Well, turns out I loved the 3 ways. Bringing in two pros to teach and choreograph really helped the celebrities. it really lit a fire under the pros butts. That’s some of the most imaginative and well executed choreography that I’ve seen on dwts.
The pros especially stepped it up a gear. They weren’t going to let the other pro out dance them.
They need to do this every season for certain.
Yeah, I agree – I was very skeptical, but I ended up enjoying the three-ways quite a bit. (sic)
Lots of good dancing tonight. Time for Melissa to go home – I gave Roshon a couple of votes in hopes of keeping him in, but with two eliminations tomorrow, I’m not holding my breath.
I’m not sure what I thought of the three ways. On the one hand, they were weird. On the other - Donald did a great jive and Melissa had her best dance (though if it hadn’t begun with the words “Dancing the samba…” I’m not sure I would have recognized what dance it was). But back to the first hand, it was really weird.
The guys mostly nailed it this time around. I’ve felt William has been overscored during most of the competition, but this time I think he legitimately had the best of the individual dances, with maybe Roshon next best and Donald a close third. Agreed that Katherine seemed off her game a bit. Maria’s V. waltz was OK but unmemorable, and I’d agree with the judges’ general opinion that Melissa did her best dancing so far; unfortunately, it just doesn’t keep up with the standard of the rest of the group.
Quite enjoyed the trio dances, although the scoring seemed all over the map. If Maria/Derek had been doing that Bollywood-themed samba (which I absolutely loved) in the freestyle round, I’m pretty sure it would have been praised to the skies, but I knew from the moment it started that Len was going to crap all over it. How to explain, then, the lack of criticism for Katherine’s trio, which was at least as gimmicky, not to mention her doing much of the routine with half a pantleg stuck to her shoe? Oh, well, I was entertained nontheless.
I’m kind of assuming that Melissa will be one of the pair that gets the chop, but have no clue on the other; I suspect a “shocking elimination” is in the offing.
From about 8:20 till 8:45 there was just an odd green screen and not DWTS on my TV. Other channels came in fine. Was that something everyone else experienced or was it just my cable company?
Just your cable company.
This season flew by for me. I’m a bit sad that tonights double elimination leaves the final 4.
Anyone know if we have one or two weeks left?
Louis van Amstels blog on Week 8.
Two. Hour and a half performance show next week; hour show Monday the 21st, two-hour season finale Tuesday the 22nd.
Thanks Twicks. 
I’m so nervous this afternoon about the votes. Double elimination means all the fan bases were scrambling like mad to save their favorite. This wasn’t a good week for Katherine to slip a little on the leaderboard. All we can do is hope she’s done enough this season for people to vote.
There just aren’t any bad dancers in the last six. Melissa is the weakest. Rochon seems to be getting a lot better. There’s no obvious choice for the second elimination. I still don’t think William is a good dancer at all. But the judges keep propping him up and there’s a bunch of infatuated women out there supporting him. It’s going to be a popularity contest.
I may not watch the results tonight. I rather Google the results at 9:10 Central. Less stress that way for me.
Katherine and Mark’s comments about the suit malfunction is interesting. The suit was split in half, right down the middle of her back and front. Even the tie was split in half and velcroed. How a two piece costume became a three piece like it did has them baffled. Katherine improvised that kick that got rid of the pants leg. 
Just shows anything weird can happen on live tv. 
But then you’ll miss “Dance Center”! I love “Dance Center.”
The results show is on on the East Coast.
Roshon and Chelsie. Not surprised – oh well. Since they paired him with William, one safe and one going home, at least he had a moment to prepare himself before Tom announced his name.
I decided to watch because of Dance Center. One down and one more to eliminate. <fingers crossed)
Dance Center was great. “Football players now know you don’t have to tackle Donald, you can just compliment his paso doble.”
And the other couple out is Melissa and Maks. She made it way farther than she could have expected.
[SPOILER]They really put Katherine through it tonight. Saying she was in jeopardy at the very beginning and then making her sweat it out for a hour. That’s just cruel. No one else was in jeopardy like that tonight.
I’m glad Melissa doesn’t have to spend another week with Maks. That rehearsal footage this week especially was pretty nasty. Maks is dealing with that cyst in his foot and it’s made him even more short tempered.
I am very surprised that Roshon’s excellent performance this week wasn’t enough to save him. But, people were voting fan bases and not performance. I would have preferred seeing Maria Menounos eliminated. Melissa and Maria were the two weakest dancers left.[/SPOILER]
Does anyone know (my apologies if it’s been discussed waaaayyyy upthread or previously) what criteria the judges use for scoring? 10-8-10 for Maria & Derek’s V. Waltz seemed so odd to me, as Len seemed to be shooting specifically at Derek’s choreography, not Maria’s performance. She performed what she was given very well, as evidenced by the bookending 10’s, so are they scoring the “celebrity” performance of the dance, or the pro’s routine itself, or both? The scoring seems all over the place and immensely inconsistent to me.
I am not a professional dance judge (far from it) just a long-time fan…but it seems that the judges are judging the execution as a whole. The professional’s technique is irrelevant – they’re only looking at the celebrity. But they will mark a routine down if they feel it doesn’t meet the standards of that particular dance (the latest example being Len docking Derek’s BollySamba for not containing enough samba elements, or Carrie Ann’s role as Lift Monitor.)
so the short answer: the score reflects a combination of the celebrity’s technique and the pro’s choreography.
Thanks, jsc1953, that’s what I suspected…basically subjective. I thot this week’s dances overall were quite good, especially with all the watercooler discussion generated the following day about how willy-nilly the scoring seemed. That aside, I’m pleased with the Final Four and will be happy with whomever of them takes home the glitter ball. I think they’ve all done extremely well and am looking foward to an intense final few eps.
Oh yeah, it’s completely subjective. This isn’t like an ice skating compulsory round, with required elements.
The odd thing about the 10-8-10 score is that 99% of the time there’s a difference of one point between high and low. 10-9-10 or 9-9-10 are much, much more common.