On Monday’s premiere episode of the highly-anticipated seasons of The Bachelor, viewers finally saw groundbreaking lead ‘Bachelor’ Matt James in action.

James, became the first black ‘Bachelor’ in the reality-dating competition 25-year history.

It kicks-off for viewers getting an introduction into Matt’s upbringing: He’s biracial and was raised by a single mother in North Carolina. He played college football at Wake Forest University, lives in New York City and works in real estate, and volunteers a lot of his time with under-privileged children.

As pressure began to mount (right before the ladies drove up in their limos to meet Matt), he asked to talk to host, Chris Harrison, because some things were weighing heavily on him including: not wanting to let people down, knowing this was a moment in TV history.  Matt expressed to Chris: “I don’t want to piss off black people, I don’t want to piss off white people,” trying to figure how to navigate the season.

Throughout the episode, Matt’s nerves, honesty, and a request of himself and to the women, to be open through this journey, seem to serve him well, which left viewers with a solid first impression of him during the premiere.  He also led the women in a prayer before the first cocktail party kicked-off!

Speaking of the women, there are 32 this season that are vying for the final rose – the largest contingent ever.  Everyone was said to have quarantined for weeks and took four COVID-19 tests with hopes of getting to get up close and personal with Matt.  The entire season moved to a an expansive mansion and set-up in Pennsylvania, not Hollywood.

While there were so many cringe-worthy moments of the women trying to impress Matt when they first meet him … let’s not forget Katie with the vibrator dubbed “MJ”, or  Victoria who walks around calling herself “The Queen” and being the most annoying… we could already sense some possible connections with the others.

Photo: ABC

Making ‘Bachelor’ history also was contestant, Abigail Heringer.  She is the first deaf contestant to ever appear on the franchise.   Matt was very taken with Abigail in the season premiere with her beauty and her honesty.  Right off the bat, she admitted to him that she was deaf.  Later, during the cocktail party and some one-on-one time, she also revealed that her older sister is deaf as well. Both were born with congenital hearing loss, and both underwent cochlear implantation surgery

Matt then shares his first real on-screen kiss with Abigail, and next went searching for the first impression rose, while all the other gals got jealous.  He gave the rose to Abigail.   Next, it was time for the first rose ceremony and we can’t understand (well, we can .. they need someone to stir the pot) why “The Queen” Victoria received a rose and is still in the running, but that’s another story.  Some potential picks such as Bri, Mari, Chelsea and Kristin could be in it for the long-haul, but we shall see.

The episode concluded with another promo of all the tears and drama from the gals and Matt as this season continues next Monday night.

So, what was your first impression of Matt as The Bachelor? Abigail as the women who received the first impression rose? Who do you think will win Matt’s heart in the end? Any early predictions? Comment below.

The pandemic version of the hit reality-dating series franchise, The Bachelorette, had a few major twists.  First, that in the middle of the season the lead ‘Bachelorette’ had to be switched out, when Clare Crawley found love early with Dale Moss and exited the show.

Enter Tayshia Adams, who then started her own journey with the men who were still part of Clare’s season and a few others brought in to add to the mix.

The entire production had to be quarantined and shot in one location in Palm Springs, California.  Even the hometown dates were in Palm Springs as family members from the men still in the competition were brought there.  So with limited locales, the season was not always big and splashy, but in the end, and on the second night of the two-night season finale, you could not have asked for a sweeter ending and proposal between Zac Clark and Tayshia.

So how did Tayshia and Zac end up together?  Here’s a brief rundown from last night’s two-hour season finale:

With Ben back in the mix and asking for a second chance, (after he could not tell Tayshia the last time that he loved her, he did so now), she invites him to the rose ceremony, where Ivan and Zac, who were the two last men standing, were in for a shock.

At the ceremony, Tayshia asks to talk to Ivan privately. She takes him aside and tells him she has concerns over religion from their overnight date, so much so that she does not think they can go any further and she sends him home.  That means, Tayshia gives her two roses to her finalists: Zac and Ben,

On her last date with Zac prior to the final rose ceremony, Tayshia is not herself when the couple go to a dance class together.  Her anxiety is getting the best of her and it was hard to tell if she was just not feeling Zac anymore, as she is now for Ben, or if she is just getting jitters over the whole process. Later, away from the dancing, Zac and Tayshia have a heart-to-heart, where she is worried what happens if something changes between them, (since she was previously divorced, as was he) and that he does not want her anymore?  Zac said calmly, “No matter what, I’m not going anywhere.”  That helped put Tayshia’s mind at ease, somewhat!

