Season 19 Week 1

After ditching last season because of Erin - which I regret because I missed Maks' triump - I find I'm looking forward to a season of unknowns.  Hoping it's more than a popularity contest.

Are we ready for some dancin'?

I have no expertise and judge strictly on grace of movement.  That being said, I truly enjoyed "Dancing With The Strangers" last night.  A couple of duds but also, some nice surprises.

Loved Lea's movement.  Sadie shows loads of potential - especially for someone who's only danced in her bedroom.  Randy was particularly surprising.  And Alfonso?  What can I say?  And the winner is...  That was the most enjoyable dance of the evening.

Downside?  Julianne's bazooms glaring off the screen, along with the dark roots.  Not an attractive look, IMO.  And LoLo's attitude.  I think she'll be the one to go.

I'm ready for more!

PS:  I saw on the ABC board that M&M were there.  Didn't even catch the glimpse!!!

Have tried to post several times, but they keep disappearing.  So I'll keep this short and cross my fingers! 

Overall - great show.  I'm looking forward to the season.  Seems like we have a lot of nice people.

What I didn't like:

DDD - really wish they had not given that horrible family another platform to feed their fame fetish.  Kid is okay but nowhere near as good as the judges made her out to be.  She has Zendaya's coltishness but not her grace and performance skills.  Really hoping she'll be gone tonight but not expecting it.

Julianne - we so did not need a 4th judge wasting our time.  When she wasn't channeling Carrie Anne, she was okay, but her dress, hair and make-up were terrible.  Wouldn't have believed they could make such a beautiful young woman look so bad.

Lolo - after the dance anyway. I thought she did a valiant job trying to figure it out after she got messed up at the beginning, but once she was done dancing, she needed to shut up.  I hated the way she kept talking over the judges.  Just shut it and listen.

What I especially liked:

Alfonso - what a terrific job and a fun personality.

Randy - talk about a surprise!  Wow.  Don't know if he can keep it up, but that was a great start.

Janel and Lea - I thought they both did great jobs and were a bit underscored.

The rest:

With the exception of DDD, there was no one I really disliked, and I thought all of them did a decent to good job.  Betsy and Tommy were funny and likeable and more flexible than most of the oldsters on the show.  Keo and Artem were great as new pros.  Allison was less successful, imho.  She reminds me a bit of Peta in that I think she dances too aggressively, but then I've never really been a fan of her doing ballroom, even when she was dancing with Derek.  I love her in most other styles and really am a fan, but I just wish they had gotten a ballroom professional as a pro. It's not like there aren't a lot out there.  They've got the fantastic Jenna in the troupe already, so why go to a non-ballroom dancer?  She wasn't horrible, and I like her generally, but I just thought her debut as a pro was less successful than Keo and Artem, but I do like her celeb.  Jonathan was cute, but those bug-eyes are going to drive me crazy if he doesn't tone it down.

Looking forward to the rest of the season.  I'm guessing either Lolo, Michael or Betsy will go home tonight.  Kinda hoping it's not Lolo just because I want to see more of Keo, but she didn't exactly endear herself to people last night.

Mustang, please see the personal message I left you.  You were sorely missed by me during SYTYCD.  Thought you fell off the earth.

I, too, was surprised by Randy.  Funny, though.  Every time I looked at his face, I was thinking of Jason Statham.  Randy is the first time I ever saw a cauliflower ear.  Interesting.  I never knew what one looked like.  I know they come from fighting, but I wonder exactly how.

Thanks for the explanation of how the cauliflower is formed, USN.  Interesting.

After watching so much of Fleiss' franchise, I took note of the camera focusing on Lolo's face.  My first thought?  Okay.  We're not supposed to like her.  Problem is, I was already indifferent to her.  When she began talking about virginity and how she's never been this close to a man, I found myself wondering why the heck she ever signed on.  Frankly, I think that because of that split-second clip, she may well go home for it.

I had hoped that Lolo would be given a second chance, but it's not a surprise she was the one going home.  I knew there was no chance the DDD would leave, but I was so hoping.

New DWTS drinking game - take a huge swallow every time they show dad praying.  Ugh. And this coming from a Christian.  They need to stop wearing their piety on their sleeve because their theology is whacked out.

newto, we all know how patient Tony is, but I think Betsey is a little too much (crazy) for him. As he said, there's a circus going on in her brain. She's an eccentric, but popular, designer who does a cartwheel at the end of her runway shows. I must say the makeup looks like something out of "Baby Jane," but I suppose at ther age, the lip line definition is gone.


mustang, I don't understand why you're anti-DDD.  Am I missing something?  I thought her first dancing exhibition was promising.  Or is it just the whole family that bugs?  I agree she was overscored, but the scoring often seems unfair to us at home.  I've never watched the duck show and just ignored the family.  I tape and ffwd through the bs.

