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    Daddy’s Girl
    2009-07-28
    By Leigh McEachran
    Glen knew the right man for Jillian all along

    The Bachelorette, ABC
    Ed won Jillian’s heart

    Kiptyn, Ed…and Reid? Despite the surprising return of Reid, Jillian’s father knew Ed was the right man for his little girl all along.

    In the final episode of Jillian’s search for love, the bachelorette introduces Kiptyn and Ed to her family. Ed is the first to meet the Canadians, gushing to the camera that he is “still crazy over her.” After grilling Ed with her list of 66 questions, Jillian’s mom, Peggy, tells her daughter that Ed is “crazy over you,” which is exactly what Ed tells Jill’s father, Glen. Ed’s “crazy”-ness over Jillian won Glen’s vote, with him saying he’d “be doing somersaults” if Ed proposed to his daughter.

    Kiptyn was next in line to visit the family, answering Peggy’s questions perfectly and winning over Jillian’s cousin Tori, who said Kiptyn balances Jillian in a “ying/yang sort of way.” But dear ole’ dad was having none of it, bringing up the topic of Ed again. “Enough about Ed, Glen!” said Tori.

    Jillian had worries about Ed, saying, “We’ve gone through definite peaks and valleys,” but raised no concerns about Kiptyn. The morning of the proposal, both men could see themselves being married to Jillian, but Ed won her heart. As Kiptyn tells Jillian that despite the fact that their relationship moved slowly, he’s happy where it lead; Jillian tells Kiptyn that while their relationship was slowly moving, she fell in love with someone else.

    Before Jillian had the chance to tell Ed how she feels, a red van pulls up and out walks Reid who “had to pull multiple strings to get here.” Reid tells Jillian he “was an idiot this entire time,” and proposes to a dumbfounded Jillian. Unsure of what to do, Jillian seeks advice from host Chris Harrison. “How is somebody supposed to make a decision like this?” she asks. “Because you know,” answers the oh-so-wise Chris Harrison, who asks Jillian her feelings about a proposal from Ed.

    Leaving another broken heart behind, Jillian tells Ed she loves him. “I want you to give me a hard time when we’re 80 years old,” Ed says in his proposal.

    “Ed,” asks Jillian in between a video montage of their relationship, “will you accept this rose?”

    And Jillian’s father does a somersault.

    After the Final Rose airs Tuesday, July 28 at 10 p.m. on Citytv/ABC

    © 2009 Bell Canada, Microsoft Corporation and/or their contributors. All rights reserved.
    Click here for the article on TVGuide.ca
    Good-bye Mr. Perfect
    2009-06-23
    By Leigh McEachran
    Jillian dumps Mr. Perfect in favour of Wes

    The Bachelorette, ABC
    Jake was dumped, but returns next week to fight for Jillian

    Travelling British Columbia by good ole’ fashioned train, Jillian weeded out Mr. Perfect in favour of Mr. Publicity on the latest episode of The Bachelorette.

    Poor Jillian; the Canadian beauty got shot down by Jason on The Bachelor and now she’s stuck with some of the weirdest contestants in Bachelorette history. Sure, there are some nice ones, but most of the guys with real potential got left behind in favour of less desirable men.

    Jillian did score a point for dumping Robby. Although sweet (“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can get that rose”), Robby didn’t have much going for him in terms of husband potential. Robbie is only 25; he is unemployed and hasn’t been in love for years. But that’s OK because, as Robby put it, “love knows no age, love has no job.” Unfortunately for him, Jillian did know, and it bothered her. The train stopped, and Robby and his luggage were dumped at the side of the train tracks. But the job, lack of vocabulary and age difference had nothing to do with the rejection; it was the family curse. Robby has four brothers, and none could manage to get married. Spooky!

