bachelor finale

All reality shows have an element of repetition inherent in their formats, but The Bachelor is the most repetitive of them all. There really aren't twists in the show; the people on it are typically not intelligent enough to say anything outside of the most rote cliché; and every season ends the same way, with one young woman left bereft and the other joyfully embarking on an engagement that sometimes lasts as long as a few months.

Up until the last 15 minutes, last night's Bachelor finale could have stood in for the finales of every other season thus far. Seriously, read the next few sentences with the names of the people on Season 1 or Season 4 or Season 8, and see if they don't still fit. Brad's family got to meet the last two women, DeAnna and Jenni. DeAnna was reassured that she could fit in with the Womacks. Jenni had to admit to Brad's mother that she had not yet told Brad she loved him, which led to an awkward silence. During Brad's last one-on-one date with DeAnna, he told her she was everything he's always looked for -- potentially a great wife and mother. On her last night, Jenni said she was scared to say, "I love you" to Brad. Jenni got emotional during dinner and then apologized for crying. She gave Brad a journal with her deepest thoughts enclosed within. Brad shopped for an engagement ring. As he left with the ring, he announced he was confident in what he would do, but he was still sad about breaking someone's heart.

The girl who got the bad news first was... Jenni! Brad told her he had never met anyone like her, but said he needed something more than what she could bring. Jenni said she was now embarrassed for saying those things the previous night. DeAnna arrived, and Brad told her kissing her was incredible. He walked away briefly to compose himself. He told her he couldn't lie to her and had to say goodbye. That's right! No last rose, no ring for either woman. DeAnna seemed angrier than Jenni, who just seemed crushed. Even angrier, no doubt, were those who watch this show for that payoff in the last 15 minutes of every season, and who didn't get it this time. [The Hollywood Gossip]

Weeds had its third season finale over on Showtime, with Guillermo's fire sweeping over the unlovable streets of Agrestic (a season climax that proved to be an uncomfortable coincidence given recent events). The various characters prepared to evacuate to the local holding area. Shane told Nancy that his dead father didn't want them to leave the house. Heylia told her daughter she was getting too old to keep running away like this. Conrad and Nancy had an awkward goodbye, with his failure to recognize her Grateful Dead quote meant to symbolize their lack of anything in common other than marijuana.

While roaming through the neighborhood coaxing people to evacuate, firemen came across the grow house, which led them to the house's owner Sullivan, who told them that he gave it to Celia and he had no idea what she was up to there. Tara (Mary-Kate Olson), who never really did get a good storyline, departed from the show ranting in an ambulance. The police hauled in Celia, who immediately gave them Nancy's name. But Nancy was able to talk her way back through the police barricade to get back to her house, in order to pour gasoline to make sure the fire didn't spare it. She apologized to her late husband and left, apparently forever. So, who knows what a fourth season will bring, where it will be set or how many characters will be back? As awful a person as Nancy is in many ways, this show remains compelling. [Paul Levinson]

Dancing with the Stars: Grade inflation has hit this show in a big way, as every performer last night got at least one 10, even Marie Osmond, who no one till now had suggested had that sort of effort in her. In fact, no one got less than a 9 on any dance. The final four began with a ballroom dance, with Mel B. (who did a series of splits in the middle of her waltz) and Helio Castroneves getting 30s, and Jennie Garth, who seems to be getting painted as the new underdog, scoring a "mere" 28. In preparation for their Latin dance, the final four got a special tutoring session from a man synonymous with the passion of the tropics, Len Goodman. Marie tried to cover up her technical mambo deficiencies with sheer entertainment. The other three, even Jennie, score a perfect 30. Based on the numbers, Marie should be going home tonight, but that's been the case now for a few weeks. [Dancing off the Edge]

How I Met Your Mother: They've been promoting the hell out of the latest episode in the slap bet wars, which was timed to Thanksgiving, or "Slapsgiving" as a gleeful Marshall renamed it. It was Lily and Marshall's first Thanksgiving together, which they wanted to celebrate with the people closest to them, Barney, Ted, Robin... and Robin's date, Bob, an impossibly ancient 41-year-old. Lily, upset at the intrusion of slaphappiness into her big day, forbade Marshall from making good on his slap promise. Ted and Robin, left alone to make pies, ended up sleeping together and then had to talk about whether there was any actual friendship behind their vow to stay friends after breaking up. In the end, Barney went too far in taunting Marshall, and Lily revoked the slap ban, allowing Marshall to deliver the fateful blow, which he then punctuated with a little song for the occasion, which worked both on its own and as a nice parody of Five For Fighting. [South Dakota Dark]

Chuck: Our hero got busy with sandwich girl Lou, but suddenly got a flash that her ex, Stavros, was involved with smuggling. Sarah told the higher-ups that it's good for Chuck to be dating a regular girl. Chuck went to the club Stavros runs in order to see what he could learn. Chuck saw Lou in the vicinity of the smuggling and confronted her, but it turned out she was merely trying to sneak some cold cuts into the country. Stavros surprised Chuck and Sarah and took them off to his father. Lou informed Casey where they had to be held, and he burst in to shoot some bad guys and free them.

