[QUOTE=jsc1953]
Jason looks particularly good in foxtrot & waltz, because he glides really well. Not a technical analysis, but that’s how it looks to me. In the paso doble, where he doesn’t get to glide, I thought he looked awkward.
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I completely agree with you!
I knew it was coming, but it’s still a little sad. They’re so gosh-darned cute together.
I worked last night, so…who got the boot?
Thanks, Phil
Phil - Marissa and Tony got the boot.
StG
They’re all doing the same dance? Have they done that in previous seasons?
Yanno, everyone’s been saying Kristi’s a ringer – but the fact of the matter is that the women traditionally haven’t made it to the finals because their parts are so much flashier than the men’s, so it’s easier to make a male celeb look good. I think you almost need to spot a female celeb some previous training to make it fair.
ETA: To respond to the question in the previous post – yes, this is the first time thy’ve done this. It’s a good idea.
Well, it was good to see the judges considering Kristi against the other competitors rather than against their ‘Kristi standard.’ That being said, and Kristi being unquestionably the best dancer of the three, I liked both the men’s freestyles better than Kristi’s. Like Bruno, I find that Jason and Edyta just take my breath away with their beauty, and their lifts were truly spectacular, and I liked the un-funkiness of Christian and Cheryl’s dance. I was surprised how well Jason did the funky thing - the humor worked. But I would just love to see a real ballroom freestyle for once - a foxtrot or waltz with some lifts or some such - and Jason would have been the perfect one to do it. Oh well.
It was a good idea having the three stars in more direct competition. But I hope they truly select the dance randomly - it’s no good if it’s a Latin every time, since some contestants are just plain better at ballroom. Except Kristi, of course, who is perfect at everything.
[QUOTE=twickster]
Yanno, everyone’s been saying Kristi’s a ringer – but the fact of the matter is that the women traditionally haven’t made it to the finals because their parts are so much flashier than the men’s, so it’s easier to make a male celeb look good. I think you almost need to spot a female celeb some previous training to make it fair.
ETA: To respond to the question in the previous post – yes, this is the first time thy’ve done this. It’s a good idea.
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I have to agree with you about Kristi. While I think that she has had some advantages throughout the competition, I was wondering if they’d brought her in so that a woman would have a better shot at winning. I also liked her cha-cha best of the three. On the other hand, I would have liked to have seen more ballroom dance elements in her free style. Could she at least have worn a skirt?
Oh well, at least they picked fun music for Jason Taylor – I think all of Miami may have voted for him – and it looked like all three were enjoying themselves. I loved it when Jason and Christian lifted Kristi at the end of the cha-cha. Christian’s improved a lot, even if he still looks a little too much like Jack Nicholson for me. I still think Kristi will win, but I have to root for my hometown boy, Jason Taylor.
Why does everyone do hip-hop for the finals? It was kind of fun the first time or two, but by now it’s almost boring. Kristi’s was pretty good, but I would much rather have seen Jason doing the kind of dancing he’s good at - a nice powerful foxtrot or waltz. At least Cristian did salsa instead.
Oh, and TV Guide had an interesting take on this season: Dancing Battles a “Nice” Problem
You could definitely see Jason’s shortcomings when the three were dancing together at the end of the cha-cha. Christian was absolutely better at the cha-cha than Jason,but CarrieAnn gave them the same score of 8.
But, of course neither of the men came close to Kristi’s style and technique. She was really on tonight showing more personality and for the first time seemed to be enjoying herself.
Christian’s injury really stood out in the freestyle with the one-armed lifts, but he still looked great and I’m so glad he made it this far considering he really had no fan base to speak of compared to Kristi and Jason.
Ye gods…as if the bizarre song selections, hyper-cornball training segments, judges having every damn word booed to the heavens (and the viewers knowing exactly which sentimental bum they have to prop up), and stupid ridiculous pointless worthless horrible last-man-standing elimination system that just will not friggin’ die*, now we’re going to have manufactured hostility? Note to ABC pinheads: When the show is about a bunch of strangers sitting around on the beach for hours at a stretch and doing a chore every so often, you want to have drama. When the show is a competition, you let it be a competition!
I’m telling you right now that no good will come from needlessly stirring up the pot, and they’re either going to ax it after one season, or the show will get cancelled. Honestly, how anyone can think anything even remotely good will come of this is beyond me.
What else…oh, re. Kristi Yamaguchi. Why, praytell, is “ringer” status only now an issue? I can name three past contestants right off the top of my head who were in a similar position: Stacy Kiebler, Drew Lachey, and Emmitt Smith (c’mon, all time rushing leader and three Super Bowl rings; do the math, folks). Furthermore, I watched all the early UFCs, back when it was an 8-man tournament, and I know that you need someone really good in there, at the very least to ensure that the championship goes to someone really good, whether him or the guy who beats him. At any rate, she’s a contestant, and she should be treated the same as any other contestant, just like Jason Taylor (not nearly as famous as Emmitt Smith, but this is the #1 sport in the country; don’t even pretend that he’s not getting a boost).
I’m definitely pulling for Yamaguchi to win. Talk about expectations or sentimentality or popularity all you like: when it’s down to the final 3, the best of that three deserves the championship. It’s that simple. I wouldn’t be disappointed if Taylor won, though…this is just for fun, and we’d all do well to remember that. In any case, both of them are well aware of how unfair sports can be, Yamaguchi hailing from figure skating, which, as a sport, has slightly more credibility than competitive face slapping, and Taylor not only hailing from a team that squandered one of the greatest quarterbacks ever and got 5 or 6 mudholes stomped into it every time it made the playoffs, but having to hear about that champagne party thrown by a bunch of pathetic stuck-in-the-past losers Every. Damn. Season. So don’t expect any 1st season rematch-okay-that-doesn’t-actually-count fireworks regardless of how this ends up.
