Shell76

I admit to watching it, too, because I didn't watch the moms reunion or the girls reunion the past two weeks. I learned a couple things I didn't know, mainly that it was the girls' dad, Kurt, was the one who knew Abby from HS and brought the girls to Abby for lessons. I did LOL when Mack asked where Abby goes at night, and Maddie says "McDonalds...". Mack goes "Stop!" under her breath. and Maddie says, "No, she really DOES go there", totally serious. But again, the girls aren't leaving Abby, so this prolonged goodbye is moot. ..

I think what make the funeral-esque charades even more ridiculous is the fact M&M&M are not leaving the ALDC, they are just not going to be a part of the TV team anymore. I made sure every time someone mentioned the girls leaving, that person always specified "leaving the ALDC elite team", not the ALDC, in general. I don't think the Z's are going anywhere, so a full-on farewell wasn't really necessary. The cake and balloons was more than enough, though Abby could have been a little nicer towards M&M. But expecting to be the center of attention for a full week is greedy and disrespectful to a woman trying to keep a business going IRL. The minis are growing on me, but the moms....not so much. I thought Areana did a beautiful job and I literally cried when she was talking about her brother (damn pregnancy hormones). I can't believe she is 10, and I give her credit for dancing on a mini team without complaints, that we know of. I'm not too thrilled Abby is pulling the same age tricks with the minis as she did with the original team, where she used girls that were too old by throwing in a little one to balance the ages out (Brooke and Kenzie). The minis are fun, but I don't know if another generation of kids will have the same magic that the original team had. The originals were all from the same studio, so it was something special to see them improve and win. Any teacher can take the best minis or juniors from around the country and make them a winning team, there's no excitement in that, IMO. LOL at Jill having to push the idea her kid is an original. Not only did Kendall come in during Season 2 from a different studio, she also left in Season 3, I think, to join the enemy at Candy Apples. It was probably producer-driven, but the viewers remember this stuff. Your kid is not an original member, fact.

I just wonder if the moms care how trashy they look on TV? Seriously, they look like low-class women who never never did anything in their lives after high school. I don't normally judge people I don't know, but hearing Melissa bleating about her sex life again....is that all you have to show for yourself? That you sold yourself out to pay for freaking dance training for two kids that you live vicariously through? Well, congratulations and good riddance. The rest of the TV team moms can go to hell, too. Holly disgusts me, I can't stand seeing her shake her head in agreement to bullying other people's kids, glued to her damn phone like a teenager. Jill is vile, I think she is toxic all-around. No wonder Kendall is the way she is, having that for a mother. I've been cautious about Jess since she first came around puffing her feathers out, so I'm not surprised to see her true colors again. And my biggest nitpick, Jess and Jill can shove it because their kids are NOT the original team. The original team is a broken mess of kids, healing and moving on with their lives, minus the few that stuck around for more fame. Sorry this post is so negative. I just wanted to see a few nice moments of the cast interacting before the end, but I ended up with that steaming pile. If I manage to watch next week, I am interested to see the minis, and Areana's family. So nice that Abby blindly calls people trash, especially this mom that balances out her daughter's endeavors while caring for a severely disabled son. I don't know if this show has a future, but it's not with the old team.

That was the ONE question I had about anything behind-the-scenes, and no one answered it! My husband and I both agreed it's a wig, Wendi's hair looks too thin to be able to tease up like that. I did like seeing how her hair has changed since Season 1 - it used to be more feathery and light, and today it is more like a jello mold, very stiff looking.

Thank you for mentioning the baseball thing - I literally said WTF at my TV. Of course I had to search it, and only found the baseball player Mike Jackson, who I think was on my hometown team, the Indians for a few seasons. Abby said something about how Michael would go to the baseball diamond to unwind from the stresses of being a young star. No, I thought the problem was Michael never got to a normal kid and do things like play baseball, hence his issues in adulthood. I agree Abby had to have been duped by a producer or something into believing that.

I have to laugh at Jill constantly inserting herself and Kendall into ALDC history, especially the bit about Maddie and Kendall being duet partners? Uh, I think that was Maddie and Chloe. Though I do remember one duet M&K did together, it was the "Sugar and Spice" one, from 2-3 years ago. I remember it because it was very good and full of energy. But those days are over, Maddie seems to be over everything ALDC, while Kendall clings onto her for dear life. As others have pointed out, Kendall is in this for the social aspect, not so much for the dancing. Jojo did so well with that solo, I can't see M&K performing the same dance with the same fire and pizzazz. Was that Rachelle Rak with the bad commentating again? Ugh. I'm glad Melissa and Maddie are leaving. I will miss Mack, but maybe she'll get a chance to pursue something else besides dance. Hopefully she won't be treated like a piece of carry-on luggage, being dragged around to various Maddie appearances. I hope and pray that Jill and Kendall go, too. The older girls seem to understand the fake reality they're living in for the show, but unlike Nia, for example, Kendall can't roll with it. She's going to have a breakdown. Sarah and Brynn looked so cute together, like twin bookends. I liked Sarah a lot, but she's young and sensitive. I just remember her crying a lot, which I could understand as she was only 8 years old at the time.

