Tag Archives: Britt

The Bachelorette: I LOVE Kaitlyn, but I’m OUT for good!

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I am finished with The Bachelorette. Monday night I thought there might still be a way to keep watching the show. I thought perhaps I could forgive the two Bachelorette stunt that took the choice out of the young woman’s hands and then gave it back to her only to plague her with insecurity over whether the guys stayed for her – not to mention intentionally pitting the women in the fan base against each other. What has pushed me over the edge may not even seem like a big deal to most people. What has finally made me turn down the rose is the continuous exploitation, double standard and disrespect for the lives of the people they showcase. I’m talking about those previews with all the tears and all the anger regarding Kaitlyn’s “obvious from the editing” choice to sleep with one of her bachelors.

The show has danced around hook-ups for years. Whether or not anything has happened in past fantasy suites, it’s definitely implied. It was hinted at and then openly discussed that Juan Pablo had been with Claire. There was all the hoopla surrounding Nick asking Andi why she’d made love to him if she wasn’t going to choose him. The point is that none of those incidents became selling points of a season or a defining characteristic of the bachelor/bachelorettes. None of them were explicitly presented before we had a chance to get to know the person.

By showing the scenes they showed of Kaitlyn last night and having her admit in the previews to the men that she had slept with someone, the show instigated one of the divisive debates out there for ratings. People are passionately opinionated about sex. People will defend her choice and say there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her consenting to be with a man she chooses. Others will call her a slut or a whore and never give her a second chance. In addition, the whole season will now be marred by this conflict and moral judgement. The scenes they showed in the previews play to the absolute worst of male and female stereotypes. Not only did we witness her crying and shaming herself, apologizing and demeaning herself, but we saw the men getting angry and storming off because of it. It looked like they were joining forces to stone her! There is a delicate line when it comes to male and female power in relationships and up until a few seasons ago this show had actually done a nice job of respecting it. What’s happened?

For me, whether I think she should have or shouldn’t have made that choice is irrelevant. For me it is once again about the producers and the choices they make in story and editing. They shafted Kaitlyn from the start because they wanted Britt. Go back and look at Mike Fleiss and Chris Harrison’s tweets versus the tweets from the majority of the fans. They didn’t even throw Juan Pablo under the bus the way they did this girl and they totally disliked Juan Pablo. Look at the way Chris worded telling Kaitlyn she was the Bachelorette…unfortunately I had to let Britt go – watch his expressions – he’s not happy. It was manipulative and disrespectful of them to use the film in that way, but probably just part of what’s to come in what I think will be an assassination of her character for the rest of the season.

For me, it’s not about whether those scenes play out the way the previews foretell. I am quitting this show because Mike Fleiss and Co., and that includes Chris Harrison, have been slowly going deeper and deeper into sleaze and disrespecting what gave the show any redeeming qualities. Maybe they can’t tell the difference between Bachelor in Paradise, Bachelor Pad, and their flagship show anymore. Maybe it’s that they want ratings or maybe they are so far removed from the real world that they don’t even see how bad they have gotten. Maybe it’s because they were thinly disguised misogynists after all and shame on me for being fooled for as long as I have been. I don’t really care anymore. I hope she finds a way to get her power back and sticks it to them in the live shows, but I won’t be watching. I guess I’ll be reading someone else’s blog to find out.

The Bachelorette: I’m Still Watching…

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So, I’ve always opened myself to ridicule by admitting I watch the Bachelorette, but here’s the deal…I have also always been able to reasonably defend myself. Until now. Last night’s twist was worse than I anticipated. The reason the Bachelorette worked (and the reason it will work for the rest of this season after this travesty) is that the woman holds the power. In addition to being able to choose who she wants to be with, we can be pretty sure the guys who are there want to be with her and are actually in it for a relationship. By taking the power out of the women’s hands and letting the men pick, both of those positives went down the drain. That’s why we’re angry, Chris Harrison. It’s not about your stupid comments that change is hard. SPOILER ALERT FOR TONIGHT’S RESULTS While I am happy that Kaitlyn came out the winner (as the media has let us know), she now has to wonder in every interaction she has throughout the season if a man secretly voted for Britt to stay.

I don’t understand how the show can so seriously underestimate its viewers. Sure, social media would have you believe that everyone is watching for the drama and conflict, and the raunchier/sleazier the better, but that’s not the case. While there is a base audience that is in it for that kind of stuff, those viewers won’t be going anywhere – no need to up the ante for them. The viewers that the show will shed and has shed are the viewers that held out any hope that the show had some sincerity and real romance left. Trista and Ryan + Babies, Jason and Molly +Baby, Ashley and JP + Baby, Sean and Catherine, and a few more past results have proven that DESPITE their attempts to cheapen the game, real love can be found on this show. However, I personally don’t know how much longer I’ll be hanging around.

