katha

From everything I've seen in interviews etc., Maks and Alan choreographed the cha cha together. That this wasn't put in the package is the usual DWTS whatever thing, there's a storyline to push, there's only so much time, they want to focus on certain aspects and nothing else. Maks couldn't be present last week because he had treatment, he was present this week but couldn't dance. I know Maks has been around for thousands of years and can be annoying, but I don't think any of this is his fault and he's been as involved as he's capable of considering the injury. He's also been going out of his way to praise Alan in interviews and on social media, though he must know that loads of people want him shot and Alan put in instead. He's been supportive and gracious in public and trying his best to advertise for Heather. Whatever he may think of the whole thing in private, IMO he's been doing absolutely everything he can in his current situation.

I don't know how to phrase it, and I don't mean to be snarky...but: Heather started out as a background dancer, and IMO sometimes you see that. She doesn't have the charisma of some of the other contestants, for all her technical prowess. And I think she tends to dance "small", which has made all her dances have less impact for me than they should have, considering she's a pro dancer. I also didn't know who she was before the show, so I don't have any kind of goodwill for her stemming from her acting career or when she was on SYTYCD or whatever. And what I see is a proficient dancer who doesn't always move beyond that and create "moments" with performance quality. She seems really nice and dances very well, obviously. But from the way people were talking about her beforehand? I expected more tbh.

I really admire Kidman as an actress, because I think she does something that can be quite alienating for audiences, particularly where female movie stars are concerned: She doesn't shy away from playing cold, she's got no problem making a character off-putting and non-sympathetic and she doesn't insist on some sort of basic charisma or likability factor that will endear her to audiences. Some actors want to make audiences like them in every movie, no matter if they play hero or villain or something in between. Kidman doesn't care. That's why she can be so chilling and effective in To Die For or The Others. Cumberbatch always seems to me to have subscribed to the Kidman school of acting, with his willingness to play cold and not go for audience sympathy (his performance in a little movie called Wreckers is about the most terrifying thing I have ever seen, the sheer horror of gradually recognizing that his supposedly sympathetic and kind character is twisted and manipulative and abusive in quiet ways and the people in his thrall will probably never get away from him because he's so good at slowly brainwashing people). And it's served him very well in his career. But of course he's a man, so there's much more tolerance for making acting choices like that.

The revival really drove home that Rory and Jess have grown up to be two people who have become totally incompatible to be anything other than friendly acquaintances, distant friends. I don't think that was inevitable, though the tendencies were always there. Jess has a core of steel and a certain harshness about him that just wouldn't mesh with Rory's current indecisive weakness at all, he'd try to hold himself back so as not to crush her, but that sort of constant hesitation and walking on eggshells is far from ideal for a romantic relationship. What's more, this was already present to some degree when they were teens. Jess was a tool who was still wrapped up in his own issues, so he was an inconsiderate boyfriend. Rory was her usual doormat self, as always around boyfriends (or, to be honest, anyone with a stronger, more forceful personality). The adult version of Jess would probably try to super careful with her, but I'd think she'd be a terrible partner for him and he'd grow frustrated and resigned with her. She'd grow resentful that he is too blunt and straightforward and dogmatic. That Paris and Jess crackship idea is rooted in many viewers picking up on exactly this dynamic IMO. You have two forceful personalities who, at their worst, tend to bulldoze people into submission and who are also fiercely individualistic.

This isn't all that surprising, if it's true. For the last few months the rumblings about Craig returning were getting more and more traction. My guess is that this has been their plan A all along: Do one more movie with Craig, then move on with a different actor. I'm sure they were on the lookout for new actors as well, but their preference is doing one more with Craig. Who knows, perhaps part of the reason they want to hang on to Craig is because they're not convinced with potential alternatives and want a few years more time so other actors age into it/get discovered etc.? All of Craig's movies made loads of money, even the two weaker ones had very healthy box office. With a new Bond you're always facing the risk that the public won't be convinced, and the franchise is IMO hugely dependent on the actor at least somewhat selling a premise that in the wrong hands would look hopelessly old-fashioned and offensive.

