'Bachelor' finale ratings hit a five-year high
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Jason Mesnick may go down as the most-hated Bachelor in the history of the show, but he will also end up as one of the most-watched.
Monday night's festival of flip-flopping, in which Mesnick proposed to Melissa Rycroft at the end of the show, only to dump her and ask for another shot at runner-up Molly Malaney on the "After the Final Rose" reunion, generated the show's biggest ratings since its early days.
ABC says 15.5 million people watched the two-hour finale, which makes it the most-watched finale since Bob Guiney gave his non-committal final rose to Estella Gardinier in November 2003 (like just about every other Bachelor couple, they didn't last). It also drew a 5.4 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic, the best since Jesse Palmer handed his last rose to soon-to-be-ex Jessica Bowlin.
The finale featured the usual Bachelor playbook of ring shopping, anguished looks out into the distance and a tearful goodbye between Mesnick and Malaney, followed by happy tears when he proposed to Rycroft.
Things really got interesting, though, on "After the Final Rose," when -- true to detailed spoilers that made the online rounds in the weeks leading up to the finale -- Mesnick said his feelings for Rycroft were no longer as strong as they were, then asked Malaney if he could try again with her. She accepted.
"After the Final Rose" scored 17.5 million viewers and increased to a 6.7 rating in the 18-49 demo. That's the best performance ever for the reunion show and gave ABC its best numbers at 10 p.m. on a Monday since Denny got his heart transplant on the second-season finale of Grey's Anatomy in May 2006.
Whether Mesnick was playing out a contractual obligation or just expressing his feelings (on camera, in front of a lot of people), and despite the collective outrage of fans who feel badly burned by the show -- moreso than when Jen Schefft chose to stay single at the end of her Bachelorette season or when Brad Womack dumped both his final two women last year -- the result was ratings gold for ABC. The network hopes that extends to tonight's "After the Final Rose, Part 2" special at 10 tonight.
Mesnick and Malaney will further explain themselves in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. We'll be there.
What a useless show. What a useless network. Give me 24 anyday!!
Sorry, but 24 and Fox are the two most useless entities in the known Universe.
I feel like I am watch wrestling....ALL FAKE is the Batchelor show.....I am gone as a loyal watcher for years...
Just relax people, come on u have to admit it was kind of entertaining! Soap operas don't even get good like this anymore.
Hey, it wasn't cool, what he did, but if he wants Molly now, go for it! This can happen to people.
well, i never watch The Bachelor but i tuned into last night's (first) after the rose special just to witness all the drama/controversy. so yeah i guess it worked....
anyway this show is dumb, and i'm glad i didn't waste my time watching it! :)
Of course the ratings were up- this was the first time The Bachelor has been relevant in a while, and there was scandal and drama. Great blog material, even better TV. And I don't even usually like The Bachelor.
Never watched the bachelor before, but I have been reading up on the hype. I think that its funny that this installment was getting the highest ratings for the bachelor for some time because the bachelor was supposedly so sweet and everyone was rooting for him. Now seems like everyone hates his guts because he broke up with the girl he chose on TV. I don't get how different this is from the other Bachelor couples that did not stay together. He and the girl probably just figured out quickly that outside of the fantasy world of the Bachelor, they were just not compatable. The Bachelor makes the guy seem like a dream-guy with all the ready-made dates. Most guys don't put that much effort in romantic date nor have the monetary means to do the flashy dating they do no TV. Also, the whole premise of the show is too competition-y to seem real. I bet most of the girls would not even make as much effort as they do if they weren't competing for the guy. Some of the girls just want to win regardless of whether they like the guy or not. What's funny is I think Survivor has had more long lasting relationships made on the show than the Bachelor.
If only those 17.5 million people took as much interest in their OWN relationships, maybe there would be a little less divorce in this country.
I wish he wouldn't say that "He couldn't help it, it was part of his contractual agreement"
He now is not only a cry baby but a ***** as well.
they didn't need to fix the Bachelor finale; they only needed to let Jason act out on his instincts, which are that of a tool