A bomb was on the scene that Sarah couldn't defuse, and she and Chuck shared a dramatic kiss when it appeared they were doomed. But the "bomb" turned out to be merely a container holding the still-alive Bryce. Back at Buy More, there was a subplot involving Morgan and Anna making out. On a personal note: producers, please bring back Rachel Bilson. She's too cute to not be on TV every week. [The Roades]

Heroes: After six weeks where basically nothing happened, this show is making up for lost time in a major way. While at the funeral of his father, Hiro decided to go back in time to prevent Kaito's death, but Kaito resisted, calling it wrong. Hiro froze time as Kaito was being killed and saw that Adam/Kensei was the killer. Parkman used his new power of compulsion to force Angela to reveal that Adam has vowed revenge against those who locked him up, and that cellular regeneration eventually ends the aging process.

Defying Angela's warning that he's traveling down a dangerous road, Parkman then forced Angela to give up the name of the mystery woman in the group photo, identified now as Victoria Pratt. Bennet prepared to move his family yet again, against Claire's bitter opposition. Bob and Mohinder arrived in California to deal with Bennet, with the help of Elle, who Bob introduced as his daughter. Bennet told West he needed to convince Claire to leave with her family. Bennet got information from Mohinder that he knew to be false, leading him to suspect Claire was in danger. Bob appeared at Claire's high school under false pretenses, but he inadvertently gave away his cover and Claire ran away back home.

Mohinder found Bennet and told him the Company needed Claire's blood, leading Bennet to charge Mohinder with being taken in by company propaganda. West flew in to attack Elle as she was about to put the whammy on Bennet, and Bennet disarmed a hesitant Mohinder. Bennet hurried home to find Claire gone with Bob, but he and West held Elle as collateral. Bennet gave Elle some details about her upbringing, and called Bob threatening to kill Elle. Claire agreed to give blood to Bob if he agreed to spare her father. Bennet and Bob met for the exchange of super daughters, but Elle zapped West as he flew away with Claire. Bennet shot Elle in retaliation, but as he prepared to shoot Bob, Mohinder shot him through the eye, as shown in the Isaac Mendez painting. The final shot showed Bennet receiving Claire's blood and waking up in shock, shades of last year's "One Giant Leap" episode. [NYU News]

Last night Brad Womack made The Bachelor history by failing to present his final rose to either one of his final two suitors Jenni Croft or DeAnna Pappas.

DeAnna said that "The fact that he didn't pick either one of us is harder to deal with; this is one of the worst feelings in the whole world. When you tell someone how you feel about them and they kind of just reject your feelings," Jenni, a 27-year-old Phoenix Suns cheerleader from Wichita, KS, said following her elimination. That's the reason why it's so hard for me to tell people how I feel."

So after taking the girls to meet his parents and going on dates Brad still faced two big decisions the next day picking out an engagement ring and giving one of the women his final Rose Ceremony Rose.

Brad said that "To say it's a big day is a mild understatement, it's huge."

Brad said he could see both DeAnna and Jenni being his wife and found himself in quite the quandary. He said that "I never in a million years thought it's be this tough," said Brad. "But I know exactly what I'm going to do today and I am so confident in that decision. I have to follow my heart."


When the Bachelor 11's final Rose Ceremony started Jenni was the first one to step out of her limousine. After Brad said goodbye to Jenni she got back into the limo and said "I honestly don't know what went wrong, my dad told me before I came here, 'there's one person in this life for you and you'll find him.' Obviously it's not Brad… I know there's someone waiting for me. I know that there is."



Brad chooses a ring; Both girls get jilted. We start the evening in the kitchen with an excited Brad. He's confused because both girls are so "perfect," and he's "head over heels with both." But today's a special day � the day both girls get to meet Brad's family. DeAnna's up first, and she already has a leg-up because she's a Southern