I think Kendall's biggest issue is that she makes dancing look difficult, thus it is not as enjoyable to watch. Her moves look heavy, and it's not because of her growth spurt, I've noticed this in her for years. When she smiles, I just see her gasping for breath, while she attempts to hold a smile at the same time. I don't see joy in her dance, it's just another routine. It's a shame because she has gorgeous turns, better than Maddie's, IMO. But now that she's growing up, she's going to have to work on flexibility. She was struggling a bit to keep her leg at a 90 degree angle on one turn sequence this week.

I did pretty much the same thing, I only caught half of the episode, from a distance. The only thing worthy I got out of it was Mackenzie admitting that she quit dance for one day to play soccer. She either just got her jersey, or was just about to, but her dance friends were mad at her and convinced her (guilt-tripped, more likely) into coming back. Good to know she has/had other interests outside of a dance studio.

The only DM anything I watched this week was maybe 15-20 minutes of the Melissa/Mack special. I don't know if it's brattiness or not, but she looked totally disengaged, and Melissa's attempts to engage her, like you would a young child, were cringeworthy. The poor kid needs to just be a normal kid, or have a different activity to excel in. Maddie's got "best dancer in the family" on lock-down, Mack needs something of her own. She did light up a little bit when talking about her singing stint, and that she beats Maddie in that dept.

I watched the first 3/4 of this one last night, stopping after Kalani and Mack's solos. It's the first one I've seen from Season 5, Part II. I like the newfangled transition shots of the girls dancing. Kendall has gotten noticeably bigger, the rest of the girls look the same to me. I caught her saying something mean to JoJo (presumably, 99% certain), ie. "You are such an annoying, little girl". Yeesh, there is no love between those two. It was a poorly edited, standalone quote thrown in for no real reason; we didn't hear who/what Kendall was responding to. Did Abby ever show up? It was SO nice without her. I wonder if these shots took place when Abby was sick from her medication, or maybe she was getting a secret procedure done. Would anyone mind posting the results? I wanted to watch through the end, but had other things to get done. I thought Kalani was gorgeous, she has the whole package. Great look and great talent. Mack has better showmanship now, but she shouldn't be wearing those huge pigtails when she's flipping around. There's a reason gymnasts never have loose hair when they're performing. I actually thought her slip-up was a step-ball-change, she recovered well enough. I'm also confused about why it was "Kendall's week" again? I haven't seen the last 3-4 eps., but it seems whenever Maddie isn't around, it's automatically Kendall's week. Granted, Nia has had more exposure this season than Kendall, but maybe it's not as evident because Holly doesn't go around saying it should be Nia's week all the time.

Nia's video was very disappointing, any kind of musicality was drenched in sound effects. It's a real shame, because there was an early leak of the song itself on Youtube, and it was so much better than the final edit used in the video. Nia did look great in the video, but I thought there was too much focus on her background dancers at times. I also laughed out loud at Jill saying Kendall's video was wholesome and age-appropriate. No, that would be Mack's videos. I have nothing good to say about Kendall's video, so I'll leave that alone. Poor Vivi, why can't they just let her be?

I don't feel any sympathy for anyone at this point. The moms and daughters have all gotten their fair share of fame and compensation from this show. I think any difference in production or quality is really due to stir up drama in the moms. I watched a teaser for Nia's video a few weeks ago and saw it was produced by Collins, as I'm sure the final product is. Mack has had three videos already, so Melissa has nothing to be upset about. I'm not targeting these girls specifically when I say a truly talented kid can shine without high production values and autotune. Personally, I'm getting sick of this pop star stuff. It has nothing to with dance and everything to do with reality tv stars "striking while the iron is hot", which the cast cannot acknowledge on air.

I think they do it because they can. Abby would say it's to make them well-rounded "triple threats" in the entertainment industry, but without the reality show, they'd just be dancing in PA. Maddie's had a good run with the Sia stuff, but that was such a fluke of "right place, right time". I could see her doing some modeling as a teenager, since she already has a foot in the door. The other girls....meh. IMO, they'd be better off working on their schoolwork so they have something to fallback on once this quick blip of fame is over in a couple years.

That's even more crazy considering Maddie is actually a Madison, lol. ;) But I get what you say about Mack's routines. To me, they look more like gymnastics floor routines, where a gymnast tries to cram as many tumbling moves/passes as possible to get the most points. I would assume dance judges are more about the quality than the quantity, but I really have no idea. It's a shame because Brooke was still winning comps with really pretty, controlled acro routines as teenager. I think there was speculation, going back to that creepy fan dance in Season 2, that production gives Abby a theme to work with, and she and Gianna create the dance. I think the costumes are even provided for them. And yes, I think the ALDC was set up to fail this week, with the Spice Girls theme. It makes sense that Abby would be denied a sixth dancer as it would ruin the theme.

Yes, I caught some "staged-ness" in the rerun of last week's show. All the CA moms and Cathy went hiding behind the curtain in ALDC's dressing room. When the ALDC team came into their room and discovered them, they were all smirking and going "Uh-oh!", as if they were shocked, but not surprised.