Juan Pablo was a trip into sleaze. Andi D. was never going to find real love, we could all see it from the start. I began last season with Chris, but quickly lost interest despite liking Whitney. I am here now for Kaitlyn because she reminds me of our favorite Canadian Bachelorette Jillian. She’s real, funny and will hopefully see through the BS the show throws at her. Watching her face last night as the twists kept unfolding you could tell she felt the same way we did. You could see her struggle with the fact that it was all so demeaning, but if she could just get through it she might have a shot at something real. If we could all just get through the episode we might be able to see a real season despite the producer’s intentions.

So, thank goodness that tonight in part two the stunt ends and Kaitlyn is the Bachelorette, although if you haven’t read any online sources you might not know that for sure yet because of the stupid new cliffhangers they’re employing more and more frequently. That’s at least one positive on which to cling!

There are a few more, and their names are Ben H., Ben Z., Dan and Ian (1st Bachelor of color anyone? Finally a guy who could actually be a contender!) Each of these guys showed real personality and genuine interest in the women. And, we can’t leave out Shawn B., who, while not a favorite of mine, was described by Kaitlyn as possible love at first sight. I like the bits of interaction they showed between her and all of these guys, but my early pick is Ben H.  – Wow, show me more of him. Kudos for asking about her tattoo, dude! I always wondered about it myself. Point in Kaitlyn’s column for her answer being sweet and meaningful. See, the good does shine through the sleaze, despite the efforts to make the show sensational. I’m also interested in seeing more about David, who we only caught glimpses of. He’ll either be the guy in three episodes that we’re all still wondering about or an actual contender for her heart.

I’ll be watching tonight with the hope that I won’t feel as ashamed of myself as I did last night. I’ll be watching with the hope that things get back on track when Britt leaves. I’ll be watching and hoping that we see some of the old Chris Harrison who seems like a different guy since his divorce (Seriously, his crush on Britt was half the reason we’re in this mess.) And, I’ll be watching because I really like Kaitlyn and want to see her fall in love. In short, I’ll still be watching because I can’t help who I am, a hopeless romantic who keeps going back for more even after she realizes the show she loves isn’t worthy of her.

Silas Clay and Ava Jerome? Kiki Jerome? Thoughts on GH!

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I had to take some time off from watching GH because I was getting bored with the rotation of stories. Of course, when I did, my blog got tons of hits on my Silas, Kiki, Franco post from way back and it made me wonder what was going on? All these searches for, “Is Kiki Silas’ daughter?” kept showing up and I had to know what I was missing.  So, I went to the dvr and watched 4 days in a row and I’m glad I did.

I’m still kind of sad that watching four days in a row live made me want to stop watching in the first place, but the stuff I saw was magical.

Ava and Silas! Woohoo – I never in a million years would have thought to put Maura West with Michael Easton, but it’s brilliant.  They are both superstars on their own with huge fan bases.  They are both gorgeous and talented.  And they are both exactly what I need to keep watching.  I admit to being a Maura West/Michael Easton fan for years.  Maura as Carly Tenney Snyder was my all time fave soap character, and I fell in love with Michael when he played Tanner on Days of Our Lives years and years ago.  

When Ava saw Silas, Maura let just a little of Carly’s weakness for Jack show on her face…I was hooked.  And when Silas saw Ava, Michael played it with the knowledge that here – here might be the thing that’s really made Silas the asshole he is to others. 

Aside from loving the possibilities with the two of them, I love the chatter it’s got going about Kiki and who her father might be.  We know her father can’t be Franco – first cousins as lovers just won’t work and it’s obvious Kiki and Michael are going to end up together, so  how can they not be related? How also can they keep it looking like they are?

This also brings us to the “Who’s Sam’s daddy?” story.  From what I’ve read it looks like Peter Reckell will be joining GH as a Jerome.  If he’s Danny’s grandfather then Kiki could still match Danny through the Jerome side of the family but look like she’s Franco’s daughter! 

There are so many cool ways this story could go and I want to watch it…

Other thoughts:

I also want to watch the Nikolas/Laura/Lucy Deception business.  Keep Nikolas on my screen and use Britt to make Elizabeth jealous.  Put AJ with Carly and keep the feud going inside the Quartermaine family.

