6/20 Show Thread: Episode 5 *West Coast Spoilers*

[norealityhere]

Excellent post, Veg. I read the TV guide article also and it's realy made me think. It's not common to throw the lead under the bus, so to speak, which leads me to believe there was even more going on than we're seeing - maybe Ashley was being difficult to work with - or else (more likely) CH is fanning the flames of drama to get people talking. It's a pretty boring season otherwise.

The funny thing about this show (and basically all reality tv) is that we viewers complain about the drama, the over-the-top dates in exotic locations that are so far from real life and the editing. Without those, however, what do we have? Maybe your next-door neighbor or co-worker's life? Boring! The early seasons of the show had much less drama but we seemed to enjoy it more. Have we become jaded and need more craziness to keep us interested?

I liked Ashley okay in Brad's season and I don't think she's changed so much as the editing for her has changed for maximum dramatic effect. And I still believe that tptb are behind the whole Bentley debacle. He gave them something to work with, for sure, but he probably didn't have a clue how twisted and edited his comments would be.

Totally agree with you.
They do the same things every season.

[Miss Scarlet]

Quick question from a former watcher of this series. How many viewers on here are really still watching this season? I got an intervention and broke away from the zombie-like Monday night bore the second week. I come on here to see if anything interesting happens. It does not!

Before last week I was watching every week in real time. Last week I taped the show & watched the whole 2 hours in 20-30 minutes. The majority of that time was wasted.
This week I plan to do the same. I'll watch the whole beginning in hopes that Ashley finally grows a spine & tells Bentley off. I hope she chews him out for leading her on, never planning to stick it out & tells him she's had a miserable time ever since all because of that. And tells him to go home & tells him sarcastically "Thanks for wasting my time."
If so I may gain some respect back for her & watch the show. If not, I'm done even taping 'till Men Tell All to see how the guys felt. Then I'll watch ATFR to see F1's (if there is one) reaction.
I'm tired of being bored & just feeling disgusted in the girl.

[cantstopwatchin]

You might be on to something, Hexi. During Ali's season, Blondie wrote a post about the edit revealing the true state of the lead's final relationship; if the show edited the time with the F1 in a favorable light despite all the surrounding drama then that indicates the degree to which they expect the couple to survive (that's my inference). Despite the Frank debacle, they made a point to allow Ali/Roberto's time together to shine. Esp. when Ali was with Roberto, she was portrayed in her best light.

On the other hand, Ashley's edit hasn't been very pretty. Even her dates with Ben and Ames, some of the reactions that they left in there surprised me; with JP, they only highlight their intense passion and her insecurity. Though the guys are shown to have tremendous depth, Ashley is shown to be insecure when she could not be in real life. If you taped any person for one day and then edited together their statements of insecurity--which we all have--in that day and string them together, we too would look insecure. It sort of reminds me of all the desperate, drunk shots that the show left in of Jill.

Since we've talked about Bentley's return and Ashley's reaction, I was surprised to read Chris H.'s comments in a TV Guide interview that Ashley becomes "a bit arrogant and cocky" after her time with Bentley. I'm not sure that I've ever heard them describe a lead in such unflattering terms. Why would they do that? It could be that the outcome isn't as expected. I remember the ominous comments made by Chris during Brad's season that didn't assure the fans of success in Bremilyville.

Some of our impressions are skewed by the amount of spoiler info that we have. Certainly, anyone who's read RS's spoilers about the season and episodes should laugh at me for my naivete. At this point, I read each week's press release, the exit interviews, and Ashley Spivey's blog, and then figure it out from there. LOL.