It's so grating, because...basically everyone has better chemistry than them. Like, Charo can be annoying, but you had the impression that she's goofy and fun in rehearsal and makes Keo laugh. Nick isn't some great talent, but at least he seems enthusiastic about being there. Not to mention the couples that actually generate chemistry while dancing: Rashad and Emma, Normani and Val. Yet it's in the script that everyone needs to mention how supposedly steamy Bonner and Sharna are. No. He's not a good performer, he's got no connection with Sharna while dancing because he's too busy remembering his steps and not falling down. Which isn't a big deal, he's not a trained dancer, nobody expects him to be great. But the reality of his performances compared to the narrative they're pushing is annoying.

Props to Keo. He had himself a trying partner (though I'm sure she has a different side in rehearsals), but was cheerful and encouraging. He gave her stuff where she could chew scenery and that somewhat camouflaged her weaknesses. I've seen real progress here from him compared to earlier seasons.

That the female side is so stacked means that Nancy really flies under the radar and obviously that's not so hot for votes. OTOH, I wonder if it takes away pressure for her that she doesn't have the highest expecations resting on her shoulders? She gets on with Artem, she has no problem putting in the work, she's disciplined. Then she comes in for the show and seems to enjoy the experience, while not being swarmed with too much attention. The judges so far have been constructive and encouraging. Also, it's very interesting when pros who have had a few weaker dancers in previous seasons get chances with a stronger partner. Obviously part of it is that the female roster this season only had Charo as a weak link, but it's still an opportunity. The temptation to produce big theatre because everyone does it must be huge, yet Artem stays away. Because Nancy wouldn't be comfortable with a lot of show and play acting and whatever. If you give her pure dance with challenging content, she's much happier with that and performs it well. It's a pleasure to see Artem being able to dance more full out this time around as well, you really noticed how crisp and sharp he was in the samba. When you're babysitting weaker dancers, there's not really room for any of that.

Nancy was the highlight of the night for me, with Normani a close second. She's a fab performer and Val continues to give her really awesome dances that play to her strengths. Heather was very good, but that costume really, really bothered me. Like, I know it was supposed to be in tribure, but combined with the yellow lighting it all looked like a washed out beige blob and IMO affected how the dance looked in a negative way. The presentation was really detrimental to the overall impression here for me. Simone hasn't such an easy time getting out of her gymnast mannerisms, which is harder when you're a power gymnast, and so far Sasha's programs for her haven't really been my thing (I thought he was great with Terra, don't know what the issue is here...pressure of being a frontrunner?). The men were various shades of blah.

Holy cow, Nancy! Like...I thought her latin dances not being awful was all you could ask for. Now she gets samba, a really hard dance, in week three, Artem gives her tons of content, and she kills it. There's always that one candidate who totally surprises in a positive way every season, so far it's Nancy for me. The way she's throwing herself into the experience with such dedication even though she's not the youngest anymore, even though she's rather shy and it must be nerve-wracking to be on the show...Awesome.

My understanding is that pros and celebs submit song suggestions, but the actual song assignments are in the show's discretion. Hence why there's been so many non-sensical and inappropriate song/dance combinations throughout the years. Often there's also a problem with clearing songs. My impression has always been that pro and/or celeb getting the song they want is the exception, not the rule. It might happen during "Memorable Year" week and perhaps one or two times more in a season, but mostly they're at the mercy of the show and their "ideas".

At least for now it sounds like they expect Maks to be back in a few weeks. Since DWTS makes it all about the melodrama, who even knows what's really going on with his injury. I'm miffed that Alan will do the tango, Maks has done some great tangos in his time and l was looking forward to that. But oh well. Perhaps once he's back in LA and they're sure that he'll come back to dance, he'll do choreography again as well. With Maks and the judges it's like this: He'll snap back if he thinks criticism is not warranted, so the show sometimes provokes it. Also, he's inconsistent as a choreographer. To some degree underrated IMO, though, because of that inconsistency. He's produced a lot of highlight dances for the show over the years. In a certain style, sure, rather throwback traditional. But he's done some spectacular stuff.

She had that farm Bachelor the season after her win, and he wasn't any good. But Carlos PenaVega and Von Miller certainly had potential, which IMO she didn't really exploit. I think TPTB now being more cautious about assigning her good partners might be tied to that: The perception that she won't get the best out of them. Lindsay (basically every season since she was made pro again) and Sharna (Nick and Noah and James) and Peta (Tommy Chong and Nyle) had strong seasons as well after Witney's win with Fons, that might play into it, too.

