Rachel's 'Bachelorette' Season Is Taking A Holiday Break

After the whirlwind of emotions likely felt by both fans and contestants of The Bachelorette recently, it looks like things are finally going to calm down a bit. Or, at least as much as they can when you still have a half dozen guys competing against each other for the love of one woman. But now that things are about to be back on track, why isn’t The Bachelorette Episode 7 on tonight?

The upcoming episode of Rachel’s season marks the beginning of the end, as it will soon be followed by hometown dates, fantasy suite dates, and the Men Tell All special before the season finale airs. But the short answer is that ABC likely figured most viewers would be enjoying the long Fourth of July weekend rather than want to watch TV. (Though clearly they weren't taking me into consideration who would've definitely tuned in, regardless of the holiday, to watch Rachel continue on her journey for love.) But the good news is that when The Bachelorette returns on July 10, there shouldn't be anymore breaks.

Somehow there are only six men left for Rachel to choose from and some of them seem like they could propose right now and be totally comfortable with it. For others, it might take some more time for fans to warm up to them, but on Episode 6 Rachel said herself that she’s starting to narrow the men down to those she can see a real future with.

Of course that’s the whole point, but every season The Bachelor or The Bachelorette seems to get to this point so quickly and before you know it, someone’s picking out a shiny new engagement ring and Neil Lane’s stock numbers go up. Season 12 of The Bachelorette progressed a similar way and just like Rachel’s season, there was a break for the week of the Fourth of July holiday. You can’t really fault the network for giving viewers the chance to give their TVs a break, but as I mentioned before, I’m pretty sure we’d all give up some burgers and hotdogs to see who Rachel sends home next.

The Bachelorette isn’t on tonight, but Episode 7 returns next week on July 10 with the rest of what has so far legitimately been one of the more dramatic and intense seasons to date. And I, for one, can't wait to see where it all goes from here.