But please, please, please ditch the Sabrina story and find a place to put Patrick where he fits in with other actors who we care about. I’m tired of them and it looks like it’s going nowhere…

I think that’s still my main point – as much as I’m loving some stuff – I can’t figure out what to hope for or where anything’s heading.  There are too many starts and not enough follow through.  We’ve got enough characters…play with what you have and stop bringing in new people.

As much as I hated to lose Kelly Sullivan, there’s a story line that needed to be wrapped up! Sonny and Olivia make sense because you can connect them to drama through Dante and Lulu. The Kate story takes time away from other family story lines. Same thing with Patrick and Sabrina. 

And for goodness sake – get on with making Ellie related to Tracy already.  They’ve been laying groundwork for months. Either she is or she isn’t, and if she isn’t, she’s taking up time from other stories.

If you stuck around through that stream of consciousness rant – Thanks! I’ll try to be more structured next time!

General Hospital: June 2013 – A Report Card…just ehhh

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So overall I think GH is earning a solid B. I’m not bored, and there are some really good things in process, but I’m not captivated either and that’s the bigger problem.

One of the things that’s been really bothering me lately is the rotation of storylines. How we get chunks of characters and stories and then don’t see them again for weeks. I’m assuming this has to do with scheduling actors and keeping down costs so I’m trying to ignore it, but it’s like I forget people exist.

I want to see Liz and Nik at least once a week. I need to see Anna more than I do. The scene with Anna and Duke babysitting Emma was one of the best scenes all month. Maybe that’s why they don’t show them…they make everything else look bad because they’re so good.

Anyway – here we go:

The return of the OLTL 3: B+
I think they’ve pulled this off. I like Kiki and the potential story between Morgan and Michael. Kristen Alderson is great with Maura West and Roger Howarth.

Roger Howarth as Franco is going to work…mostly because they’re totally changing Franco (or is it really Franco?) but whatever, it’s good and he’s good. The recent scenes with Carly after the shooting were brilliant. I can see a way for them to work together now.

Michael Easton? Where has he been? They haven’t given me enough of him. He’s my favorite of the three and I’m dying here! I like Silas. Please, please, just have him be a hard ass, unsentimental, jerk doctor that Sam can soften and not that psycho brother of his returned from the dead.

Quartermaine Mania: B
The relish stuff was fun for a while. I like the constantly changing loyalties based on who has the pivotal shares and Tracy/AJ competition is always fun. Bring Duke back into things please! Having Franco and Kiki move into the house was great. Can we get some Ava/AJ action? Their chemistry is fabulous and this AJ/Carly/Franco/Ava quadrangle could earn an A+ eventually!

Sonny/Dante/Lulu/Olivia/Kate: C
This is all just mind-numbingly dull for me. Connie vs. Kate for Sonny’s heart? Both characters are like watching paint dry. They don’t compare to his chemistry with Brenda. I love Emme Rylan as Lulu but there’s no real story happening. Even the stuff with their baby is boring and predictable. Maxie’s lying to them – yep – we know. Nothing’s happening. She got her memory back…great. Now what? I’m hoping we’re just transitioning storylines here and something bigger and better is coming for all of them.

Alexis/Shawn/Molly?Rafe/TJ/new Dubois chic (it’s bad if I watch everyday and can’t remember her name): Finally something real for Alexis and Shawn to play besides attraction. Him shooting Olivia is a great way to move their story along. I like the idea of the quadrangle with the youngsters but other than the fact that I love Molly from watching her grow up, and that Rafe and TJ are great actors, there’s nothing making me root for any of them. They’s so 2D.

Patrick/Sabrina/Britt/Felix: B
Ick. The Patrick Sabrina love scenes were cheesy and awkward. I liked her at first but she just takes away time from characters I really care about. Put Patrick with Sam and create a love triangle between them and Silas…let Elizabeth be wary of it. Anything – but I’m really tired of this whole thing. Except for Felix. Keep him and tell me more about how his sister’s blackmailing him because his parent’s don’t know he’s gay. That’s a good story.

Liz/Nikolas/AJ:B
I’d love to give this an A. This could engage me in the show, but I never see them so…whatever. Nik’s new hairstyle is awesome, but they’ve isolated them both from the larger storylines at hand. Even Nik having the dirt on AJ doesn’t seem to matter as much when we forget they exist.

Luke/Laura/Anna/Duke/Scotty/Lucy/Doc:D-
Where are they????????

As I’ve written this, I’ve decided I am much more upset about this show than I realized. I’m not connecting with these characters because I’m not seeing them, and when I am seeing them, what they’re going through isn’t resonating with me. I’m sad now. I need to stop writing.