By Mary Cavaliere

Tonight was the reunion show which is usually held after the season is over, but because of the "dramatic" final rose ceremony and what happens after the season ends, the network decided to air this the week prior to the finale, keeping its audience on pins and needles for another week. I’m guessing they think that the suspense will lift ratings, and I’m guessing they’re right. It will boost ratings for the finale. But I also know of people who are so upset at this delay that they vow never to watch The Bachelor again!

This show was mostly fluff for the first hour. Chris Harrison sat down with Jason alone to talk about some of the girls and events that occurred throughout the season. Jason, as usual, was so diplomatic he didn’t have anything bad to say about anyone. He also revealed that he only got to "first base" in the tent with Molly and that the fantasy suite was ten or eleven hours alone with the girls without cameras (so I think we can guess that first base was not the limitation of the night in those cases).

We saw a few out-takes from some of the dates, which were not very interesting, and then things moved to an update on former cast members, especially The Bachelor’s most infamous couple, Trista and Ryan, who are once expecting their second child. They seem to be the only "happily ever after" couple that has come out of this show. There was also a Charlie and Sarah that evidently were a couple who broke up and a year later reconciled, but since I never watched The Bachelor prior to Jason, I didn’t know who they were.

Then there was a montage of reality show reject parties where former cast mates hung out with each other and create the "gossip" for tonight’s episode. My feeling is do we really care about the Peyton Place episodes behind the scenes? I don’t. I’m here for Jason, just like some of the girls are.

The second half of the show was focused around the ladies from this season dishing the dirt on one another. For me it was just more of what goes on in the house (cat-scratching) and really not enjoyable to watch. The audience is so happy when someone like Natalie gets voted off, yet we’re subjected to watch her conceited, trashy, superficial, immature, bitchy nonsense again when what we REALLY want to see is who Jason chose. And yes Chris, we ALL just LOVE Stephanie! She could certainly teach Natalie a thing or two about class.

Speaking of class, Jillian was up next in the hot seat. Jillian was an audience favorite and definitely one of mine from the very first episode. She was on the Ellen DeGeneres show last week and Ellen brought up the idea of her becoming the next Bachelorette as did Chris Harrison tonight during her hot seat interview. We were all delighted to hear she would take a chance on love again and we hope that ABC gets the message and casts her as the next Bachelorette. From my understanding the ratings on the Bachelor were getting low until Jason came along. I feel the ratings were high because we previously watched Jason with DeAnna and were already invested in his well-being emotionally from the very first episode. So if the TV producers want to do the right thing for us (and Jillian), they need to cast her as the next Bachelorette!

Tonight’s reunion show ended with a review of Melissa and Molly’s relationship with Jason and those emotional previews of the finale which include the return of DeAnna Papas.

You can read more of Mary’s television blogs at

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(Photo courtesy of ABC)

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