    Weirdo No. 2 was Tanner, but kudos to him for lasting this long. The foot fetishist picked out Jillian’s red snowshoes on the group date to get closer to her feet (how romantic!) and later rubbed her feet in front of the fire. “I love feet and she has the best feet in the world,” exclaimed Tanner, who describes her feet as having high arches, painted nails and soft skin. Perhaps Jillian should consider foot modelling? When the group discussed what they wear to bed, Tanner asked Jillian if he could show her what he wears. In front of Jillian and the group of guys, Tanner “stepped it up” by dropping his pants. He was eliminated in the rose ceremony and wondered why.

    And then there’s Wes, who “has nothing to lose, but everything to gain.” The publicity he’s gained in the last six episodes is sure to help sell his country album (or so he thinks) and it really doesn’t matter whether he gets the girl or not. “I thought there’d be a lot more jerks,” Jillian confesses to Wes. And for some reason, Jillian is head-over-heels for him, saying she doesn’t think Wes knows how to lie and telling Mark that Wes makes her happy. But, as Wes so eloquently put it, “I always got Jillian wrapped around my little finger.”

    Out of all the frogs, there is a prince. Handsome pilot Jake, a.k.a. Mr. Perfect, is nice, gentlemanly and “truly looking for love.” He told Jillian she reminded him of his mom because she’s so nurturing and later told Jillian that he was crazy about her. Instead, Jake was paired for rejection with Tanner at the rose ceremony and when asked why, Jillian said it just didn’t feel right. Does being with Wes feel right?

    Now Jillian is left with Jesse, Kiptyn, hypochondriac Reed, fame-obsessed Wes, and the way-too-young Michael.

    The preview for upcoming episodes reveals the return of Jake, who puts Wes on the spot for having a girlfriend (and hopefully swoops Jillian off her feet while doing it).

    The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv/ABC

    © 2009 Bell Canada, Microsoft Corporation and/or their contributors. All rights reserved.

    Click here for the article on TVGuide.ca

    Oh, Canada!
    2009-06-09
    By Leigh McEachran
    The men head north to date Jillian on her “home turf”

    The Bachelorette, ABC
    Someone has a girlfriend…

    Curling, kayaking, the 2010 Olympics and a helicopter ride are the oh-so-Canadian activities featured in the latest episode of The Bachelorette.

    The men were flown to Vancouver to date Jillian on her “home turf.” Date No. 1 was with Kiptyn, who enthusiastically chimed “let’s cook up some love, Vancouver-style.” Jillian and Kiptyn kayaked to the Granville Island Public Market and cooked dinner at Jillian’s house in what Kiptyn described as “a real world date.” Because Jillian saw the “real Kiptyn,” he received a rose.

    Wearing a Vancouver 2010 sweatshirt, Jillian announced, “We are doing something Canadian,” to the two teams of men who competed in a hardcore game of curling. “Curling’s about flexibility, balance and touch. And I’ve got all three,” said the oh-so-humble Juan before sliding on his face.

    The red team won (thanks to Jesse’s curling skills) an evening on an old historic boat with Jillian, where Jake said he’s been labelled “too perfect” his whole life, and David has the most awkward one-on-one this season.

    Sensing romance in the air, after he told Jillian she had a nice butt in spandex and slurred swear words when her shirt slipped open, David went in for a kiss. Jillian rejected him because she felt David didn’t respect her. David responded with a drunken, “the game is on” to the camera. Good luck with that.

    During the dreaded “two in one date,” Jillian hopped aboard a helicopter with Mike and Mark. Mike sure was an eager- beaver: he ran up to meet her, held her hand during the helicopter ride and was very chatty during dinner. Jillian said that if she picked Mike she’s “positive [he] would treat me like gold.”

    Mark, on the other hand, is reserved. He revealed that, although not proven, his long-distance ex-girlfriend cheated on him. Jillian gave Mark the rose. Apparently being treated like gold isn’t “nice guy” enough material for Jillian.

    At the cocktail party, Tanner took a break from his foot fetish to tell Jillian some of the men had girlfriends, and it was revealed that the man with a girlfriend was Wes. During the rose ceremony, the men chimed a bunch of “man ups” to each other on who had a girlfriend, but no one confessed. David is more interested in who the “snitch is” than who had a girlfriend, and a terrified Tanner told Juan to stop looking at him.

