Woodrose

It depends on your definition of always (chuckle). The dances have indeed been super short all the way through the end of the season since at least Season 15, when I noticed and started commenting about it. Last night's dances were a minute 5 seconds in round one and a minute 10 seconds for the trios. Total dance time for each couple: 2 minutes 15 seconds. But I pull out my homemade DVDs of season 5, back in the good old days of DWTS. In week 9, each couple performed a ballroom dance and a latin dance, each a minute 35 to 40 seconds long. Mel B and Maks were on the floor, just the two of them, for a lovely minute 40 second Viennese Waltz and then a minute 35 second paso doble. Total dance time per couple: 3 minutes 15 seconds. That's a decline of one full minute of dance time per couple, a loss of 30 percent of the dance time from the early days of DWTS. I miss those minutes of dancing each week. In fact, the week one dances in season 5 were a minute 15 seconds each -- longer than the dances we're getting in week 9 of this season. Of course, the dances were 'boring' lift-free classical ballroom and latin dance styles. The couples didn't have to spend their time learning dangerous lifts until the very end. But I wasn't bored at all. The Dances Are Too Damn Short! More dancing, less talking!

Thanks a lot for the reply. Still seems supremely dumb to me. Watch the Lacey interviews while the judges are speaking? That's silly, no one can pay attention to two voices at once. It might make sense if one channel was broadcasting a music concert while one has interviews, but as it is....just seems like a waste of money to bother with putting it up on the website for one hour only. If the Lacey interviews were available for viewing right now, I'm a big enough fanatic that I'd probably do it. As they are doing it, though, I would have to watch the interviews live while my DVR collects the actual show, then I could watch the show after the interviews. Not gonna happen. I would have liked to see the interview with Amy Purdy and Meryl Davis, for example, but not in lieu of watching my favorite show on Monday nights. IF anyone was watching the feed, I would expect to have seen some comments about it either here or in the comments at Annie Barrett's Fringe Fairy blog. Not a word. http://www.anniebarrett.com/blog/ ABC must know that no one is looking at the interviews in the fleeting time they are available on the website. Hard to believe they are wasting all this money and equipment and time to produce something no one is watching.

I'm still not understanding this. ABC wants me to tune into their All Access coverage and watch interviews with Lacey instead of watching DWTS? How does this make sense?

No opening number, again. Oh how I wish they would stick with three judges and use the time for more dancing, starting with an opening number by the pros. If I was on Twitter, I'd start a DWTS campaign: The Dances Are Too Damn Short! Less talking, more dancing. There were some magnificent dances this evening, well staged and well danced, but they would have been better if they were longer (except Tommy's dances, hee) Kudos to Mark and Derek for creating the impossible: a trio Foxtrot and trio Argentine Tango. I enjoyed both routines, but yeah -- they were odd. The salsa and jive and paso are so much better suited dance styles for the trio round. I wish Carrie Ann would permanently drop the phrase "I couldn't tell who was the professional." It's always an insult to the real professional dancers on the floor and on the show. And, Len refuted this idea during his judging of Brooke's Tango -- of course Len could tell she's not a professional, and so could Derek. Alfonso and Witney for the win. I'm solidly in their corner; great dances and a charming, sweet partnership. Fingers are crossed that they pull it off, but they don't have a lock on the mirror ball by any means. I approve of male dancers in man thongs, thank you Henry and Artem. If there are writers helping Len and Bruno turn their clever, funny phrases, I wish those writers would also assist Carrie Ann and Julianne. IMO, neither of the women judges are entertaining in their comments, and they take up too much time. More dancing, less talking! ETA: Great to see Samantha Harris in the audience. Best of luck to her that she remains cancer free.