I do hope that Ashley connected with someone night one, and this heap of drama was concocted to cover over that bond. That's the optimist in me Everyone deserves love

Veggie, I didn't know about the CH interview you referenced, so I had to go and look it up. Holy moley! Like you, I can't remember CH ever calling someone cocky and I certainly wouldn't see him describing her that way after her meeting with bentley because I thought he wrote in his blog that Ashley hits the lowest of her lows during this next episode. So we've got two conflicting pieces of info from him. And neither of them are too flattering. I really, really wish I was more interested in this season, which would lead me to want to discover more and try to figure this all out. But...I'm not. The most interesting part of that interview, naturally, involved Ames and how endearing and interesting he is once you get to know him, esp since so many of us here have said the same thing. .

[navybelle]

Quick question from a former watcher of this series. How many viewers on here are really still watching this season? I got an intervention and broke away from the zombie-like Monday night bore the second week. I come on here to see if anything interesting happens. It does not!

I'm still watching. Lots of reasons pro and con, but haven't given up on it yet.

Natalie tweeted that tomorrow's episode is the best yet from start to finish, Fleiss says it's intense.
Well, we'll see about that! (Well, I will ... not sure how many others!!)

[cantstopwatchin]

I'm still watching. Lots of reasons pro and con, but haven't given up on it yet.

Natalie tweeted that tomorrow's episode is the best yet from start to finish, Fleiss says it's intense.
Well, we'll see about that! (Well, I will ... not sure how many others!!)

Hmm...I'm really curious why they're letting a bunch of people who.aren't involved with this season watch and openly comment on this next episode. Ali said she and Roberto have watched the next 2 (tonight's and next week's). Doesn't that seem weird? Are they trying to drum up sympathy for Ashley (which goes against CH's cocky comment) or are they trying to drum up viewers or what????

[anders332]

Drum up viewers - ratings have been bad this season - she's getting around 7 mil - Ali got around 9-10 mil. Even though it's new programming and in the summer one would think the die hard Bach/ette fans would at least be TVOing it - right?

I'm watching out of habit, but after tonight (and with next week's being a repeat of this episode) I'll prolly only watch the finale.

[ButterflyFaery]

Drum up viewers - ratings have been bad this season - she's getting around 7 mil - Ali got around 9-10 mil. Even though it's new programming and in the summer one would think the die hard Bach/ette fans would at least be TVOing it - right?

I'm watching out of habit, but after tonight (and with next week's being a repeat of this episode) I'll prolly only watch the finale.

I have it on but mostly for background noise on Monday nights..its more of a habit now than actually being interested in this season.....I think the Fleissmonster thought he would draw more viewers with the Bentley situation but it backfired on him....just like Bentley thought he would play Fleiss and that backfired on him and truthfully..IMO this season just plain ole out SUCKS....and I am really upset with ABC they could have salvaged this season if they had just sat her down done their editing magic and shown her the truth...but NOOOOOO we have to drage out Bentley....Bentley...Bentley.. .to the point that I want to hurl

[AlwaysVeg]

I can't stand that she flings herself into Bentley's arms when he opens the door (as shown on previews), and he doesn't even look like he's putting anything into that hug. Can't stand his smug face and hope he is not on the screen for long tonight. The only thing I'd like to see in relation to him is Ashley kneeing him in the groin for being a damn liar and a phony, and also an uprising among the men telling her off for lecturing them about honesty while she was pining for Bentley the whole time. Probably neither will happen, but I hope that whatever the men have to say is shared with her in no uncertain terms and not just them complaining to each other.

[jenniferboston1]

Hmm...I'm really curious why they're letting a bunch of people who.aren't involved with this season watch and openly comment on this next episode. Ali said she and Roberto have watched the next 2 (tonight's and next week's). Doesn't that seem weird? Are they trying to drum up sympathy for Ashley (which goes against CH's cocky comment) or are they trying to drum up viewers or what????

ITA! Ashley S. states on twitter that she watches the Bachlorette in advance as well. Confusing!

[pajamasam]

Apparently Fleiss and Co. have just discovered social media! Let's get some of the gang to tweet about the show. Hey Mike- it's a really cool way to influence the water cooler talk. And it's free!