You know, The Bachelor is degrading to women. It's degrading to men. Heck, it might even be degrading to my two rabbits that watched it with me last night. But it is SO good. And this season may be the best in awhile.

First, ABC is clearly listening to talk shows and reading blogs and knew that everyone was talking about crazy Allie. Poor, crazy Allie, with her rotting eggs. So what did they do? They re-packaged the first episode with about two more minutes of Allie footage and showed it again. Give that exec a pat on the back. An hour of tv that cost them about $50 to re-edit. Way to go. And wouldn't you know it, I couldn't tear myself away. I just wonder what she said to the casting agent that got her on the show. They have thousands of women that apply -- what would make them choose her? And I hope that they paid the show's psychologist extra after that -- you know she made her money that night.

Anyways, on to the "real" episode -- the dates. The first dates are always interesting -- so many girls at once. And Travis seems to actually understand that each of these girls is getting emotionally involved -- way more involved than he is. That's why I was so impressed with him last night, making a conscious decision to hold off on kissing anyone yet. There have been seasons where there are kisses handed out before roses. This was a nice change, and speaks very highly of him.

This brings me to my next question -- does Travis get to choose which girls go on each date? It seemed like he knew in advance that by giving Kristin the last rose she would get the one-on-one date. And it was cute that he called her mom to find out what food she liked -- he obviously did not know what the rest of us already did -- she was not going to be getting a rose. And that in itself was great television. We've all been there -- a friend is going on a date with someone we would like to date. So we give them some bad advice, which obviously will make their date fail. Go ahead, we say, read him a poorly written poem! Make him a card! Teach him how to make fake teeth out of orange skin! And we can't believe that she would actually take the advice. Those other girls helped themselves to have a better chance at a rose, and I can't say that I blame them.

The two group dates were great, although I don't like the new trend that there is a rose on every date. I don't even know why -- I just don't like it. I guess that part of me wants to think that they're just on a date, rather than on a show. But it adds an element of "cattiness" that I'm not such a fan of.

My favorite part of the episode was definitely the birthday cake for Susan. They were having such a moment -- the kind that makes you think she will be one of the final girls. And here come Tara & Jehan to break up the party. So what does Travis do? Sends them away with a piece of cake. I loved it! :)

The rose ceremony was only kind of surprising -- I knew that both Sarahs and Susan would get a rose, and Tara and Jehan already had them. That leaves three in play. I figured that Yvonne would go (I don't know...she just didn't seem to fit in). But I was surprised about Moana and Cole. Moana is clearly there to play "the game" -- a few of the girls even said that she wants to be an actress, so this is just a stepping stone. And I thought that Cole would get a rose -- she seemed to really fit in. Of course, we only see about 40 minutes out of an entire week's worth of footage, so you never know. They edit the show to tell a story. Which is why I think that three of the final four will be Susan and both Sarahs. The fourth? Well...honestly, from watching way too many of these shows, I think it will be Moana. It's a storyline, and the editors love that. My favorites? Susan and Sarah from Tennesee. Of course, now that I said that, they'll be the next two to go. Such a guilty pleasure...