Trios will return! I'm pleased; it's a gimmick they've introduced in the last few years that I have consistently enjoyed, unlike some of the others. A couple of my favorite dances of all time (I have a long list) are trio dances: Maria, Derek and Henry doing a Bollywood-themed Samba, Shawn, Derek, and Mark in a jungle Samba, and Donald, Peta, and Karina in the fastest, most energetic jive humanly possible. If the above list is correct, I suspect Mark has made a mistake in picking Emma for the trio. I thought all the pros had learned that they needed to pick a pro of the same gender as themselves, in order to avoid having the celeb look bad next to the guest pro of their own gender, or else having the pro be the star of the piece with the celeb and the guest pro framing the pro (see the jive by Karina, Apolo, and Sasha -- a fun number, well danced, but Karina was the star of the piece). One of the gimmicks I don't prefer seeing included are the dance-offs. The pros and celebs are tired and overwhelmed trying to prepare dances for us in a very limited timeframe. It's stupid and guarantees poorer performances to require them to learn four dances in a week, when the audience will only get to see them perform two of them. Such a waste of their limited time and enegy. No opening pro dance? Almost not worth putting on the show without it. Even if the opening number only features troupe dancers and the eliminated pros, since the still-competing pros have a lot on their plate, I want to see an opening number each week. Note to TPTB: the opening number is not an optional bit! The best dance of the night for me, the only dance worth rewatching, was Alfonso and Witney once again, and they are my far and away preferred MBT winners this season. I'm hoping for a final two of Alfonso and Sadie, so that Witney and her mentor are the final two pros standing, with Witney winning her first trophy. I'm sure it would make Mark happy, too. It's funny to see how ready Peta is to go home these last couple of weeks -- she can't believe it when they are called safe. Tommy and Peta are a sweet, charming couple, and Peta has really become likeable for me this season, but I do hope they go home next, for Tommy's sake. Give the old guy a break, with multiple dances per week this is just too tough a job for a senior citizen. The best part (oops, second best -- first being Tony and Cheryl's AT) of Dynamic Duo night: no troupe in the dances! All the dances were, indeed, duos of one celeb and one pro. Two people on the floor, no more and no less. Reminded me of the olden days of DWTS.

Am I correct that the livestream interviews with Lacey are only available while the show is airing? I can't find any place to watch it after the fact. They want us to watch the Lacey interviews on our computer while we are watching the live show on the TV? Has anyone done so? I'd be interested in hearing a viewer report.

No more dogs at the judges' table, please. His barking was incomprehensible, and his paw work with the number paddles was so slow it dragged the show down. Really, show.... I love beagles, but don't want to see one on DWTS. So sad that Alfonso is injured. I really hope the pain is not too great. I don't like watching people in agony trying to entertain me. If it's a painful injury, I support him dropping out, even though I look forward to his dances the most each week. Tommy's pre-dance video was the highlight of the night for me. Cloris! Peta's face in the sweatlodge! LOL funny. Conversely, Janel and Val's video package was the night's lowlight. I'm so glad Jonathan left on a high note. He wasn't the best dancer, and he got a raw deal from the show with his partner assignment, but I come away from the show thinking Jonathan is a nice, funny, likable guy, maybe wound half a coil too tight. On DWTS, that's a pretty good verdict. I enjoyed Leah as co-host, but I can see where she might be polarizing, with some people not liking her at all. She's pretty in-your-face, for good and bad. Four judges is too many. Having to go to scores before hearing from judge number 4 , repeatedly, should make it clear to the show that 4 judges is a bad idea.

I've had difficulties in the DWTS episode threads, I think it is a result of the name of the thread changing. I have lost a post because I typed it up, hit 'reply,' then the board tells me I've tried to access a thread that does not exist -- because the name of the thread changed while I was typing. I definitely vote for naming the thread once and leaving it alone. My favorite dance of the night, by far, was Lea and Val. I thought the old folks home for retired ballroom dancers was fun and hilarious. Campy, over-the-top Val is my favorite version of Val; he got into it 100%. He was really funny going down the stairs while pretending to have a back problem. Kudos to Val and Lea and the troupe -- if this was on Broadway, I'd buy a ticket. I agree with others who would have preferred to see regular ballroom dances from the switch-up pairs. Bollywood was a ridiculous choice for both Antonio and Allison, and it wasn't an enjoyable train wreck to watch. Same for burlesque.

I totally agree with this. Jonathan could have had a fun experience on this show with Lacey, Chelsie, or Ashly Costa as his partner. Instead, he is being critiqued for the miscasting of his pro partner. Very tough public situation for both Jonathan and Allison. So absurd that Lacey is sitting up in the balcony chatting while her dancing/teaching skills are so obviously needed on the floor.

