Yeah, this blog is a bit later than usual. But it’s not like anything happened Monday night that had you thirsty to know what my musings were. These first two weeks have been rocky for The Bachelor. First, the ratings are bad. For the season Premiere, total viewership was down 20% from last year and down 35% – yikes! – in the critical 18-49-year-old demo that the advertisers pay big bucks for. And ratings dipped slightly Monday night.
And then there is Greer. It seemed that no sooner than a few minutes into The Good Doctor that news broke in publications big and small that Greer had made some problematic comments on race in her social media when she was in high school. I’ll keep my feelings on such matters to myself but I’m quite certain that the suits at ABC (sABCs) are feeling a certain way given the show can’t seem to stay out of the way of problems regarding race.
Greer was quick to give a standard-issue apology with a quickly disappearing Instagram story which I’m sure was reviewed by the Evil Genius Producers (EGPs). I’m also quite certain that the EGPs are wondering what kind of re-editing is necessary given that Greer was given a high profile in Week 1 and given a First Impression Rose (FIR) by Zach. The profile and FIR have typically been indicators of someone who is going to have a deep run. That can’t change but what can change is how much time is given to her story arc. For the record, Greer was 5th in screen time in Week 1 and dropped to 19th. These could just be the way it was originally edited. Charity was 6th in screen time last week and dropped to 20th this week[1]. Still, I’ll be curious how Greer’s story will be told this season.
As long as we’re on the subject of screen time, now is a good time to mention Christina Mandrell, the single mom with the big personality and based on the previews, possibly a future target of enmity from the other girls. She was 3rd in screen time in Week 1 and had the most this week. She also got the highly craved first one-on-one date. Yes, @Bachelordata looked at that and found that many of the first one-on-one date girls made the Final Four. Not only that, but many of them also became The Bachelorette. The EGPs are certainly giving her a lot of early attention and so we need to keep an eye on her as if we couldn’t, anyway.
As to the actual second episode itself, yawn. The first group date was allegedly all about Queen Bitch energy but there was nothing particularly queen-ly or bitchy about it. In an attempt to amp up the bitchiness, the EGPs brought back three ex-villains: Tahzjuan, Victoria (fresh from her Paradise hot mess), and my all-time villain queen from Season 16[2] Cruella de Courtney Robertson (now married to a non-Bachelor guy and has two children). Tahzjuan took a shot at getting invited to join the cast but was quickly rejected by Zach.
There was another group date. At least I think there was but I don’t recall what it was and I’m not inclined to go to the DVR to find out. What I do remember was Katherine getting the first Group Date Rose (GDR) and Jess getting the GDR from the second group date. Both of them were in my Four Girls to Watch that I identified in my Week 1 blog, the other two being Greer and Charity.
There was also a lot of insecurity drama with Brianna.
Notice I’ve said nothing about Zach. I expect much of the season will be like that. Not having much to work with in him, I anticipate the EGPs giving the girls a lot of attention.
See you next week.
P.S. I don’t even recall what wine I had. I think I finished up a bottle of something Italian, red, and really good.
P.P.S. I’ll try to give a better effort next week LOL. As they say in sports, I feel like I’m playing down to my opponent’s level, or in this case, the show’s level.
[1] Data as always provided by @Bachelordata on IG.
[2] My first full season.
Ray's Musings 
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