sharifa70

Yeah, I’m really struggling. Cat is perfection and I will always love tWitch, but this show has become a sad shadow of its former self. I agree that that the contestants this season probably wouldn’t have made it through Hollywood Week (and Beau never would have made it through auditions). I get that this season he has the “untrained” narrative that has previously been held by the hip-hop dancers, but at least those so-called “untrained” dancers (Fik-shun, Cyrus, Russell, Comfort, all the others, and yes, tWitch too) were amazing dancers in their own specialties. Beau isn’t even nice to watch in his own style.

I’m not even religious and the vicars’ (Will and Sidney before him) sexual antics annoy me. And then to introduce yet another love interest who’s betrothed/married to a different man is just lazy and insulting to viewers who’ve been around since the beginning. Here’s a challenge: put Will in a stable relationship, marry him off, and let’s see the drama between Mrs. Will (the presumed Lady of the House) and Mrs. C. (the real Lady of the House). Better yet, drop Will and Geordie and the murders (though that would hurt because I adore Robson Green), and let’s have a buddy comedy starring Mrs. C. as Leonard drags her kicking and screaming into the Beat Generation. I love those two so very much.

Oh, yeah. tWitch (rightly) criticized Anna and Waverly for not doing their homework, but neither did Cheesman. Where was Mandy Moore, the queen of SYTYCD 80’s themes, when we needed her?

I completely agree with this. In 1988 Madonna was in her Papa Don’t Preach/Like a Prayer phase, not her big jewelry and tulle phase. Meanwhile, Waverly looked like he was about to break into a Carlton dance, and good god that wig was distracting. Sean Cheesman is old enough to know what 80’s choreo should have looked like (having lived through it the first time), and for crying out loud he had a dance-centric music video to draw inspiration from. None of that choreography felt like an 80’s dance. Like, at all. I feel completely justified in declaring that this might be the worst choreography misstep since Phillip and Jeanine’s Kalinka. I agree that Beau should have gone, and though I like Ralynn there were enough mistakes in their performance that I wouldn’t have cried over her elimination either.

I love Leonard. That poetry recital was delicious. His earlier scene at home with Daniel (and the drum) made me think of the “Woman” poem from So I Married an Axe Murderer.

Me too! Yeah, I feel like the writers don’t quite know what to do with Kristen. Also: why in the everloving hell is she letting her mom take the girls out and asking for Strong Woman advice when she knows Sheryl is shady as all get-out? I love Ben and Karima and I’m glad we’ve been seeing more of her.

I agree. I didn’t mind Beau at all in that waltz. I’m glad I’m not the only one who missed the salsa in that salsa; I was wondering if it was just my untrained eye.

This. I ask that every time JoJo points it out. Also: we’ve had so-called “untrained” winners (read: “street dancers” Cyrus, Russell, and Fik-Shun and I’m so glad that tWitch pointed out that of course hip-hop has technique), so Beau isn’t even breaking the “less experience” barrier. It was nice to see a different Bollywood choreographer who didn’t talk about how supposedly offensive it would be to get the hands wrong. tWitch was right to point out they needed to be more precise, but it certainly wasn’t offensive. Speaking as a white girl who spent three years in a Bollywood dance troupe with an instructor who never once told us our hands were offensive. Trained Indian dancers (it’s not all Bollywood) do have beautiful hands. That salsa, though: granted, my only salsa experience is five lessons at a local dance studio, but I didn’t feel like there was much salsa in the choreography. And Carter’s idea of “down” was “crouching low.” It looked weird and I think he really is the weakest of the remaining male dancers. I don’t disagree with Thiago’s departure because every week I think “There’s a Thiago?” but I would have booted Carter first.

He would crush it (assuming he can sing; “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” is my favorite number from that).

I fell down a rabbit hole of Crufts Heelwork to Music videos on YouTube a few weeks ago, and this was definitely that sort of routine. In the competition the human partner is supposed to interact but also not pull too much focus; the dog has to be the star. I’ve seen better routines but this wasn’t too bad and I liked the story. I liked the Mayyas and the 19-year-old singer (Cristina?), and hate myself for being entertained by the German dancer/musician. The beauty pageant comedian (do we still use “comedienne”?) actually impressed me when she didn’t miss a beat answering Sofia’s question like it was part of the act. I cannot remember anyone else.

