JeanneH

Cubs game had a rain delay, so the ceremonial stuff happened about 2 hours late. Grandpa's turn to dance came just before the ceremonies started. And so the Cubs filled a little time by showing his DWTS appearance (dance, comments, scores) on the big screen in the stadium and then put up the number to call to vote for him. Incoming to ABC, 38000 votes from Wrigley Field for Grandpa Rossy. Edit to add this link from WGN: Cubs fans cheer on a dancing David Ross during rain delay at Wrigley Field

In 1945 a train hit a car carrying my mom's aunt and her family, killing them all. The local papers were amazingly descriptive, to the point of telling readers where the bodies were located (in car, on tracks, etc), what the people's injuries were, and whose severed body parts were recovered where. The detail really surprised me. My mom won't read it.

Your comment reminded me that when I heard about Maks being injured, my first thought was that if it was going to happen to one of the pros, Maks was the best one it could happen to. I don't intend this as a hit on him, but as a compliment to his partner - being able to switch things up as needed with a new partner and (possibly) new choreography at the last moment. Something like that would likely have messed up most of the other celebs in a bad way but Heather had the experience to deal with it (and maybe had been in a similar situation before).

No offense was intended, I personally just found it amazing. If you want to be insulted where there was no insult in the first place, go right ahead.

I'm sorry I can't tell if you were joking. Ms. Flack's version was a huge hit back in 1973 and a lot of people have forgotten or never knew. According to Wikipedia, it spent 5 weeks as #1 (US and Canada) and was ranked as the #3 song of the year by Billboard. Flack's performance won 1973 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and the song itself won Song of the Year. (Flack won even bigger at the 1972 Grammys with her version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.) In 1996 a house remix of Flack's version went to #1 on the dance chart. In 1999 Flack's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. I remember seeing her perform it on TV, accompanying herself on the piano. Of course, all the versions are a bit different from each other, faster, slower, differing rhythms, arrangement, etc. Lori Lieberman version (1972) Roberta Flack version (from Japanese TV) The Fugees version Alicia Keyes version

When Maks and Heather started up the stairs to the "skybox" (or whatever its called this season), after the judges comments, the camera showed a lady with a child sitting in the audience. Was that Gwyneth Paltrow? There is a connection there to Heather, via Glee (she guested in a few episodes as "Holly Holliday", a substitute teacher)

Heather Morris and Harry Shum Jr just brought it when they were allowed to dance together and nobody else got in their way. Worth the price of admission.

There's a school of thought out there that says that figure skaters and gymnasts are just as much ringers as dancers (of all styles), due to all the dance training they have. They don't have to be trained in ballroom, just dance in general.

Interesting comments by Julianne Hough during the judging, that ballroom and what Heather does are two entirely different kinds of dance (and she'd know). Also they mentioned during the package that Heather's never done ballroom before. And someone commented that some people are complaining about Heather's experience level. Guess they're trying to beat down any negativity toward Heather that's not related to her on-show performance. To be fair, Julianne is absolutely right. It would be like saying painting a house and painting a portrait are the same thing.

I was thinking that about how it was being presented for Courtney, and then she came out and said it was one big soap opera! lol

Yes, we get it. Can you say anything else about Brooke other than this or variations on the same and similar themes?

This link is to a joint interview with Brooke and Shirley. It's the same interview linked to upthread, I've copied it here for ease of finding it again (it's a good interview). In it, among many things they talk about why Shirley picked Casey over Sheldon, and then they talk about the pork belly. Shirley had IMO good culinary reasons for picking Casey, and the pork belly thing was not a big deal to either one of them. No attempts to screw people over.

Congratulations!

I knew it was on but I wasn't going to be able to watch, and then I forgot to set the DVR, so I've just now watched on VOD. Whoever dressed Brooke and did her hair and make-up did her no favors. Her make-up was particularly bad. Shirley looked so pretty. Great to see Sheldon! Glad to see Padma had to be reminded of why Jamie went home (saying she didn't remember is possibly the most real thing she said all season). So obvious Brooke is sick of the question about Kristen and Shirley of the question about the pork belly. Kristen often cooks for Padma and stays at her home? Didn't expect that. Funny about Padma and the knives (why does she lick knives). LOL Shirley's slam of the OC! Best reaction to anything on the show. John Tesar is a jerk and always will be a jerk (the sabotage question). Congratulations to Sheldon for fan favorite! (although I wish Jim had made the cut)