Not sure why it’s so important that a woman win it. Ratings? Difficulty finding female stars? If it is important, I think a logical first step would be to drastically reduce the weight of the audience vote, the one aspect the producers have absolutely no control over. The judges are under enough pressure as it is; don’t force them to show favoritism, for pete’s sake.
Should be an interesting finale.
IIRC, one season they had the couples do a dance to the same song. I liked that (and this season’s splitting of one song, too). So they could be compared directly.
I didn’t get the robe thing that Kristi & Mark did. And I did like Christian’s better than Jason’s - I didn’t think he did well with hip hop. It didn’t suit him.
[QUOTE=ENugent]
Oh, and TV Guide had an interesting take on this season: Dancing Battles a “Nice” Problem
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Nice article. 
Hm, maybe we can while away the post-season by coming up with a list of “Assholes we’d like to see on DwtS.”
Uh, DWK? I didn’t understand a great deal of your post, but being a world class athlete, especially a linebacker, doesn’t help much except in that you’ve faced competition before. And even there, you’ve had a whole ten other guys at any given time facing the same competition, while here you’re alone with your partner.
If all great athletes were automatically great dancers, Monica Seles would have been a shoe-in. Strength? Check! Endurance? Check! Speed and dexterity? Check! Competitive drive? Check! Willingness to train? Check! Physical attractiveness? Check! Dancing? um… not so much. She was so bad that everyone, not just experts, but anyone with eyes in their head, could see that she was just not good, thereby ending the idea that strength and agility automatically confer grace. Some things can’t be learned, at least not in adulthood. If Monica Seles showed us anything, it should be that.
Kristi has been considered a “ringer” because her sport closely resembles dancing in a lot of its move and its general desiderata of grace, musicality, beauty of motion. Similarly, an Olympic champion gymnast would be considered a “ringer.” Other than that, the only contestants who can be considered ringers are those with previous dance experience, and even those don’t necessarily adapt to ballroom, which takes a whole skill set that differs significantly from other dance styles. I’ve heard pro dancers talk about discovering muscles they hadn’t known they had in order to do ballroom.
[QUOTE=Oy!]
If all great athletes were automatically great dancers, Monica Seles would have been a shoe-in. Strength? Check! Endurance? Check! Speed and dexterity? Check! Competitive drive? Check! Willingness to train? Check! Physical attractiveness? Check! Dancing? um… not so much. She was so bad that everyone, not just experts, but anyone with eyes in their head, could see that she was just not good, thereby ending the idea that strength and agility automatically confer grace. Some things can’t be learned, at least not in adulthood. If Monica Seles showed us anything, it should be that.
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I think we’ve known this since the days of Evander Holyfield, of whom the most memorable description I saw was, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, dance like a dromedary.”
I suspect that DWK’s point was that Emmitt Smith had an unfair name-recognition / popularity advantage relative to the other contestants. But that doesn’t get you the title without dance skill attached - just ask Marie Osmond.
[QUOTE=ENugent]
Oh, and TV Guide had an interesting take on this season: Dancing Battles a “Nice” Problem
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But, but, that’s why I’ve enjoyed this season so much! This is the only season I’ve actually watched most of the shows and I’ve enjoyed the sense of friendly competition. I greatly dislike drama and hostility and meanness and deal with it enough in the real world that I don’t need more from my TV shows.
[QUOTE=ENugent]
I think we’ve known this since the days of Evander Holyfield, of whom the most memorable description I saw was, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, dance like a dromedary.”
I suspect that DWK’s point was that Emmitt Smith had an unfair name-recognition / popularity advantage relative to the other contestants. But that doesn’t get you the title without dance skill attached - just ask Marie Osmond.
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Love that memorable description!
I think prior name recognition counts to some extent at first. After the half-way point, very little. Then it’s a combination of how well they dance and how well people like them as they are on the show. Who the hell ever heard of Marissa or Christian prior to this? They like them on the show. You have to remember that name recognition from the show itself far outweighs name recognition from almost anything else except another popular prime-time show. Emmit Smith said that after being on the show, he was constantly being stopped and asked about it - far more often recognized than he had been just as a football player. At the beginning, people have their preconceived notions on the third to a half of the “stars” they’ve actually heard of - I doubt most people have heard of more. But I don’t believe Emmit Smith is a bigger name than Monica Seles - I don’t watch sports, and would eagerly turn off a tennis match even faster than I would a football game, but I knew exactly who Monica Seles was, and had never heard of Emmit Smith.
My point being, popularity may hold a contestant in longer than they should be in, but only someone who is arguably the best will win it. People need to believe that they themselves are “playing fair,” so toward the end, likeability will only matter if they can talk themselves into believing that their guy is really better than the others. Otherwise we’d be watching Marissa get the title tonight, and we might have seen Marie Osmond get it last season. Between Helio and Mel, it was more or less a toss-up (ok, Mel was the better of the two, but not by much), so people could vote for that huge grin and tell themselves they were voting for the better dancer. Same thing with Emmit vs. Mario and Joey - both the latter were better dancers, but not by much, and Emmit had that thousand watt smile and that teddy bear person.
This year, I can’t tell you who will be the runner up, but I feel pretty sure that Kristi will win. The judges made their opinion so clear last night that people are going to have a hard time justifying voting for someone else to themselves.
And I suspect that TV Guide article was tongue-in-cheek. I’ve never seen angry competitiveness between the stars on this show.
I missed the first hour (watching the season finale of NCIS) – has Christian been eliminated?
A satisfying end to a satisfying season.