Joystickenvy

Meryl & Maks: loved the AT, but found the freestyle to be very run of the mill. I thought Meryl danced both very well, though on one of the throws, I was a bit worried she was going to go ass over tea kettle....fortunately she didn't. Kudos to whoever did her hair & makeup. I didn't like her AT outfit, but I thought she looked lovely otherwise. They are really hitting the Maks winning his first MB hard with a side of showmance. Might be overplaying their hand by suggesting she has more sexytime chemistry with Maks than Charlie. Could piss off shippers & Charlie fans with no real gain. Maks loses points for diaper pants and that hipster d-bag hat in the package. Amy & Derek: she has been a co-favorite of mine all season, but I thought her Salsa was underwhelming and I'm really annoyed with Derek's freestyle choreo. It's not the "OMG she doesn't dance" thing for me, but rather that it just felt like a collection of tricks with no real theme or connection to the music. So for me, it was not a dance. It had dance elements certainly and Amy performed them well. It reminded me of when they used to have pro skating competitions and some of the pairs teams would just do a whole bunch of lifts & throws & other tricks. Fun to watch, but not my favorite. James & Peta: I thought James looked very hunched over and jerky in the judge's pick dance and the suit jacket over bare chest thing is cheesy. Except for the white boy gangster posturing, I enjoyed the freestyle. I really enjoyed Peta's dancing in both. I don't normally notice her much. Candace & Mark: she looked very awkward in both dances to me. I thought Mark's FS choreo was cheesy to the max and not in a fun way. She's a gamer and kudos for hanging in there against people more used to performing live. I'd rank them Meryl 1st....by a lot, Amy & James neck & neck....Candace distant 4th. Throwing my first votes of the season to Meryl. I wish James had stayed over Candace. I still like Amy, but I'm seriously perturbed with Derek.

My season wide favorite has won 4 times (Kelly, Fantasia, Jordin, David C). My favorite made it to the finale and lost five times (Bo, Katherine, Adam, Crystal, Kree). The rest, including this season, they were eliminated before the finale (Haley, Elise, Jessica). Season 2 I only watched the finale and I liked Ruben better. So I guess I can't say my favorites never win, but the seasons since the WGWG era have largely been disappointing for me. Both this year's finalists have pluses & minuses & neither was my favorite, so it's a toss up for me.

I thought most of the comments through the audition phase of the competition were pretty good from all the judges....even J Lo. However, once the lives started it seemed like they were all clearly on script. It's a shame, because I was really enjoying the judges up to that point. That's primarily why I quit watching live and started ff'ing over them. I feel like Harry was supposed to be in Simon's old role as the judge you should listen to because he's oh so smart, but once he started tongue bathing wretched performances, I felt no further need to listen. I still like him, but I see him as an actor playing a role.

I wondered about this as well. I can't remember if Brienne told Lady SH about her quest to find her daughter( s ) in the books or not, but I guess Arya being alive is some new info she could share. Unless of course she only gets to say "a word"

Loved pretty much everything in this episode. My favorite parts were Pod, Brienne & Hot Pie, Oberyn & Tyrion and Arya & the Hound. Hot Pie was so darn adorable between "never give up on the gravy!" And the dire wolf for Arya. The "that's where the heart is" scene was perfect. Also loved the Hound sharing his story. I'm really gonna miss that pairing. Since both Biter & Rorge appear to be dead, I wonder if they are skipping that bit or if someone else will end up attacking Brienne. Oberyn telling Tyrion about their first meeting was also perfect. And yes, I definitely get Inigo Montoya vibes from him, but that happens every time he speaks. I'm going to be soooooo sad when IT happens. Also really liked the way they handled Bronn & Tyrion. Consistent with both characters. The Lysa out the moon door part didn't have the impact of the book, but I think that's because I knew it was coming. Plus I kept thinking, maybe "let her go" isn't the right choice of words here Peter. The Dany stuff was probably the least interesting, but I agree with those that like the change to her not being a lovesick teen. However, as soon as she ordered Darrio to disrobe, I got an unpleasant Orphan Black flashback lol If the rest of this season is as good I'll be a happy camper. Either way, I will never give up on the gravy. Never!

