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I said in an earlier episode that I think the show got lucky with the two leads last season, even if I didn't like it, but it wasn't sustainable. I'm still trying to figure out why the male lead gets a string of knockouts while the main female gets a parade of losers. I suspect it's because they want to force the female lead to develop feelings for him. But I also wonder if they get fewer women willing to do the show and promise them positive edits, forcing them to use the male daters as comic relief.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/09/01/new-bachelor-nick-viall-ditched-girlfriend-jen-saviano-to-be-on-show-lauren-himle-dishes/ Between this and the rumors that it was ABC that wanted Nick, it makes me wonder if ABC is trying to reposition the franchise so it's more like a long-running drama with storylines that cross seasons than "reality TV." Looks like Wrong Reasons has won.

How are they going to sell this? He's not amazing looking, and most people probably know him as the jerk on Andi's season and the interloper on Kaitlyn's. Four times on Bachelor Nation feels like even more of a retread.

Zero desire to watch Nick.

The show did right by the characters. I felt that I got a genuine sense of rock and music's impact on their lives. But I'm more interested in the next season of Dead Sex than Roadies.

Attraction's really in the eye of the beholder, and you need to go down Main Street. Someone who will be at least somewhat attractive to everyone. With the exception of Flapjack, all those guys qualify. As you say, Juan Pablo was probably the most attractive Bachelor in the history of the franchise and that turned into a trainwreck. And that season is also why we're getting a string of boring Bachelors. I do think Bachelor 22, they will find someone a little more "bad boy" but I think TPTB want to squeeze in one more "good guy" before taking that risk again.

I don't know what happened. I did find it unlikely that they would get the right combo of celebs, but to just give up?

This was a perfect example of Roadies. An interesting depiction of characters who are really questioning their place in the world, but with enthusiasm. Then a romantic subplot kicks in and the show grinds to a halt.

This episode was really great. Maybe the show is finding a groove. Just a shame that it happened so late in the season.

Here's how I would've done it. Rachel/Quinn are on a high from last season. Then they realize Everlasting's audience, who know a lot less than unReal's audience, were disappointed that they didn't get a "royal" wedding. Network's mad at Quinn, and Rachel uses this to force a black Suitor on her. Rachel actually brings in Coleman to document how awesome it is, not knowing that he and Yael have another agenda. Darius wants to do the show because America's sympathizing with Adam for being left at the altar, and makes a deal with the network to be a color commentator if he's the Suitor. As it turns out, Darius obviously favors Ruby damaging ratings (we could also up the cynicism by the ratings not actually going down but the network concerned the show is going "downmarket"). Darius is just as concerned as Rachel/Quinn it all could fall apart if he chooses Ruby so everyone gives more power to Chet who knows what Middle America likes. Tiffany has no real interest in Darius and is angling to be the first Suitoress. Chantel is a down to Earth person who gets edited into Evil Rich Bitch. Issues - Quinn is in a way "too good" of a character. We're already at the destination. There's no journey. But they could've done something better than Booth and baby drama. Jeremy's always going to be an issue. Maybe I would've tried to ally him with Quinn somehow over shooting the show differently to hide that Ruby's the favorite? Knowing from jump street that Coleman's a bad idea based on what he's shooting?

The cast's view of Amanda strikes me as a textbook example of cognitive dissonance. They don't like Josh and like Amanda (which may be a perfectly justifiable belief), so it doesn't even register to them that Amanda is equally responsible for what's happened. It's like when your worst enemy gives a generous charitable donation, your first reaction isn't to be happy for the recipients.

I wasn't a huge fan of the photographer subplot. Has Rosanna Arquette forgotten how to act or was the writing just that bad? Also, everything involving Bill/Shelli is a write off. Most of the cast is giving it their all, and IMO with some mild tweaks the show could be significantly better. The scenes with Mike Finger do get at some interesting ideas about the relationship between fandom and I did like the scene where Wes/Kelly Ann were supposedly talking about Winston but really talking about Kelly Ann.

As others have said, Chad was also more fun when pitted against Evan and "The Garden." Now he just seems sad and lonely with an emerging drinking problem. As a gesture of goodwill, the franchise should offer to pay for some therapy. However, I do think Lace adding a degree of physicality (and I'm not talking about the kissing) made things much worse.

I guess they shot multiple endings in case the show wasn't renewed. Danny staying in NYC because he wants to be near his family makes sense, and similarly Bonnie/Brad would stay. He'll be just off screen. Keeping Tucker in town is more of a stretch, but maybe the job will fall through, he'll be on facetime for a few episodes and then get fired, etc.

Victoria is claiming on Twitter that Julia had a boyfriend and was giving guys handjobs. No wonder they were obsessed with her.

I really liked the first half of the show. I found the exercises interesting and Dr. Darcy's advice pretty actionable. Then it got completely sidetracked by the Brandi/Callum and Paulie D/Aubrey "relationships." Did Somaya and Josh even have a session with Dr. Darcy?

John's obsession with Julia makes more sense. He's basically extroverted Cam, and she's introverted Victoria. At a first impression, when everyone is "on," Julia probably did seem his type. Cameron-Mikayla are still dating.

This article says a lot of what we've said. http://www.tvguide.com/news/5-ways-to-get-unreal-back-on-track/ But one more subtle suggestion they have is that one of the problems with this season was repeating a Suitor, who doesn't want to be there. I think they're right. On the surface an enthusiastic Suitor seems easier for Rachel/Quinn, but IMO it would've created a new set of problems for them.

I'm just disappointed we didn't have time for one more obnoxious lecture from Wells.

Or that a guy can sleep with all the 20somethings he wants, and it's cool. But a woman has to be desperate to think about it.

I'm trying really hard because everyone here means well, and I would much rather hate on a show that I thought was a cynical cash grab. I assume this show's problems started when Christina Hendricks dropped out. I like all the actors (Wilson, Gugino, Spall, and Poots), but I don't think I've ever seen a show where BOTH romantic couples have no spark. This was supposed to be some triumphant ending, but I was let down that of all her options, Shelli chose fucking Bill.

If this show has another season, either go back to the S1 format or main daters with no chemistry. If not, the main daters should be forced to keep someone.

The biggest problem is that the flashbacks don't demonstrate anything revealing about the character, with the exception of Alex's. This week's was essentially telling us that a character we already knew was transgender was transgender. How is that at all relevant to what the show is trying to say? Are people actually going to get killed in this slasher show?

I don't want to defend Gio because he's using editing to defend his irresponsible behavior both then and now, but if Kaylen/John were in the whipped cream game as he claims on Twitter, that's context we should've seen.

Boy, should this show have really, really, really done a parody of The Bachelorette. Using the shooting of a black man to further a white character's growth is gross at any time but particularly given recent events. All the more so because they didn't lay the groundwork and just brought Romeo back for this. There are so many other ways to push Rachel over the edge. If the show wants to make the argument that having a Black suitor is not real social progress, that's perfectly fine and good.