Dancing With The Stars.....

[FAST FRED]

The larger dance floor and set is better this season and the music is as great as ever.

After recording it so I can speed through the commercials, I find this to be the most entertaining talent /reality show on TV.

I wish they would announce the names of the songs they're dancing to, since every show there are one or two I don't know.

And a short instructional comment occasionally, listing what specific dance elements are required or allowed or disallowed in each ballroom style would be interesting to me.

They could put those informational items on the DWTS website for reference.

We never vote, but my wife and I enjoy watching.

J. R. Martinez and Ricki Lake are the best dancers for me, thus far.

They appear to have some natural dance talent or background.

Chynna Phillips, Kristin Cavallari and Hope Solo may also be able to improve significantly, if they'll pay attention to their dance partners' instruction and the judges' criticism.

The others all look to be at lesser terpsichorean talent and audience appeal levels to me.

Chaz Bono surely should be gone next; IMO, followed soon by Nancy Grace, who seems to be trying, and Elisabetta Canalis, who seems to be not.

We'll see.

 

[FAST FRED]

Heck, we could be watching Elisabetta Canalis and/or Kristin Cavallari and, instead, we're still watching Chaz Bono dance.

At least, Cher is coming next week; I'm a fan.

Maybe she'll sing "Believe," using that Darth Vader vocal effect thingy.

Interesting that Chaz and Chynna had play dates arranged when they were two little girls.

Hope Solo is a favorite of mine, but she's got problems as a dancer.

As a ballroom dancer, she makes a great soccer goalie.

Her partner, Maks, is very masculine and yet he moves with much more grace and sensuality than does Miss Solo.

Hope is statuesque, athletic, beautiful with a great body and has a winning personality, but she doesn't even walk like a girl.

However, she is slowly getting better at dancing like one.

Last week, if Hope and Maks had secretly exchanged costumes with each other before their dance number and thus disguised their gender identities, they could have demonstrated what I'm talking about.

Maks could have looked "sexy" and moved seductively, decked out in Solo's black net stockings and bustier, and Hope would have looked convincingly masculine dressed in Mak's suit as the "male" partner.

Maks could easily look feminine in drag, while Hope, who's a genuine all-American tomboy, is Xena the Warrior Princess all dressed up like a girl for perhaps one of her very first times and now she's going to the prom.

Hope's trying hard to make the dance moves she needs to make, I'll give her credit for that.

She's just uneasy and a little awkward on the dance floor and not a girly girl at all.

And I hope Hope stays around for enough time to more completely transform herself into a stunning woman on the dance floor.

I'd certainly rather observe Hope Solo for a few more weeks, attempting to become more feminine, than watch Chaz dance anymore, however earnest, brave, exemplary or fulfilled he is in his current masculine incarnation.

He just can't dance well enough to continue in a real dance contest and should have already been eliminated with appreciation duly given for his effort.

Bristol Palin actually got better as a dancer, after she was spared early elimination last season.

I don't have much hope that Chaz will improve.

Chynna is definitely making a move; she's lovely to look at, has definite dance ability and she's trying hard.

But she's less flamboyant and not nearly as flashy as Ricki Lake is naturally and Derek is so good at making his partner look exciting.

Carson, Rob, David and Nancy are getting better at dancing, but I think their individual limitations in both terpsichorean talent and audience appeal gives them each a lower improvement ceiling.

J. R. Martinez is a hard working, natural, though previously untrained, dancer with a compelling personal story and a winning personality that make him easy to like.

And I think a place in the finals, along with Ricki and maybe Chynna, is his to lose.

We'll see.

 

[J.R.69]

They've already run off the three best-looking women! And Kristen and Chynna were BOTH much better dancers than Nancy/Chaz. Much, MUCH better!

Kinda pisses one off that the best dancers in a dance contest are voted off first!

 

[FAST FRED]

After 80s Week, Carson Kressley and Chaz Bono should be the bottom two with Nancy Grace as the third celeb in jeopardy.

After this week's performances, Ricki Lake and J.R. Martinez continue to move toward being two of the three finalists.

I'll guess that Carson is gone next, although his partner, Anna, is my favorite pro to watch.

Tuesday night, we'll see.

