Fan Blogs - Discussion and Spoilers

Back on May 6, Love_Me posted info on the final two:

“I wanted to start a new thread because I was able to confirm who the F2 contestants will be this season.

This information is correct. There is no doubt in my mind I have the right information!

The F2 Are:

Jef
Sean

Arie was eliminated last night.”

Then, on May 9, Love_Me posted: “Jeff is the F1. There is no doubt in my mind.”

It seemed a little fishy because the final rose ceremony hadn’t been taped at that point — and there was some scuttlebutt about Arie sticking around after being eliminated, as if he were going to come back and make another play for Emily’s heart, as contestants do from time to time — but at this point taping is over and Jef is the early (and only) spoiler out there.

I have no idea if it’s true, but it feels true. I’d love it if Jef were picked early as the winner and the final rose ceremony was actually Jef and Emily’s wedding. It seems like fast work — especially for a serious single mom — but I know that’s Mike Fleiss’s dream for a couple to be so madly in love they get married on the spot. Since the show has a lot of romance work to do after Ben Flajnik’s season, maybe it will happen?

That’s kind of crazy talk at this point, but I hope it’s true anyway

It was almost a Cinderella story Monday night on Season 8 of "The Bachelorette" as single mom Emily Maynard began her quest to find her Prince Charming.

Setting: Enter a posh Charlotte, North Carolina ( Maynard's hometown) mansion and 25 guys. The single Southern belle met her potential soul mates, and one of them -- a charmer named Tony -- actually presented her with a glass slipper. Unfortunately, she got more than just that.

[Related: Meet all the men vying for Emily's heart]

Most Ridiculous Introductions

But among the princes, there's bound to be a few frogs. Like Randy, who came up with the harebrained idea to greet his princess while dressed as a grandma -- cane and all! Not surprisingly, he didn't get a rose.

The award for freakiest introduction, though, might go to Travis. He approached clutching an egg, and proceeded to say, "This egg is a symbol of some beautiful people, you and Ricki, and throughout this journey I will take care of this egg like I would take care of you and Ricki." Stretching a bit for that metaphor, huh, Travis?

Ryan, the pro sports trainer, went the sweet (albeit high school) route and held up a sign on notebook paper that said "You are beautiful" on one side and "I'm so nervous" on the other. Not a bad approach for the tongue-tied suitor.

When one guy came onto the scene via private helicopter, he endured the wrath, and the death stares, of the others, with one guy saying, "Oh come on, man! Seriously, dude. If someone comes out from that, like it's the last dude, like it's over." And another contestant saying "Whoever it is we're gonna hate him." (Insecure much?) Luxury brand consultant Kalon was dubbed Helicopter Guy for the remainder of the episode, but he told Emily he would have walked to meet her if he had to -- how generous.

And then there was Stevie, a party MC who came in dancing with boom box in hand. (Is this "The Bachelorette" or "America's Got Talent"?)

And like the clichés ("I'm a biology teacher, but I'm here to have chemistry with you," said Aaron), the hair was flying. Yes, some of these guys went a little overboard with the hair mousse. (Jef, Travis, Ryan, we're looking at you!)

[Photos: See all of the wacky introductions Emily received]

Who Emily Liked

Chris got the initial-attraction bonus point with Emily describing him as "super hot." He even brought bobbleheads of himself and Emily and took time at the cocktail party to act out a scene with them. Looks like he got a creativity point, too.

Single dad Doug, whose 11-year-old son wrote Emily a note, impressed and earned him the first impression rose. (This kid is good! )

At the Heart of the Matter

Before meeting her pool of guys, "Bachelorette" Emily Maynard told host Chris Harrison she sees "a minivan full of babies" in her five-year plan. "I'm tired of being engaged. I want to be married," she said.

Maynard's hard luck tale -- her first fiancé and the father of her child, Ricky Hendricks, died in a 2004 plane crash -- is at the center if her story. Her 2011 engagement to "Bachelor" star Brad Womack fizzled.

By the end of the first night, Emily had whittled her picks down to 19.

[Related: Five things you don't know about Emily Maynard]

"Bachelorette" host Chris Harrison recently told People that Maynard's season "is drastically different and much deeper from anything we've ever done. You don't have the frat house humor and superficial drama that you've seen in seasons past with younger contestants or contestants that weren't parents," he said.

Does that mean Emily's season will be a two-month snooze fest?

Certainly not based on the promos, which show exotic trips to Europe and a fired-up Emily chastising one guy while dropping some not-so-ladylike profanities.

"She's sweet until the time she's not," Harrison recently said of this season's "The Bachelorette."