True, not everyone is a bouncing ball of energy -- but most of the people on my TV attempting to entertain me are. I want to make it clear that I have nothing against Bethany as a person. I can't fathom why millions of people are watching her 'What's in my Purse?' videos, but good for her that they are and she is so successful. It's just that as an entertainer on my favorite cheesy TV show, she's a dud, so I'm ready for her to be eliminated. Not that I expect it to happen anytime soon.

I'm sad, but not surprised, to see Betsey leave. She was in the real bottom 2 in week one, so it seems clear she didn't have a huge fanbase to carry her through, so it's not surprising she went home. Sad, though, because she was enjoying the experience so much. I'd always prefer to keep the stars who are loving the experience rather than a grumpy celeb who is only there because his agent signed him up to revive a flagging career. Betsey and Tony had such a sweet partnership, I'll miss them. If I ignore the family members and Grandpa-talk, I really liked Mark and Sadie's samba. Very creative and fun. I won't be voting for her, though, because I'm an anti-fan of the duck dumdums. Mark is doing a great job with Sadie. Stoner Nation is voting for their man! At this rate, I'm expecting Tommy to be the fourth person in the finals. Probably like Bill Engvall he will finish in fourth place. I'm still flummoxed by Bethany. I don't understand why she is popular, I don't see the appeal. She seems kind of low energy and above it all. I don't look forward to their dances as I normally do with Derek and his partners; they can leave any time, as far as I'm concerned. Lea and Artem are a delightful partnership. I'm liking her a lot, I have lots of nostalgia for Lorraine McFly. Fingers are crossed they make the finals. I'd like to see what Artem creates for a freestyle with Lea. Alfonso and Witney for the mirror ball! I hope they keep up the fun and high quality dancing -- they are in a great position to take it all. I've enjoyed all the dances they have done this season, and I'm looking forward to seeing more. I echo the admiration for the great job Witney is doing.

The Sia piece would have perhaps been more meaningful if I could have understood the lyrics to the song. It was if she was singing with a mouth full of marbles or something, most likely it's just her style. All I could understand was 'one two three' occasionally. I'm not a fan of contemporary dance, and this was contempo at its worst, so the entire thing fell completely flat for me. Tavis was the right choice to go home; he's not a good enough athlete or a natural dancer to be able to put together performances given his limited available time. Loved seeing all the backstage moments. I wish we had a results show every week, artsy-fartsy contempo dance numbers and all. Julianne's awful hair drowns out everything she says or does. A professional hairstylist is sending her out looking like that? Crazy.

If there can only be one choreographer for the entire season of opening numbers, I wish that one choreographer was Louis Van Amstel. He is a superb ballroom pro and choreographer and has done some excellent pro group numbers. I've seen enough of Mandy Moore's ballroom-lite numbers.

Joining y'all in the Geezer Fan Club. Tommy's funny and does his basic steps with style and rhythm. Betsey is sweet and has a few moves, too. Tony is a very good partner to her. During the first intro part of Betsey's dance, Sasha was there to help her down the stairs, and he did his small part with great care and concern for Betsey. Wish they would find a tiny woman celeb each season to pair with Sasha as a pro, I'd like to see him back with a star. I am not seeing Bethany's charm and cannot fathom why millions of people are tuning into her videos about hairdos (though its a harmless activity, so I have nothing against her or her viewers, of course). With the addition of her injury, I would be fine with her leaving soon. Not that I expect it to happen or anything. I'm a big Derek fan, but this partnership is leaving me cold so far. Maybe cold is not the right word -- perhaps lukewarm would be more accurate. I'm more partial to Artem/Lea and Alfonso/Witney this season.

Artem to Lea: By the way, I wore purple underwear from Calvin Klein...just saying.

Her facebook post is just pathetic, opening herself up to more ridicule from the people she's (stupidly) battling on social media. I can't imagine writing something like that and publishing it to the world. It would have been a good journal entry to keep private or share with her therapist, but putting that out there to the public? Just asking for more pain. I guess the show brought her on for Hope Solo-style drama. Ugh. I wish DWTS had showcased the Olympic gold medalist hurdler, Dawn Harper. Dawn is probably too well-adjusted to be considered a catch by the producers.

