Damn, I missed it. (Phone interview for a job that went really, really well – so it ran much longer than I expected; didn’t really want to say “Could you hang on for a second while I turn on the VCR?” 
)
Did anyone waltz?
Oh, sure. . . but the judges were not impressed by waltzes.
Hmph. They must not be as into the subtle differences among the four kinds as us savvy amateurs are. 
Ouch! That stiletto heal in the crotch during the pro’s Jive sure looked painful.
StG
First time watcher to DWTS and I haven’t read the entire thread.
Long time dancer of the Ballroom set.
WTF is up with the music?
It is so distracting you cannot give your full attention to the dancers.
Music should compliment the movement, not constipate it.
It was the first time for my husband to watch this and he was as annoyed as me.
Have these people lost their minds!!!1111!!!
Also, I happen to think that Tom Bergeron has the luckiest career in hollywood. He has to be the blandest host to survive so long.
Lisa Rini’s lips scare me and she needs a sammich or three.
Thank you for listening to my reasoned rant.
Shirley - The contestants don’t get to choose their music - they’re given a CD to practice with, then they have the mediocre band do it live.
Stacey really looks professional now. Drew was almost as good. George and Jerry still don’t dance half the time - between moves Jerry walks to the next set of steps, instead of dancing. You can really notice the difference between a dance step and walking. George still lets his partner do the brunt of hte work and tries to bluff and charm his way into passing on to the next phase. I will say that it usually works, though - I couldn’t take my eyes off him this time. And he really does seem to love doing it, and that counts for a lot. Lisa has improved greatly, but she has a long way to go to beat Stacey and Drew. I’ve gotten to the point where I can accurately predict what each judge’s score will be based on their comments.
StG
I tuned in late, and caught only the last two dances. But wow! Stacy was great!
WTF was up with the music selection for the Viennese waltz? They would have been better off with a classic Strauss piece.
Hmm, are the producers just making it up as they go along? Tonight, unlike previous eps, everyone did a different dance, followed by a group Viennese Waltz.
- Drew (Tango) 2. Stacy (Jive) 3. Lisa uick Step) 4. Jerry (Paso Doble) 5. George (Rhumba)
So, not very different, IM subjective O, than the judges opinions, I guess. For some reason I decided to watch the footwork more than anything else, and Lachey really impressed me with his precise steppin’and the constant tempo changes. If I had looked up a bit I probably would have noticed he looked a bit stiff from the waist up, but whatever. Were he and Stacy really both perfect tens? Dunno, but there seems little mystery as to who’s guaranteed to make the final at this point.
Lisa was more than decent again but just didn’t light me up. Of the bottom two, Jerry’s Paso, earnest as it was, was fairly silly and although George shook that thang considerably more than in some of his previous turns, he mainly came off as a hat rack for his partner to dance around. Looks inevitable that unless he motivates the blue-rinse set big time, Hamilton is gonna be back working on his tan by the time Saturday rolls around. Lord, I’ll miss him.
ITA about Lisa Rinna. I kept waiting for them to do something “quick.” Took 'em forever to get going.
Jerry’s posture is killing him. His upper body is kind of slumpy. He should be ramrod straight with his head lifted up off his shoulders. He’s very earnest and is obviously really trying, but he should be getting a clue from the male pro dancers about what a dancer really looks like.
And George. . .I’m not gonna miss him. He’s just gotten annoying. (And his “Children of the Night. . . shut up!” line is one of my all-time favorite movie lines.) So buh-bye!
I actually saw all the performances. Real time. Which I swore I’d never even have the motivation to to, honestly.
It’s tough to admit (as I firmly believe the American Idol formula is both grossly unfair and completely played out by now), but I’m starting to like this. Everyone looks like they’re in this to win, and some of the routines are a lot of fun to watch. A pleasant, enjoyable glimpse into an art form I normally don’t have much exposure to.
