All the glitter! All the sparkle! All the gorgeous men!!! It's
Dancing With The Stars!!!!!!We are back
Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!!!!! The All-Stars (some more deserving than others) have returned to the ballroom in an effort to win (or win again) that glorious, yet uber-tacky, mirror ball trophy we all know and love. Who will win? Who will lose? What's the over/under on Bristol Palin?
Let's get this party started!!
(Competitors are in order of appearance)
Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson (CHA CHA) – Since all of these Stars have been down this road before, it's more like they are starting in week 6 (or further) so they
should be displaying a certain skill level. Having said that, this Cha Cha from Kym and Joey was fun, but severely lacking in technique (which I will most likely harp on pretty harshly). His arms flailed too much and he was NOT grounded in any way (too hoppy). Good energy, but work on the feet man.
MY SCORE: 7 JUDGES SCORE: 6.5, 7, 7 = 20.5 *Side note* Apparently we have a new point system this season. We now have half points. Can't wait to see how annoying this gets.
Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough (FOXTROT) – First off, this girl is super talented, no doubt about it. And Derek is a fun showman. BUT this was THE worst song for a Foxtrot. Foxtrot is supposed to go with Frank Sinatra type songs. Not this, whatever the heck it was. Just because you CAN dance a Foxtrot to it doesn't mean you should. On the other hand, she did move well and had nice lines and good movement. I can't fault her for the crap song the producers gave them.
MY SCORE: 8 JUDGES SCORE: 8, 6.5, 7.5 = 22 *Side Note* Carrie Ann is just as annoying as she's ever been. Good god I hate that woman.
Sabrina Bryan and Louis Van Amstel (CHA CHA) – You know what? That was pretty damn good. Great hip action. Nice feet. Could use a
little more finesse, but I really don't have that much to say about it. Oh, I do have one thing – Please god, no more One Direction!! I hate that boy band garbage!!!!! UGH. But Sabrina and Louis were great. Well done!!!
MY SCORE: 8.5 JUDGES SCORE: 7.5, 7.5, 7.5 = 22.5 Helio Castroneves and Chelsie Hightower (FOXTROT) – Ahhh, now that's a true Foxtrot song. I am so happy to see someone doing CORRECT FOOTWORK I can hardly stand it!!!! Heel leads, great posture, great routine. I don't think his charm will sweep us away again, but his skill just might. I don't remember how he did in the Latin rounds, so we'll have to wait and see on those. But tonight, he was fantastic.
MY SCORE: 8 JUDGES SCORE: 7, 7.5, 7 = 21.5 Pamela Anderson and Tristan MacManus (CHA CHA) – Ooooh la la. Happily there are no buttons in TristanLand. Yummmmmmmm. As for Pam.... oh dear. That was bad. That was REALLY bad. I get the feeling that she may have forgotten a good bit of it. And she was rather awkward. I felt bad for Tristan. He's so hawt and needs a good partner. Speaking of Tristan, I am lost in his chest hair. Could he BE any hotter??? SIGH. Side note about the choreography – I didn't like the undercurrent of abuse that ran through it. That “slap?” Really unnecessary. I've never seen Tristan create anything like that and I hope I never see it again.
MY SCORE: 5 JUDGES SCORE: 5.5, 5.5, 6 = 17 Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani (FOXTROT) – At first glance, this routine is awesome. She LOOKS like a dancer, right? But how much Foxtrot is actually out there? A very tiny amount. The Jazz parts were really good (and if this weren't a ballroom competition, I'd give very high marks), but the small bit of Foxtrot we got was just ok. She's not lowering into her knees or taking heel leads – both of which are needed to get the correct movement of the Ballroom dances. Entertaining? Yes. Pretty? Absolutely. But there's still room to grow and she needs to work on her ballroom technique – her ballet technique is fine, but that ain't the same.
MY SCORE: 7.5 JUDGES SCORE: 7, 7, 7 = 21 Apollo Anton Ohno and Karina Smirnoff (CHA CHA) – That was pretty good! Apollo's hip action always felt tentative, but tonight he looked good. I think he feels confident (why wouldn't he?!?) and that shows in his movement. As he works with Karina, let's hope that she makes him emphasize that more. She's known to challenge her talented students, so I'm hoping she'll actually allow him to dance and not just dance around him. This looked like a good start though. I liked it!