The right person went home, for sure. Talk about living down to your reputation. The arrogant, hard, no-fun woman who chokes when it counts -- did it again! That was hard to watch. And the virgin talk just made me roll my eyes. Be a virgin, fine, but I sure didn't need to hear about it. She was just an all-around buzz kill on the show, so I'm glad her time was short. Next time the show wants a hurdler, I hope they go for the Olympic gold medalist, Dawn Harper. Sad for Keo. I hope we see more of him -- such a bright smile and energetic dancer.

Yes, I'd love to see these wonderful people back on DWTS. Most especially, Ashly Del Grosso Costa, last seen partnering Buzz Aldrin. Ashly brings the joy to the dance floor, while Allison brings the angst to the floor. Nothing against Allison, she does it well. But I vastly prefer the joy to the angst, so I'd prefer Ashly be brought back. But, at least we can see that Allison can dance in heels, from watching her AT with Derek. She's at least got that one aspect of ballroom down. I felt that Tyne always looked kind of awkward in her dancing on DWTS, and I put it down to her being used to dancing in bare feet all the time as a contemporary dancer.

I believe Wade, I support Wade, I miss Wade's brilliant choreography. Years ago, the police detective who investigated child molestation at NeverLand was quoted as saying he expects all of Jackson's 'special friends' to come forward eventually with their stories of abuse. Wade has been joined in his suit by another victim who is also coming forward in his mid-twenties. The psychs have explained all the reasons why people initially lie, often for years, about child abuse they experienced. Curses upon Nigel for this asinine, mean, malicious, low-class stunt. I love to watch dancing, but I'm now on board with canceling SYTYCD. It will be Nigel's just desserts for this offensive show.

Poor Serge. Not only was he eliminated from SYTYCD, turns out he was chewed up and spit out by Kirstie Alley. Interesting, odd, creepy article about Kirstie, Leah Remini, Scientology, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and Serge: http://tonyortega.org/2014/08/01/kirstie-alley-disconnects-from-not-one-but-two-men-over-their-friendship-with-leah-remini/

New choreographers! Me likey. I enjoyed the fierce chess battle of an opening number. A lot of intricate moves from those chess pieces! Such a happy jive from Pasha and Anya and Bridget and Emilio. I enjoyed it and would like to see more dances of this flavor. Also really enjoyed the final number with the canes. The new choreographer who created that piece sure looked pleased and happy with the result. The skeleton number was lots of fun, and I don't think America will have any problem voting for the dancers. Nigel's new position at the judging table was like the elephant in the room no one spoke about. I guess MIsty and Mary don't want to sit together for whatever reason. I was pleased to see Lacey show up to choreograph a waltz; I've always enjoyed her work on DWTS. It was a lovely dance but I felt Valerie was leaning forward when she wasn't in hold, much as she does when she's tapping. That gave it a bit of an awkward note. I wonder how many votes Serge will get for being friends with Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy.

Agreed. I miss Wade's quirky, fun, creative routines. Crash test dummies, little foxes, bank robbers....so many possibilities in life and dance, but all we're getting is angst. I mainly watch the show for the occasional ballroom numbers and the rare fun jazz or contemporary routines. So I was excited to see Benji choreographing a west coast swing. Bring it on! Sadly, though, I ended up agreeing with this comment: The music, once it started, had an incredibly fast beat, but the dancers were not matching it. They were moving on every second beat. It made them seem to be moving slowly in comparison to the fast music. It seems to be a trend with modern choreographers, to program dances in opposition to the music, rather than with the beat of the song. Either the song has no discernible beat and the dancers are moving crazy fast, or the music is crazy fast and the dancers are half-timing it. I really prefer to watch dances where the music has the correct beat for the dance style and the dancers, for the most part, move on the beat of the music. Bah, humbug. The Argentine Tango was my favorite dance of the night. Always great to see Miriam and Leonardo as choreographers. The dancers are all talented and working hard and doing their best. All the complaints I have about the lackluster dance performances can be laid at the feet of the choreographers, often starting with their music choices. Or ridiculous prop choices, like phones on 30 foot cords (young kids these days don't even understand phone cords!) I hope we see Mark Kanemura as a choreographer soon.

