TeeM

Charlie wins best partner ever for that deflection.

Ha, I just said the same thing over in the Meryl thread. Should have come to the Maks thread first! That interview interruption was bizarro and totally unnecessary since Maks has been answering this question just fine for weeks.

Here's hoping that Maks takes a page out of their book and maybe event hires their media/PR people for himself. While they were being charming and adorable skating around these questions (haha), Maks was on a radio interview with his awful publicist busting in mid-question to say that he wouldn't answer any questions about Meryl. It was ridiculous and awkward and unnecessary.The DJ actually threatened to end the interview and not promote Ballroom with A Twist which is why Maks was calling in. Maks has been successfully skating around the question himself for the past 2 weeks in a perfectly acceptable way so I am not sure why his publicist felt the need to intervene other than because she is just plain terrible at her job. Which she is. Ugh.

I love the short hair. Love. Love. Love. I sort of wish he had this haircut during the DWTS season. As superficial and silly as it is, I think he looks much more handsome and adult with the shorter hair. I think he would have looked like a better match with Sharna with the shorter hair.

I have to say that I have never, ever been a person who goes back and watches past dances over and over again until this season. I've definitely gone back maybe once or twice to see something that one of the judges mentioned that I missed or something like that but I've never gone back after the season is over and all is said and done. Since the finale, I have rewatched several of Maks and Meryl's dances because they captivated me so much. I do hope that they work together on something again in the future because I'd love to see them dance together again.

Definitely not likely as he is busy with his own reality competition show, but Harry Connick Jr.

Oh, I totally agree and I actually have no complaints any of the packages. I think I was just more surprised that the narrative didn't become "Look how amazing Meryl and Charlie are...doing all this and dancing too" just as a previous poster said she was surprised they didn't play up the Charlie vs Meryl angle more. Having watched this show for so long, it seemed like that both of those are the types of storyline the producers would eat right up and beat us over the head with. I'd just be curious to know if they did plan to show more of it and if something derailed that or if they just made a conscious decision to ignore it all together. I think it would be super interesting to be in some of the production meetings in those few weeks leading up to the first episode as they start seeing the stars and their pros working together just to hear where they think the narratives are going and how they begin to frame things.

Continuing a conversation on the "stoic, unflappable Meryl" edit that started in the Maks thread: I did find it interesting that with the exception of the very beginning when they mentioned that Meryl and Charlie were traveling for SOI and one little pop up icon in the finale that said "Meryl traveled 38,000 miles with SOI during the season," they hardly mentioned all the other work the two of them were doing. I remember in seasons past seeing the footage of the contestants and their pros traveling around and doing other things. They would even fill us in when some celebs did most of their practicing out of state closer to home (Kate Gosselin comes to mind and maybe Susan Lucci?) I particularly remember weeks were we saw Kellie Pickler doing three shows and then practicing in the spare time between them on the road. In those traveling weeks, the traveling was almost always a focus of the pre-dance package and the contestant was almost always asked about how all their other commitments affected their training after the dance. I thought for sure, we'd get at least one week where the packages for Charlie and Meryl showed highlights from the SOI show and the rehearsals crammed in between. From a lot of what Maks and Sharna and Charlie and Meryl themselves shared on social media during the traveling, it seems that they would have had some fun moments to include. I wonder if they were saving that type of package for the finale and then Charlie didn't make it and they opted to focus on the Maks/Meryl chemistry angle instead? Or if they felt that mentioning it would give two contestants with a perceived advantage over the other contestants too much of a sympathy push? Like maybe not mentioning it helped even the playing field a bit? I know a lot of folks felt like the producers really pushed Maks and Meryl all season as who they wanted to win and while I do think they were a huge focus of the season, I always thought that not giving Meryl a very sympathetic pre-dance package showing just how much she was doing in addition to DWTS was a sign that they weren't necessarily pre-selected for the win. A casual fan tuning in to the show on the last night would not have had any idea that Meryl (and Charlie while he was still there) was learning her dances in between some other major commitments to the point where she was often flying in very late Sunday night or early Monday morning, missing out on camera blocking, etc.