I like Keaton but I felt like that dance was definitely choreographed for Alexis. It seemed like he spent the whole time just walking around the stage while she twirled around him. Not his style, I get it, but I felt that more than any other routine the female partner did all the heavy lifting. I enjoyed James and Virginia’s routine and was sorry to see them go. Beau really surprised me in a good way. Essence was my favorite of the night. Leah did a lot of interrupting. Not cool. I very much appreciated tWitch’s specific comments about ways the dancers could improve. He has a gift for offering critiques without tearing people down. Also, I loved that he pointed out that hip-hop does, in fact, require technique. I love how broad his dance vocabulary is and how I’m learning from him.

Donyelle and Benji is still one of my favorite partnerships. They were so fun together! Leah’s comments were exactly what I expected. “I loved it/I loved it/I loved it” yawn.

I completely agree with this. While I watched the episode I thought about how nice it was to see a variety of body types (and I remember the concerns about Donyelle, who was by no means a large woman but she didn’t fit that stereotypical lean figure either).

Exactly. From what I can tell from her Wikipedia page, her only dance….let’s call it “experience”…was as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars (she placed 5th). That’s it. I mean, I took ballet in 2nd grade and danced in a Bollywood troupe for three years (with far more enthusiasm than talent), so I guess I’m qualified! Sign me up!

So, there wasn’t a single person with actual dancing credentials who was available to judge? Not one? Not even another former SYTYCD contestant? I would have loved to see one of the ballroom specialists come back as a judge. I’m not a dancer and would appreciate judges with actual dance vocabulary, like tWitch pointing out how grounded the tall contemporary dancer was able to get, or JoJo talking about specific technical details. I don’t want a judge whose expertise is “yeah, you were on the beat and you looked good.” I can do that much.

I found the whole Vader-on-a-throne thing jarring. He clearly reports directly to the Emperor starting with The Empire Strikes Back, but in Star Wars (I’m old and refuse to call it anything else), Tarkin was calling the shots. Vader was strong and definitely a player, but there was a clear chain of command implied: he backs down when Tarkin orders him to, and Leia even comments on him holding Vader’s leash). The Vader in this episode seems to have a lot more autonomy than I would expect given that history.

I was thinking the same thing through that whole fight. It’s hard to get truly invested when you know the future of both combatants.

I do too! There are several routines I re-watch a lot from the early seasons, but that one is definitely at the top of my list.

I’m not a fan of the audition rounds so far. Lots and lots of backstory, a couple of auditions, and a minute of “these people made it through too” don’t make for a good show. Save the backstories for the people who make it to the live shows. Also, the teacher who krumps: man, I think it was a mistake for him to choose that particular song (“Outta Your Mind”), especially for this show and especially in front of tWitch, who partnered with Alex on this song in one of the show’s most iconic routines. Watching this audition (twice) I just couldn’t get that other performance out of my head.

I just watched the series trailer and I have to say I cannot wait. I, too, saw the original in the theater (in the balcony!) so many times I lost count, and also owned it on VHS. The line I drop into conversation most often is “Tempting…..but no.”

I was thinking of them maybe moving closer to the university; I understood that it’s in a different town (and it confused me the day Mary and George got into a fight over “taking the kids to school” because Meemaw was driving Sheldon for that reason).

Hmmm, I wonder if she would reconsider now that they’re both unemployed, Sheldon is in college in another town, and Georgie has brought scandal down on them. Missy could get a spinoff when she goes to live with Meemaw so she wouldn’t have to change schools and I would watch the hell out of that.

I actually mostly liked him this season - the writers finally gave him a personality. I liked him giving Elizabeth a hard time and was impressed that they pulled it off without him coming across as a bitter jilted lover. I have to say I laughed at Elizabeth and Rosemary hiding in the clinic and blocking their ears to keep from hearing Faith and Molly talking about patients. Never mind that it would probably be obvious they were there or that Rosemary, the town busybody, was respecting people’s privacy - it was cute. Florence and Henry’s scene got me. All in all, though the writing on this show (particularly this season) has been very uneven (Bill’s storyline in particular is very disjointed: once again I thought I missed something), I liked this episode.

My TV Boyfriends at the time were Neil Patrick Harris from Doogie Howser and Ty Miller, Josh Brolin, and Gregg Rainwater from The Young Riders.

Ha! When I was little I didn’t like being read to (I preferred to do the reading), but I loved when my dad read this. He would get super dramatic and pretend to struggle more and more with turning each page.