[QUOTE=Eureka]
Ooops. I’ve never seen her name in print, so I didn’t realize I spelled it wrong.
But thanks for the height info, and the spelling corrections.
[/QUOTE]
Don’t feel bad; when I tried looking up her height, I looked for “Cat Neeley”. But it’s Deeley, she’s 5’9", 31 years old, and cuter 'n a bug’s ear.
I was reminded why I need to turn off the damn computer and watch this show when it’s on – I didn’t last night and missed way too much of it.
I can’t tell anyone apart at this point – too many good dancers. Did like the hiphop, which I don’t, usually – liked the Broadway – hated the disco, but that was mostly genre/choreography (and I’d also noticed the guy sticking his butt out and wondering whether he’d been told to do that or what).
Mary is annoying not only for her godawful screech, but because her comments are always so goddamn content free. Both of the other judges actually had useful feedback for the dancers, whether the overall tone was positive or not, as SBS so helpfully broke down.
I love Joshua.
He’s my pick.
[QUOTE=twickster]
I had totally forgotten how frigging annoying Mary is.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you for this. I thought maybe my husband and I were the only ones who felt that way.
[QUOTE=RandMcnally]
One thing that has been bothering me since last night. Their names. It’s probably just me but I think a lot of their names are just plain stupid. Either made of or not spelled correctly. I mean, what the hell is wrong with “Katie?” Why does it have to be spelled “Katee?”
[/QUOTE]
This Katee might have something to say about it. I actually prefer the phonetic spelling.
And “Chelsea” is not a K sound. It’s not Kelsey, which is a different name.
p.s. I also like Mary and don’t find her annoying, just exuberant and perhaps exaggerated for TV. You could just as easily nit-pick Nigel for being an old fart and that other male judge for being overly critical and in love with the phrase “not at all”.
With Kat Deeley’s accent, everytime she said the name “Comfort” I heard “Cuthbert” and kept thinking what a strange name to give to a girl. My wife says I need my hearing checked, I told her that’s exactly what I’d expect a Protestant to say 
I only tuned in to see the last five couples dance, but I mostly agreed with the judges comments that I saw.
The only one I disagreed with was the couple who did the tango. The judges kept gushing how great their chemistry was and how passionate their dancing was, but it didn’t seem intense enough to me. Personally, I think a tango should have a more intense passion, prefereably with lots of strong eye contact between the couple. The girl’s smile was a bit too much of a bubbly grin for my taste, and not sultry enough for a tango.
I agree with your interpretation of their tango Waenara. I felt no heat between them at all. Similarly, I so wanted to like the “Tainted Love” dance, but it also left me cold. Favorite of the night was the dance Mia choreographed (which shocked me quite a bit – her stuff is usually pretty hit or miss for me), because it seemed exactly like how it would be for a really young couple to get married. Second was the first hip-hop routine, which had me and the spouse laughing like crazy when the guy wowed us with his underwear.
Best though had to go to Joshua and Katee. When it started, I was a little underwhelmed and thought I really wasn’t going to like the style within which they explained their characters and story. But the minute they started doing everything in unison, it just blossomed. I love anything synchronized anyway, but they owned, owned, PWN3D it!! 
This is season does indeed seem to be lightyear’s ahead of the rest already, but there’s a couple who don’t quite feel like they’ll be able to cut it… Suzie (and I wanna root for her too dammit, 'cause she’s such an underdog that many on the SYTYCD board’s don’t like for her looks, etc.), Comfort (I just can’t see her picking up other stuff well) and Marquis. However, I adored Chelsea Traille (the black girl from Houston), Gev and Joshua. Not to mention that Kourtni and Jamie weren’t bad either.
Overall, a pretty good show and I was glad the judges weren’t too harsh right out of the box. I just wish the disco stuff ever held up very well. It can be so iffy.
[QUOTE=faithfool]
Best though had to go to Joshua and Katee. When it started, I was a little underwhelmed and thought I really wasn’t going to like the style within which they explained their characters and story. But the minute they started doing everything in unison, it just blossomed. I love anything synchronized anyway, but they owned, owned, PWN3D it!! 
[/QUOTE]
That was my favorite, too. They got my vote last night.
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain]
Thank you for this. I thought maybe my husband and I were the only ones who felt that way.
[/QUOTE]
Nah, I think she became a permanent judge (she was only an occasional judge Season I, IIRC) is precisely because a lot of people do find her so annoying. In these three-judge shows, there’s always one who’s a “character” – Simon on AI, David Hasselhoff on America’s Got Talent, Bruno on Dancing with the Stars, etc.
