I know this is a “Bachelor” column, but anyone who knows me and what I like, knows that the news coming down yesterday of Luke Perry’s passing had to know what a blow that was to me. In a couple weeks, I’m going to do the podcast with Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting from the “Again With This” podcast to talk all things “Beverly Hills 90210.” They were the ones I recorded with back in January and I accidentally deleted it. Still pissed about that, but we’re re-recording next week, so you should hear that soon. Anyway, I guess we have one more, if not terribly tragic, topic to discuss. Millennials probably can’t comprehend how important Luke Perry was in early to mid 90’s. He’s what every HS kid aspired to be. Sideburns became a thing in the 90’s BECAUSE of him and Jason Priestly rocking them during the show. The dude was who we all wanted to be. Personified cool. That show had a huge impact on my high school and college years (mostly my college years), because their college years coincided exactly with mine. From 93-97, I was in college, then watching them navigate through college every Thursday night. And yes, not afraid to admit we actually had 90210 watch parties. Everyone did. It was the thing to do. To hear of his stroke last week and then his passing yesterday at age 52 is gut wrenching. Even seeing the video montages of his career and video tributes on the entertainment shows last night was damn near impossible to watch. I’m not ready yet. The guy was admired by many and will no doubt be missed. RIP Dylan McKay.
The big news in “Bachelor” land yesterday was that I exclusively confirmed that Hannah B. will be your “Bachelorette” next season. It will be announced next Tuesday on the “After the Final Rose” and the season begins filming next Thursday. The last two seasons, we’ve seen on the ATFR (with Rachel and then Becca), they brought out five of their guys so they can meet them early. So it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did that a third time and Hannah gets to meet some of her guys next Tuesday night. I know the discussion now turns to either “Great! I love her!” or “Ugh, why her? I’m done with this franchise.” It’s the same song and dance every season. No matter who they name, there will always be an outcry from fans who hate the choice. And as I say every single season, I’ll say it again this season: no one cares if you don’t like who their choice is. The more you rant about it on social media, the more we know you’re still gonna watch. There’s no point in asking why they chose Hannah over so-and-so. Or did so-and-so almost get it. It’s irrelevant. The show decides who they want based on whatever criteria they decide on. Plenty of people will love the choice, and plenty of people wanna throw up at the choice. All you gotta do is read the responses underneath my tweet yesterday. Ran the gamut of emotions. And that’s the exact reason why the show isn’t going anywhere. Very rarely have they ever made a decision on a lead for this show and their audience was apathetic to it. So you’ll either watch because you love them, or you’ll hate watch.
What this announcement does do is give us our first “Bachelorette” who finished outside the top 4 in 15 seasons. And Hannah even finished 7th. But that’s kind of a technicality. I mean, she did make it to the episode before hometowns, she just happened to be the first one who got sent home that episode, so that makes her technically 7th. Heather and Kirpa went home after her in the episode. But we now know we have that option open for future seasons of them choosing someone outside the top 4. They’ve broken the seal for “Bachelorette.” Only done it twice in “Bachelor” history with Jake and Juan Pablo, so it’s still very rare to have it done only 3 times in 38 total seasons.
I’m actually fine with Hannah B. as “Bachelorette.” You know who is SUPER fine with it? My friend whose message I copy and pasted into the column two weeks ago who made a very compelling case for her. Hannah B. was never on my radar until my friend wrote me that and lets just say, she is gloating like no other and wants a parade for herself. Hey, she deserves it. Because lets be honest, ZERO people were talking about Hannah B. until I posted that from my friend two weeks ago, then all the sudden there was this giant Hannah B. sentiment online. It was weird. It all made sense. And once I saw Hannah B. and Caelynn’s backstage interviews at the WTA with Mrs. Chris Harrison that got released last week, you could almost see either Hannah knew it’d be her, or was at least pretty confident she was a finalist. I mean, these answers were straight out of the “Bachelorette 101.” They were perfect for someone wanting the role. Here was the ETOnline interview:
You compare that with how Caelynn reacted when asked about it, it’s like night and day:
So yeah, once I saw that last week, to me, Caelynn was done and it was definitely looking more and more like Hannah B. It’ll become official next week. They aren’t gonna pull the rug out from under her like they have in the past. I have the utmost confidence in this one. The wheels are already in motion for her, so expect that announcement at the ATFR.
I actually got some “Dr. Reality Steve” emails for this week. Hey, how about that? First ones in a while. But I can always do more. Also, send in any “Reader Emails” you have for tomorrow. If you can keep the “I like/don’t like Hannah B.” as the Bachelorette ones to a minimum, that’d be great. Why? Because I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to them. She’s gonna be the “Bachelorette” and, well, whether you’re going to choose to watch or not watch because you may or may not like her doesn’t change anything. I think it’s a solid pick, I have no issues with her as the lead, and it’ll be just like any other season.