I've talked about it in Nancy's thread already, but I think so much time has passed and not many people really care about the finer points of figure skating melodrama, that the whole context of what went down in 1994 has been buried under a lot of unfortunate media narratives. Nancy was never the most graceful and expressive skater (though she always put in the effort to give polished performances) and she was always a headcase. The US figure skating establishment was spoiled with decades of ladies champions and was really hard on Nancy for her inconsistency. She placed well and won medals, but she also had meltdowns. Then the insane pressure to deliver at the 1994 Olympics and she knew that would be her last chance to win something big and then convert that title into some decent earning opportunities. Figure skating is a very expensive sport, she's from a working class family and pre-94 the pro-circuit was around, but it wasn't super lucrative. Then she gets assaulted, her assault gets filmed, then she is relentlessly mocked on a national scale for her immediate reaction to that assault and for not being a "perfect victim" (whatever that is). Against all odds, she gets it together in time for the Olys (with the added stress of Harding being allowed to compete there) and delivers two strong performances. Loses gold to a technically inferior Baiul in a decision that is still seen as controversial. And all the while this unprecedented media circus is going on around her. She always seemed reserved and uncomfortable with the media and didn't have the PR training to prepare her for the reaction in 1994, nothing could have prepared her for that. So she gets further resentment and backlash for not winning and for not being the pwetty pwincess the US expects all its ladies skaters to be. Eeeek. As for that stuff about compliments? Yeah, figure skating isn't exactly cute and fluffy. It's not so different from gymnastics in that regard, the kids who are on track to make a serious career for themselves get drilled from a very young age. And through her competition background she's probably got a habit of looking hypercritically at her performances and so she only sees that she's not as good as Artem, she's not as good as other contestants (past and present), I can well believe that she's used to focusing on mistakes she makes, not on things she does well.

I thought Len was just his usual grumpy, inconsistent self about Heather's jive. The show does this on purpose to stir up controversy. Her dance had a lot of jive content, though it wasn't very flashy. I also thought it was interesting choreography, and very good for a Maks jive in particular. Jive tends to be his weakest dance as a choreographer (though not as a dancer, I think it would have looked more impressive if he was there performing it with Heather), but that was one of his better ones. Also it's week two and they got a hip-hoppy song, so he took a risk to make Heather stand out. It was good strategy and he's going out of his own comfort zone to give Heather stuff that suits her, which is nice to see. I hope his injury isn't too severe, because so far what he's been doing with Heather is interesting and kinda unexpected tbh.

I'm glad she's doing the show. The way she's shy, snarky, dedicated, but a bit unsure of herself in this new context is how I'd imagined she'd be from what I've seen of her in skating. That doesn't always translate well for a general audience who wants "perky". But she's coming across as endearing IMO. And she and Artem are a good fit, he's giving her things that suit her and challenge her...but don't overwhelm her and go beyond what she can do right now both with technique and performance. There's the risk that they will be too quiet together and fly under the radar, but at the end of the day for me it's more important that the contestant has a good time on the show and feels comfortable with their partner. And in that sense Artem was absolutely the best choice for her IMO. And yeah, now that it's clear she's got potential in latin, I'm much more optimistic about her whole run. Often inhibitions and awkwardness in those styles wreck candidates who do well in ballroom, but she was neat. Artem also gave her something that she could do well, not too sexy, not too aggressive, but also not cautious "older lady" choreo. Pretty dress, too, and she's in great shape!

I thought Normani was great, Val does awesome cha-cha choreos and this was no exception. Rashad was cool again. Heather was nice, I mostly didn't even notice Alan existed. Which was part choreography, I realize Maks designed it that way to make her the star of the routine, but I think with Maks it would have been more equal in that regard. Had to laugh at the hip hop break, Maks had to know Len would hate it, but put it in anyway LOL. Nancy was solid! Yay! I was scared how she'd be in latin, but it was pretty neat! She needs more confidence when performing that sort of style, but it was a promising first effort. Also, that seems like a good partnership with her and Artem. DWTS put two people together here who seem suited personality-wise. Nancy is rather reserved, and I think she'd be a bit freaked with a "louder" pro. And she doesn't mind that he's strict, she's used to that. What I also find endearing is Artem LOL: It's obvious that he's thrilled that he's got a capable partner, but he's thrilled in a stoic Artem kind of way.