Have a response to the stoic Meryl narrative posts that I am taking to her thread.

I agree with everything you said, katha, and I think that is what Bruno was getting at with his "concept album" comment. Even their last dance (the fusion) ended with the same little figure skating bow that their first dance cha cha did, almost like nice little bookends on the season. The costuming also seemed connected throughout the season. And as much as a lot of people hated the almost kiss move in nearly every dance, I thought that was likely a conscious decision to pull that thread throughout the season.

That montage is great. It was awful that they ran out of time for a montage for Charlie. The timing of this show is always something that bothers me. We waste so much time with the suspense leading up to who is going home and then they get bum rushed off the stage in the last 20 seconds. Cut down on the spotlights, dramatic music and long pauses, announce who is going home with a good 10 minutes to go and then give them a proper send off. I feel the same about the finale. I turned it on at 10:55 (I watched most of it on DVR but wanted to watch the announcement of the winners live) and thought I missed it, only to find that they left themselves no time at all. They announced the winners, some quick celebrating, one quick interview and boom, done. Announce them with 15 minutes to go, get the immediate reactions then cut to a video montage of the winners as they celebrate. Then come back and talk to the 2nd place finishers and give them a proper montage send off. Then go back to the winners who've had a minute to process they won and leave us with that.

miamigal already posted a link in the Media thread to a TV Guide interview with Maks that came out today. I thought it was worth bringing it over here to Maks' thread as well: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Dancing-Maksim-Chmerkovskiy-Meryl-Davis-1082236.aspx I appreciate his honestly in admitting his own mistakes in seasons past and also how he described what made this season different. In related news, if you search for Maks and Meryl on Twitter today, you get a delightful string of contradictory gossip stories: "Insider says there's no romance there" "Maks couldn't stop kissing Meryl at celebratory dinner" "Ex-fiancee says Maks and Meryl are great actors" "Brother says Maks loves Meryl more than any other woman" "Mark Ballas says Maks and Meryl aren't dating!" "Insider says Maks was 'very touchy feely' with Meryl in NYC last night." It cracks me up.

Saw that interview earlier and thought it was great. I appreciate Maks admitting his approach was often self sabotaging in seasons past.

Wendy Williams was foul and impolite. I know everyone wanted to ask the question but plenty of other interviewers asked without being crass. Meryl seemed particularly annoyed as she should be. It's one thing for people to be asking "are you dating?" "when's the wedding?" "what's going on?" and I think Meryl and Maks been good sports about those questions (as they should be since they set themselves up for it with all the near kisses). But it's something else entirely to just ask "are you having sex?" Ugh.

Yes please. I'd like to see Manny paired with Cheryl. Haha.

I love the baseball player idea and I'd get behind Nomar for sure. I think I heard Jason Varitek's wife mention that she'd like to see Jason on there but I can't see him doing it.

I really liked Erin a lot as a host. Sure, she had some cringeworthy moments but she definitely got over her sideline reporter yelling mode from the first few weeks and became a lot better. Her back and forth with Tom was also approximately 250% better than Brooke's ever was. Brooke was always pleasant enough but she was terrible at reacting to the unscripted moments and it made for a lot of weird moments and great lines from Tom that ended up just sitting out there while she looked slightly confused. I wish Erin had harped a little less on wanting "Dancing with the Stars babies" and constantly asking about the show/ro/faux/mances but I think a lot of that is producer driven. I hope she is back next season. I think without Maks dancing, people will also find her a lot more palatable.

Hahaha, Bitsy. Honestly, I am always amazed at how wooden and creepy he is. It makes no sense to me that both he and super exuberant, happy-go-lucky Charlie dated the same woman.

Agree, Corazi. I am basically of the mind that no one is copying anyone, obviously people dancing the same styles are going to look similar and no one is able to do something that nobody else anywhere ever has done. Having said that, if anyone was copying Derek's dance with Kellie, I think it was Derek. Up until the aerial, Derek and Amy's freestyle reminded me much more of Derek and Kellie's than Meryl and Maks' did. I thought both Kellie and Amy's dances were more about strength and showcasing their athleticism, they both had a lot of very strong poses. Meryl's seemed like a much softer take on a contemporary. Maks and Meryl did have that same contemporary push and pull but the overall feeling was much softer to me. I just rewatched all 3 and Derek and Kellie started in the same pose as Amy and Derek, did a similar side by side passage on their knees and that walking move/lift. Obviously, it is all interpretation, we all see what we want to see and that is what I saw.

