I was giving her the benefit of the doubt. 
I’m sure they are there somewhere under the arms. I’m glad her arms are crossed. I have absolutely no desire to see anymore.
I’m just not attracted to such muscular female forms. Can’t stand body builders either. Just my MHO. I’m sure she’s a really nice lady. There are plenty of guys out there that do chase the muscular ladies.
Women can be fit like Chris Evert in her playing days without bulging muscles.
Maks needs to lay off the super sexy costumes for Hope. They don’t work with her body type. Elegant and classy is a better idea. Maybe even a really crisp pantsuit would be a good idea for Hope.
The Disney cross-promotion machine at work. Did they put Hope on the cover of ESPN Mag because she was going on DWTS, or the other way around?
I don’t watch the show, but I’ve seen and heard a few clips on shows that aren’t above adding sound effects for humorous effect, so I don’t know if I’m being whooshed or not. Fight my ignorance, Dancing Dopers - did Nancy Grace fart on national TV?!?!?!
Her boob allegedy flopped out, but no reports of flatulence.
Actually, there have been reports. No confirmation though.
Movie night is always one of the better dwts episodes.
I felt bad for Chynna. She totally got lost in her dance and couldn’t recover. She was way, way, way over scored. They gave her seven’s?? She really deserved fours. She totally blew her dance. If they wanted to be nice I could see giving her fives.
Meanwhile David does a dance that gets a standing ovation and they give him eights??? Crazy, insane judging.
Still lots more dance tonight. I’m looking forward to the rest of them.
Chyna looks like Hedwig (of Angry Inch) fame. Even on movie night, not a good look.
Storm – hubba hubba.
Derek’s Psycho tango – phenomenal.
Derek deserves an emmy nomination for that Psycho dance. Fantastic chorography. Especially the work he did behind the scrim.
I almost couldn’t recognize Carson behind the pirate makeup. This is one dance that I’d love to see repeated Tuesday. The problem with the swords by their feet could easily be corrected. I was holding my breath during that dance because it looked like Carson or Anna might trip on those swords.
I enjoyed nearly all tonights dances. Len obviously didn’t. The dances tonight were heavy on entertainment and technique was secondary. I thought Len would blow a vein in his forehead. 
The scoring tonight was horrible. They gave almost everyone a seven or eight. All the people are bunched up except Rikki and Derek.
Missed Chynna and David due to issues at work, but of the dances I did see, Ricki and JR were far and away my faves, although the scoring indeed seemed way out of wack. I felt like the high scores for Ricki were mainly for Derek’s stellar choreography, but definitely highlight-reel-worthy. From a technical standpoint, however (insert usual disclaimer concerning my lack of expertise), it seemed like JR did considerably better, and struck just the right note between humor and serious. I haven’t clue what Carrie Ann was going on about regarding his dance. “I thought I saw a lift, but I don’t know”? Well, then, I guess you didn’t see a lift. Fer cryin’ out loud.
Whatever the hell Carson was doing, and I’m not saying it wasn’t entertaining, there seemed like about twenty seconds of actual waltz in it.
Rob is indeed getting better, though still not first rank. Hope, Nancy and Chaz did nothing in particular for me, on this particular night.
[Quote=Twickster]
Storm – hubba hubba.
[/Quote]
Did I hear that right? That guy calls himself Storm? Guess that makes me Light Drizzle, then.
The fencing guy? Yeah. What a maroon, etc., etc., but damn can he move.
Heh, yeah, he looked like the cover of one of those bodice-ripper novels.
One contestant totally blows her dance, looks awful, gets 7s. Another contestant shows real improvement, gets standing O from audience, gets 7s. I mean let’s face it, if Chynna got 7s, every other single person should have scored higher, really, because nobody else forgot their dance and acted like they were sleepwalking.
I agree with Ricki Lake’s scores, because my god, what she had to dance to? The difficulty level was at least 10, and she did a great job (sure, and Derek’s choreography, but she stayed right with him). I would have given the Pink Panther dance 10s, because I thought that was a great dance too, but his achievement wasn’t as high as Ricki’s just on account of the difference between dancing to Pink Panther and Psycho scores.
I didn’t think it was possible, but Richard Simmons is even MORE terrifying now.
Okay…I haven’t said anything so far this season, mainly because what I did have was pretty harsh, and I didn’t want to derail the discussion (I actually considered making a Pit thread about it, it was that serious). There doesn’t seem to be a lot of discussion going on right now, though, and I think what I have is a valid topic and deserves to be debated calmly here. [DISCLAIMER: I’d like to be able to just not watch, but I have housemates who never miss an episode, and as it’s on during dinner there isn’t really any way for me to avoid it. For now.]
<deep breaths, deep breaths> Here goes.
From what I’ve been able to catch, this could be the most bottom-heavy season ever. Seriously, apart from Ricki Lake and JR Whasislastname, who’s looked GOOD so far? I understand that the producers wanted to move away from ringers, but this is going too far. Ideally, the roster should be stacked in the middle, with one or two obvious early flameouts, at least one favorite, and a few darkhorses to keep thing intriguing. Putting Chaz Bono, Nancy Grace, Hope Solo, Rob Kardashian, and Carson Palmer in the same contest only ensures that someone is guaranteed to hang on way, way too long.
