Well, my dream final cast came true.
[SPOILER]Shawn, Melissa, and Kelly. Overall, the best three of the 5 in the semi-final.
All the people that spent years questioning Kelly’s abilities has a lot of crow to eat. 
She’s really the most improved of all the All Stars. It’s like she’s a totally different person. Val deserves a lot of credit.
Emmitt and Apolo were very entertaining all season. I’ll miss seeing them.[/SPOILER]
I’m still cheering and applauding Paula’s fantastic dance tonight. She’s always been my favorite from the 90’s and damn, that fine ass woman can still dance!
I’d begun to wonder about Paula. It’s been years since I saw her perform at this level. Sure glad to see her back in the groove.
Re: whether Kelly’s abilities are questionable: They sure were coming into this season. The first season, as gets mentioned regularly, only ran six weeks, and she really wasn’t as good as John O’Hurley at the end of those six weeks. She did not deserve to win, and they both had a rematch and changed how votes are counted in subsequent seasons to avoid complete distortions of the process by a rabid fan base. (Note I say “complete distortions”: obviously every season someone or other coughBristolPalinMasterPcough* who lasts quite a bit longer than he or she deserves to.)
Anyway, Kelly was not really a champion of the caliber of other champions coming into this – though admittedly not all champions were necessarily excellent dancers, as we saw by the fairly early elimination of several of them.
That said, she’s really been dancing well this season and I think she completely deserves to be in the final – in fact, I’ve been both rooting for her and voting her for several weeks now.
Very pleased with who the final three are, and looking forward to a good finale next Monday.
I was bummed that both Emmitt and Apolo took 4th and 5th place because I refuse to believe that one of the producer’s prodigy’s Melissa got all those votes on her own without a helluva lot of pimping from the show.
In a season of tricks instead of dancing, it’s great to see that Val and Kelly keep the spirit of the show in tact. That is, take a celebrity with no dance experience and turn them into a credible dancer. If Kelly wins that would be completing the circle. Kelly obviously has tried to keep up some dance skills, and with Cheryl Burke and Kym Johnson as good friends she must have got some tips to get better and she has. Val is a dance purest, and I’m thankful for that, because I’d rather watch how the celebrity can master at least some of required syllabus, not how well they can still do an aerial that they did in the Olympics. And for me, Melissa is a ballet dancer and hasn’t really made the transition to ballroom dancing, unless she does the cheerleading tricks she did a few short years ago in college.
Finally, for me, dancing is all about the romantic connection between man and woman, it really doesn’t matter if they’re dating or not, what matters is how they project on the dance floor. If I watch a Ballroom dancing show, I want to see that all important chemistry, I don’t like to watch dancing doggies do tricks… that’s for circus acts.
So good luck Kelly and Val… obviously the show doesn’t want you to win, hopefully your fans will right the wrong.
For those looking for an excuse to throw a party today – it’s Bruno’s birthday (b. 1955).
So I just watched Kelly and Val’s “surf flamenco” thing. Val gets more naked each week. Is he going to just go ahead and go the full monty in the finale?
Of the “weird” dances, I liked Shawn and Derek’s Knight Rider Bhangra the most. It was bizarre, but entertaining. It actually kind of worked, with the Knight Rider musical cues and the pulsing red lights. Melissa and Tony’s caveman thing was very cool, too.
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
It’s sad that a beautiful, jaw dropping contemporary dance gets the same score as a gymnastics routine. That’s just beyond screwed up. Tony proved once and for all that he can choreograph something besides pure ballroom. That dance is in my top five that I’ve ever seen on dwts.
I hope the public is as repulsed by Derek’s blatant F U attitude towards the judges and ballroom in general. I’m very insulted that he thinks a beautifully done quickstep is boring and not crowd pleasing. That’s a insult to the entire ballroom community. I’m curious to see if the public will give the mirrorball to a gymnast that can’t dance worth a flip. More power to them if they do.
I was also very impressed with Kelly tonight. She’s had such a journey this season. I have to admit that she’s shown the most growth and improvement throughout the season.
