She may have actually performed, but she didn’t actually remember her steps.
I actually felt sorry for Bristol. The jive isn’t that easy a dance, and to do it in a monkey costume? Yuk. (Also I thought they were going to do the theme from the Ernie Kovacs show, except the song I’m thinking of wasn’t the theme. The Nairobi Trio. And there were only two of them. Oh well.)
But then, THEN, she had to change out of the costume and then finish the dance. No wonder she forgot the steps.
Eh, she’s lasted longer than I thought.
And, okay, what is Carrie Ann’s obsession with THE LIFTS? She keeps saying that: “Oh, that looked like a lift there!” Over and over. When I saw nothing that looked like a lift. What’s with her, anyway? Nobody else seems to be seeing phantom lifts everywhere. If you caught some air while maintaining any contact with your partners, apparently Carrie Ann will rule it a lift and mark you down? Unless of course it’s in a dance form where lifts are allowed.
Very annoying. Can we vote on the judges?
I winced at both Bristol and Kyle. Granted, they weren’t the easiest dances to do, but I think after a few weeks it becomes apparent who’s got “it” and who doesn’t. In other words, if neither of them are eliminated tonight, I’ll be very surprised. What saves Audriana from being lumped with them, IMO, is that she actually can dance. The issue is making her believe it.
Kurt and Rick pleasantly surprised me. If they keep up the momentum, I think they both have a shot at going much further.
I predict Florence will go further than any other “elder” in the competition.
My two favorites are Jennifer and Brandy. I think they’ll both battle it down to the wire.
The one thing Bristol had had going for her until last night’s jive was technique. She was vacant and uncertain, but she did the steps well. Last night, she didn’t even have her technique, and I didn’t see any signs of her selling it either. Boo.
What was Lacey thinking? Just when I was beginning to finally like her, she choreographs a no-foxtrot foxtrot, automatically guaranteeing poor scores from Len. I think both of them make it a point to say “Who’s so-and-so?” whenever a cultural reference from before their time is raised. Earlier in the season was “Who are the Eagles?” Maybe they think it’s cute or something. I don’t.
Florence and Corky didn’t make me want to tear out my eyes this week, so I’d say they did good under the circumstances. At least the band actually gave them a tango beat under the theme song, which is more than they usually do when they hand out inappropriate music.
I was so pleased to see Rick and Cheryl dance to the Hill Street Blues theme. I kept hoping for it all evening, as it was and is a beautiful song, and very well suited to the rumba.
The judges’ scores were very erratic last night. I should be used to that.
Next week we’ll find out how well Jennifer handles two dances a week. She looked spent this week and it showed in her dancing.
Derek seems to forgot she’s over 50 and has a neck injury from a car wreck twenty years ago. He may have over done it in these early weeks. They sprinted out of the gate in what is actually a marathon.
I love watching Jenn dance. I hope she rallies and does great these next weeks.
When Jennifer told the story about her neck, didn’t she also say she had cancer? I wound up conflating the two, and wondered what kind of cancer involves surgery on your neck.
She had both. Car Wreck 20 years ago that left her in pain. Then cancer a year or so ago. At some point they strengthened her injured neck with pins/wires.
She came out of surgery last year feeling better and felt up to dancing again. She looks in terrific shape. Very muscular back, arms etc. She’s got a great shot at winning dwts unless she injures herself.
I saw an early ET interview where Derek mentioned Jenn’s Doctor came to rehearsal and explained what needed to be done to support Jenn’s neck. She can’t do certain moves. The famous lift from Dirty Dancing is out. etc.
I really feel sorry for Bristol. She’s trying, but she just doesn’t have the talent. I expect her to go home tonight. Kyle also doesn’t have much dancing talent, but he’s an actor, so he knows how to make it entertaining. Still, I think he’ll go home in the next couple of weeks. It’s always around now that the judges start to give really crappy scores to the bad dancers, to try to get them booted off the show.
She forgot the steps long before she changed out of the costume.
Audrina has enough problems with emoting without giving her wildly inappropriate music. I felt sorry for her during one of least interesting rumbas ever.
I don’t think I’ve ever disagreed more with the judges.
I write my little comments while I’m watching the dance, and then edit them if I feel the need to address what the judges said, and I can’t count the number of times this week that I wrote down one thing and then had the judges say exactly the opposite thing. Here, nonetheless, are my comments:
[ul]
[li]Brandy – The opening was really frenetic and lame, but they managed to bring it back together when they went into hold, and slowed things down. [/li][li]Florence – I think Corky is screwing her over with his choreography. She’s gotta just dance the damned dances, rather than always going into, as Bruno called it, ‘ragdoll’ mode. [/li][li]Kurt – I thought this was cute, and Corky could take some lessons from Anna on how to integrate comedic incompetence into a routine, but I still don’t find Kurt appealing as a performer or a dancer. He looks really awkward to me, and everything alternately looks overly exaggerated or sloppy. I find his packages compelling – he seems like a really nice person, and a guy I’d want to know. I just don’t want to watch him dance. [/li][li]Audrina – I thought Tony’s choreography was weird and had a lot of weird spots where they seemed to be stopped completely. It was definitely not at all sensuous. There was no charisma or chemistry on display. [/li][li]Kyle – As weird as that choreography was, I think it might have been the only thing Lacey could have done with that music and a foxtrot. I thought Kyle was taking it a little more seriously this week, despite the silliness of the actual routine. [/li][li]Rick – Despite Len’s comments, I thought Rick seemed to be suffering from Kurt Warner Disorder this week. Arms thrust out awkwardly and then that totally terrible thing with this hand perched on his hip that he did twice. [/li][li]Bristol – Oh my god. I felt so bad for her. What the hell was Mark thinking? I hope she gets to go home so she doesn’t continue to get subjected to this. She’s not good at it, she’s not getting much better, and her partner is humiliating her in the hopes of getting viewer votes. Those were definitely pity 6s, as the amount of choreography she forgot was insane, and the stuff she remembered was easy. I do want her shoes, though. [/li]Jennifer – Oooh! Drama! Lovely dance, though. And an excellent job of integrating the story into the dance. And an awesome dress. [/ul]
I watched for the first time last week, then watched last night. Bristol made me cringe. I didn’t like Corky’s choreography for Florence last week or this week, but she seems like a competent dancer, so it’s frustrating to me. I’ve always liked Florence’s ability to laugh at herself, but he’s making her do it in awkward ways. Both of the athlete guys seem a little stiff but they seem to be trying hard. Kyle looks like a 12 year old pretending to dance like a grown up. How old is he anyway? I have no idea who he is.
