majormama

Haha, best typo ever. Yep, I'd say a lot of crap happens at the judges' table.

Definitely. I expect around mid-June Val will overhear Dante tell Lulu he doesn't want anything to do with her (Val) and she'll decide to leave town. She'll have an eclamptic seizure and crash her car, coming to just long enough to wander into the woods and collapse. Then we'll have a week of Dante and Lulu finding her crashed car and searching the woods for her. Lulu will find her just as she goes into labor. We'll endure another week of every third scene being Val screaming while Lulu yells, "Push, Val, you can do it!" The baby will be born just after midnight the morning of the Fourth, and Val will lay back to "watch the fireworks", aka the impending second seizure that results in her death. Then Lulu and Dante will be free to reunite and raise their love-child-cousin together. It practically writes itself!

You're right. I'm just exaggerating the messed up timeline issues that exist in soaps where the Fourth of July lasts a month and the next day is Christmas. It always seems to be worse WRT pregnancies. Like on Passions when Teresa was a surrogate with a confirmed heartbeat, then thought she miscarried and had sex to conceive a replacement baby, then had two heartbeats. Even though the fetuses would have been conceived at least six weeks apart in "reality", no one commented on them being different sizes/gestational ages, or that the second's heartbeat showed up just days after conception.

This is a soap, after all. It takes approximately 11 months to miss the first period, then two weeks from confirmation to full term birth.

Thanks for the clarification. I was pretty sure this was the case, since it usually is.

My knowledge of dance comes pretty much exclusively from this show, and this particular tidbit came from CAI, so take it for what it's worth. I remember one of the first times Contemporary was done, she cried and called it "a beautiful lyrical jazz, which is what Contemporary used to be called." Based solely on that comment, I've always been under the impression that Contemporary and Lyrical Jazz are different names for the same style while Lyrical Jazz and Jazz are separate styles. Much like Waltz and Viennese Waltz or Tango and Argentine Tango. When I hear Jazz, I think Bob Fosse or Broadway Musical. I can also accept Pop Jazz like what Nick did. I usually hate Contemporary/Lyrical Jazz. Even those that are well done, I can appreciate the artistry and technique but still not like it. I did, however, like Bindi's. Yes, I'm a sap, but she played it so joyfully most of the dance, and was angsty at the appropriate moments without (IMO) going too overwrought. I do enjoy a well done jazz.

She didn't say anything like that. I just went back and rewatched it to be sure. She said she's never dwelt on the moment of his death, and that it took a long time to realize what it would mean for the rest of her life. But never that she hadn't mourned.

I already expressed my thoughts on Gary last night. I would add I was incredibly angry when they teased Tamar following him and I could not believe TPTB would put Tamar's domestic abuse story after that creepy obsessed-possessive-lover Buddy Holly song! And then she did a different story, so I guess that's all right. I loved Tamar's rumba. I'm not a big rumba fan, but that was one of the best, if not the best, I've seen on this show. I have to say, I was impressed with Alek's dance. It's true, the performance suffered a lot since his emotions were elsewhere, but the technique was still really good. For a regular person with neither dance nor performance experience who's going through such an emotional time to be that technically proficient is impressive. Although Bruno was right about improving the Spanish lines, but again, he has no prior experience. I loved Nick's BSB dance. I could just imagine every teen and tween girl in the '90s doing pretty much that exact routine in front of their TV while watching the video. Including me, including Sharna (though she'd have done it much better). In fact, it was probably really easy to choreograph since she's already had it down for 20 years. Was it a proper jazz? Did it show improvement or whatever? Don't care. It was fun. Carlos's waltz was really beautiful, and the first time I didn't find him completely insufferable, just slightly insufferable. I cried through Bindi's package and dance. It was really beautiful. Incidentally, I have a memory of my dad holding me when I was 18 months old, so I don't doubt she remembers holding her dad's finger as an unsteady toddler.

I have other thoughts on tonight's episode, but this deserves its own post. I hate that Buddy Holly song with the passion of 1000 suns. People talk about the Sting song having creepy lyrics but no one notices because the tune is so romantic. "That'll Be the Day" is every bit as creepy and annoying to boot. And as Gary stomped around the floor singing it, I realized. We will never be rid of him. Never. And sure enough, when he's eliminated he immediately says he isn't eliminated and no one will get him out of the ballroom and he will be here for every second of every dance. And when Alfonso tries to move on, he says, "You can't cut me off, I'm Gary F***ing Busey!" And Erin, you do not have to keep holding the microphone in front of him! And seriously, you guys! You're annoyed with Alfonso popping up all the time, just wait! You will grow to fear The Busey! *dissolves into incoherent muttering*

Can Nik be any more paternalistic? "I decided what you need to know and already told it to you. What do you mean you're looking for answers beyond that? It's almost like you don't trust me." "No, it's exactly like I don't trust you."