    Thankfully, Jillian finally sent Juan and David packing – took long enough. Unfortunately, the man with a girlfriend is still on the show.

    Next stop on the Canadian adventure of love? Whistler!

    The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv/ABC

    © 2009 Bell Canada, Microsoft Corporation and/or their contributors. All rights reserved.

    Click here for the article on TVGuide.ca

    Pour the “champy”
    2009-03-17
    By Leigh McEachran
    ‘The City’ finally wraps up

    The City, MTV
    No looking back for the girls of ‘The City’

    Whitney Port made her TV debut on The Hills, interning alongside Lauren Conrad at Teen Vogue. Unlike fake-baked Audrina and the creepily grinning Spencer, Whitney was the normal person of the bunch, a.k.a. boring. Despite Whitney’s small part in Lauren’s entourage, she still managed to score herself a spinoff when she was offered a job at Diane Von Furstenberg. Set in the Big Apple, The City centres on the California girl as she encounters “drama” in New York City.

    The City certainly met MTV’s reality-show criteria: boyfriend problems, an enemy and “drama.” I started watching it out of sheer curiosity, to see the spinoff to the uber successful Hills, (itself a spinoff of Laguna Beach). And like how Whitney’s “Cali” style was adjusting to the New York chill, I am adjusting to The City. But this has nothing to do with the fashionista herself, since she still remains the most boring of the bunch; rather, it’s the other guys and gals who made up for Whitney’s lack of personality.

    There’s Jay, a handsome Australian musician who attracted Whitney in the first episode. He parties late into the night, crashes at Whit’s apartment when his roommate kicks him out, and cheats on her with his ex-girlfriend Danielle. Jay also told Whit he would be leaving to tour with his band… a few days before departure! However, I give Jay props for crying on TV when he broke Whitney’s heart. After all the on-again, off-again, Whitney finally got sick of Jay’s crap and broke up with him.

    Also featured are Jay’s roommate, Adam, his model girlfriend, Allie, and Whitney’s friend, Erin. Adam is a player who always cheats on super-skinny Allie, but once Allie joined Whitney’s crew, she learned of his jerky ways and broke down. But the most interesting Allie moment was an awkward cameo by Whitney’s former People’s Revolution boss, Kelly Cutrone, who repeatedly asked the gal, “Are you OK?” And Erin, a man-eating party girl, always provided entertainment with her cheeky sense of humour.

    But Jay, Adam, Allie and Erin were all overshadowed by petite, lip-glossed, oh-so-fabulous socialite Olivia Palermo. In the beginning, Olivia attempted to take Whitney under her wing by inviting her to a dinner party, but when Whitney decided to join forces with the hipsters, all bets were off. Olivia took credit for Whitney’s outfit for Jessica Alba’s Elle photo shoot and unlike LC, Olivia had no interest in sharing Whitney’s personal problems at work. Along with her apartment-crashing cousin Nevin, Olivia loves to pull on her mean-girl gloves, trashing the downtown New Yorkers and making fun of Jay’s band during a performance. Olivia simply doesn’t care what Whitney thinks about her, but if she ever feels blue she can put on her Manolos and pour the “champy.”

    In the end, DVF picked Olivia to go to London. Whit’s bosses still credit Olivia with the Elle photo shoot outfit, and as far as they’re concerned, Olivia is the better of the two. At least Whitney stood up to Olivia in the episode. Just when Whitney thought she’d had it, she got a call from Lauren, who told her to stay in NYC and not give up on her fashion dreams.

    Overall, The City fulfills its job. It has beautiful people with relationship problems in a superficial setting. The problem is its star, whose poker face covers her feelings, making her unrelatable. Olivia and Nevin are why I will keep watching, but as a whole, The City is just keeping the seat warm for The Hills.

    © 2009 Bell Canada, Microsoft Corporation and/or their contributors. All rights reserved.

    Click here for the article on TVGuide.ca