Anyway, I don’t pretend to have the faintest idea of 1. the skills and subtleties of dancing, or 2. whether 1 matters a hill of beans toward who actually wins this thing, so just a bunch of comments on the final five.
Jerry Rice: I’m pleasantly surprised by how long he lasted. I could tell that he was serious about this competition, and I can tell that he’s been trying really hard to overcome his physical limitations. Sadly, it looks like his time is up, if not this week, then the next. He’s been pretty good, but we’ve reached the point where that doesn’t cut it anymore.
George Hamilton: Sigh…a real charmer, a class act; unfortunately, he simply in way over his head at this point. When your routine requires that much theatrics, you’re hanging by your fingernails. Same boat as Rice.
Lisa Rinna: Mmm…tough call. It was a pretty, cute little number that didn’t have any obvious flaws, but it just wasn’t…well, impressive. It looks like something a pair of eighth-graders could do (well, after practicing as much as the contestants here did). I don’t see her going this week, however.
Drew Whasisface (Pearce?): Very nice. Verrrry nice. And a well-earned perfect 10 (although I think 30 was a tiny bit excessive). Now, my concern…did they peak too soon? Reality TV abounds this stories about great or even heavily favored contestants running out of gas one or two stages before the finale (anyone remember the first American Idol?) and collapsing into bitter defeat. Given the amount of energy this sport requires, that’s not a minor concern.
Stacy Kiebler: Oh, man. Oh, geez. This isn’t even close to fair. A woman among children, plain and simple. Legitimate star power (say what you will about the WWE, it’s big), glacier-melting sex appeal, seemingly unlimited energy…and she can dance. Let me put it this way…in a competition like this, she’s like Anna Kournikova poured into Roger Federer. Two perfect scores so far, and she looks like she’s just getting warmed up. And she’s the one who ISN’T the professional (who’s pretty damn good).
But anything can happen at this point, so…guess I’ll just have to keep watching. Rooting hard for a Drew/Stacy final, obviously.
Stacy is such a mystery to me. On paper, she’s the kind of woman I would usually just despise. Someone on TWoP said she was like the ultra-popular girl in school who you assume is just a bitch but you find out she teaches poor kids to read and takes food to old people every weekend. I knew she was hot; I didn’t expect her to be so darn cute. I’m definitely rooting for her.
Whoops I had another thought I forgot to add in there. Sorry for the double post.
I think the judges have really painted themselves in the corner with the scoring. They’ve pretty much only given themselves between 8 to 10 to deal with, as anything less than that is perceived as outrageously low. I think that’s why Jerry is pretty much pinned down in the same range as George every week. If they had a little more to work with I think they could spread people out a little. It’d be great if 5 to 7 was “good, but needs improvement,” instead it’s seen as “horrible, go home!”
Argh, computer problems at home, couldn’t get on last night. Which also means I couldn’t vote last night – which is okay, since Drew and Stacy don’t need my votes, and Jerry and George are equally expendable at this point. Probably would have voted for Lisa, who’s definitely doing a bang-up job as the plucky underdog.
Liked the shtick around George’s routine. Ordinarily the pro does the choreography, as I understand it – do you think their shtick comes from George, or are they bringing in a third person to help them with it?
And I wasn’t impressed with Drew’s tango – it felt very flat to me.
Stacy – omigod. As Slacker said, she’s someone you expect to loathe but who turns out to be a total sweetheart. And a genuine sweetheart. Damn.
I agree with all of the comments. George and Jerry are minor league players who are an interesting diversion until the major leaguers show up. They don’t really have a lot of dancing experience to draw on and they dance as well as they can given their limitations.
Stacy and** Drew ** rock. Stacy is just unbelievably cute and sexy and pretty and she can dance up a storm. Drew has rhythm and good looks and a masculinity that you don’t really see a lot with male dancers. (Maksim had it. Tony and Louis (IMO), do not.) It’s tough to carry off some of those moves and not look like a fruit loop.
And then we have the middle of the pack, Lisa. She has really improved, but she’s out-classed by Stacy and Drew. Which is a shame because her learning curve was much higher.
