Monday, November 22, 2010

DANCING WITH THE STARS


You love the show?

It's inspiring?

Thrilling?

It gets boring?

Can you pick the winner?

The winner hasn't always been the best dancer, in my opinion, and I know about dancing. Also, right now, there is an additional element in the show -- p o l i t i c s.

Up till recently "Dancing with the Stars" (DWTS), has been an entertaining one-hour show, Yes, it drags a bit -- I think it's one segment too long, but for most of the hour, it's suspenseful -- establishing the participants in rehearsal -- their background and their partner's.

The costumes --wow -- they're remarkable. We don't see the behind the-scenes labor -- the tightening, loosening, girdling, padding the bust, hiding bulges -- but I know what's involved. What the females wear is varied, and often brilliantly distracting, contributing a lot to the choreography with elements that flow, sparkle, change color, change shape. Bravo, brava to the costume designers!

(By the way, if you're a performer, beware of dear pals who rave, first thing, about your costume -- it usually means the show bored them.)

The creators of DWTS deserve applause. Celebrities who can't dance, are paired with super-skillful partners, who cover up the celeb's flaws. The show emphasizes (like American Idol, and American's Got Talent), the longing, the passion and huge need to win, and how devastated the participants are when they're eliminated.

I think the judges could be more interesting. The current judges, though experts, seem to base their comments on personal taste. Quite frequently, tactfully, they fudge, and avoid truthful criticisms about amateurish dancing -- especially right now, with Sarah Plain's daughter, Bristol.

Watching Bristol, I shake my head unhappily -- there must have been, from the beginning, an executive decision to keep her on the show as long as possible. Her dancing is not only very ordinary -- neat, but amateurish -- it's also klutzy. Her step-stepping, wriggling, un-sexy bumps and grinds certainly make us wonder about her sex life.

I have seen some real dancers on DWTS. (Real is when a dancer's steps flow and have a magical sort of electric, connectivity.) The man who partnered Florence Henderson, was a real dancer. Last week, on the show, a real female dancer, Brandy, (who received the highest score), was eliminated, while Bristol Palin with a lower score, was held over.

Okay, DWTS works! What makes the show good entertainment is the concept, the costumes, and expert choreography. (Maybe what they need in that dragging segment, is a scene with the participants' families -- all of them together, praising the contestants, trying to be polite. That would be fun, especially now, with Mom Sarah in the mix, expressing her opinion.

The fact is, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to trust the phone-in vote anymore. Headlines, bloggers, gossip columnists, have suggested that Mom Sarah's fans, friends, her staff, and paid phone callers, have been voting like crazy for Bristol.

It's cheating. The "$64,000 Dollar Question" hit show ended after the public learned that the winning contestant had been given the answers.

If Bristol Plain wins tonight, it may very well shorten the hit show future of Dancing With the Stars.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dancing with the stars in their eyes...oh, the light must have been very bright to blind so many, unless...no, say it ain't so Joe...the fix was in place! Oh, the gases emanating from this nebula have an unsettling foul odor. Did Bristol stomp Brandy for real? Neigh, says my talking horse..."Only in her dreams; her performance did most definitely pale in comparison." Makes more than horse sense to me. As if our black population needed any further proof of the national card-deck being stacked. At breakfast, my horse was wondering over his feed tub whether or not Clarence Thomas had voted and if so, for whom. Gads, if Ms. Grey should be declared the winner tonight, will the "supremes" intervene and this time demand a recount? And what about the irony of the final occurring on the event date which has provided fodder for the greatest of our conspiracy theories. Spooky. Moving on...gotta get the trailer hooked-up. My talking equine buddy is taking his outrage to the "Ed" show this afternoon. Gary Peacock

Linda Phillips said...

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carola said...

Are they typos? They must be! (Sarah Plain, Bristol Plain).

Gary Peacock said...

Corola....you underestimate Ms. Em's sense of humor, plain and simple! Not often we see celebrity as plain as this family...on a different plane; but, whose to complain...oh, yeah.

Joe Magnetico said...

In regards to who actually makes the finals it's (as explained last night) a combination by percentages of fans and the judges. The winner is determined by both fans and judges albeit the judges get two bites of the apple with their scores on the final evening. That being said Jennifer Grey by virtue of a good fan base and the best judges scores won and deservedly so.
Ms. Palin's popularity kept her in the mix and as any producer would inform us the best critic is the paying audience. A talent can win all the awards in the world but it's the paying public who decides who they really like. Was Brandy a better dancer? The answer is yes but her fan base wasn't strong enough to keep her on. I guess my question would be why she didn't beat out Mr. Massey? The obvious answer is again fan base. In Season One Stacy Keibler was technically a better hoofer than Kelly Monaco but again Ms. Monaco's soap opera fan base won out.
What makes America great is the ability for the public to express their opinions. Usually they get it right. Last night once again they did. Congrats to Jennifer and Derek.

Gary Peacock said...

Joe...looks like your a magnet for controversy...if America is so great, what flaw allowed half a million more people to vote for Al Gore with no compensation...oh yeah, the JUDGES!!!!!