crossover

It doesn't sound like she doesn't think that she can comtinue?

I think most viewers see manipulation period. It doesn't matter if they THINK the celeb can dance or not.

Are you just guessing or do you have data? I'd always thought Laurie was so far ahead of everyone that they had to bring her back to the crowd a few times.

There's been quite a few highly manipulated seasons. This is one of the lesser ones as far as I'm concerned. They'll probably start now because I'm sure they have at least one somebody they want in the finals. But, yes. Bindi's season was highly manipulated before the show started. I was thinking that she must have a pilot or TV special coming?

Well we agree on this. We'll see if we're right.

Exactly. I should've clarified female. Let's face it, most people are drawn to the female. So the male pros had a harder time creating pleasing routines. The female pros could dance around and the male celeb do a couple of moves and everyone is happy. So I'm glad the male pros get a couple ringers each season. But they should spread them around. Go figure.

I'm glad tptb is over immunity. Just think if we didn't have but one celeb who could dance left and she/he had less support than anyone? There's still a couple of weeks left. The italics is why I don't complain about the women being ringers. They do hold them to a stricter standard than the male.

I'm not saying that Nancy refused but it would be her right as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to think tptb didn't purposely show one over the other. Maybe Nancy's fanbase never was that large? Maybe Heather's supporters gravitated more to one of the other celebs instead of Nancy? It seems like her scoring was on par with Simone and Normani, giving a point or so positive or negative. I'm more surprised by Bonner's support. The rodeo crowd must be active dwts voters. I felt like the Cub fans would come through. I'm surprised by Rashad's support as well because he's not really aligned with a team. I may be wrong but I think Normani's support isn't that great either. I think we all knew that Simone would have the support and rightfully so.

Maybe Nancy didn't want them to peep? I can see Nancy being more use to performing with an injury/pain than Normani. Afterall, she's an olympian.

I liked them both as well. I really wouldn't compare them. Wasn't Nancy's a tango and Normani's an AT? I just prefer the AT. But I liked them both.

Kinda harsh but true. Didn't PBS use to have competitive ballroom series? SYTYCD doesn't get near the ratings of DWTS. From week to week, there were at least a couple of routines where the participants were w/in their genre. So there were great routines. But the earlier seasons had better ratings. I think it's because you could see the struggle when they were outside their specialty. Now, they're so crossed trained/TPTB manipulate to make their choice look good. The ratings just aren't there.

I was thinking this is the least manipulated season so far. TPTB probably preferred for Nancy to stay. They just weren't invested because there are 2 other celebs who can dance. Kinda like Heather. They knew she didn't have the votes but they let the votes fall wherever. I know Nancy had a lot of support on the boards. But there were also a lot who felt she was inconsistent from week to week and during the performances as well.

This is a thought. The first thing I thought about was them giving it to Amber. So I was wondering if she really was physically hurting?

Ahrighty then. David FTW

Dance performance is subjective

Thanks for the correction. They've always been interchangeable for me. In fact, I'm surprised they outlast Heather.

I think Simone is the only 100% celeb but Rashad would be second on my list. In fact, I think Simone will get the immunity challenge. She's getting Charleston where DWTS allows a lot of variation and tricks, which she can do--happy-go-lucky. I think Nancy will be ok. She pulled the only tango. People will probably compare the two ATs and Normani's s/b better than Bonner's. David would've been ok with the only Salsa except he had trouble with last week's lift. Depends on how large his voting block is as to how TPTB will score him. Of the 2 PDs, Rashad's s/b better than Nick's but celebs with natural rhythm sometimes have trouble with the PD. I'm saying the faceoff w/b Normani v Rashad; Nancy v Nick; David v Bonner. Normani, Nancy and David w/b the winners of the challenge. Bonner and Nick w/b the double elimination.

You're probably right. You're knowledgeable. I put more emphasis on the performance. As long as the technique doesn't take me out of the performance, I'm ok. I just figure it would take longer to polish ballroom technique than what this show allows. And I've always thought it would take longer to "rewire" something than to "wire" it. In either case, I wouldn't be surprised to see the 3 ladies as the final 3. They probably won't be but they are great dancers. I can't remember a season where there were 3/4 good to great dancers. I enjoy watching Rashad but I do lean more on the abilities when it comes to the free style. But if a guy makes it, I hope it's Rashad. Maybe the lifts won't be so nerve wracking like the one David did.

