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.

Is this show the one that played at 10:00 EST, this past Tuesday? I wasn't sure if that was the actual "Dance Mums" or just a special for Lifetime that showed Abby interacting with Jennifer and her kids. Whatever it was, I watched up through the second commercial break and my mind was blown - it's like Dance Moms on speed, almost seizure-inducing. I can't watch that again, and I can't take the same drama all over again. They even have a little Maddie, named Tayleur(sp?).

I didn't realize the make-up was supposed to represent "black and white TV" until their dance was half over. They looked like ghouls, I kept thinking how morbid it looked, like were they supposed to be the ghosts of Lucy and Ethel? White powder on their faces and varying shades of gray and white in their costumes would have worked fine - they didn't need those black streaks all over their faces. JMO, though. And yes, I believe they got some local makeup artists to help with that. I don't have much to say about last night except all the adults SUCK, every single one of them. Not a redeeming moment for any of them. Holly might have sucked a little less, but she still puts Nia in awkward positions. I thought for once I might get behind Melissa, but no, she doesn't stand up for herself or her kids! "Oh, I just signed what's in front of me....I don't read words on paper" (paraphrasing, ofc). Really? If anything positive came out of the moms this week, it would be the visiting moms being honest about the video shoot. Yes, it was a fun, little Youtube project and ultimately not a big deal. I really need to stop watching this dreck, though I did tune out for the last 15 minutes, so I missed the clown dance and the results. Every time I hear the word "team" on the show, I mentally substitute "tv show" - the dialogue really makes more sense. There's nothing special about this team and I hate the pretense that this reality show environment puts forth. Thank you, Jojo, for the only fun and real moments of this episode. She was really cute recapping the "I Love Lucy" episode she saw, and I liked how she grabbed Nia's arm and said something like, "I don't want to be alone, let Abby hate us together!". I'd like to see more of that side of her, though I did not see the end to see which girl got the boot, so maybe I won't see her again? Maddie looked really dazed and confused for some reason. Poor kid was on a whirlwind tour, I suppose.

Same here, Law Mom. I watched Mack's solo without sound and it sort of looked like a bunch of tricks with REALLY rushed choreography to tie them together. It's too bad she couldn't be a gymnast or do cheerleading - something more in line with her talents. She has some neat moves, but like other have already stated, there is no real artistry here. Comparing the ALDC acrobats, Brooke had great artistry but not much personality, while Mack is the opposite. I do think her pigtail look has to go, though I think she might have been going for an Ariana Grande look - I think Mack is a fan of hers.

Probably, especially if the kid is getting revenue from Youtube or other outlets, though I'm sure it's a family business. But It really makes me embarrassed for ALL the adults involved in the career of this child. Another example is this other kid, dubbed Alex Angelo, who is popping up around Disney channel, for one. His father is a manager for iHeart Media (formerly Clear Channel) and been trying for years to get his son in showbiz, using his connections and money. Maybe the kid has talent, I have no idea. But the route these people take to give their kids a few minutes of fame is so cheap, IMO. I wanted to add onto what Doctor Whovian said about popstars: You're also not a popstar just because a bunch of people clicked a particular button on their computer. Is that what entertainment has come to, the amount of "hits" a video gets on a website? Same goes for "Mack-Z" and her millions of hits. Once the show is gone, she will go away with it. I feel bad for Mack, because I really think she's trying to please others, and just going with the flow. She's seems too sweet and shy, I don't think she has the right personality type.

I was under the impression that Abby and the girls were staying in Los Angeles for the time-being, but I guess it's just a Season 5 shenanigan? Wasn't Abby going to open a new studio, with a couple of her girls (the Zieglers, at least) staying with her? The show has become such a circus anymore, I don't know what's going on.

I think a lot of shows with similar casts seem to run out of steam after four or five reasons, mainly because the kids grow up. A cast of kids that start out at 17, 14 and 10 (seems to be how a lot of family sitcoms start out) are going to be 22, 19 and 15 in five seasons. I always like sitcoms that strive for realism, which might be weird because it's TV, not real life. But in real life, family events start going by the wayside as a family ages. I'm actually really surprised how well "The Middle" is handling their aging kids this season. The characters are being allowed to grow up and the writers have kept them all in the picture without it being too obvious. Poor Haley seems doomed to being a basement dweller with a couple interactions here and there, as if the writing team doesn't know what to do with her. One thing my husband and I would love to see, if MF lasts a few more seasons, is Haley have the next child, whether out of wedlock or not. Would that be taboo for a comedy, though? It would be more feasible than Claire or Gloria having another child. Lily isn't too bad of a character, but she has nothing but her crazy dads to bounce off of. Joe is cute, but I hate that he never makes a peep or shows any emotion. But at least he seems content and not miserable like the twins who played baby Lily. Maybe when he hits that magic age of four, he'll be interacting more.