[QUOTE=twickster]
Nah, I think she became a permanent judge (she was only an occasional judge Season I, IIRC) is precisely because a lot of people do find her so annoying. In these three-judge shows, there’s always one who’s a “character” – Simon on AI, David Hasselhoff on America’s Got Talent, Bruno on Dancing with the Stars, etc.
[/QUOTE]
Their guest judges are almost always choreographers they use on the show. If they use their choreography that week they can’t be a judge. Mary’s voice can be annoying, but she knows her stuff. I’ve never seen her as encouraging as last night. She can be downright snarky at times and as the competition gets harder she will start calling out the dancers on very minor shortcomings. Definitely not a Paula.
Results tonight, very surprised to see Will and partner in bottom 3. He is really excellent, hope he gains a following. Thought the disco couple should have been bottom 3 and even sent home, but the first couple to dance last night were next worst IMO. Of the dance solos tonight, I felt that only Will put any thought in his routine and it showed. The judges look very carefully at these 30 sec. to see how much the dancer showed off their strengths and personalities and only a strong string of prior performances will overcome a poor “dance for your life” routine.
Glad to see that Wade is apparently still with us after all… loved the opening sequence. Nigel can be such a good sport.
Sorry to see Jamie go. I think he got shafted, but strictly speaking out of the competition he danced for his life against, I don’t think the judges had any choice. As to Ravyen, I thought she did a horrible job with her solo (and that whole outfit combination – what was she thinking?!) but otherwise I liked her in general. I definitely feel Suzie has been overall weaker.
Can’t wait until next week though because I don’t think I can get enough of seeing Joshua, Chelsea T., Will or Gev’s (and possibly Kourtni) moves. Oh, and finally, I hope the viewing public really didn’t have anything with the funny underwear move. I don’t want that to have been what kept everyone away from voting in droves. 
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who didn’t like the girl-who-left’s outfit.
Actually, I didn’t like any of the outfits on the girls who danced for their lives. Two of the three were just not a good length or width, and the third had weird pink tulle stuff hanging off the bottom.
In my opinion, either shorter “dresses” with bottoms which were properly part of the outfits or longer dresses would have been better. And either tighter and slinkier dresses, or dresses which flared out more would have been better.
Although, if they were going to flare out more, they should have flared from the actual waist and not from right under the bust region.
ETA: I was disapointed that they kept the girl with a weak overall dance for her life over the girl who chose to dance demi-point rather than en pointe. Assuming of course that I’m not confused about which girl was which–always a possibility.
[QUOTE=Eureka]
ETA: I was disapointed that they kept the girl with a weak overall dance for her life over the girl who chose to dance demi-point rather than en pointe. Assuming of course that I’m not confused about which girl was which–always a possibility.
[/QUOTE]
Me too. The girl that was cut was actually my favorite of all 10 women, she had great energy, presence, face, and all that. Plus, I loved her for being the “old grey mare” (28 yo IIRC) keeping up among the pack of 18 and 19 yo phenoms.
I think the judges are heavily selecting on growth potential, and I think the “demi pointe” criticism was their way of saying that they think she’s too old.
[QUOTE=GargoyleWB]
Me too. The girl that was cut was actually my favorite of all 10 women, she had great energy, presence, face, and all that. Plus, I loved her for being the “old grey mare” (28 yo IIRC) keeping up among the pack of 18 and 19 yo phenoms.
I think the judges are heavily selecting on growth potential, and I think the “demi pointe” criticism was their way of saying that they think she’s too old.
[/QUOTE]
Truthfully, I don’t pay enough attention–or at least haven’t yet–to know which dancer is which in other respects–I was just mad based on which they picked because of the phrasing of the criticism.
[QUOTE=GargoyleWB]
I think the judges are heavily selecting on growth potential, and I think the “demi pointe” criticism was their way of saying that they think she’s too old.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t really feel too bad that she got kicked off solely for the reason that she wore a stupid fucking outfit.
[QUOTE=RandMcnally]
I don’t really feel too bad that she got kicked off solely for the reason that she wore a stupid fucking outfit.
[/QUOTE]
I cut her a millimeter of slack for that. One of the things about the show is the judges keep emphasizing ‘personality’. The result is that some of the contestants go overboard with the mugging smiling kooky jumping around. If it doesn’t come naturally to you, you can end up looking forced. The same effect holds for their choice of costumes. To me, she was just going overboard trying show the judges her ‘personality’ through her costuming.