In the context of Idol, standing O's used to signify a truly exceptional performance, or at least one we were meant to think was truly exceptional and rarely happened more than once or twice a season. Since Simon left, they are basically a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, other than perhaps who the producers have told the judges to pimp. I think Harry doesn't stand was part of the script, but I don't really care either way. In my world, the standing O signifies two things: appreciation for the performance and "we want an encore." Some audiences stand for almost everyone as a feel good sort of gesture, others only for the bands they truly love. You can always tell the difference by the enthusiasm though.

I like the way you think.For me, that finale was the cherry on top of this turd sundae of a season. Not only did Dave & Conner win, but we got to hear about the Brenchel Baby, Dave's Achilles, and listen to the country singers whine about minor slights....tho the Taxi stealing attempt was definitely dirty pool. But worst of all, not a single task was interesting or remotely challenging. Almost entirely boiled down to taxi luck, except for the Brenchels who screwed themselves running around the hotel.....but if they hadn't been pure idiots, it should have been all taxi luck. The only thing I enjoyed even a little was the country singers sense of humor. Then of course Phil makes a huge deal out of Dave being the oldest winner, in spite of the fact that he wasn't required to actually do much of anything the entire race. I really hope the next season is better.

I've only voted once this season, but I never voted more than twice when you had to dial a phone, so if nothing else the supervoteTM probably skews things in favor of the lazy ;) As for Harry, I don't much care for the music he does these days, but I was much more excited than any 19 year old should have been when he played a show on the UofI campus back in the day. I've liked him ever since. Keith OTOH....lost me when he cut his hair. I just close my eyes and think of England when JLo is on screen.

Maybe people think Caleb won't appeal to older voters because of the 'old ladies' comment or that there's more Tweens voting for Jena. Interestingly, on the Idol blogs I glanced through, the commenters generally seem to want Jena to win, but think it will be Caleb. Perhaps it's a hope for the best, expect the worst sort of thing lol. I haven't looked at the breakdown on the ratings demos this year and they don't directly correlate to who votes anyway, but I think there's a tendency to overestimate the number of young people who still watch. Idol wasn't skewing as old as DWTS last year, but part of the ratings drop was definitely viewers aging out of the 18-49 demo.

Good lord. Well I think that lays to rest any hope that the new producers would be any more in touch with the incredible shrinking audience than the old.

The season finale before the summer of lies, I was totally enamoured of the idea of Kurt & Rachel being BFFs in NY. But then they had to go and ruin it with the split narrative & then the handing Rachel FG SL. What might have been, if the show wasn't run by people with more ego than competence.

Artem & Pasha are my favorite SYTYCD ballroom guys. Meryl + Artem would have been sweet. Ballas has actually mostly not annoyed me this year, which is shocking. I wonder if he's not over trying because he assumed he wouldn't win this year.

I don't know if we would have gotten rid of Grimmie without the Twitter save, but I still hate it. I particularly dislike it in a scenario where it could move a 5th place finisher into the finale. Not saying it did, but it could.

I mostly want them to be entertaining, but not torpedo their civilian's chances by doing their schtick instead of giving clues or whatever they are supposed to be doing. It drives me nuts when they let the clock run while they are busy making jokes or whatever. Being halfway decent at the games is a plus too.

I definitely got the impression that the judges were less than impressed with the guy that lost, but I think what did him in was talking about how life wasn't worth living if you couldn't drink, after two contestants shared their stories about overcoming addiction. Of course it's all edited, so I could be entirely wrong. I did enjoy the guy who forgot his egg's, "good news is, you don't have to eat any more 100 year old eggs!" Comment. I wish they'd just put in a second ice cream machine.