Chris Harrison's Bachelorette 8 Blogs & Interviews - Discussion

Thanks, can't believe Chris didn't mention Arie being a good sport about wearing the nurse costume. Guess they see Jef isone of the favorites now and they finally admitted it in his blog.

This has got to be the strangest season I've seen yet. If there were no spoilers, there would be all kinds of disbelief after FRC. As to the unspoiled, oh me oh my. I'm not sure the ratings will recover and they are already low enough this season. Is that because of spoilers or do they just find Emily that boring?

mprssdbyu wrote:This has got to be the strangest season I've seen yet. If there were no spoilers, there would be all kinds of disbelief after FRC. As to the unspoiled, oh me oh my. I'm not sure the ratings will recover and they are already low enough this season. Is that because of spoilers or do they just find Emily that boring?

I think the ratings are still OK to maintain the show, it is up against much stiffer competition this season and I am sure they expected it.
I think if they continue Jef's storyline like last night, people will be very happy. I had a few texts from non spoiled people last night who sat up and took big notice of him. It will be hard because the F3 guys are all so great, but I think if they continue to show the love story, people will be excited at the end.
That is just my opinion.

I think the producers vastly overestimated Emily's popularity. The fact that the ratings for the premiere were lower than those for Ashley's premiere tells you something. That's not a knock on Emily, just circumstances. Her edit during Brad's season was rather one-note so she wasn't going to attract viewers with her sparkling personality. Also, the break-up with Brad and then her hemming and hawing about doing the Bachelorette didn't build a huge amount of public sympathy that would lead to good ratings, like Jason was able to do after the DeAnna saga. It will be interesting to see if last night's "buzz" translated into anything.

luluvega wrote:I think the producers vastly overestimated Emily's popularity. The fact that the ratings for the premiere were lower than those for Ashley's premiere tells you something. That's not a knock on Emily, just circumstances. Her edit during Brad's season was rather one-note so she wasn't going to attract viewers with her sparkling personality. Also, the break-up with Brad and then her hemming and hawing about doing the Bachelorette didn't build a huge amount of public sympathy that would lead to good ratings, like Jason was able to do after the DeAnna saga. It will be interesting to see if last night's "buzz" translated into anything.

Agreed about the producers overestimating Emily's popularity. Fleiss and Millsy tweeted repeatedly during filming that they expected this to be the highest rated season in the last few years, which I thought was overly optimistic. I remember after she was announced as the lead, and on people.com, ew.com, the official Facebook page, and other places, for every post expressing excitement about her season, there was another one declaring how boring she was and blasting her for being a hypocrite. A lot of people said they wouldn't watch, and I even though I thought it was just the usual hyperbole, it made me suspect that Emily's season would be only slightly better rated than Ashley's season. I definitely didn't expect it to be lower rated.

During Ben's season, even with his low ratings, every Tuesday, Fleiss, Millsy, and Chris would tweet about the ratings, spinning them to make them sound great. There's been none of that this year. In fact, the only time I've seen any of them mention ratings was last week, when Millsy informed a website that the 2.1 demo rating for last week's episode had been readjusted to a 2.2. So, regardless of competition from other shows or any other excuses for the low ratings, I imagine TPTB are pretty disappointed that more people aren't watching. And they should be, IMO, since this has turned out to be a really good season and Emily is a unique Bachelorette with really good guys to choose from. The people who aren't watching are missing out.