Which makes me reiterate, once again, that it’s tough when you have non-dancers competing against people who have obviously had years of dance training. It’s obvious that Stacy has had years of ballet, for instance. The average bear just can’t hold a high leg extension like that.
Personally, I would be far more entertained if they either had a show filled with people like Drew and Stacy OR a show filled with people like George and Lisa. But mixing it up is unfair and, ultimately, predictable. Right now I think we can safely map out the remainder of the season.
Next to go:
Jerry, George, Lisa, and then the real battle will begin. If I was a betting woman, I’d say Stacy will edge out Drew.
Are there going to be three more eliminations? They kept saying next week (4 couples) was the semi-finals. Multiple mentions of that.
Are the finals going to be between three couples instead of two?
BTW, does anyone know how the voting and ranking work in the non-American versions?
Re: Amarinth’s questions, if the show follows the UK version’s format it will be a three-way final. So, next week’s semi will eliminate one couple, as in previous eps. What seems to define the semis and finals is that the couples will have to do two different dances for judges’ scoring (again going by the UK version; didn’t follow the first US series).
As far as voting and ranking goes, the US and UK versions are basically the same: 50% judges, 50% audience phone-in. The only differences are that the most recent UK series had four judges (Len, Bruno and two other well-known ballroom figures), and that the week’s elimination is announced later on the night of competition, rather than on the following night.
Although everybody here seems to like Stacy, she’s driving me up a wall. I made the mistake of reading an interview she did for Esquire or Maxim or one of those magazines, and she just came across as so vapid and trampy, and not in the fun way. Just a publicity hound whose entire persona was saying things like “I thank God I’ve got a great ass and legs!” Plus she’s obviously had years of dance training, and I’d rather see people like Lisa, Drew, and George learning how to dance than Stacy coming in and getting everything perfect right off the bat.
I like Lisa and Drew – they both seem like they’re not only learning the dances but having a lot of fun just being there. And George, of course. 
What was it that Drew said last week about bearing George’s children? Jerry is cool, but isn’t funny enough (like George) to make up for his technical problems. I liked his pasa doble this week, though, much more than the judges apparently did.
I’m hoping for a Lisa/Drew showdown, but I’m sure Cheater Stacy will make it to the top. Sigh.
Stacy’s an ambitious young starlet?
***la la la I can’t hear you! ***
Buh-bye, George – sorry to see you go, you were a hell of a lot of fun – but now was the time.
(A friend was over tonight and I made him watch . His main question was – what the hell is with that woman’s lips?).
Forget about the elimination, how in the world did that 3rd guy make his legs move so fast? Holy crap! I had to watch that part over and over again. He was awesome.
Aw, geez…I actually find myself caring enough to respond. No turning back now, eh?
Slacker - Thank you for hitting on what was, for me, the absolutely most UNWATCHABLE part of both DWTS and American Idol (and which very nearly turned me off to DWTS for good). I cannot effin’ stand the utter lunacy of the crowd, and it’s ridiculous that the judges should have to put up with that crap week after week. At least on AI, the judges have no control over the outcome, so all it is is irritating. When their scores actually count, allowing a bunch of nitwits to influence this makes a total mockery of what was a fairly dubious contest to begin with. (And I know they try to remain objective and shake off the heat, but they’re only human.)
If it were up to me, the judges would simply watch the performances on Thursday, then give their comments and scores afterward. In a nice, quiet location. Which would be revealed on Friday after the votes were tabulated.
PunditLisa - Yeah, it’s going to be a bit predictable, but that’s mainly the fault of the last-man-standing format. (Why does every show have to slavishly follow this format? Shouldn’t placement count for anything?) This is about performances as much as it is about competition…maybe more so, come to think of it…so it’s still worth watching. Just because Stacy Kiebler has a clear shot to the finals doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the ride.
Tracy Lord - Well, I don’t know enough about her to like or dislike her as a perosn