TiVo tonight.
Yet again I have to ask–who the hell dresses Cat Deeley?? I’d forgotten from previous seasons but now I am remembering some of the fashion atrocities that have been committed on that lady. My god they pick out the most HIDEOUS clothing for that poor woman. The results show thing… the pink fluffy shapeless made-out-of-muffin-cups thing… was just nasty and unflattering, especially on someone as shapeless as Cat is (sorry, but she’s got one of those stick figures–she has no shape.)
I didn’t like the first routine at all. It looked like a clown act, and I’m guessing it was about getting an STD based on how many times they grabbed their crotches and got pained looks on their faces. Loved the Broadway routine. Hated the stupid wedding routine. God that was wretched. I think I’ve liked 2 of Mia Michaels’ routines ever–I just think her stuff tends to be unwatchable. I didn’t like Chelsea T. either. She kept making the same stupid series of faces. First it was a sort of “oh god I’m so hot” pouty thing, then a “oops! you caught me!” wide-mouthed gasp, then a sort of lips-pursed smirk. Over and over. And during the critique I thought her head was going to split in half she kept opening her mouth so wide. I’m not sure what that expression was–was it a smile?–it was just her opening her mouth as wide as possible over and over. She annoys me. The disco was fun but I agree that the performance was a little weak. With another day of rehearsal I think they’d have gotten it much better. It just looked slightly under-rehearsed. The Tainted Love routine was cute, I thought, though I agree with Mary that Kourtni (sp??) looked heavy.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to repeat how annoying I think Mary is. My god I just can’t STAND that woman. She has the most horrible laugh, the most annoying voice, and says stupid things. When she has actual points to make, she can be insightful, but mostly she’s just on some screeching thing about the “hot tamale train” or some equally stupid bullshit and she makes me want to punch her right in her horse teeth.
Performances tonight weren’t quite as good as last week. No problem picking the bottom 3.
Here are my critiques for what they’re worth.
**Chelsea/Thayne ** C Jazz Regal couple story just didn’t work. No conniction or passion. Chelsea brok character by smiling a few times.
Mark/Chelsea B- TANgo She looked at her feet too much instead of at Mark. He had passion and intensity, she had good form but not passion
Jessica/Will A- HipHop Not always together in the routine. When Will popped off that chair he REALLY popped. He was much crisper/sharper whereas Jess was more rounded. He is really GOOD. Unless something goes seriously wrong, he should be in Final Four.
Kourtni/Matt B- Foxtrot She looks too heavy and it really stuck out because Matt was so light on his feet, reminiscent of Fred Astaire. Lifts looked awkward because of the disparity between them.
Courtney/Gev B+ Contemporary Eye drawn to her, has a lot of stage presence. Gev was completely in character, eyes totally for her, expressed his vulnerability. Lifts not too good. What’s with Mia saying “it lacked organic purity”? WTH does that mean?
Katee/Joshua A Broadway Wow. He was FANTASTIC. He seemed to defy gravity, he was so light when he jumped and leaped. He doesn’t overdance. Lots of energy. I think he’s really pushing Katee to be better to keep up with him.
Susie/Marquis C- Salsa Seemed disjointed/tentative. Concentrating on steps and not enjoying themselves or the dance.
Kerrington/Twitch A- Vienese Waltz Lifts were lovely - very flowing. Agreed with Mia about the smile. Loved Twitch’s ab’s. Lots of chemistry between the two. Why was she barefoot? Ballroom should have heels right? Some of his footwork was a little messy, but overall a really good performance.
Komfort/Chris C Krump Komfort was good - edgy, but Nigel was right about her toning it down. She should have really been in your face. Didn’t expect Chris to be able to pull it off, and he didn’t. But he tried and seemed to enjoy himself.
Predictions for bottom 3. Chelsea/Thayne, Susie/Marquis, Kourtni/Matt
May I say that Mia Michaels looks really good this season. She’s lost a bunch of weight and she just looks great.
Wow, great critiques, rpc! Agree with what you said, for the most part. Will and Twitch seem solid for final four, perhaps final two – I’m not seeing any of the women who are nearly as good as they are.
Susie and Marquis’s salsa was a frikkin’ mess – they and Chelsea & Thayne were the worst two couples tonight – in both cases, however, I think they were victims of choreography. The regal jazz story was totally WTF for me – and the salsa was just out of S&M’s skill level.