Interesting contrast: both are ready to claim mobsters' fetuses, one to protect the children from the mobsters, the other to protect the mobsters from the consequences of their bad decisions.

I hope Jax has hired a private tutor since Joss has missed like a month of school. We don't want her to end up as dumb as Morgan.

To be clear, I wasn't saying the lawyers wanted to make sure they followed applicable laws regarding contracts and game show rules. I think the lawyers said, "She had a STROKE?!? She could DROP DEAD on LIVE TV?!?!? Nooooooo no no, nope, uh-uh, not gonna happen. We cannot take on that kind of liability. No exceptions for this!"

When Tom eliminated them, he first cited The Rules. Then when Kim and Tony asked if they could make an exception, he said something like, "We checked with the lawyers, and they said no." I interpret that to mean TPTB did, in fact, think about making an exception and the lawyers said, cleared or not, no way are we taking on the liability of her dropping dead on live television. I can't say I blame them for that, even if it is unfair.

I would be happy with any combination of Tamar/Val, Alec/Lindsay, Nick/Sharna, Bindi/Derek, and Alexa/Mark. At this point, I'm not super committed to any of them, but those are the five I most enjoy and want to see more of. Gary and Paula cannot get off my screen soon enough, and Hayes, Andy, and Carlos in any order would be my mid-season boots.

Ava should have laughed in Morgan's face, patted him on the head, and said, "You're cute. Get out."

I really liked Alexa and Mark's Breaking Bad dance. My kids thought they were supposed to be firemen, so no need to explain the drug thing! I also liked Tamar, Nick, and Alek. I tend to be a stickler like Len, so I did not appreciate Bindi and Derek breaking hold. Also thought there was too much hip hop and not enough jive in Hayes's Ninja Turtle dance.

Apparently, it's the Mad Men theme, which definitely would work as a Tango.

I'm just going to put this here: The Man Bun

Reading through other threads, it occurred to me to ask. What was Michael's original name? He was Michael from the start, but Carly wasn't with Sonny at the time and actually hated him. Was it Jones, since she originally tried to pass him off as Tony's son? Morgan? Benson? And then she marries Sonny who adopts Michael and just so happens to have the same first name, so Michael becomes Corinthos III. Did we know Sonny's name was Michael before that, or was that created just so Micheal could become The Third without having to change his first name?

I couldn't watch live thanks to my Ninja Warrior-obsessed family, and I don't have a DVR, so watched online today. I only saw the intro packages and dances, no judges comments/scores or after interviews, so my thoughts are not influenced by anyone's antics outside of that. People I want to see more of: Tamar, Alek, Bindi, and Nick. People I'm okay with hanging around for a while: Carlos, Alexa, and Andy. People who need to go first: Gary, Paula, and Kim. Gary first, please! Then Victor, Chaka, and Hayes in some order. Did they put the contestant's name and dance style on screen live? Because it wasn't on the recorded version. At one point I was pretty sure Paula was doing a Foxtrot, and then I saw a Quickstep move and was like wait, is this actually a QS? Because if so, it was about the slowest in history. I felt extremely uncomfortable throughout Gary's whole segment. Like could barely bring myself to watch it. Alek impressed me. He had decent technique and showed potential to learn. Seemed like a nice, humble guy. While he himself is unknown, he has the potential to draw in the Conservative, RahRah America vote. He could actually be a contender. The "joke" with the cook first came off to me as if Tony was reacting to his "celebrity" being someone he did not recognize, a star who wasn't famous, rather than her being ugly/fat. It would have been funny if he had then reacted the same way to Kim as someone he doesn't recognize, the show poking fun at itself for the quality of the Stars lately. But yeah, I can definitely see the fat-shaming angle and understand why others are upset.

I know the answer is "Because she's BSC", but why on earth would Carly's first guess at a surprise from Sonny be Spinelli and not, oh I don't know, JOSS? Or Kristina? Or Corbin Bernson (is dear old dad still alive, I've been on the barge for a while)? Is she really that close to Spinelli?

Thank you, I was wracking my brain wondering who the heck is Kyle? I've been on the barge for years, and have been watching sporadically for the last few months, so had no idea who they were talking about.

Robin showing her sniper skillz. Would you rather Nina die, but you have to listen to Franco wax poetic about their tragic love every episode for a year, or Franco die and *Nina* wax poetic for a year?

You know what would make the CarSon wedding infinitely more watchable? If they changed their minds about the small ceremony, invited the whole town, and all George RR Martin broke loose.