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"The Bachelor 3" Review By Shawn McKenzie 03/31/2003 While doing some background research on Entertain Your Brain’s history with “The Bachelor” (yes, we’ve been around long enough to have had reviewed every edition so far), I noticed something ironic. I gave the lowest grade to the best edition of the series so far, “The Bachelorette.” It got me thinking about how these dating shows really don’t seem to hit their stride until they start shaving off competitors. After seeing the first episode of “The Bachelor 3,” it looks like they haven’t improved upon that quirk.
We start out with the same old story here: an eligible bachelor has 25 women in which to choose from at the beginning. He does a meet-and-greet, after which he gets rid of ten of the women in a Rose Ceremony. Next, he goes on three group dates consisting of five women each. He cuts those women down to eight, and then four. After that, he will get rid of a woman each week by giving his favorites a rose (always in “the most shocking Rose Ceremony yet.”) Host Chris Harrison is back yet again to do what he does best…point out the obvious (“Ladies, this is the final rose.”) This season the producers decided to scam off of the success of a show that had originally ripped them off, “Joe Millionaire,” by presenting the woman with an actual millionaire. His name is Andrew Firestone, and he is the heir to the Firestone empire. Something I didn’t know about the Firestone family before this episode aired was that they aren’t in control of the tire company that his great-grandfather, Harvey Firestone, founded. Apparently, the family sold their rights to the tire company in the early ‘70s and started a successful winery franchise. Andrew will inherit a wine fortune and not a tire fortune, but it is a thriving wine fortune.
Either ABC thinks everyone is living in a cave, or they are trying to purposely create an extra episode in order to stretch into May Sweeps, but they did something in the first episode that drove me nuts. They actually tried to build suspense over who the new bachelor was! Tell me, honestly, if you are a fan of reality shows, or at least of “The Bachelor,” is the fact that Firestone is the bachelor news to you? They showed the five finalists who were in the running for the new bachelor, and then shockingly revealed that it was Andrew Firestone! Can you say duh?
Next, they ran through the 25 women vying for the millionaire’s heart. I’m starting to worry about the mental state of some of these women on these dating shows. They seem to be a little too engrossed in the process. Two of the women have already chosen and worn their wedding dresses, and one woman is already crying over the possibility of being chosen…and she hasn’t even met Andrew yet! (Actually, she was crying because she wanted her dad to walk her down the isle, but unless he is close to dying, it is still sad.) I might be making a mistake by giving “The Bachelor 3” a lower grade than other editions, but I was not impressed by the first episode. I do realize that the show will really get started when the bachelor actually gets to meet the women, but the way they handled the “introduction” episode wasn’t the best (I will be curious to see if the wedding dress women turn out to be psycho though.) A note to the producers of the next edition: please get the introductions over with quickly so we can get to the good stuff. Stretching out a series doesn’t always help. The ratings for this episode were very un-“Bachelor”-like. Hook us from the beginning and we will be loyal to the end.
Buy this DVD at
Ratings System:
DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!
Try to catch this show every week...
If a better show is on, tape this one...
If nothing else is on, maybe this will be good...
If this show is on, change the channel immediately!
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