crowceilidh

The thing that's most annoying about Mary's yelling is that she tried to stop it and the show made her do it. I think Maks may have smartened up a little as he grows older etc. We shall see.

There is so much demonstrable ageism in the near-constant nature of the Nigel detractions that I am willing to await the outcome. I could also believe many other things about the accusation(s). The man has not been proven guilty yet.

What happened before? I am glad to see Nigel back, I think, I've seen a lot of people talk about him in very ageist manners and that's why I thought he was gone. I feel for Allyson but I don't want her on the judging panel and they had better not milk her "story." Love Comfort and I feel secure that she will be a great judge. High hopes for Maks. He can be very likeable and compassionate when he decides to be. I hope Cat stays real - she seems less and less so somehow as the years progress. However, I can't imagine anyone else in the spot.

I never thought I'd come back once Tyra started. I don't like anything about Julianne Hough, but I feel she does this job very very well. I like her being able to dance with Alfonso, I like Alfonso. I always like Derek Hough as a judge -- he is generally thoughtful and intelligent. I could do with replacements for Bruno and Carrie Ann lemme tell you. But this was an amazingly wonderful season. I ffed much less than in the past. There is always a Harry and at least this time he didn't make it to the finals. I agree that Len would have loved this season. I liked all the freestyles, including Charity's even though she was clearly not quite on point, at least she survived. I liked much of the filler except the first hour. It was fun. There was very good dancing. There were entertaining partnerships. I wondered about the style that Xochitl was dancing in the second half of her freestyle. I felt that I missed some cultural point there.

I can't remember who you are talking about but I don't think you can deride someone who has been working so hard for such a time for crying at bad news. I remember at Dance Camp one summer, my dancemaster tried to correct something I was doing and I was so distressed that I was screwing up the most basic step of Baroque Dance that I cried for two hours. And I was 48. I was so profoundly exhausted that his comment just cracked me and I couldn't stop. These people are physically going through the wringer and it can really affect you mentally.

I love Jason, but I thought his posture in the Paso was seriously wonky. I have disagreed with most of the narrative nitpicking at him, but there was way too little of it last night. I think. in general, there is little to choose between Xochitl, Ariana and Charity. I have to say, I am sick unto death at Ariana's story about herself. That said she was extremely elegant in that waltz. Alyson is a ridiculous choice, although I must say that she had moments of grace in her second dance that showed promise. Like say if she did the show five times in a row with Pasha as her partner.

There was an awful lot of excellent choreo in this show.l I went back to watch Julianne and Apolo samba (a dance that completely blew me away at the time) and it really had a lot less spark than at least 3 of these, maybe 4. There were some obvious flaws that didn't get called, but wow! none of the flaws were in the actual choreo.

Wow. Interesting how much better that perspective is. Also, I was thinking you could never accuse Dani of hogging the choreo in that dance. He is really operating at a very high level.

As predicted Jason gets the redemption narrative. He buys into it seemingly genuinely and once again I wanna know how much the celebs know.

OMG Alfonso's suit! It blew my mind. The precision of the taloring and the fit and the AWESOME colour. He just pulls it off so well.

I often wonder how much the celebs understand about the nature of the judging. Does Jason understand that they are trying to manipulate his scores for a reason or does he believe their shite? Is his "towel-throwing" feeding into the show's narrative or is it real? I can never suss what the celebs think is going on.

Two judges giving him an 8 is just to paint a redemption narrative IME. We shall see.

I find Jenna somewhat more likeable than I did in her SYTYCD days where interestingly the only thing she danced which matched her mugging without feeling off was the amazing dance she did with Mark Kanemura. Her characterization was very powerful rather than mug-y and his choreo suited her down to the ground. I also remember rumours about her chasing Val very hard while he was not all that interested, but that could have been nastified by competitors for Val's affections I suppose. I believed it at the time. She has toned down a LOT.

