crowceilidh

I've seen many celebrity partners "change" Maks, but I am actually astonished by the real change that seems to have happened. I suspect the acting lessons were therapeutic for him. He seems to be genuinely reflected in his face now, vulnerable and really masculine, rather than closed off and pseudo macho. As I've said somewhere before (this thread?), Meryl allowed that change to shine, but I have zero belief that she caused it in any way.

I loved that article. Clearly Maks has changed a great deal and I like his new self. And just as clearly, Meryl is not the cause of the change, she is merely one shining facet of it. I think he totally deserved the win this season and I'm happy for him.

I thought this was a super-interesting article with some fresh and authentic-seeming observations: http://www.freep.com/article/20140522/COL38/305220141/meryl-davis-dancing-with-the-stars-dwts

I thought Candace's disco was horrendous in nearly every way. It actually made me appreciate that vile liftomatic harpy, Doriana Sanchez. Even though the dance deserved those scores -- I think she was scored low to create backlash from her supporters who already managed to get her to outdistance James (not that that hurts my feelings, Danica belongs there, not either of them).

My first thought, too. Loved Maks and Meryl's dances, rewound and watched both of them instantly. Bored by everything else. I finally understand the point of a surfeit of guest judges... it's to give you one show where you're so relieved to only have 3 judges that it seems to breeze by and one can actually manage to half-listen to what they say without wanting to slit one's throat.

I don't know why and I hope I'm wrong, but I've got a strong feeling the show has ditched Tristan.

Thank you. Now THERE's a dancer I want to see on my TV all the time. Such a shame I can't really see him clearly on youtube...

Finally got a moment to watch the MSOD. I wish Derek didn't front and centre himself, but it was a good fun dance. Who were the dancers with the brooms? Was one of them Will Wingfield?

From a parting interview with Charlie: I thought the comment about being true to themselves in a reality tv show suggests that he understood that he was getting damned by his truncated packages and that he deliberately chose not to make up some reality-show narrative... I think it's touching that he has that much faith in the voting public. I'm a Canadian. I vote because it tells me things about my emotional response. I sign on the ABC site every week, look at the pictures of the couples and distribute all of my votes to those whom I wish to continue to see (this season was nearly all for Charlie and Meryl and Danica). This season has been anamolous because I've liked so many people. I find it instructive how many times I give all of my votes to one couple because I'm just not that interested in the others. At the beginning of each season, the voting takes me a while because I have to remember what my logon is, but after I'm signed on for the season, it can take almost 2 minutes. I also like voting because I feel it validates my complaints i.e. I am a participant, so I can rant.

Well it seems to me like reading the fb likes is pretty accurate (at least for the first two weeks I have done it) - two weeks ago, you could tell Charlie was heading for danger and last week it seemed certain and look. They pretty solidly indicated a lack of interest in his dances. I divided my votes between Charlie and Meryl from the beginning because I suspected this and want to watch both till the end. I feel very sad. Missed nearly all of last night's show because Buffalo wasn't coming in OTA (got Charlie's NY and Meryl's waltz and that's it), so no comments till I've had some catch up.

Bitsy, can you tell me her twitter address? Me TOO!

For those of you interested in where the facebook likes are sitting at right now: Meryl and Maks 4646 Amy and Derek 3016 James and Peta 2451 Candace and Mark 2167 Charlie and Sharna 1347 (Danica and Val) 1037 Charlie and Candace 2513 James and Amy 2272 Danica and Meryl 1243 Totals Meryl 5889 Amy 5288 James 4723 Candace 4680 Charlie 3860 (Danica) 2280

I vote online from Canada.

Was the stool really excellent or are you just cutting it slack because of what a great job it did considering it can't bend its legs or emote or move? Jokes aside - I thought Amy's AT was pretty good and I was really sorry that the stool move didn't work. Maybe not perfect score good, but in the show's scoring style definitely a 37 or 38. I also thought more notice should have been taken for the awkwardness in the lift with Charlie and Candace. I get the feeling that it was one of those nights where the rehearsal and the actual show were very different. The scores and comments go very whack when that happens.