I also think that point scores are hopelessly obsolete, and the only system that can possibly work is top-to-bottom rankings. Force the judges to pick a first, a second, a third, etc., with none of this “room to grow” or “too soon” nonsense. Heck, who can criticize it? Someone’s gotta be the worst, right?
But, y’know, these aren’t that huge, really. That’s just my nitpicky accountant side, always finding ways things could be more efficient or smoother. There’s a much bigger problem, which started getting really bad about a couple of seasons ago and has made it all but unwatchable for me.
The immaturity.
Ye gods. Endless pathetic “jokes” from the host. Judges who long since forgot the meaning of the word and engage in hyperbolic acting. The audience, which at this point may be worse than in pro wrestling, booing and howling at the tiniest criticism with parrotlike predictability. (What’s up with this? They love everybody in the whole world or something?) And the stars and pros alike snippily, snarkily playing along. Just ONCE I’d like to hear someone say “Let the judge talk! I’m a grownup, I can take it!” This has the look and feel of a drunken frat party.
How did this happen? How did a show about an elegant art form, and which I genuinely enjoyed once upon a time (I still remember the riveting final weeks of season 2…gave me chills), turn into such a colossal embarrassment?
(Seriously, a six is too low now? They’re going to have to institute half points at this rate.)
Holy smokes, between him and Bruce Jenner, I had to watch the show from between my fingers.
I really enjoyed Ricki and Derek. Hope looked better, I think.
I don’t see any signs of weight loss in Chaz, like I do in Nancy and Ricki. I wonder if he is really putting in the hours? I’m so surprised at his lack of rhythm considering his parents.
In the Bob Fosse movie All That Jazz, during Everything Old is New Again, Ann Reinking, who played Bob Fosse’s girlfriend in the movie and had been in that role in her real life, halts for a moment and says kind-of insinuatingly to the Fosse-character “Pretty pictures!” I always figured that was a summing up of Fosse’s idea of good choreography - that at any moment during a dance, you could snap a photo and get a “pretty picture,” although Fosse’s idea of what is ‘pretty’ tended to be a little outre.
The reason I bring this up is because Chynna Phillips, despite her losing her thread, and nearly her composure during her dance (she was obviously holding back tears during much of it), seems to really get that. Her lines are always beautiful, and no matter what she does, she does it gracefully and elegantly. Yeah, she blew her dance last night, but she’s still a natural dancer, and I like to see her on the floor.
When I heard “theme from Raiders” and “paso,” I thought it was going to be a real train wreck, but Kym did a masterful job of choreographing that music, and David did a decent job of executing her choreography. He’s not a natural at all, but he’s an adequate middle-of-the-pack contestant.
Jesus, put Carson in that Johnny Depp makeup and facial hair, and suddenly he looked hot, although not nearly as hot as the swordsman, I’ll admit. (Storm? seriously?) But Anna blew it for him by trying to integrate a sailors’ hornpipe with a Viennese Waltz, and it clunked. That was a shame. Carson has no natural dance ability, but he’s been working really hard, and he should get a break from being the comic relief. The waltz gives great, lovely gliding moments to sweep through, and she had the chance to take him through a nice, straight dance that would have been just fine. I like Anna, but I think she erred here.
Nancy and Tristan also had very difficult music to dance to, with difficult time changes. I noticed that Tristan is quite a good dancer. Nancy, not so much. She has a little innate ability, but I don’t see any improvement from week one.
Hope and Maks did a cute, competent foxtrot, but I hated the costumes even though I understand the context.
I wasn’t particularly impressed by Rob and Cheryl’s paso, and was puzzled with their scores. Rob still lacks follow-through on his moves.
I’ve said it before: Derek is a genius. How he could pull a real, recognizable, even beautiful tango out of that mess of music is far beyond me. He should now have enough on his resume to choreograph anything he wants to, and should move on to bigger and better things. He’s been fortunate in his partners, but his choreography goes way beyond that.
Chaz and Lacey looked better than they have before, but they also had good fortune in their music. Still, I was impressed that Chaz has toughened up enough to run up those stairs; I couldn’t do it and jump up and down after.
J.R. is still the best dancer this season, IMO. But he was gifted with the most danceable music of the evening by far. Foxtrotting to Henry Mancini has got to be nearly as natural as breathing. Still, he’s the best dancer of the bunch, and if Ricki wins rather than he, it will be because of Derek’s choreography, not Ricki’s dancing. Not that Ricki isn’t good, just that J.R. is slightly the better dancer. I hope Chynna doesn’t go down tonight, as she’s generally the next best, after those two.
I agree, DKW, that the judges have jumped the shark a bit in their bickering, and while I can accept that ballroom dance audiences are a little raucous, they ought to shut up after their applause and let the judges give the contestants some meaningful feedback. I don’t fault the stars for this; generally they are trying to listen to what the judges say to them.
Except Carson – he needs to STFU during the judges’ remarks.