Chris Scott's National Dance Day routine is choreographed to Mark Ballas's song "Get My Name." So cool to see the SYTYCD and DWTS pros supporting each other in all their endeavors. It's also great to see Jasmine, one of my favorite dancers from last season, in the Degree commercial. I hope she made some big bucks with that. Emmy-nominated choreographer Dmitry Chaplin was not even mentioned during the judges review of Serge and Brooklyn's cha-cha. Sigh. I was irritated on Dmitry's behalf. Of course, they later fawned all over Travis..... I'm looking forward to seeing Marquet as a pro on DWTS (it seems inevitable). Those legs! Those hips! I smiled all the way through his samba with Marlene. He also seems like a nice, funny guy. Hope he can teach and choreograph. Loved the hip-hop by Emilio and Teddy. They are gooood. Really intricate moves and a fun style.

Excellent summary, COESpiral. Every word out of WW's mouth was rude and obnoxious and uncomfortable for Meryl and Maks. Poor Meryl. What was she doing on that show, who talked her into doing it? I wish she had a manager/PR person who would have told her not to do it. Whoever talked her into going on that show did her wrong, big time. If it was Tony, then he owes her an enormous apology. After watching the clip, I'm not surprised that WW is a fan of ALM. Two peas in a pod. What's surprising is that either of these rude, obnoxious harpies has an audience. I hope that's the last time anyone from DWTS goes onto the WW Show.

Joining the old farts on the rocking chairs, too. Ugh. Contemporary. Don't like angsty flailing on SYTYCD, don't like it on DWTS. It's one of the reasons I used to like DWTS so much better than SYTYCD. It's a real bummer for me that it's become one of the regular dances on DWTS. Jazz, Salsa, Swing, and AT can be very enjoyable as regular dances, but I really think by including them they have upped the number of injuries. They are all dances that include lifts, and people get hurt pushing amateurs to do crazy lifts. I really don't like seeing people get injured in their quest to entertain me. Sidenote: With so many of the dances including lifts, it is beyond absurd for Carrie Ann to be playing 'lift police' for a foot an inch off the floor in the other dances. Newbies to the show are always confused at seeing wild lifts in a salsa followed by CAI deducting a point for a foot barely off the floor in a waltz 10 minutes later. I don't object to the couples doing any kind of crazy stuff in the freestyle, that's kind of the point. But if they want my votes, they'll choose something other than contemporary. I know mmv on that. As Season 18 draws to a close, I find that I'm a little disappointed at the lack of dances I'll rewatch created this time around. For all the talent in this celeb cast, I've been a little let down at the actual results. I know that a lot of people love the M/M chemistry and passion, but that's not really my thing, I guess. Standing still for 15 seconds almost kissing didn't make a good foxtrot I want to rewatch. And, in many of Meryl's routines I see a tiny woman running at full tilt to keep up with a big guy taking giant steps. Their size disparity kind of lessens the appeal of their dances for me. So I'm sure my list is shorter than others. The performances that go into my pantheon of dances to watch again are Amy and Derek's quickstep and AT, Charlie and Sharna's jive and foxtrot, Charlie's bumper dance with the penguins, Meryl and Maks's Elvis jive and swing, and James and Peta's cha-cha. Meryl and Val's AT would have made the list, but I didn't like the clangy music. The music. The music choices foisted onto the couples just keep getting worse and worse, as they try to get younger and more hip, I guess. If the music doesn't have the correct beat and tone for the dance style, it's pretty much hopeless. The couple is going to have a very hard time creating a memorable routine. So many of the dances are sabotaged from the first moment by the awful music selection by TPTB. I like the fun, over the top, cheesy, creative interpretations of the classic dance styles, like the 50s paso with Nicole. But the couples need the right music selections to be able to make these things happen. After 18 seasons, still wishing that the pros had much more say in the music assignments. A lot of the themes and music just didn't work for me this time around. And get the troupe out of the regular dances! The dances are so short, the least we can do is focus on the celeb/pro pair for the entire routine. Don't you dare pick the flowers as you're leaving my lawn. :)