I am no fan of Derek Hough (I am a reluctant fan of his choreo on occasion) and Amy is gutsy but not particularly likeable to me, yet I don't think she's being marked particularly unfairly for the most part. She should have been docked for the stool error tonight, except that I think it was Derek's fault, wasn't it? I didn't like Mark's opening song, but I didn't hate it either. As an opening NUMBER, I thought it was really fun and rewatched it instantly. Neither Tony nor Maks were dancing in it, is that right? Who all was dancing in it? I saw: Derek, Val, Henri, Artem and who else? Emma, Lindsay, Witney, Peta, Cheryl and who else? I defo think that James and Candace should have gone home before Danica on the dancing scale of things. Also, bring me a group of James, Peta, Candace, Mark, Danica and Val and VAL is the person I want to see dance. So that's just depressing. I agree with the comment that Charlie's 40 seemed like a pity 40 (or in fact, the 40 he deserved last week). ,

Yes, but the voting goes on ad infinitum or ad fb-apocalypse or whatever. So the number of likes for party anthem week counts my vote today if I didn't vote on one earlier. I don't think we could tell about the actual numbers unless somebody had been doing a comparable count - such as, what number of votes each package of stills got 24 hours after posting. And also, the person who's posting, would have be posting at the same interval post-show in each case to be more accurate. And we might have to have an idea of how many people were following the site each week as that number has to be changing too.

Not sure what thread to put this in because we're talking about this here... These are the fb scores from Party Anthem night: Meryl 6718 James 3263 Amy 2558 Charlie 2332 Candace 1885 Danica 1827 NeNe 610 Drew 489 I think I might be seeing the reason why the judges are trying to whip up the indignation over their treatment of Charlie.

I'm not the person who claimed that the fb likes seemed to be trending accurately this season. That would be Kirstyn on Afterbuzz. The Dancing with the Stars fb page has over 5 million likes itself, but I couldn't see a follower total. Every week they put up a still from each dance and everybody who is so inclined "likes" their favourite(s). https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152356638066740.1073741842.8214706739&type=1 You just look for the likes exactly where you would ordinarily look at them on any facebook pic.

On Afterbuzz, Kirstyn said that the DWTS fb page has been very accurate this season. If true, here are how those fb likes for each dance shake out (the first score is the number of likes for the individual dance, the second is for the group dance, the third is the total). I put them in order of who had the most popular individual dance, because I'm not sure how the group dance affects one's voting... Celeb Pair dance Group dance Total Meryl 3248 2129 5377 James 3109 909 4018 Candace 2115 2129 4244 Amy 1837 2129 3966 Danica 1311 2129 3440 Charlie 1291 909 2200 If Kirstyn's claim is correct, we look like we're in for an actually shocking elimination. I don't think I believe it.

As I said over on TWoP - wasn't Peta supposed to be the pinup girl from the garage James was working in? In which case, she was quite modestly dressed.

I really liked Ricky Martin as a judge. He was very genuine and he'd clearly been watching all season in preparation which was charming. I thought Charlie and Sharna's dance was fascinating. I'd like to watch it again -- it was one of the dances where I felt I was not completely understanding what I am seeing. I usually find that kind of dance to be very fun to re-watch.

I defo agree that Maks and Meryl were hard to see FAR TOO OFTEN because of all the dancers messing up the visuals.

Can this thread have "Latin Night" after the episode number? I find it really easy to find the right thread with the storybook name as well. Glad to see the end of NeNe - I don't think she treated Tony very well. Also I am just done with watching her dance. Both the team dances were pretty fun to watch.

Quotation above from Maks' thread - I always thought that Tony was weirdly quiet and did not project much personality at all. Couldn't understand his self-proclaimed moniker "Bad boy of the ballroom" or whatever. But as the seasons have progressed, Tony keeps showing more and more glimpses of his temper and ego that are not pretty. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for actually knowing who he honestly is, but it strikes me that his former quiet internality was a disguise. Of course, CAI is a complete jerk to him - WAY more than to anyone else. He looks fantastic in that outfit he's wearing tonight. Something has changed about how he presents himself. I wonder what's going on there.

Thanks for the informative link, Kromm. I've been hoping someone would save me from the ignominy of google searching this situation.