I thought Bruno's comment about feeling like he was watching small parts of the same story everytime Maks and Meryl danced this season was interesting and likely what Maks was going for. Unless I am remembering incorrectly, both of Meryl's costumes tonight were different colored versions of costumes she wore before - the AT costume was just a red version of the black tango costume and the freestyle was a lighter color version of the rumba dress. Of course, Bruno says "concept album" and someone else says "the same dance every week." But I am with Bruno.

galax-arena, I am an admitted fan of Maks but your post about how you hate Derek AND Maks equally actually made me burst out laughing. And now I have a pretty fun visual of Amy and Meryl dancing together nicely alongside Derek and Maks, both of whom are trying to position themselves better in front of the camera.

Yikes, they are dropping like flies. Maybe Meryl caught whatever bug James had last week. Maybe THEY are actually the behind the scenes romance and Maks and Peta are just decoys! LOL

Well now I want to see Skating with Celebrities with Maks in a helmet and a harness.

I think this is a great point. I think Mel B is the only other partner Maks has had with as much technical skill as Meryl but as good as she was and as fun as their dances were, I felt like she never nailed the feeling all the way through with the dance styles. She always had a little bit of silly cheekiness happening, even in the serious or intense dances. That was definitely her personality and it worked for her overall but Meryl has nailed the feeling of the dances every week which really surprised me. Going into this season, I expected her to be a great dancer but not necessarily a great performer. As much as I like Kristi Yamaguchi and liked her dancing, I didn't always buy into the performances with her and I sort of expected that from Meryl. I know a lot of folks have said they would have preferred to see Meryl with Val and I definitely see where that is coming from and think it could have been amazing in a lot of ways. But I really do think the partnership/chemistry/whatever of Maks and Meryl is a huge part of what made their dances compelling for me and I am not sure if she would have had that with Val. In the switchup week or the week after, Artem was on Afterbuzz and said that while he understood why everyone loved the Argentine Tango Meryl did with Val, he loved the Foxtrot from the week before so much more because the feeling was so much more intense. He said that being in the ballroom for both he felt like Meryl really connected with that Foxtrot in a way she didn't with the AT. Of course, it's entirely possible that Meryl and Val might have developed that same kind of chemistry if they had more than one week together, but who knows? (And though this is a post about Maks/Meryl chemistry, please know that I am by no means a shipper. I honestly don't care if they every see each other again after Tuesday night, I just like their chemistry on the dance floor.)

Agree 100%, LadyMustang. I've been disappointed in the narrative I've heard so much this season which is basically if Meryl and Maks win, it is because it was setup and promised by the producers and no one else ever had a fair chance, if they lose, it only proves that Maks sucks so bad at being a pro that he can't even win with a ringer. He can't "win" either way in that scenario which is convenient if you don't like Maks. At this point, I almost hope James or Candace runs away with the thing and leaves everyone shaking their heads about what happened. I also think it is ridiculous to accuse Maks of copying Derek if he does a contemporary inspired freestyle, just as it was ridiculous for people to accuse Derek of copying those SYTYCD bench/table dances for Amy's jazz. It is a dance show that's been on for 18 seasons, at some point everyone is doing to be doing something that someone else has sort of done before in some way. And not to be nit-picky about it, but wasn't Maks' freestyle with Erin the first time someone did contemporary in a freestyle on this show? And then Tony and Melissa did it in the All-Star season? Tony and Melissa's is probably a better comparison since it didn't involve the much maligned bed and the lighting and costuming was even somewhat similar to Kellie and Derek's. Regardless of whether or not people felt those dances was as good as Derek and Kellie's, they were done first so should people accuse Derek of copying them? Of course not. It's just silly.