'Bachelor' Ben Higgins says no kissing on the first 28 dates

With the parade of oddballs, lushes and unpollinated flowers who were limo'd to the door of 'Bachelor' Ben Higgins on last Monday's premiere of "The Bachelor," it's no surprise to Tattle that Ben didn't kiss any of them.

Who knows where those women have been?

But Ben kept his smoocher shut for another reason: Standards.

"It was important for me to set standards on night one," he said. "I knew at the end of the night I was going to have to say goodbye to seven women and I wanted to make sure that I was getting the most out of our time together. . . . The physical part, I thought, could wait. It comes, I'm not going to say it doesn't. It is part of a relationship, right? It is important in a relationship, but on night one, it was important for me to take advantage of that time."

Ben also credits his strong faith for giving him perspective while dating so many women at one time.

"I think God has continued to remind me from Day 1 that I am not the biggest thing out there, no matter what people say or what I read," Higgins said.

He says it has also reminded him to think about the bigger meaning, which he believes "is love and not just romantic love but just loving other people . . ."

Oh, please. When a TV network chauffeurs 28 women dressed for their slutty senior prom to your studio-set mansion, with the sole purpose that you flirt with all of them, spend the night with a couple of them and propose to one of them, no one is confusing "The Bachelor" with "The Waltons."

Michael Jackson's fantastic 1979 "Off the Wall" album is being reissued with a new Spike Lee documentary.

MJ's estate and Sony Music are rereleasing the 36-year-old album with a DVD of the film "Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to 'Off the Wall"' on Feb. 26.

The documentary will premiere Jan. 24 at the Sundance Film Festival and will be broadcast Feb. 5 on Showtime.

Mark your calendars Westeros fans, writes Ellen Gray at EllenGray.tv: The next installment of "Game of Thrones" arrives April 24 on HBO.

Still, time to place your bets on the fate of Jon Snow.

Also back that night: "Silicon Valley" and "Veep."

* Ellen, who's in Pasadena for the winter TV Critics Association press event, also reports that Chester County's M. Night Shyamalan will expand his TV footprint beyond Fox's "Wayward Pines," with a new "Tales from the Crypt" horror block on TNT.

"It is an umbrella for what I hopefully believe will be many shows," said TNT/TBS president Kevin Reilly, "all united under the 'Tales from the Crypt' brand."

Shyamalan confirmed he would do some directing as well as curating the shows, which will feature hourlong episodes.

* Theresa Vail, a former beauty queen who hosted the Outside Channel adventure TV show "Limitless with Theresa Vail," has pleaded guilty to killing an Alaska grizzly bear without a state tag.

The sentence for Vail includes one year of probation and a $750 fine.

Tells you what a bear is worth. Not much.

A charging document (as opposed to a charging bear) says Vail, on a guided hunt, held a single bear tag but killed two bears.

It says the master guide was contacted and a collective decision was made to fly out another tag, which Vail said she signed but backdated at the master guide's request.

Next time maybe she could put down the rifle and just play tag with the bear. Let's see how that goes.

* A joint memoir by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt will be published in April, just days before the airing of an HBO documentary featuring the famous designer-socialite and her CNN anchor-son.

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, told the Associated Press yesterday that it had acquired The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son Talk About Life, Love, and Loss. The book will be released April 5, four days before HBO airs "Nothing Left Unsaid," which also screens later this month at the Sundance Film Festival. CNN will show the movie on April 30.

According to Harper, the book will feature "hilarious and always touching exchanges" between Cooper and Vanderbilt and will contrast Vanderbilt's "unwavering optimism" with her son's "darker outlook."

* "Entertainment Tonight" says Beyoncé will perform with Coldplay at halftime of Super Bowl 50.

Not to pick nits, but if true, isn't the correct order that Coldplay will perform with Beyoncé.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

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