News flash: According to Entertainment Weekly, Maks and Karina have broken up already.
Imagine my astonishment.
More preseason news: Tom DeLay has a stress fracture.
With luck, the doctors will throw him out and I can watch without throwing up.
I have to laugh at how they describe the contestants. I heard a coomercial where they said they had an A-list actress but I wasn’t looking at the tv so I missed to whom they were referring. Next time the commercial came on I made sure to watch, it’s Debbie Mazar. I don’t believe she’s ever had a lead in tv or movies and I doubt many people even know who she is, seriously A-list? Can’t they just sat “actress”?
To my utter horror, I ended up liking Delay more than Michael Irvin and hoping man-candy Ashley Hamilton will just get gone. More shame-- right now, I’m hoping Donny Osmond wins it all.
This is my first time watching a whole episode. I am surprised by how much I liked it. One more suprise-- just how cute Kelly Osbourne looks all dolled up.
Tom DeLay’s presence continues to be so surreal that I can’t even wrap my mind around it.
Ashley Hamilton, alas, inherited not an iota of his father’s charm, poor boy. He’ll be gone soon.
I’m rooting for the snowboarder – what a cutie!
I have to agree with the non-fuddy duddy male judge: Snowboarder looks like a dancing hobbit.
OK, in order of performance:
Aaron: got the best scores of the night, but something about him really put me off. I’ve never heard of him, know nothing about him, have no idea of his fan base. I hope he’s the first of the good dancers to go, but I suspect he’ll make it to the semi-finals at least, because the judges like him.
Chuck: Athletic, but no dancer and no charisma that I could see.
Mark: Strong, quick, and hot, hot, hot! This one has real potential, but needs more smoothness and grace. Extra points for not liking Delay.
Ashley: Technically barely adequate, but absolutely colorless. Maybe he was trying too hard to be perfect technically? Whatever it was, it may not save him through the first elimination.
Donny: Huh? OK, what are they putting in the water in Utah? He wasn’t the highest scorer, but I would be surprised if he weren’t a semi-finalist, and likely a finalist. Donny Osmond? Who knew?
Louie: aka the hobbit. Cute as a button, and lots of athleticism, but he’s got to learn to dance.
Mike: I think he deserved better marks than he got. But at this point it looks like the “big black teddy bear with the thousand watt smile” of this season will go down early.
Tom “spawn-of-satan” Delay: I wish I had a way to scrub my brain.
In summary, Aaron (unfortunately) and Donny (amazingly) are the contenders, Mark and Louie are the sleepers, the other four go down fairly quickly. Unless the right wingnuts go crazy with the voting, which they might. Does anyone know if FOX has been beating the Delay drum?
I found Aaron’s interviews kind of jerkish, but he danced well.
Chuck was charming - I want to see him get better at dancing.
I’m sad that the Chairman was paired with Lacey. Yesterday reminded me why I don’t like her choreography.
Donny can sell it. Fun to watch in both the dance & the relay.
The hobbit was also charming - I’d like to see him get better as well.
Mike’s pro did no favors for him in either dance. The cha cha was just weird and he just stood there during the waltz…I’m not sure if she choreographed like that because she was working to strengths or if it’s because she’s new.
Tom could have been worse. and I think he’ll get the country-western vote, so he’ll be on for a while.
I don’t even remember Ashley’s dance. That’s not a good sign.
I was stunned that DeLay and the UFC guy weren’t the worst…and actually, Chuck is now my fave. He’s so ploddingly awkward, it’s just adorable. Michael Irvin grows on me, too.
Didn’t this season set some record for most Stars who’d done jail time?
Re: DeLay – in addition to his many crimes against humanity, tee-shirt tucked into sweat pants is a crime against fashion.
I don’t watch this show, but I may start. I don’t know why you’re surprised that Donny Osmond is a good dancer – how many times did he appear on Broadway in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? He knows the rigor of regular appearances.
You know, I could have lived my life without a tight closeup of the former House Majority Leader’s butt. But I actually surprised myself by liking his dancing. I think he was actually my favorite of the (admittedly all uninspiring) V. Waltzes - I think the judges completely overlooked his nice partnering and feet.
Donny was very cute with the “but if I do that, I can never go back to Utah!” line. CAI was right - he totally smoked the others in the Salsa. My current prediction is that he will win in all - he has the popularity of Marie, coupled with a much less irritating demeanor (surprisingly enough) and a pretty decent dance ability.
Hey, what was up with all the adverts for anti-depressant drugs, anyway? And that woman for Pristiq or whatever it was and her creepy little windup toy? Took me right out of the mood, I’ll tell you.
Oh, the dancing. Chuck seems likeable, but Jeeziz, is he ever awkward. Pretty much the same for Mike. Ashley makes a pretty good clothes rack, but he’s got no charisma whatsoever. DeLay, well, much as I’d like to dislike him, gotta admit he put some effort into it. Still, I want to see him shake his 62-year-old butt as much as I wanted to see Chloris Leachman’s cleavage, meaning not at all.
Right now, I want to say that Mark will end up going furthest, except his partner is Lacey, who the judges (and most of the viewers, apparently) seem to hate. Donny’s clearly a pro’s pro, but I believe the limitations of age will catch up with him later in the season, so that leaves Aaron and Louie to fight it out on the male side.
Also, Delay’s ‘I can’t swing to the left’ comment was hilarious.
Another thing-- do the girls get to stand there and pose while the professionals dance like the guys do when they can’t do anything? Irvin, Hamilton and the fighter guy spent much time standing and posing while their partners showed off.
It doesn’t work as well, given the conventions of the genre – which is why, traditionally, more men than women have made it to the finals. (The two women who have legitimately won [I’m excluding the soap star from the first season] were both gold-medal Olympians from disciplines – figure skating, gymnastics – with strong dance elements to them. Coincidence? I don’t think so.)
Who would have thunk that Kelly Osborne would have such a strong start?
Don’t forget model Brooke Burke, who won two seasons ago.
Damn. Knew I shouldn’t’ve relied on my memory.
Yeah, I was totally gobsmacked. I hope she goes. all. the. way. to the finals. Besides, it’ll be a hoot to see Ozzy cheering her on every week.
For some reason I was focusing on the choreography a lot more tonight than when the male celebs danced. Dovolani, Hough and Van Amstel, I thought, really helped their partners look good. Best overall, from a pure talent standpoint, seems to be Mya, but even me, a mook who knows nothing technical about ballroom, could figure that Len was gonna crap all over her and Dmitri for breaking the hold too often during her waltz.
The others with staying power at this point appear to be Natalie, Joanna (bit too much of a Barbie doll for my taste, but whatever) and maybe Melissa. Like Debi’s personality, but I’m not sure whether she can really cut it, or has enough of a fan base to keep her going deep into the competition. Macy is by far the least accomplished, and I’m guessing will be out early. Too bad, because I think she’s interesting and rather sweet.
I think I’m gonna like this season.
No! And this is one of my ongoing pet peeves with the show, one of the few things about it that annoys me.
In one season, I actually timed some of the dances, and some of the male dancers spent up to 15 seconds at a time completely standing still – and that was in the late rounds when we should have been down to people who could dance. If the girls tried that, they’d be excoriated by the judges.