confirmed, but they were definitely giving Jim-and-Pam-at-the-first-Dundees last weekend. The whole thing became a television affair during Fox’s Sunday Night Football broadcast, when the on-air commenters seemed as transfixed by Swift’s presence in the upper levels of the arena as they were by the game play below.

There are murmurs that Swift also will be in attendance when the Chiefs play the New York Jets this Sunday; the game will air at 8:20/7:20 on NBC. Another Swift appearance, a week after the first, which we can drink in via our TVs then spend hours obsessively discussing what it all means? Sounds like the Fall TV drama I’ve been missing this year!

Now’s a good time for a confession: I loathe American football. (Goodbye, half of the reading audience! Thanks for stopping by!) And I’m just a casual Swift fan. (Adios, other half! Stay sparkly!) Also of note: I wholeheartedly support the WGA’s recent, and SAG-AFTRA’s ongoing, fight for fair contracts. So while I understand the very good reasons that primetime pickings have been slim as of late, I’m also in a bit of withdrawal. Mama needs her stories!

Enter the ruby-lipped chanteuse, who possesses an intoxicating mix of tender earnestness (those lyrics!) and PR savvy (that… almost everything else she does!). Are we witnessing the beginning of something special between two famous people (though, make no mistake, she is much, MUCH more famous than he is. Like, 5x famous. Like, no contest) who can’t escape fame’s spotlight? Or, at the start of the football season and the run-up to Swift’s tour movie, are we primed to gobble up a conveniently captivating narrative concocted by their PR teams? I don’t even care, because we’ve got a storyline, people. There are STAKES. And hopefully SEQUINS.

I’m no TV writer, but doesn’t it feel like we’re at the start of a promising new show’s first season? We’ve established our main characters. We’ve got the rife-for-drama backdrop of an all-encompassing, big-budget national pastime. Now it’s just time to let the magic happen! If shows like Friday Night Lights, Ted Lasso and Pitch have taught me anything, it’s that I don’t have to like a sport to become so engrossed that I feel like I’ve been struck by f—king lightning when a series about that sport is done well. And the minute that Swift donned that Chiefs gear and entered that stadium, all of this ridiculousness became my new favorite show.

I know you Swifties like numbers, so I’ll close with this: There are 20 weeks between last Sunday— our season premiere, if you will —and the Feb. 11, 2024 Super Bowl, a literal season finale. Twenty also is a very respectable, if slightly old-school, number of episodes for a TV season (Taylor’s Version). We’ll have plenty of time for joy, mystery, exposition, conflict (because you just know there’s a week she won’t be there, and we’ll all lose our damn minds wondering why) and resolution. IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

Are you primed to tune into the Taylor and Travis Show for the next few months? Hit the comments and let us know!

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