The whole Madonna discush is hilarious to old me. Julianne was channeling Madonna so hard that before she opened her mouth I was going to myself, self Madonna is two years older than you, that can't be her, who is it, Madonna's breasts are not that small, who is it" Then she opened her mouth and went, self, you are a numpty. The reason we don't get to hear the bottom 2 is that generally they are making up their scores for reasons that aren't to do with who is actually in the bottom or top and they need to preserve their narrative. If we can see what they are doing, the jig would be up.

Apparently Ariana was dressed as a harpy. Not sure what Pasha was dressed as. Zeus? Oedipus?

I don't like much about Julianne but I think she is doing a fantastic job. The opening little number with her and Alphonso <sp?> was actually cute and not boring or too much. I also feel that she is increasingly participating in writing her lines -- the diction and emotion is all Julianne.

Well, as a certified Disney hater, trust me, I'm not fond of Crying night, even when they apparently dulled that down to Emotional night. I like nights that are about dance and music, not corporate shilling and emotional manipulation.

I think they've had so many very annoying women in what is now the airbox role that I have precious little tolerance for any of it. After a while, I liked Erin, despite her often stupid script, but I couldn't really listen to her either. I've no doubt from the occasional bits of Julianne that I've heard that she is bringing a new perspective to some of it, but this many seasons in, it's all much of a muchness. And I've loathed Julianne's fame whoring for so long that it's hard to pay attention when she's actually doing something she's pretty qualified to do. Bruno was reasonable and entertaining at one time, but they've Mary Murphied him into oblivion by insisting that he stand up and screech alliterative or allusional nonsense at every couple. I wish I liked him still.

The comments about Disney night being tired warm my cold hard anti-Disney heart. I thought it was tired the first time I saw it. Having Mickey and Minnie heads next to Alfonso all the time was just stupid -- they do NOT have the charm, such as it is, of the cartoons. However, there is nothing worse than inserted animation in a live show. Also, all the Disney ads! Good god. I know they own the show, but it's all so very done and it often doesn't do many favours to the dancers - that mickey ears sorcerer's hat yikes, the candle outfit double yikes. How about disco night? Emo night? New romantics night?

I ff through a lot of Disney night usually because blech. Did the dance for Len happen or is it next week? If it happened, can someone tell me where in the show? Why were Barry's scores so very low? Did I miss something? I just feel he isn't being marked particularly fairly.

I often find it tedious when others comment about how lacking the music is, but holy geez they murdered some songs. That version of "Dancing in the Streets" was so not motown to my ears and there were a couple of other songs unjustly handled. Loved that Alfonso and Julianne joined in, but agree that it should not happen every single show. I like so many of the dances and dancers that it's hard to narrow down to faves. This is an awesome dancing cast. I only know who two of them are, and Barry was way undermarked last night and Alyson needs to work a whole lot harder. It was a good choice for a style of night - full of energy and nostalgia. Now on to the hideous Disney night...

I was impressed by Barry's hip movements in a short section that the camera really did no favours to. Not stiff at all.

Can't remember who Bruno "sevenned" like Len to, but it made me happy. Also, I think there is already no doubt that Alfonso and Julianne are very good hosts for this show. I ff through a lot, but I wasn't seeing the same kind of line flubbing as last week. Also, Alfonso's suit. I'm really happy to have the show feeling so much about the dancers rather than the host's ego and just so much more fun.

OMG Mark's hair! Gorgeous hair, but doesn't really suit him. That was a real stop the damn recording and go back to look again moment.

I thought the whole show seemed a little shaky, but I enjoyed the HELL out of Tyra being gone. TBF the show's producers made quite a number of other eff-ups in that time period, but she made me stop watching the show. Alfonso continually calling out to Tom by saying "Live" in a strange manner might get old. He needs to be himself. Julianne was meh (as per usual, my opinion, ever since Apolo) and I would like it if she stumbled over her lines a lot less.