I’d be ok with a win by Melissa or Kelly. I’d prefer seeing Melissa win, but please, please don’t give it to the fake dancer/gymnast.
This is an opinion:
Kelly is not that good. She is not vastly improved. Shawn and Melissa are fun to watch, for different reasons. Kelly looks like she planned this whole thing as a career booster.* Drum up some guy/girl drama to make sure you stay on people’s minds, act like a soap opera star in real life situations, melodramatic sells in certain markets you know, over shadow your lack of real dancing skills with over the top emoting … The ribbon stuff, tho, was really really cool.
Mellisa’s free style was beautiful. I would give her the mirror ball based on that.
Shawn hasn’t really “danced” all season, but WOW, her routines are oh so fun to watch (Fierce Five was very entertaining).
My votes all go to Melissa.
My prediction:
Melissa #1
Shawn #2
I hated the Fab Five. Shawn’s been treating the entire season like a floor exercise, but that was too much for me.
I could not agree more. I really hope your prediction is correct.
I’ve been unable to vote on the website – tried repeatedly last night, and just tried again, 20 minutes before they close, and keep getting various error messages.
If Melissa wins, it’s gonna be without my three votes.
When Len said to Shawn and Derek that the Freestyle routine was “totally unexpected”, I began to think that word does not mean what he thinks it means. I totally expected a kickass gymnastics routine, and that’s what they did. It was Ballroom, though. And their quickstep was a blatant F you to the judges. I like Derek, but this was beyond the pale, as far as I’m concerned.
StG
Can’t agree with the ‘Shawn hasn’t danced all season’ claim. Sure, she and Derek throw in a gymnastics move here and there, but those only comprise a few seconds out of a dance lasting a minute or two. There’s a reason Shawn’s been at the top of the judges’ leaderboard all season and it isn’t because of her gymnastics moves. Her posture during the dances, her footwork, her arm placement, her timing and synchronization with Derek, etc. are always spot on. All the things the judges tell other contestants they need to work on are never an issue with Shawn. The judges themselves talk about how her movements are perfect “every. single. time.” I may be wrong but I get the feeling she’s the only contestant who could keep up with and match routines where the pro wasn’t holding anything back. And all this from a kid who hasn’t danced a lick since she was on the show four years ago and who had no dance training at all prior to that.
I hadn’t thought much about Shawn the first few weeks but she really caught my attention with that quickstep and I’ve increasingly been a fan ever since.
Melissa has been gaining on her though by virtue of her dancing ability, personality and that killer smile, but after learning that she has a ballet background I’m more firmly back in Shawn’s camp.
Kelly’s okay. She’s come a long way and done a few dances that I thought were beautiful. I’d probably be more of a fan if she were more animated and had more of a personality.
Still, all three are good dancers and I think that this is the first time I’ll be fairly content with the result no matter who wins. My preference is Shawn but I think they’re all deserving in their own way.
I got a chuckle out of McKayla Maroney doing her patented grimace.
But maybe I’m just easy to entertain.l
I spent all my votes on Melissa. She’s so enjoyable to watch. Tony’s always lacked sex appeal (IMO) and he looks a bit like an awkward older brother most of the time, but he and Melissa look goofy and happy together. They always make me smile.
I was craving a steak from Applebees all day. Didn’t get away from the office until 6:30 and rushed home to a bologna sandwich on stale bread. Barely got the sandwich made and turned on the tv by 6:58. Two minutes later the Grinch comes on. :smack:
My addiction to this stupid show is out of control. Now I get screwed out of a steak dinner because of these wankers.
East coasters have it made. They have until 8 before prime time starts. Plenty of time to eat after work and get home.
That’s better, its started now. Good first dance with the full cast. Should be a fun two hours.
[SPOILER]Insta Dances - Kelly & Val jive, Shawn & Derek Cha Cha, Melissa & Tony Samba
Melissa lucked out big time! She did a Samba yesterday. 
I think she knows the steps LOL Although they still have to choreograph one to this new music.[/SPOILER]
[spoiler]Yay Melissa!!!
“Now they have one too!” - awesome! [/spoiler]