The Bachelorette 5: Jillian Meets the Men

A new season of Bachelor/Bachelorette is upon us, and I for one am glad to be rid of whiny, wishy-washy Jason Mesnick and his continuous bewildered expression. This time around we're graced with last season's fave Jillian Harris and a whole array of men, some of whom I liked and some of whom I didn't. And in a new twist, she didn't have just 25 bachelors to choose from, she had 30.

A few observations: This season has a lot of Texans (Wes, Jake, Kyle, Sasha and Tanner P.), a lot of athletic guys (soccer coach, cyclist, surfer, pole vaulter), and a lot of strange names/spellings (Kiptyn, Julien, Matheu, and 2 Tanners). We also learned that Jillian has a soft spot for country music, wine, and guys from the trailer park.

Let's start with who I didn't like. First and foremost, I was glad she didn't keep Greg "Bilbro," the male model-slash-break dance wannabe, Kyle, who gave her a moustache finger "tattoo" and Stephen, the perpetually cynical New Yorkian, who decided Jillian didn't like "awesome guys." I was highly disappointed that she also kept greasy-haired "Great Catch" Mike, trailer-park lovin' "Hot Tub Harris" Brian, "Country Superstar in Chihuahua Mexico" Wes, and of "I'm not gay, I just like feet" Tanner P.

She kept the majority of my favorites from the night, including Kiptyn (the surfer), Sasha (the guy with the huge Serbian family), and Jake (the pilot), as well as Ed (the guy from Chicago), Jesse (the winemaker) Michael (the break dance instructor), and Mark (the pizza maker). I was disappointed she didn't keep John H., the shy guy that didn't get his one-on-one time until the end. I wasn't so sure about a few of the middle-of-the-road picks, like David, who got the first impression rose, Juan, who works with his mommy, and Matheu, whose hobby is collecting signatures for his cowboy hat.

As for the other guys that got little to no screen time --is that due to editing, or did they really not make an effort to talk to Jillian one-on-one? If they did get one-on-one time, I would like to know what they said to her that got them booted.

What do you think, watchers? Did Jillian keep your initial faves? Did you have any comprehension of why she kept Mike, Brian, or Tanner P.?