It will be really interesting to see what last night's ratings were. If they nudge up at all, I suspect we'll start seeing more interviews with the remaining guys to drum up interest, like the one with Sean. Either that, or they'll re-edit the show to have Emily telling someone to "Get the F out" every week. :Smiley:

Archer23 wrote:
It will be really interesting to see what last night's ratings were. If they nudge up at all, I suspect we'll start seeing more interviews with the remaining guys to drum up interest, like the one with Sean. Either that, or they'll re-edit the show to have Emily telling someone to "Get the F out" every week. :Smiley:

ITA on Emily being much more interesting to watch this time around. Although, that really didn't start for me until episode 4 when the "bland princess" mask came off while she was grilling Doug and Ryan. I can see how someone who watched any of episodes 1-3 might not be inclined to continue. The first night cocktail party was a bit "meh" and the action in Charlotte was so-so. Even the "villains" haven't been all that entertaining. Just obnoxious. Ryan's exit next week should be a whopper but after that, I'm not sure what is left to work with in terms of bringing the "flash and trash" to try and get the ratings going. Arie has provided the rope for his own hanging with the producer connection but how far they take that onscreen would probably depend on how much they would want him as a future lead.

Sorry to go so far off-topic.

luluvega wrote:

Archer23 wrote:
It will be really interesting to see what last night's ratings were. If they nudge up at all, I suspect we'll start seeing more interviews with the remaining guys to drum up interest, like the one with Sean. Either that, or they'll re-edit the show to have Emily telling someone to "Get the F out" every week. :Smiley:

ITA on Emily being much more interesting to watch this time around. Although, that really didn't start for me until episode 4 when the "bland princess" mask came off while she was grilling Doug and Ryan. I can see how someone who watched any of episodes 1-3 might not be inclined to continue. The first night cocktail party was a bit "meh" and the action in Charlotte was so-so. Even the "villains" haven't been all that entertaining. Just obnoxious. Ryan's exit next week should be a whopper but after that, I'm not sure what is left to work with in terms of bringing the "flash and trash" to try and get the ratings going. Arie has provided the rope for his own hanging with the producer connection but how far they take that onscreen would probably depend on how much they would want him as a future lead.

Sorry to go so far off-topic.

I guess Doug's unhappiness/anger about the group date will be the fireworks for Episode 7. But after that, the guys are all isolated from each other, so there probably won't be much more drama after that, I suppose. Arie's connection to Cassie could be used for drama, but I can't imagine any reason the show would want to acknowledge that (and, according to Love_Me, there wasn't any drama about it, anyway).

I found CH's blog interesting, and it confirmed that they are going to be touting Sean as the new frontrunner, or THE challenger to watch for, in what has up until now been a blowout for Arie, for the next few episodes. Jef got a mention, but it was only to elevate his status from background player to "one" of the favorites; still sounds like kind of a lukewarm endorsement from CH, and SOOOO different in tone from Emily's own blog, where she gushed about Jef over Sean.

If Sean is F2, and Arie goes out at F3, it makes sense to try to push the Sean love story as much as they can.

I don't really put much stock into what CH says in his blogs anymore. I do still consider what the leads write in their blogs to be significant though. JMO

Did CH not give his weekly TV Guide interview after the show this week? I enjoy those more then his actual blog.

Chris Harrison blogs 'The Bachelorette' episode 6

http://popwatch.ew.com/tag/chris-harrison/

Chris Harrison Episode 6 Blog

After the fireworks and “F” bombs in London, we headed off to the exotic city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. We have had the incredible opportunity to go to some amazing places over the years but the locations we visit over the next couple weeks really blew me away. Emily’s apartment was in the old town district of Dubrovnik. Being there is like stepping back in time.

You might have noticed Emily walking up some steps to get to her place. Well the truth is it was more than just “some” steps. Emily’s apartment was up a hill and the only way to get up there was climbing hundreds of steps, but once you got up that high, the view over the Adriatic sea was well worth it.

Emily was nice enough to help me out with my hosting duties and delivered the first date card to Travis. I’m sure some of you might be confused that after what seemed like a great date Emily suddenly sent Travis home. Travis is a great guy and he and Emily had a great relationship but there was no chemistry, passion, or romance between them. I have to give it to Emily for stepping up and doing the right thing and sending him home on the date.

The easy thing to do would have been just to give him the rose, continue the easy friendship, and send him home at a future rose ceremony. But instead, she’s continued to follow her heart and make the tough decisions.