Next, she has made a decision to tell Ben, it’s over between them.  She sits him down and tells him she has stronger feelings for Zac.  Ben shares, “I was excited to be back, I was really hopeful that we would be together.  When you love somebody, you want them to be happy.”  So with that, he realizes it’s time to pack it up, sharing with the cameras that he believed their lives would have been so good together.

Zac is choosing an emerald diamond to give Tayshia from Neil Lane (of course, at this juncture, he has no idea that Ben has been sent home).  Then, we see both Zac and Tayshia getting ready for the big proposal day.  Will she accept Zac’s proposal … doubts swirling through her head and all?

As the final rose ceremony began, Zac delivered a heart-tugging speech which included: “The first conversation we ever had by our fountain, we talked about how everything happens for a reason. I came here because I was supposed to meet you, I came here because I was supposed to fall in love with you. Nothing has ever felt so right in my entire life. I love you, Tayshia. We spoke of the importance of loyalty, and I will always be loyal to you.”

Tayshia finally and fully let her guard down and shared to Zac; “I know that I told you that I love you, but it’s more than that. It’s this wild, wild love that I’ve tried to come up with so many reasons to not believe, and you have truly made me believe that there doesn’t have to be flaws, and that I deserve love with a man who won’t run away. I love you, Zac Clark.”

Photo:ABC

As Tayshia is sobbing as Zac gets down on one knee, she says “Yes” to his proposal, and to make it official she gives Zac the final rose which he accepts. Next, they ride off into the sunset in a symbolic cardboard taxi to New York City where Zac lives.

On Wednesday, Tayshia and Zac made their first TV appearance together since their engagement four months ago.  They told Good Morning America that they were looking forward to dating and taking it one step at a time, and that Tayshia will be bi-coastal for now, but spending time on the east coast with Zac over the holidays.

So, happy that Tayshia chose Zac? Share you thoughts on this unpredictable season and last night’s episode via the comment section below.

Last week, daytime drama offered up some stellar performances.  We had General Hospital’s Sydney Miykala (Trina) and Jeff Kober (Cyrus) being given some very emotional material and playing the heck out of it, and we had The Young and the Restless, Jason Thompson in what was to be his third standalone episode during his run as Billy Abbott.  Scenes from his last standalone episode helped win Jason the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Award at the Daytime Emmys this past June.

While there has been a very mixed-bag of reviews from fans of the writing of this standalone episode, one thing remains true –  that if given the ball, Thompson will bring the complexities needed to it, make it work, and in-turn make the audience feel the deep emotional pain within Billy.  And that was on full display in one key scene that locked up his Power Performance of the Week honors.

In the set-up, this time Billy is in the slammer contemplating his life while trying to rest and is hit with a series of dream/nightmare sequences in which he is emotionally tortured by many family members, enemies, and friends for his consistently being a screw-up, or so they like to say.  The one person in the episode who stands by Billy’s side is Lily (Christel Khalil).

During the episode, as Billy jumped from different locations within Genoa City, he grew more hopeless given his situation.  However, then he is visited by his late daughter Delia (Sophie Pollano) in the grown-up teenage version.  This is where Thompson broke hearts, playing guilt, loss, and despair.  He tells Delia if he could take one day back to do over again, it would be the night he left her alone for a few minutes to get ice-cream in the convenient store, and she wandered out in the street after her dog, only to be fatally hit by a car driven by Adam.  In this scene, it was Jason at his best, and surely a scene that should be used for his Emmy reel in 2021. What made it all the more notable is that Jason was not even playing the character of Billy back then, but you believed every heartbreaking second of his talk with his daughter about what Billy experienced the the night of her death and for years after.

Two other moments were also stand-outs in the episode.  When Victor (Eric Braeden) comes to see Billy behind bars and taunts him every which way to Sunday.  It was hard to know if that was real or imagined, but both Eric Braeden and Thompson chewed the scenery with that showdown.

Later in the episode, Billy is shocked to be transported to the police station to where his now teenage son, Johnny is in trouble with the law, and Rey (Jordi Vilasuso) is detaining and questioning him.  Billy realizes he has to fight for his freedom as he can’t leave his family in disarray, or let himself or Lily down again.

Billy Abbott continues to be an oh-so-flawed character, which gives Thompson opportunities to shine and play all the beats to perfection.

Share your thoughts on Jason’s performance and our choice for the Power Performance of the Week via the comment section below.