MY SCORE: 8 JUDGES SCORE: 7.5, 7, 7.5 = 22 Gilles Marini and Peta Murgatroyd (FOXTROT) – Oh, this man is going to be in my dreams tonight. Maybe a French/Irish threeway?? God, he's good!!! So, so good. I'm blinded by how gorgeous his movement is and how just all out sexy he is. Really, I don't think I have anything critical to say. I want him to win.
MY SCORE: 9 JUDGES SCORE: 8, 8, 8 = 24 Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas (CHA CHA) – I'm snarling as I watch her. Just trying to concentrate on the actual dancing. Ugh. It's not helping that I intensely dislike her partner too. But I will give her this – it wasn't as bad as Pam's. Bristol was a bit more relaxed and looked like she was having fun. Her technique level is ZERO, but that's no change from when she was on before. Either way, her movement is abysmal and I hope she goes home tomorrow so I don't have to watch her again.
MY SCORE: 6 JUDGES SCORE: 6.5, 6.5, 6.5 = 19.5 Drew Lachey and Anna Trebunskaya (FOXTROT) – Another non-Foxtrot song. Argh. The routine is...nice. It's not awful and it's not fantastic. Just nice. He's got a ways to go and needs to watch his footwork and posture. But overall, I don't hate it, so it gets a decent score.
MY SCORE: 7 JUDGES SCORE: 7, 7, 7.5 = 21.5 Kelly Monaco and Val Chmerkovskiy (CHA CHA) – I like her more since watching Dirty Soap, but she was t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e on DWTS. Most people said she won only because he was on General Hospital (an ABC soap) and I was one of them. I don't have high hopes for her this season. After the routine, though, she's not as bad as she used to be. She's still pretty stiff, but she HAS improved since the first season. Her first teacher was a douchebag (I've met him personally and douchebag is being nice) so maybe she always looked bad because he wasn't teaching her. Val seems to be doing a much better job. She needs to loosen up her hips and not be SO stiff, but she held her own. Good for her.
MY SCORE: 7.5 JUDGES SCORE: 7, 7, 7.5 = 21.5 Kirstie Alley and Maks Chmerkovskiy (FOXTROT) – Another non-Foxtrot song. ARGH!!! BUT, the dance itself was ok. Maks was smart to make it mainly Foxtrot (as opposed to more of a Jazzy number), Len will appreciate that. Unfortunately, it also highlights how unstable Kirstie can be. Bless her heart. She'll get her feet under her in about 2 weeks, if she's around that long, which I hope she will be.
MY SCORE: 6.5 JUDGES SCORE: 6.5, 6, 6.5 = 19 Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke (CHA CHA) – Looks like we're going to be seeing another season of Cheryl dancing around her partner and backleading like there's no tomorrow.
Ugh. Emmitt certainly has that charm, and a smoothness that can't be denied, but he's almost too loose and needs to make his movement more purposeful. His hips move because he feels the rhythm, but not because he KNOWS what to do with them, if that makes sense. He's accidentally good, but I want him to be great on purpose. We'll see what this season brings.
MY SCORE: 8 JUDGES SCORE: 8, 8.5, 8 = 24.5 LEADER BOARDGiles............9 = 24
Sabrina.......8.5 = 22.5
Emmitt........8 = 24.5
Shawn..........8 = 22
Apollo..........8 = 22
Helio ...........8 = 21.5
Kelly ...........7.5 = 21.5
Melissa........7.5 = 21
Drew ............7 = 21.5
Joey..............7 = 20.5
Kirstie..........6.5 = 19
Bristol..........6 = 19.5
Pam.................5 = 17
My bottom three and the judges bottom three actually match, albeit in a slightly different order. In any case, it doesn't look good for our lusty leprechaun and his busty lady. I hope we're wrong and it's Bristol that goes home, but we shall see Tuesday night.
WELCOME TO THE ALL STAR SEASON, EVERYONE!!!!
Pamela, ugh. Too much sex, not enough dance. And DD, so glad you said that about the "abuse" in it. I'm glad I'm not just being a bit sensitive given my recent situation and that someone else felt uncomfortable by it.
