ABC ... too smart for all of us

The best part of this dramatic finale etc. (if one can even say there was one best part) is that ABC absolutely dominated America. You thought Jason was going to pick Melissa? Yup, he did. You thought there was no way he could let go of "Mol"? Yup, he couldn't. Many faithful Bachelor and Bachelorette follows watch each season intently until the final episode when we think, "if this jerk doesn't pick whats-her-name, I'm never watching this show again!" Well, ABC wins it all. Viewers may feel duped, but at the same time we all feel like we won. "I knew he was going to end up with Molly!" In honor of the man of the hour, Ty's douchebag Dad, this show is Amazing.

While watching the episode I went through all the standard emotions:
Hope - that he would pick the girl who has half a brain over the one with no brain at all
Concern - that it was starting to look like he would actually pick the one who gets her jokes from those fruit-by-the-foot wrappers
And finally, Defeat - that this guy was going to pick Melissa because Jason is so scared of getting hurt that he is going to pick this girl who has absolutely nothing else going for her (she doesn't even have a verifiable family) because there's no way this girl would leave him...unless he publicly humiliates her on national television, but anyways... It occurred to me early in this finale that Jason is so insecure, indecisive, and lame he would surely pick the safest girl, clingy Melissa, over the more independent, Molly. Deanna seemed to guarantee that outcome when she came grovelling back to her very own dopey and "safe-bet" runner-up Mr. Mesnick. (ouch, but right?) It doesn't take much to look at this guy who has been dumped by Ty's mom and then dumped on national television by Deanna to notice that this guy is going to have some issues. Actually, when Molly was driving through Middle Earth in that late-90's limo I proclaimed, "she dodged a bullet!" Oops, guess not.

ABC knew it all along. They had us so good that they even eliminated some of the gratuitous "Coming Up Next" before every commercial break...because they actually had advertisers to fill those minutes! Not to mention the multiple after the after the after the after the final rose shows - I think it's going to take them through sweeps.