Season 19 - Week 8

Found this on the ABC board:

Tommy Chong and Peta Murgatroyd — Paso Doble as June and Johnny Cash
to "Ring of Fire."

Janel Parrish and Val Chmerkovskiy — Contemporary as Romeo and
Juliet.

Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson — Cha-Cha-Cha as Batman and Robin.

Sadie Robertson and Mark Ballas — Contemporary Adam and Eve.

Lea Thompson and Artem Chigvintsev — Jazz as Bonnie and Clyde.

Michael Waltrip and Emma Slater — Foxtrot as Tarzan and Jane.

Bethany Mota and Derek Hough —Lucy and Ricky-unknown style.

Ring of Fire seems like a pace Tommy can keep up with for a Paso - and Contemporary for Romeo and Juliette sounds beautiful.  Wonder what the song will be.

A Cha-Cha as Batman sounds a little "iffy," - and we go, once again, to the Bible for Sadie.  Aw, come on!

Bonnie and Clyde should be good for Jazz, - and I'm assuming Latin for Lucy and Ricky - gotta get those bongos in there.

BUT:  What I see as a final humiliation for our lead-footed lunk.  Seriously?  A Foxtrot for Tarzan?  Will it come complete with a loin cloth and bare feet?  OMG!  Or will this be the episode where Tarzan returns to London wearing a suit?  THIS, I gotta see.  Oh, the horror of it.

This is somewhat predictable.  Janel/Val as Romeo and Juliet - it could be beautiful, but I wish the show would quit trying to push a 'showmance' between those two.  They seem to be good together, but I don't see any special chemistry between them and from what I've seen on other message boards, not a lot of fans are buying it either.  Why are Alfonso and Witney the only team that are both male characters?  That's weird.  Adam and Eve for Mark/Sadie is also way too predictable.  Would her parents let her wear the fig leaves that should be the costume?  Michael as Tarzan?  Eww?  I'm with you - barefeet and loin cloth? 

They should be doing 2 dances - has anyone seen anything indicating what their second dances will be?

I hadn't thought about the fig leaves.  lol.

I'm able to ignore the showmance thingy with Val and Janel.  One of those things I just accept as shtick.

I also missed the fact that Witney will be a guy.

I'm hoping Lea will redeem herself with a jazz routine.  And that Artem can backpedal the insecurity he seems to have instilled in her (or that she's instilled in herself.)  We never know about the clips we're shown - and what parts of a conversation they chose not to air.

The idea of seeing Michael in the Tarzan get-up elicits a curiosity akin to visiting a carnival freak show - or rubber-necking an auto accident.  THIS, I gotta see!

I agree with you on Lea.  I really hope she can relax and get back the joy she had at the beginning when she was so much fun to watch. 

Found out a bit more . . . and wish I hadn't.    Another one  of those icky gimmicky nights. 

The couple with the highest judges' score for tonight has "immunity" and cannot be eliminated.  The other 6 couples will do dance-offs.  Going down the list, the 2nd place couple gets to choose who they want to dance off against, and that couple gets to choose the style.  And so on.  Winners of the dance-offs get extra points or something.  The dance-off styles are cha cha cha, jive and rumba. 

I have no idea what the point is, since whoever is going to be eliminated has already been decided based on last week's voting.  This will only change something if the person with the lowest combined score happens by some miracle to win the immunity.  But then the person with the second-lowest combined score would get eliminated ahead of time, so the whole thing isn't fair (although as a practical matter it's unlikely the lowest person would end up getting immunity) to begin with and it serves no real purpose except to screw up the elimination for next week.  Ugh.  Just ugh.

It might be their way of getting rid of Michael.  lol

Lea looked a lot more comfortable.  It seemed to me the judges were nitpicking her performance - and they appear to get some pleasure in slamming Artem.  I thought it was a pretty solid dance.

This was Michael's best performance.  Nevertheless, pathetic.

Janel's running lifts were fluid and gorgeous, but I thought I saw some breaks here and there.

I smiled all the way through Tommy's performance.  Lord, bad knees, injured calf, and all.  You've got to hand it to him for sheer determination.  And Peta looked like she was wounded for him during the critique. 