One last note about Travis’ date: Many of us on the crew tried the balancing stone that sits on the side of a building in old town. A few of us were able to pull off the tradition and balance while taking off a jacket or shirt. Names will not be given to protect the not-so-innocent.

The group date started at an amazing theatre in Old Town.

[On a quick side-note, I took my kids to the world premiere of Brave last night and although I thought it was incredibly disrespectful to hold an event on Monday night while The Bachelorette was on, the movie is incredible and I highly recommend it, especially if you have kids. The highland games competition was fantastic.]

The group of guys on the date was great so there wasn’t any drama and everybody was able to have a good time. The only thing that made that date tough for the guys was how cold it got and those kilts weren’t as warm as they look.

The party that night was pretty interesting. Arie was feeling a little defensive as he hadn’t had a lot of time with Emily, and in London, Emily was a little upset at him for not speaking up about Kalon. They seemed to quickly get past this and Arie used the old “hey, look in the store window” trick to steal a kiss from Emily.

Jef continued to rise after his amazing date in London. How about the line he delivered telling Emily “you give me the type of feeling that people write about.” Come on, how do you not fall for that?

Ryan got the final one-on-one date, for good reason, and contrary to his belief, it’s not because he’s god’s gift to the world. Emily definitely had feelings for Ryan but she wanted another date to really put their relationship to the test. There’s so many things that are wrong with their relationship, but Emily does like the bad boy a bit and is attracted to him. Ryan has no idea how easily he could have gotten a rose and stayed had he not continuously shot himself in the foot. Repeatedly calling Emily a trophy wife didn’t help but the “list” of qualities he gave her really pushed her over the edge. Emily has no poker face and if you looked at her when he was reading that list you saw it was over right then and there.

I do have to give Ryan credit because even after Emily dumped him he continued to fight and almost convinced her she was wrong. Ryan’s exit speech was very interesting. As you saw, he had a specific message that he wanted everybody to hear. Well, we left it in, in its entirety. Now, you can be the judge on what kind of person he is. Arie might have delivered the best line this week when he said if Ryan is the next Bachelor then the Bachelorette is a mirror.

The cocktail party was at an old house that sat right across the street from the harbor. At the party, Emily and Doug had one of the most awkward moments of the season. It’s not good when a woman has to physically lift up your arm to put it around her. As far as Emily is concerned Doug is taking his nickname, “humble Doug,” a little too literally. She’s hoping and praying the guy will just lighten up a little bit and show a more everyday side. Emily’s body language during their conversation was very telling. If you look back at it you’ll see Emily leaning as far away from him as she possibly could. She’s never like that with the other guys she’s really into. The problem is she likes a lot of things about Doug and is hoping with a little time he can step it up a bit.

The rose ceremony put the icing on what was already a crazy week. For the first time ever, our Bachelorette sent both guys home from the one-on-one dates. Then in the middle of the rose ceremony Emily decided she really didn’t want to send anybody else home.

Again, I have to give it to the girl. She goes with her gut and so far it’s guided her very well. Doug and John were on the chopping block but as sure as she was about saying goodbye to Travis and Ryan she wasn’t convinced it was time to say goodbye to either of those guys. So Emily came out to see me as I was waiting just outside the door, ready to come in and deliver the line that would let the world know that after one rose is taken away from two roses, there’s only one rose left. Having gone through this with Emily, I know she wasn’t just doing this to delay the inevitable so the decision to let her keep everybody at the rose ceremony was an easy one.

We head off to another incredibly historic location next week in Prague.

The city was amazing in and of itself but what takes place in Prague and the drama it leads to at the rose ceremony will be what we’re all talking about next week. It’s no secret that these guys have fallen for Emily and she has started falling for more than one man. This can only lead to more intense drama in the weeks to come, as hearts will be broken. There have also been many tabloid stories about one of our producers having dated Arie and how that affected Emily. Next week we will deal with this issue and you will get the complete story, and more importantly, the truth!

Until then you can find all things Bachelorette at our website and you can always find me on Twitter @chrisbharrison.