PS:  For me, praying to win a contest doesn't seem very Christian.  I mean, in the grand scheme of things , do you think Jesus really gives a shit if she wins a dance contest?

Singly - let's just say that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, and that's a very poisonous tree.  The grandfather, Phil, is a fairly despicable person.  Among other things, he "preaches" that gays are murderers and look for ways to do evil, men should marry 15- and 16-year old girls, and that anyone who can't be converted should be killed.  And the entire family, including DDD, have come out in support of him.  They haven't even attempted to distance themselves from his views, so I can only assume they believe as he does.  As rkc1960 says, he has a right to his opinion, and his family has a right to agree with him, and I have a right to find them all offensive.  I don't want to see any of those people on my tv. 

Beyond that, I just didn't enjoy her.  I get a "spoiled princess" vibe from her, and I thought her dancing was not good.  The faces she kept pulling were distracting and annoying, and there was just something about the way she moved that was awkward and ungainly.  To be honest, if she weren't who she is, I probably would say give her time to improve.  But because of her family, I simply can't get behind her at all.  I really just want her and her ridiculous parents gone.

Wow, mustang, I had no idea about her grandfather.  Glad I've never tuned in to that show.  We'll have to agree to disagree about her performance, however.  For me, she shows great potential.

I have no interest in the reality shows based on family dynamics - Kardashians, Ducks, Housewives, etc.  Must say I've never watched any of them.  My interest for reality shows is in talent contests - of the creative ilk.  Project Runway, Face Off, and such.  Did you actually watch the Dynasty - or did you read this somewhere?

rkc, I stand corrected on the prayer issue.  Still...

Honestly, I've never watched more than snippets of the show while channel surfing, as knowing how fake they are, it just doesn't appeal to me.  Or I should say it appeals to me even less than usual.  (I watch SYTYCD, DWTS, AGT and Face Off - that's as much 'reality' as I want.)  The family was well off, and the sons were all yuppies - think Carleton from 'Fresh Prince' yuppies - before they were offered the show so they grew beards and adopted the bandanas to became 'rednecks' for fame and fortune.  The grandfather was in the news a while back when he made some of his homophobic statements during an interview with GQ (I think it was that magazine).  He was suspended indefinitely from the show by A&E who was trying to distance themselves from his statements, but the sons refused to do the show without him, publicly supported him, told us all what a "good" man he was (sorry, good men don't incite others to hate an entire group based on lies), and A&E caved.  He ultimately didn't miss a single show.  But he'd opened the floodgates, and more and more of his statements surfaced through videos of seminars he gives at churches and stuff.  None of that comes out on the show, though.  But I tend to have a very biased view of the family.  Notice they send DDD to a high school that is so conservative Christian that it doesn't allow dancing yet wave some cash in their direction and amazingly it's okay for their daughter to shimmy on television.  They come across as very hypocritical and self-serving.

I don't disagree that she has potential.  I can see that.  I just don't care.  She could have come out and danced like Ginger Rogers, and I'd still want her off my tv.  It's like when Abby Lee Miller was asked to be a guest judge.  I thought that was in extremely poor taste, and I think having DDD on is just the same.  Especially given that Jonathan is gay.  I wonder if he knew "Duck Girl" was going to be on when he agreed to do the show.  With the dad following her everywhere (I read somewhere that she is never left alone - there's always one of them with her - I don't know that it's true, but given that he was backstage right before she performed, it seems plausible), it has to be hella awkward for Jonathan if they pass in the hallway.  I sure wouldn't want to have to rub elbows every day with some guy who thinks I'm a murderer who invents new ways to do evil.

Now Abby Lee Miller is a whole 'nother ballgame.  I actually detest this woman.  She is one evil and abusive woman.  I missed last season and didn't see her judge.  Nor did I get to see Maks finally get his mirror ball.  That, I regret.  But Erin's personal dirt mongering the first night was so appalling to me, I ditched the season.

I've been doing a lot of that.  I thinking I have TV-ADD.  But how does one illustrate displeasure with tv fare unless they change the channel?  I now ffwd through Erin, straight to the scores.