The Bachelor 2012 (Episode 1)

I'm going to keep my blogs about this show simple and formulaic ... just like every single episode of these shows. This year's bachelor, Ben Flajnik, is the runner up to Ashley Hebert's 2011 affections. He has 25 women to choose from to be the first Mrs. Flajnik ... since his awkward proposal to Ashley last season (isn't it weird how their "love" is in seasons ...?) was flatly rejected.

This year's future rejects include a girl with a hat, a girl with a grandma, a girl with a horse ... a blindfold, a rap, a poem, a joke, a soccer ball, a sash, a blog ... and every single one with an attitude. We immediately saw friction between Monica (who seems to like contestant Blakeley better than Ben) and Jenna, who is a crybaby not just looking for love but desperately looking for love. She's a blogger, too ... just like me. Only she's blogging about love and me ... I'm in it for people like her. Then we have the girls trying to make a statement ... bringing grandma (crutches and all) to prove that she cares about family, but I think it proves that she will even use her grandma to get attention (Brittney). Riding a horse in rather than the traditional limo (Lindzi). Wearing a hat to "symbolize" Kentucky (Holly). 

We also have the girl who has been unlucky in love (Nicki), the loony toon (Lyndsie), the one with the sad story (Jamie), the girl with the child that means to the world to her (Shawn) ... I got news for Shawn and the producers ... She is not the only single mom out there! And, here's the big one, all moms love their kids! And the bitch, of course (Courtney).

That's some of the story lines just waiting to happen. It was pretty easy to see who was going home early. 

The show began with us all having to relive the embarrassing proposal and rejection to and from Ashley. Then, Ben "contemplating" his life story at various places ... walking down a road, standing on a pier (I think), you know ... the way guys all think about lost love.

He meets the girls. Some seem really sweet right way, and others not so much ... I immediately liked Rachel, Emily, Nicki, Kacie and Lindzi. So did Ben, apparently, because they all made it through with Lindzi getting the "first impression" rose. Ben also seemed to like Courtney, the confident, bad girl, troublemaker model. If he ends up with this one at the end of this season, I will say we'll have a single Ben again down the road. Think Vienna and Jake.

Those that didn't get a rose ... were Lyndsie (the London loony ... I now know that just having an accent doesn't help you at all); Holly (girl with the hat from Kentucky); Amber B. (nothing remarkable); Anna (we saw her for about two seconds as she walked right by Ben ... we now know it's not the best move); Shira (the actress who dared Ben to "ask me anything about wine" and then proved to Ben that she didn't know a damn thing about wine): Diana (the tongue-tied girl with the blindfold); and finally, Amber T. ... she was a gun-toting farm girl but very pretty ... I was surprised he let her go so early.

More next week as the women pout and whine and backstab for the attention of the winemaker.