[spoiler]What! The! Fuck! Kyle and Bristol safe – and they announce it in the first four minutes of the show?
Though I guess it kind of makes sense – who the hell will be going home, then?[/spoiler]
Buh-BYE, Mrs. Brady!
It’s really for the best. Learning and performing 2 dances a week is just too much. We’ve already lost 2 major tv icons within the past 5 days. She should be very proud of doing so well. Florence made it all the way through the “one a week” dances. My mom is the same age and I’ve been kidding her about getting out and moving like that. There’s not many people in their mid 70’s that can.
What have been the top 10 dances? I’m not going to bother to vote on abc.com. I’d probably list Tony & Stacy’s samba, Drew & Cheryl’s freestyle, Apolo & Julianne’s samba, Mel & Maks’s paso & waltz.
One of the things I’ve liked about this season is that every elimination has been justifiable. This is the first time I can say we’ve made it to the round of 7 without a single really egregious sendoff. And again, don’t read anything into Gray being put in the spotlight…it’s all for the ratings, folks, all for the ratings.
I’ll admit it, I’m more than a bit surprised that Palin is still around. We’ve seen Hail Marys on this show before, but gorilla suits?? (And this after Michael Bolton emerged from a doghouse. Weird, weird decisions this season.) She’s looking like one of those hopeless, unlikable contestants who has some bizarre fanatical backing somewhere and has to be dragged out kicking and screaming. American Idol’s Scott Savol was the first I know of, but the grandaddy of them all, of course, is Master P. I’m thinking of naming it after him, in fact. P-Player, Overlaster P, Para-Permanence…eh, this needs some work.
She’ll most likely be gone next week. I think Mark Balas may have blown his chips with the gorilla suit idea, and it’s going to be an immense struggle just finding two routines Palin can do. I am not looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
I really think that the producers should start seriously considering separate men’s and women’s championships. I understand that the men have a big advantage on this show for the simple reason that it’s much easier for a male star and female pro to look amazing than the reverse, plus the biggest names really pull in the votes. (If you have a better explanation as to how Helio Castroneves won, I’d like to hear it.) Bottom line, if she’s going to contend at all, she has to be an ace. The trouble is, if she’s TOO dominating, the contest ends up about as interesting as men’s basketball at the '92 Olympics. Exhibit A will always be Kristi Yamaguchi, who did not receive anything lower than an 8 the entire season. Just accept la difference and allow each side to compete on its proper playing field.
I have no clue what’s good technically or not. I mean, I can pick up on some errors or problems, but things like where they’re pointing their feet or whatever, not a clue. So speaking from a layman’s point of view, my absolute favorites are Kyle and Lacey. I like their dances the best, and then the judges heavily criticize their technique making me scratch my head wondering what they did wrong.
But since the judges vote on technique, as well as entertainment value, I’m afraid that Kyle and Lacey will get lowest scores again with maybe Bristol and Mark getting lower.
I really hope Kyle improves so he can stay on longer. I want to see him and Jennifer go far. Either one winning would make me happy. Brandy would be a good choice too, and maybe even Audrina. But Kurt, Rick, and Bristol need vast improvement in my opinion. Especially Bristol.
It’s not the person, it’s the dynamic – so, “the P Factor”?
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about him the last few days – and what makes this an example of the P Factor is that not only is she hopeless and unlikeable, but she’s showing absolutely no sign at all of wanting to be there. Or maybe that’s connected with “unlikeable”? It seems as though people who are having a good time come across as likeable, and they seem to be making a real effort, which adds to their likeability. I’m thinking here of Kelly Osborne and Ty (fuck, what’s his last name, Burrell?), neither of whom had any greater basic dancing skills – or ability to sell a performance – than Bristol (who does have some some ability to move gracefully), but both of whom threw themselves into the process with gusto and became people we genuinely rooted for.
Why is Bristol unlikeable? I seriously wonder if her last name wasn’t Palin if you guys would think that. Yes, her dancing deserves to be criticized, but I wonder how many people are letting their feelings about her mother affect how they see her.
I wouldn’t say she’s unlikeable; you’d have to have a personality to be unlikeable. She’s a complete non-entity, and possibly the worst interview they’ve ever had on this show.