I finally caught the whole episode on the replay last night, which was nice for seeing the full dances and less mama drama. I didn't catch Kira's "fired up" comment, but I think I heard Holly allude to the fact that Abby was AWOL for two days, so I guess Abby really did leave LA for a couple days. As for Holly, I get why she is so angry, but there comes a time when you have to realize you aren't going to get what you want, so you have to move on. Nia's been dancing at the studio for 10 years, which is a lifetime for her, but won't be that significant when she's a grown adult. Abby's already made up her mind that Nia isn't suited for show business and I don't think that will change. Heck, I'd love to see Nia join Chloe at her new studio and just live a normal life - I think she has more to offer the world than being a backup performer for the latest flash-in-the-pan act, or an extra in commercial. It's hard to admit this, but Maddie's full solo actually made me tear up, which has never happened to me before with this show. I thought it was beautiful and very deserving of the win. Talia was very strong and had great control, but something was missing. It looked emotional, but I didn't feel the emotions in the way I did with Maddie's performance.

Last night's episode was the first, this season, that I've watched in full. It was rather boring and a bit tasteless that Nia's grandfather was featured. I was really bothered that Nia's tears seemed like they were party fueled by her fear of Abby's wrath, when she told Abby she may need to leave L.A. at some point. Poor girl, I think she has learned to keep an emotional distance with Abby. When Abby brought her in for a hug, Nia wouldn't lay her hand on Abby's shoulder. Later when Abby brought Nia in for a cheek-to-cheek, she had an "Okay, let me go" look on her face. She seems to know what's going on, and I think she'll be fine once the gig is up. I remember learning about JoJo's hair dyeing when she was on AUDC, and I think it's been going on since she was three years old. I also remember that she is homeschooled, though I'm not sure if it's because of dance or just a family choice. I think she desperately needs to be around other kids. I admire the kid's confidence, and I think she can handle any teasing she gets for her lisp, but she needs to learn how to "shut it off" in certain situations. Her mother's failure to realize this is infuriating. If JoJo was really begging dancewear companies for free clothes and bragging about them to the other girls, that has to stop, NOW. Both mother and daughter are stubborn and unteachable, so I have no clue why Abby has kept them around this long. Still, shame on Kira for making fun of Jojo right in front of her. As for the results, I think Maddie and Kendall made out in the end by being in the Teen category (thank you Jill for explaining this 10 different ways). I'm thinking any other studio entering this comp (it looked legit?) probably brought in all their best Junior dancers, assuming they would go up against the ALDC girls. Maddie was just Maddie, for better or worse, and I was unimpressed by Kendall. Kendall danced okay, but her non-costume and poor choice in hairstyle hurt the overall image. I think JoJo did very well, better than Kendall, at least. The Frozen number was nice, but standard ALDC fare - don't think it would have deserved 1st in any competition. This is the first group dance I've watched this season, and Mack really stands out now, for good and bad. She looks so small with the others, and I think it's more noticeable now with Kalani in the group. I think Abby needs to add a couple younger dancers to even out the group.

Haha, exactly. But I thought I would give Holly a pass since the editing made her seem hesitant to hug Abby. Abby stood there for at least a few moments with her arms out, then had to call Holly over to give her a hug. I was really happy for Nia regardless. I don't know if Dance Kids or whatever it was called is a legit competition, but it looked more real than the last few we've seen. Between Kendall and Maddie, I have to say Maddie's performance of that solo was better. I don't think it's really a technique issue, but Maddie can show emotion in her steps, whereas Kendall just does the steps. Nia is probably the best at portraying genuine emotion, and I think that's what got her the 1st place (providing the results were not set up). I really hope the show is done after the original cast gets their chains cut. These new moms are awful....except Jade's mom, Loree(sp?). Seriously, they're all cut from the same cloth. Same drama every week with a different face. And I'm done with Cathy, too. I guess she and Vivi are also stuck with the contract, since there was no reason for them to be at this competition. Whatever beef she has with Abby and the moms is fine by me, but leave the kids out of it.

I love Chloe and I hate seeing her treated like garbage. That dumb "ALDC" glued to that ugly costume was like the scarlet "A". She's not an ALDC member anymore, but let's $&@# with her head and put her in this costume. I like the other girls, but I feel like a piece of crap watching Chloe deal with being left out and mocked constantly. As much as I hate the new Kristy's behavior, I liked hearing her call Abby "trash".