With the announcement buzz of yesterday, I figured it’d be a good time to get quick react from Dana Weiss the Possessionista, so we have a bonus 30 minute podcast for you today where we talk about everything surrounding Rachel being named the next “Bachelorette.” However, one thing I completely blanked out on that I forgot to bring up in the podcast, which bothers me since it was talked about here a year ago when the announcement was made, is lets not forget that the new President of Entertainment for ABC, Channing Dungey (who took over a year ago from Paul Lee), is a black woman. The first black woman to ever head programming at a major broadcast network. She was very integral in bringing the Shonda Rhimes shows to ABC, and considering she is basically Fleiss and the NZK’s boss and ultimately has the final say in what gets shown on her network, I’d say she was a pretty big champion for Rachel getting cast as the next lead. It’d be naïve to say Channing didn’t play a role in that decision. Totally forgot to mention that on the podcast, so wanted to mention it here.
You can listen to today’s podcast on a number of platforms, but you can also tune in by clicking the player below:
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Music written by Jimmer Podrasky
(B’Jingo Songs/Machia Music/Bug Music BMI)
As I mention in today’s podcast, there will be the regular podcast coming this Thursday. I’ve actually gotten 4 more former cast members who have committed to doing a future podcast. Now it’s just a matter of working out schedules for when we can record, and what weeks I want each one to come on. So looks like for the rest of the “Bachelor” season, we will have a former contestant on every Thursday. There will be podcasts every Thursday in the off season, but as of now, I think any guests during that time would be mostly non-Bachelor people. But that could change. Playing it by ear for now. Thank you to all who tuned in to the Courtney podcast and gave your feedback. So many emails and tweets on how much you enjoyed it. As did I. I’m not gonna re-print all those emails tomorrow in “Reader Emails,” but just wanted to acknowledge that I’m aware you guys really took a liking to her. She thanks you too. I’m sure sometime in the future we’ll bring Courtney on again.
Tons of media outlets covering the Rachel story yesterday and today as expected. I know a lot of you have your thoughts which we’ll get to in a moment, but I want to thank the major outlets like Variety, the New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Jezebel, and numerous other ones who either credited Amy Kaufman, myself, or both of us, for breaking the news yesterday morning and over the weekend that Rachel would be named the “Bachelorette” on Kimmel. And of course, bringing up the rear as always, absolutely zero credit to US Weekly who ran their story 8 hours after my post yesterday, but failed to give any credit. It’s becoming comical when they blatantly know where the story originates from, yet they can’t admit they are continually getting their ass kicked by this site when it comes to exclusives in this franchise. And yes, I will keep mentioning their blatant disregards since it makes them look petty and completely unprofessional because no doubt it’ll happen again. Why it’s so hard for them to throw one sentence in their story of “first reported by _____” is beyond me. But again, when you’re continually beat on exclusives, crediting someone else constantly proves you have nothing, so maybe that’s why they don’t do it. I really don’t know.
I thought Rachel handled herself really well on Kimmel last night and also in her first interview with People.com today. I like the quote of, “Honestly, it’s not going to be that different from any other season of the Bachelorette.” I agree in a certain aspect. The only problem being that she doesn’t control that. The whole cast isn’t set yet, although most of them are. That’ll determine the storylines and where the show is headed. She might feel that way, and in a sense she’s right, but these producers frankly don’t care about her or her well being whatsoever. They’re going to produce dramatic television. Lets just hope they don’t go overboard next season playing up any race issues. Only time will tell at this point.
Nell Kalter has your Vanderpump Rules recap now up for your viewing pleasure. Things must be getting heated up over there as I saw Nell on Twitter last night have to turn off the “Bachelor” so she could get to watching all the gloriousness that was the Vpump Rules shenanigans. Lets hope it lived up to expectations. Without knowing for sure, my guess is no.
And finally, today’s poll question. Now that Rachel is the “Bachelorette,” is she who you wanted to see?
