It’s happened in past seasons, as well – there’s often a point where the judges give their opinions on who they think should win, and I don’t think it’s ever been after all the dances were done.
I agree with you. I certainly don’t recall a time where one of the judges told one of the final two that they should win, and when they’ve made any comments in the past about favorites, they’ve usually couched them much more carefully than Len did. I thought it sucked, and I thought it called his subsequent scoring greatly into question. What about Evan’s final dance should have resulted in it being scored a 9?
I think the forced ranking scored dances (where teams may earn a 30, 28 or 26) are also clearly bullshit procedures just to give the judges’ preferences even greater weight. If you have to fight against the popular vote on a television show where the popular vote reflects the preferences of the audience, isn’t that suggesting that you want to make the show less desirable by the very people watching it? It was satisfying to see previous seasons where someone who represents what the show is supposed to be about actually winning, rather than a ringer taking it all.
ETA: Len’s comment also seemed to undercut all the crap that they were desperately trying to sell about how hard it was to judge the dancers this season. If you tell me that it’s very hard to decide who the winner should be on such a great season, and then you tell me who should win before the final dance is even performed, I’m going to be dubious about what you said earlier.
A dreadful tedious and over-produced ending to a miserable season. But I will say it was Kate’s finest hour, when she finally stopped whining (on the dance-floor; the package was just Kate whining some more) and said “I look like shit, so here I am looking like shit.” On the other hand, Niecy looked better than she looked most of the season.
UVU has some serious dancing chops. But didn’t they say in last week’s package that they offered a degree program in ballroom dancing? Putting them up against the other schools was like Godzilla vs. Bambi. Or like Nicole against everyone else, except maybe Evan.
Okay! Nicole was my sentimental pick (I think quality performances should be rewarded; I do not think these people should be scored under handicap, if I haven’t made that abundantly clear yet), but I didn’t think she’d actually come out on top. Erin did great just making it to the final step, and Evan finally ran out of gas. The best player won, and had anything carried over, it probably wouldn’t have been even that close. I’m satisfied.
As for the judges’ having too much power in the final: Possible cause for (slight) concern, but I’ll take it over them having too little power any day. One of the things that’s always irritated me was that these were the three most knowledgable people about ballroom dancing invovled with the show, and it was not only way too easy to completely override them, you could see it coming almost every time. (Remember Master P? And BTW, I don’t ever want to see that again. Ever.) It’s reached the point where they had no choice but to misdirect, use weasel words, sugarcoat, evade, and flat-out lie so as to avoid triggering the inevitable flood of misguided knee-jerk voting. I’m perfectly find with them taking control when it matters the most. You want to reward inspiration and hard work in the early rounds, fine, but when the mirror ball trophy comes out, it’s put up or shut up.
Ultimately, I think the only real solution is to not make the judges’ scores known, at least until after the round, and ideally not at all until the entire season is over. Don’t give anything for Vote For The Worst to latch on to. Don’t stoke the fires of outrage. But since that’s never going to happen…well…all right Nicole! 