 

[VYFan]

Fast Fred, you crack me up.

 

[A. BETTIK]

I only catch bits here and there as I perambulate through the house while my girls and wife watch. Did I hear some couple dancing to Queen's Flash Gordon theme song? My wife said it was dancable as a cha cha or a waltz or something.

I took expensive dancing lessons once but got disillusioned once I got on the floor at Dallas. It turns out the formal dances are not danced, rather derivative dialects and pidgin dances.

 

[Third Coast]

In reply to:

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[FAST FRED]

I hopefully hope that Hope makes it through tonight, but I bet she won't.

Chaz deserves to go.

We'll see.

 

[chango]

I wish someone would kick Kloe Kardashian in her yeti mouth every time she screams across the set.

 

[FAST FRED]

This was the seventh week and only six teams are left.

After the individual and team dance scores tonight, Nancy Grace had the lowest combined score.

She also had the misfortune to dance the jive to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," a song simply too fast for jive and lacking a strong back beat and she just couldn't keep up with the music.

Give Nancy a song having the required Halloween theme but one having a little slower tempo and more suitable for a jive like "Haunted House" by Jumpin' Gene Simmons.

But she's probably come about as far as her terpsichorean talent and/or celebrity status could take her, although she'd shown maybe the most week to week improvement of anyone.

I think all of the celebs and many of the dance pros would have found doing a jive to that Charlie Daniels' hoe down fast fiddle fest a really tough task.

So I think Nancy Grace will be the next to go.

We'll see.

 

[FAST FRED]

It's the eighth week of judgment.

And Nancy Grace is overdue for elimination.

She needs to go tonight.

J. R. Martinez will be very hard to beat.

He's actually, to some degree, competing with popular pro Derek Hough now.

Martinez couldn't really win that particular dance competition but, of course, he doesn't need to.

Being favorably compared to Hough is simply the high competitive level to which his dance talent, learning ability, performance skills, winning personality and compelling life story have taken him.

He only needs to beat the other celebrities to win the mirror ball trophy.

If J. R. doesn't misstep badly or sustain injury, I predict he'll be the winner this season.

Ricki Lake and Hope Solo are the other celebs that I expect and want to be in the final three.

However, they'll have to finish stronger than Rob Kardashian, whom I don't care for much, and his apparently ardent fan support to get there.

Rob has shown consistent improvement, while Hope's and Ricki's performances and scores have been more up and down.

We'll see.

 

[FAST FRED]

Nancy Grace is gone.

I know, who cares?


J. R. and Ricki, when she's on, have been the best celebrities pretty much all season.

I think Martinez has been the best male celebrity dancer and Ricki's been the best female celebrity dance partner all along.

I believe Derek and Maks are consistently the best male pro dancers at designing and performing choreography which shows off their female partners to the best advantage those celebs are capable of displaying.

Derek does the very best job of responding to and pleasing the judges, while Maks, like a fox, is much more rebellious, which also makes for interesting watching.

If not scripted, I'm sure that's all encouraged or, at the very least, expected.

I suspect the best, the most popular and the more TV interest-worthy pro dancers are seeded on purpose with the more dance talented celebs as far as that can be predicted.

Derek always gets a female partner with good (or even great) potential because he's shown for years that he can present her well and likely keep her in the competition.

Maks always gets a strong-willed female celeb partner with less evident dance potential, so his and her personality can clash initially but perhaps blend in the end.

Derek would never be chosen to partner with Nancy Grace and that's not just because of their height difference.

It simply wouldn't be good TV production or as pleasing to the audience, to have Derek eliminated before the end.

Maks and his selected partner always have fireworks between themselves as a couple and also argue with the judges and that makes for good TV.

And if Maks and his partner get it together in the end, then hey, that's a audience pleasing bonus.

With the female pros and their male celeb partners, I see the dynamic set up and the performance requirements as being different.

The female pros, just like the male pros, have to teach and lead their celebs through the learning process and the judged performances.

But, for the male celebs to excel they can't simply follow their female pros on the floor, while being judged.

They must at least appear to be leading their female partner through the judged portion of the show or their whole performance suffers when that expected performance picture is spoiled.