Funniest part of the episode: they're cooking and Shirley is calling out directions and tells Casey to do (whatever). You hear Casey acknowledge it (ok, yes, or whatever she said) then immediately correct herself with a "Yes ma'am!" I have a friend, a chef, who teaches culinary arts as part of the hospitality program at a trade school (mainly high school age students). I've seen him in action, and it is drilled into those students that protocol says when in the kitchen the proper response to the chef's directions is yes/no chef/sir/ma'am. Saddest part: Shirley's situation with her mother re: her choice of careers. That happens so much with parents, some jobs are seen as 'better' than others, and if you're not making the most money, having the best kind of job you are a failure. So happy they seem to have worked it out. I wonder if her mom actually accepted Shirley's choice a while back and didn't let her know. Stuff we'll never find out unless we meet Shirley and ask her: I also wonder what Shirley was doing before becoming a chef at a late age, or what her family expected her to do. She mentioned doctor at one point, but that's such a stereotype I wonder if that was really the case. But there's often a grain of truth to a stereotype, Many friends of mine who are from Chinese families were expected to become doctors.

It doesn't mean anything, I don't care about that stuff. I could not remember if they were just co-workers or also friends, roommates, had something going on, had nothing going on or what. Took a stab at friends, quotes to indicate I wasn't sure if there was anything (or nothing) else to their relationship, or even if "friends" was right or not.

Heather Morris *_* Holy Crap, they're not even trying to hide their ringer this time. Heather Morris was first hired on Glee to help teach choreography (specifically the Single Ladies dance) and they kept her on to play Brittany the cheerleader. Before that she was one of Beyonce's back-up dancers on her world tour. Here she doing her back-up thing on Single Ladies (HM is the blonde who begins on the right). I wonder how the heck they're going to explain this one. Edit - She's with Maxim? Oh, this should be really fun, and most likely completely unfair at the same time. :)

On behalf of myself, thank you :)

I'm trying to figure out which season you are referring to, as I thought the butchery, with Tom not even letting the guy finish, was some piece of beef. The closest I can come was the Seattle season, where they had a qualifier before the competition really began. They divided the cheftestants into groups of 5 or 6, then each group had to perform some task determined by 1 of 4 chefs (Tom, Emeril, Wolfgang Puck and Hugh Acheson), who would then decide who could go onto the competition from their group. Tom's group had to butcher a chicken. Jorel Pierce (Top Chef Masters) and Anthony Gray went home from Tom's group. In the final Kristin and Brooke each had 3 sous chefs: Kristen was assisted by Joshua "Josh" Valentine, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Binder, and Sheldon Simeon. Brooke was assisted by Chris "CJ" Jacobson, Kuniko Yagi, and Stefan Richter. I couldn't find how they were chosen. Anyway, is this the episode you were referring to? As an aside, Stephanie Cmar, who was "Kristin's friend" that season, also did not qualify - she was in Emeril's group and was eliminated because her cauliflower needed to taste more caulifower-y. She came back the next (New Orleans) season, and was the one who had to leave when Nicholas Elmi, the real loser that week, had immunity.

According to my cable guide, this is a 1-hour episode, to be repeated immediately after (10 Eastern for me). After that, Bravo is showing "Watch What Happens Live" with Tom, Padma, the winner and the runner-up.

I thought the house for people related to Baylor, and the football stadium thing, were all previous seasons. I'm thinking they might have cut back on that stuff this current season. Scandal or no, they may have cut back anyway - can't have Chip running around wearing a Baylor cap when he can be wearing a Magnolia hat instead!

On my mind because of something I just read, and now I read Meep.Meep's post :) We know Chip & Joanna (especially Chip) have worn Baylor gear on the show. They've actually met with clients on camera at Baylor (IIRC at the football stadium). I think the show has shown street signs pointing to Baylor a time or two. They're a couple of proud alumni. But as the scandal at Baylor has gotten worse and worse, is it my imagination or has the show cut way back on the Baylor gear worn and other references, especially over the last season or show?

I kind of like the bakery thing. As money makers for the Gaines empire go, it could have been worse.

The way they kept commenting about it, I think Sheldon may have gone home because he didn't follow Chef 101 - he didn't test the protein on the grill.

Congratulations to Shirley and Brooke! Sheldon was probably kicking himself. I think he could have survived his food being super hot, but for an experienced chef, especially with seafood, what a newbie mistake to make in not testing the fish out on the grill. This is the first episode where, to me, Brooke's edit had her appear to be expecting to go to the finals. No Plan B? What a wakeup call for her (and she still had the best fish dish). So happy for Shirley. She just did her job and dealt with whatever happened. Really funny when Tom mentioned there always seems to have some sort of connection between her ethnicity and the food she makes, and then she pulls out a connection between the Mayan food and her ethnicity (although I didn't quite catch what she said it was) Nordly Beaumont wrote: I think he was watching what they did so he could do something different. They wrapped their fish, so he chose not to. Bad choice in retrospect.