call me ishmael

Maybe I am wrong but I really doubt that Rachel surprised him with that line of questioning. For several years now the franchise has been getting criticized for its (lack of) contestant vetting and continuing to bring on not only people with dubious social media histories but also ones prone to bullying and the production of conflict. In particular, it has been criticized in particular for people with social media histories of racist comments. When CH tried to insist that no one in 2018 would have thought the same way he was defending the show as much as he was protecting Racheal. As someone above pointed out, all he had to do was say "look she will comment on this. Please listen to her before you come to any judgment." Or "she will be commenting on this and we know that she has regrets." Or any number of other things. But he didn't do that and Rachel L didn't make him make the choices he did. Personally, I think that the show(s) need to do a deep rethinking of the way that they are being put together and not only about the question of race. It used to be that I found parts painful because I felt bad for what the contestants stumbled into. Or when they so obviously misread cues. But now it is painful because the whole thing is set up like one of those apocalyptic car race movies of the 1980s where if you didn't win it meant you were left mangled on the road and all the contestants were trying to make sure that everyone else's car exploded. The only season that wasn't like that was Tayshia's and that's because they got rid of the really bad apples early. When your villain was Bennett you know they were only going through the motions. Now I feel nostalgic for the days when everyone was appalled at how badly Juan Pablo behaved. The show has responded to almost all criticism by simply nibbling at the edges of the problem. I don't know if Harrison will ever be back. But whoever hosts the next season should be hosting a very different show.

I have to say that watching this WTA (which I really hadn't planned to do) brought home to me how much this show has lost the thread. There was CH sitting there like an aristocrat in Pompeii unaware that there was a volcano nearby. Then you saw all the things that they didn't show because they wanted Victoria or some other conflict every moment....LITERALLY. But there were also the dates that were simply disgusting and cruel. Basically the show now seems to be all about making sure that people are demeaned and turned against each other. Part of it is the hothouse nature and the young age of the contestants. But it seems to me that there just is a lot more cruelty and structured embarrassment and humiliation organized by TPTB. The lack of self-reflection that CH manifested in his interview is all in keeping with this. If the host was sitting there with a large goblet of wine on a great throne it would fit right in.

I agree. If they actually provided Slim Jim’s more of the contestants would want to leave early instead of getting stuck with the lead for another week.

Do you think he is upset with Chris Harrison?

Yeah. I could be wrong but he will go through an elaborate “soul searching process” and be redeemed.

They didn’t let him go. They let him go on hiatus so that he might be able to dodge questions about pretending that 2018 was a few centuries ago. It’s to protect him I think.

Only if that isn’t the “job title “ of a contestant on the next Bachelor

I think she might work. She is attractive and clearly has a sense of humor. Also, if you think about how the best thing about Tayshia’s season was when they had actually conversations the fact that she is capable,of having them is a plus. She also showed how to shut down Victoria without being rude. None of the others have shown that capacity.

Looks to me like the hedge funds should have shorted Victoria’s stock rather than Game Stop.

They are not showing all of the episodes or even the ones they show in any particular order (outside of story blocks) but if you have access to a television company called “Retro” they are showing old Doctor Who episodes fairly regularly. I’ve been watching “Unearthly Child.”

Had their friend dome something wrong?

I know that I, at least, wasn't happy to see her.

I guess True Love is surely dead. 😩

Just once I wish one of them would say “My family suffocated me when I was growing up and I got away as quickly as I could.” All of this family stuff is so 1880s.

That would have been true even if Barb hadn’t liked her.

I think it was filmed in 2019.

Ironically, doesn’t this mean that RS’s original information was correct? He was originally saying Ben and Zac=Zac and that Brendan self-liberated only to pull when he found out she temporarily eliminated Ben at final 4. So long as she doesn’t end up choosing Bennett it should be okay.

I think that that might have been true in the moment on the show. But at Men Yell All it was clear that Blake was asking if it was just a matter of time and she should have just said "no, I realized that there was no future." At that point it was really about letting him move on and however crazy it is waffling on that issue is giving false hope. I actually like Tayshia but she has been showing a real inability to think about what is going on with the other person over the last couple of episodes.

I wonder if CH knows what the word “riveting” actually means. For a Men Yell All this seemed pretty low key except for Yosef auditioning to play the villain in Captain Marvel 2.

Has anyone seen how it is supposed to work tonight. I know that least part of it will be taken up with the Men Yell All but it seems like they may do some elimination first.

I shudder at the thought that I might be saying something in defense of Bennett,. But it is possible that his comments about Noah having no chance wasn't either about production or an insult to Tayshia but an observation based on the reality that unless you are Claire you have to keep a certain number of bachelors each week and it's obvious that Noah isn't her first choice, or second choice, or third choice. Of course despite his high emotional intelligence Bennett doesn't understand that he is not her first choice, or second choice, or third choice either. But that is a different therapy session.

At least she didn’t give all the roses to herself.

Unfortunately most reboots aren’t really the same story. I worry that rather than get an appropriate run we would simply get the same characters with a different show.

I actually wonder if they didn’t hurt themselves by never leaving their shell. Voters tend to like people who move in some way and the costumes were great. Instead they stayed with one trick and it made them less interesting over time.

I was impressed when Claire insisted that the coronavirus was responsible for her deciding that there was only one guy for her.