I saw nothing of Adam and Eve in Mark and Sadie's dance but the apple.  I didn't care for it - much less for Mark's attitude.  His ego is dragging her down.  He "won't succumb to it?"  Who the hell does he think he is?  He goes off the tracks and expects to be rewarded for it?  Last week's zombie number was all about Mark and what he thinks is his creative genius.  If it is genius, he needs to move his choreo to somewhere other than a ballroom competition.  TPTB showing that clip of him throwing down the mike last week was obviously a deliberate move to show his ego and temper.  Anyway, to move off the rant...

I thought Alfonso was great.  Surprised he didn't get 10s.  I wonder how much weight he's lost.  He looked pretty svelte in that black costume.

Mixed feelings about Bethany's performance.  And OMG, I wish Derek would stop with the arm-dancing choreo!

Alf vs. Lea:  I actually preferred Lea.
Sadie vs. Bethany:  I chose Bethany.
Tommy vs. Michael:  No contest.

I loved the neckline on Erin's dress.  The gold necklace woven through the top of the gown.

Tom's zipping was a fun surprise.  He's hilarious.

It's taken us half(?) the season to get to a point when all the judges can have a say.  Ridiculous.

Singly - I pretty much agree with everything you had to say except I had a slight preference for Alfonso in the dance-off.  I thought everyone actually did pretty well in their dances.  It was Michael's best dance but that's just saying so little.  I'm happy he's finally gone.  Tommy continues to charm and he tries so hard rarely complaining, but I hope he's the next to go.  I'm afraid it might be Lea, though.  I did enjoy her dance, but I understood Carrie Anne's comment about wanting more attitude and Lea to be more "into" the ground.  There was just something a bit too 'light' about Bonnie in that dance.  But her confidence seems to be back, and she did seem to be having fun again, so that's all good.  I loved Janel and Val's dance.  For me they and Alfonso were best of the night.  I was surprised they were so hard on Alfonso . . . they're doing to him what they did to Corbin - nitpicking him to death.

Sadie did a nice job with what she was given but like last week I don't think she has the 'gravitas' if you will to carry off something that serious.  Her facial expressions still seem like she's making faces instead of expressing real emotions much of the time, and she did have some trouble towards the end of the dance.  She had to put her hand down on the floor to steady herself.  I'm wondering if Mark is just getting tired of all the micromanaging and 'faux' modesty.  She had a problem with his hand on her butt for the lift but no qualms about putting her crotch practically in his face?  Alrighty then.  Mark seemed a bit exasperated to me when she asked if he had to put her hand on his butt.  It might be starting to wear on him that he has to try to choreograph around all the garbage that comes with that family.

I enjoyed Bethany's dance but like rkc, something felt 'off' to me.  And between the hand choreography and hiding her behind the table so we couldn't see the legs, I was getting annoyed with his use of props.  Again.  I thought her scores were fair.

Tom was great with the zipline.  Did not expect that.  And Alfonso gets mad props for remaining calm when the zipline got stuck.  And then having to wait for a ladder . . . that was too short . . . and waiting again.  I was scared he'd have to let go, so I was glad when they pulled the camera back a bit and we could see the folks holding him up by the feet.  And then he left it in!  Good for him.  Witney made an adorable Robin.  And how hysterical was it that she confidently exclaims that Alfonso is the clumsier one as she hits herself in the face with her paddle?   

Overall a fun night.  I enjoyed it.  Next week apparently the trio dances are back.  I usually enjoy those. 

rkc, I agree that Michael was completely uncoordinated.  I must admit that while it didn't do much good, he really did try.  His failure to thrive was due to a lack of fluidity and two left feet.  lol.

mustang, I had forgotten the clip of Witney knocking herself in the face with the mike.  I'm enjoying the humor they're giving us this season - rather than the behind-the-scenes drama.

This seems like a pretty tame season.  The ABC board isn't aglow with the flames of hatred for a particular contestant.  Or the ravings of how someone's favorite is head and shoulders above the others.  I was just thinking about how the board's old-timers have moved away and there's really not much discussion about dance.

We seem to have an above-average number of dancers who could take the mirror ball.  Janel, Bethany, Alfonso....  I think Lea has been ruined for the season *frown*.  Mark and Sadie's family are standing in the way of her doing anything worthy of the ball.  But that's just my opinion.  However, she does seem to have loyal fans who excuse what surrounds her.  I guess my point is that none of the remaining people has become the "ringer of the year."

While I'm enjoying the peace and calm of the season, I haven't really found anyone to boost, now that Lea has gone off-track.  Kinda boring.