It wouldn't be "The Bachelorette" premiere without a ridiculous exit. Jackson, the fitness model, gets that honor by taking off his shirt after not receiving a rose and saying, "So, um, I guess this is what she's missing out on." What's she missing? Abs. Chances are there will be enough of those left in the remaining pool of guys for Emily to pull through.

Heading into this season of "The Bachelorette," host Chris Harrison warned fans that the show featuring Emily Maynard would be "drastically different" than any that have come before.

Indeed, there are plenty of obvious changes: Emily, who broke off her engagement to former "Bachelor" Brad Womack last year, didn't head to the show's gaudy mansion in Hollywood to kick off her season. Instead, the program's producers allowed the blond to stay in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. as to not uproot her 6-year-old daughter, Ricki. Emily, of course, is the first single mother ever to be at the center of "The Bachelorette"; Ricki's dad, a NASCAR driver, died in a tragic accident only days before Emily found out she was pregnant with their child.

Despite those shifts, there were still plenty of standard "Bachelorette" conventions during the show's first episode Monday night. Of course, we had a handful of contrived, gimmicky entrances from Emily's 25 would-be husbands. Lots of awkward, forced chatter at the introductory cocktail party, followed by way-too-early declarations of love for Emily after mere hours of meeting her. And just a lot of hideous facial hair.

As for Emily, even after watching her on Brad's season, I'd forgotten how drop-dead this chick is. She's like some genetically perfect Southern-belle, beauty-queen Barbie that I'm still not sure can actually exist in real life. And let's just say I thought the guys equaling her attractiveness level were, well, scant.

While Emily may have the dudes beat on the hotness scale, the majority of the men seemed far more at ease socially than she. While the initial meetings are always slightly uncomfortable to watch, I found this season's introductions particularly excruciating. While I'm sure she was nervous, Emily barely offered up any personality while greeting the men, dropping the phrases "Awesome!" and "Gaw-lee!" three-zillion-and-a-half times.

In general, the whole vibe of the show was far less fun than usual. Listen, I get that Emily's a single mom, so we're not going to get the montage of her running on the beach and flaunting her body. But how about showing her with some friends or something? Isn't she supposedly 26 years old? The program painted her out to be a total spinster.

There she was, telling little Ricki Tick to "get all the sugar buds" out while brushing her teeth. Playing with Ricki in the park. And then tucking Ricki in when she went to bed at 7:30. (Do kids really go to bed at 7:30?!? Golly.) Plus, all we learned about her hopes and dreams for herself is that she wants a "minivan full of babies." It just seemed a tad one-dimensional, and I wish we could have seen some of her job, or any evidence that she has a life outside of her daughter.

The guys, too, seemed even more earnest than average. Sure, there were the requisite attention-seekers — Kalon, some Richie Rich who arrived at the mansion in a helicopter, and rock-star wannabe David, whose song for Emily consisted of only one lyric: "Emily." But the majority of the men seemed relatively serious, repeatedly telling Emily how she was gorgeous and beautiful and strong and made of rays of golden sunshine.

In a huge surprise, Emily gave the evening's first-impression rose to single-dad Doug, after he handed Emily a letter his son "wrote" for her. Yes, I am sure your 11-year-old penned an opus extolling the virtues of a woman he's never met. Doug probably has a pretty good shot of making it far this season, as does Chris. A corporate sales director from Illinois, Chris dropped numerous religious references upon meeting Emily, and when he gave her bobble heads of the two of them he'd somehow procured, she found the gag cute instead of creepy.

Another dude Emily seemed to like was Jef, a guy with a pompadour who gets clean water to Third World countries who arrived on a skateboard. I wanted to hate this man with his terrible hair, but he actually seemed pretty sweet. My only hesitation about him for Emily is that he's relatively scrawny, and Emily seems to like the more strapping Brad-types. Like Ryan, a former professional football player. While Ryan was also having some hair problems — his locks were kind of spiked up in the middle of his head — he pulled a relatively cute stunt upon arriving: He told Emily he wrote out some notes, and then pulled a paper that read "You're so beautiful" on one side and "I'm so nervous" on the other.

Meanwhile, I was inclined to dislike Arie, a race-car driver, because it seemed all too convenient that the show's producers would set Emily up with someone who has the same job as her late fiancé. But Arie was pretty down-to-earth, expressing his nerves and telling Emily up front about his job.

As is typical for me after the first episode of a season, I'm still not sold on our newest protagonist. While Emily may be perfectly sweet and a great mother, she didn't exactly dazzle me with her wit and charm. Still, I'm holding out hope that she isn't actually as fake as her impeccable veneers.

seton wrote:Is there a thread for just podcasts?

Love_Me wrote:

seton wrote:Is there a thread for just podcasts?

You can post it in this thread if you have one you wanted to share. Are you looking for a podcast?