You may be right. But I think she might've shown a different side if she thought she had a chance to go far. I don't think the choreography would've been about sex all the time either. Seeing the 4 ladies in front of her should've been a sign that she wouldn't be around long. Obviously she had a small fanbase. The 4 ladies basically let her know she wouldn't have a chance to grow her fanbase.

With all the ringers this season, the bar is really high. Any other season and Erika would still be playing the game. I feel since Rashad was a little boy, he's trained his muscles in a totally different way. Sometimes, I think it's best if your body wasn't extensively trained for another sport. They are easier to mold. Rashad even talked about using muscles like he's never done before. And he's not a small man. Like any sport, dancing is better when you're not thinking. And there are going to be some styles that he's going to have to think about and try to compensate because his muscles are not going to want to go there. To me, the football players who have won were not good on technique. They had natural abilities, a masculine presence, personable and enjoyable to watch. I feel the same about Rashad. The difference is there are 3 people whose muscles are trained in dance and they are good. So I don't need to degrade Rashad or have expectations that I don't think he can reach during the show. He's just not as good as the 3 ladies. But when things click, he's a joy to watch because he and Emma have great dance chemistry. They appear to like one another as friends. And it really shows on the dance floor.

If they give it to Nancy, then she's the one TPTB wants to win. The same if it's Normani or Simone. It would be different if there was just one lady left with dance experience. But there's 3. There's no need to give it to any of the ladies. Rashad is different. He's performed better than any of the men. So if he needs saving, I can see why they would give it to him.

I hope you're wrong about the bold this time. I loved Amber but she was no where in the league of the black females who didn't make it. I do hope they both (Normani and Simone) make it to the finals.

Agree with the bold. If she were the only accomplished dancer/ringer this season, TPTB would've created some kind of twist to save her. Didn't they create something to give Chelsea Kane an instant save or winner take all scenario? She didn't have the voter support but they wanted someone in the finals who had dance training. I know they've done it for others as well. But, to me, it was obvious that Chelsea wasn't getting the voter support.

Surprised people are worried about this now? This is nothing new for Val. At least Normani's not "mucking" around like Val normally has his celebs do. Remember, Derek started the "unrecognizable" dance routines. People called him a great choreographer. Derek would constantly end up near the top. Same thing is happening for Val. For what DWTS is, I don't think Normani's being overscored either.

I was most disappointed in Nancy and Heather's jazz numbers. I guess because I was so looking forward to them. I just knew they would be the best routines because of their abilities. It's not that they were executed badly. I just didn't feel any joy in them. For me, there weren't enough jazz elements. Something was off. I thought Nick had the best jazz routine. He didn't have the best technique but I enjoyed his character. Good job, Peta. I enjoyed Simone's contemporary because of her technique. But I thought it felt short of Rashad's contemporary. You do need the skill level/control of Simone for a good contemporary. For me, the emotional connection through movement is just as important for a good contemporary. Rashad's lack of controlled movement didn't bother me as much as Simone's lack of invested/emotional movement. I did enjoy Normani/Val's PD best out of all the routines. Yes, they had the elements of PD strewn through and Normani showed she could execute the movement/emote the intensity. But it didn't seem like a "true" PD. I remember W-A-A-Y back that Len gave Lacey a hard time for a PD. His main gripe was something like 'you can't just throw some PD moves into a routine and call it a PD'. That's how I felt about this one. But I remember liking Lacey's PD at the time and I enjoyed this one as well. I thought this was Erika's best performance. So many times it's like that when it's their last night to be on the show. I thought the 7 for Rashad's routine was too harsh. The same as Bonner and David?? Of course the 9 was too much as well. There were some awkward movements/technique issues that took you out of the flow of the dance. But there were awkwardness in the song, for a foxtrot. A trained person could've expertly navigated through it but he's not trained. David was not good. I think this is expected for large men; comparing him to the slightly build of most male dancers. It is just hard for them to get those big limbs to retract beautifully. I believe Rashad will have a hard time with the jive too. They said Bonner was ok. I'll just take their word for it. I know I didn't enjoy the routine. I'd be kind of surprised if Normani was truly in the bottom 3. But maybe her supporters aren't voting? She's good but so was Sabrina. I also can't believe Bonner has more support than Nick. I guess DWTS is popular with the rodeo crowd.