To get good scores, male celebs must appear to lead more and more on the floor as the weeks go by.

No amount of revealing costuming or flashy choreography on the part of a female pro, which draws attention to herself, looks right or works well for to the judges if her celeb male isn't strong in his performance.

So, a really flashy female pro performance doesn't help her male celeb that much, especially as the season goes on.

Think of Kym and Lacey.

A male celebs simply must appear to lead (on the dance floor) for the illusion to succeed.

In short, female celebs can appear to follow, while male celebs must look like they are leading.

Rob, at times in performance, has grasped at this dominant quality, but J. R. has embraced and held a leadership role in his dance team's performances from the very start.

His charisma, maturity and actual heroism have certainly helped, but I don't believe his ability to lead, emote and story tell was foreseen by the show's selectors.

Karina really lucked out.

J. R. is the best celebrity partner she's had yet and, as she mentioned, this is the deepest she's ever gone in the competition.

It should be noted that that female dance partner's performance role is probably more difficult to fill than the male dance partner's.

Ginger Rogers famously put it best about her dancing with Fred Astair: "Sure, he was great, but don't forget I did everything he did backwards....and in high heels."

A good DWTS celeb example of great female dancing was Hope following the equally athletic Maks performing their Quick Step last week.

No female pro could have done that energetic, very fast dance routine much better than did the very athletic Miss Solo.

For me, it's easy.

I think that Hope is getting better at being a female dance partner than Rob is as a male dance partner.

They are both tall, young and good-looking.

And willing.

Both need to shake their b*tts more and be more sensual in the Latin dances and improve their overall technique in all their performances.

Rob is a good celeb partner.

Cheryl is a consummate female pro for the needs of this show, beautiful but somewhat subdued compared to many of the others, very savvy at choreographing what she can teach to her celeb student, authoritative in the studio but looking to and willing to showcase her celeb partner for the judges in their performances.

So, Cheryl is doing quite well this season with a celeb partner who has qualities and talents with which she can work.

But, I'll hereby predict that Hope Solo makes the final three, along with J. R. and Ricki, because IMO she's getting better at the gender specifics of her dance role.

To wit, she's simply getting better at following than Rob is getting at leading.

If things stay that way next week, I can see Hope as one of the three finalists.

Anyway, I hope so.

I'll freely admit to appreciating the USA Women's Soccer Team much more than I do the entire Kardashian Family.

LA Laker Lamar Odom's my favorite of that whole reality group and I hope and trust he's "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" by keeping his lovely wife, Khloe, down in what I can personally imagine might be her very best position.

For sure, seeing Hope Solo, however slowly, developing as a striking female dancer is more interesting to my eyes than watching Rob as a dancing man.

However, it all depends on what they can all learn and do and, just as importantly, what dance styles they are given to do and what music each competing team gets to dance them to.

Any "Star" who does this grueling, revealing and entertaining show has earned their celebrity, IMHO.

I enjoy it and, after speeding through all the commercials, think it's about the best thing that's not sports that's on TV.

We'll see.

 

[FAST FRED]

Looks like Rob improved enough last night to make the finals.

Ricki should be a finalist and I believe JR will limp on into the final three on his sprained ankle.

I was hoping for Hope, but now I think she is going to be eliminated tonight.

We'll see.

 

[bedhead]

I believe JR is being a total weiner about his "sprained" ankle. Get a grip...I don't believe he is behaving honestly during the competiton. I think he showed his true colors when he said "G-damn" and the "F" word at the end of the dance last week.

But he is playing up his "nicest guy on earth" card...Hope was just too honest and stayed true to herself and the editing was very specific to making her look badly.

The show is losing me!

 

[chango]

Fred, do you think Rob K deserves to be 3 points ahead of both of the other competitors after last night's dances? I think the judges are biased in his favor and trying to push him to the W. thoughts??

 

[FAST FRED]

I think Rob's improved the most of anyone.

However, Ii's hard for me to see that he deserves 10s for what he does.

But he is certainly peaking at the right time.

JR looks hurt to me.

He's simply not dancing as well as he was earlier in the competition.

Ricki has real dance talent and I 've picked her and JR for the finals since the 1st week.

We'll see.