Rlb8031

Okay, so now you've peaked by interest. I don't read other boards about this show...so please spill the tea!

I think that the trio was ready, but the girls who were supposed to be part of the intro (the rest of the team that stayed behind) was not. The first time I saw it I was confused, because Kayla was working with 12-14 girls, Diana pulled her aside and asked "What do you think" then they had a whole conversation about the trio not being ready. It wasn't until I re-watched that I understood Diana's lead in about the trio having three parts, the intro, the trio and the closing that I realized that those girls were the intro. I guess without Diana there, they couldn't pull it together and she only had them the day of the competition for a few hours beforehand. I wonder if the trio (all of whom traveled to NYC) could have done the dance without the intro or if that was either too simple or too hectic...

Abby seems like she's on something and it isn't diabetes medication. The rambling conversations, mood swings and unhealthy weight loss look a lot like something else.

Just wondering if anyone happened to catch an extremely cringe-worthy racial/sexist tone-deaf moment this week. On the Dance Moms reunion show, the mothers were at the part of the show where they were all being individually and collectively castigated for their behavior over the past season. Most of this season's drama has been between the one black mother and Abby Lee Miller (the dance instructor). As a result, at the reunion, most of the moms were asked to opine on this particular mother's behavior. In the midst of all of this, Abby Lee stated "Her problem is that she doesn't know her place!". She followed up immediately by saying "Her place as a woman.". Who says stuff like that in 2015? How do you not understand the historic implications of telling a woman that she is not in "her place" and the greater minefield of making that statement to a black woman? Who does that?

I've been watching for a while and think I can answer some of the questions raised here about the show. When they did the first show about the bar, all four kids came to Tia and suggested it. However, around the time that the show aired, I remember seeing that the twins were going to be handling the day-to-day operations more while the girls stayed on to help out with the rescue. The division of labor seems to be a little less black and white than that, but as the girls are in almost every episode and the twins only show up less, I'd guess this may be how its working out. I believe Perry was addicted to heroin. The house by the river was supposed to be the twins home. It was destroyed after a hurricane (Gustav??). After Chong died, the show did an episode where the Marines who helped with the original build out of the house came back to clean up and restore it. Tia mentioned that the plan was to use it as a home for senior dogs. I'm not sure if this has already happened and just hasn't been shown yet. The show has been very helpful in getting lots of volunteers to their doors. I follow them on FB and Tia mentioned that she has moved out of the city and is now living on a couple of acres of land where she is keeping all of the hounds that the shelter has taken in. Evidently, the hounds tend to bray and need room to run so they moved them out of the the shelter. She posted a funny story about chasing a couple of hounds that escaped on Christmas Day. My recollection is that there has never been a specific how-to for aggressive dogs, but Tia has talked generally about some of the methods they use when dealing with dogs they aren't sure of (using two leads instead of one, the use of treats and food, etc) I remember specifically this being discussed in the rescue where Mondo's friend took in a female dog and her pups and then called because the dog was too aggressive to handle. The one shortcoming of these shows is that none of them really give advice on how people that see the same issues can approach them. I'd guess that is to limit liability for the show and the producers.

I love the follow-up episode with some of the battles from the season replayed from their competitor's perspective, complete with talking heads from the other captains and coaches. It really allows a full view of the competitions and lets viewers get inside the kids heads. It also helps a cynical audience realize that unlike another lifetime show, the results from these competitions aren't fudged for the show.

I was very happy to see the mothers talking in the reunion about how they fight among themselves but view themselves as a family and will stick up for each other and all of the kids if an outsider comes at them. Very refreshing to see this, especially on the same channel as Dance Moms.

Yes, its great that the dads come and are self-assured enough t wave pom-poms, cheer, and support their daughters.

I think that the approach that they use with the dances (girls have a set number of routines, then they modify them slightly week to week as appropriate) is far more realistic than the "learn a new dance every week" approach some other dance shows have. Sure if you are a dancer going from job to job that might be appropriate, but as a kid on a team, you should be learning, refining and improving your technique from week to week, not getting a new dance every week.

Abby would rather be feared than loved or respected. So she doesn't care that the show has given her abad rep. In her mind, she's now a household name and is thus a success.