Derek and Mark and Sasha are tumblers themselves. They're not professional gymnasts, of course, but they can do flips and saltos and stuff. One of the most exhilarating things about Mark's freestyle for Shawn was that they both did acrobatics. I'm sure hers were more technically correct or whatever, but he could do it as well. Outside of that, he didn't do all that much tricks with Shawn IMO. But I think it's also true that it doesn't really matter if Val can do tricks himself, if he wanted to, he could have put tricks in for Laurie to show off. The salsa, jazz, freestyle etc. could have been full of acrobatics. He just wasn't very interested IMO, that's a stylistic preference. If Sasha wants to use it more, that's all right as well. As long as it's not too much and doesn't take over (that's sorta what happened with Derek and Shawn IMO, it was exciting, but at a certain point the reliance on it and the rule breaking turned parts of the audience against them).

For a lot of viewers, this will work, though. They'll think Bonner has "Southern charm" and that he's hot, they'll eat up the showmance (parts of the audience looks for shipping opportunities every season) and won't much care about the dancing either way. Also, a certain segment will get spitefully attached to him now because they'll see him as a "victim" of "political correctness gone amok". I don't want any of that to be true, but i feel that it may happen. Ugh. Not even about Sharna specifically, but about the pros in general: I think the job can be very difficult in that regard. Clearly, being on a reality show entails more than just choreographing and teaching people to dance. And a number of different pros have confirmed throughout the years that there's pressure to go along with storylines if they want to stay in the good graces of TPTB and keep their jobs. Mostly I just hope she is comfortable and safe.

Heather won't win, I'm calling that now. The show is too stacked this season with other good people, there will be a lot of resentment against her, she doesn't have massive fanbase and they already started a "you're too closed off, I don't see your personality shining through" narrative for her. Best case scenario for her IMO: She's not a "shocking elimination" and manages to make it very deep into the season. That's it, there's no way she's winning. So in that context, I don't much mind that she's on. She'll dance well, she's a very ringer-y ringer, but it's not like there haven't been a few other people who were vaguely in that same wheelhouse throughout the years (the ice dancers, Corbin, Nicole, Mya, Sabrina Bryan, Mario Lopez perhaps, Riker if he wasn't paired with Allison...). How the show will handle her will be interesting. I mean, experienced watchers know that they scored her like they did at least partly to calm down grumblings about her participation, but for casual viewers it might do the trick. And though dislike motivated by her dance experience will follow her around all season, it will be absolutely a good thing for her that she isn't top of the leaderboard the first week...at least the ranting about her didn't get any worse. Also, Maks gave her a really lovely, quiet dance that suited her, not something focused on himself. That's a good sign already IMO. I'm cautiously excited about what he'll do with her tbh, his seasons with Mel B and Meryl Davis were so awesome, I want to see more things like that. Also, how about they do a mambo? Maks does really good mambos.

Last season I didn't like Gleb's programs for Jana, and what he did in the first week for Erika was one big WTH moment as well. I don't know her at all, but it's clear that she's got some performance ability, Gleb just managed to drown it in sexy unicorns or whatever. There's a way to make camp like that work, but that wasn't it IMO.

Well, that wasn't too bad for first week? Bonner is creepy and he can go away now (he won't, of course...sigh). I thought Simone was good but overscored. I hated the song, didn't love the choreography and though she had a lot of content, she was also visibly tentative in places. Which is okay for first week, but Normani, Nancy and Heather got real scores for similar issues and it was just endless gushing for Simone. I hope she doesn't get the Bindi treatment, I like her and I don't want that beaten out of me with OTT manipulations. Normani was unlucky to have to go first, that 6 was unnecessary. The choreo was tough for first week, very fast, though Val put in the little breaks to give her room to breathe (at least it looked strategic to me). But her crazy fanbase will just be riled up even more since they think she was underscored, so who cares. Rashad was cool and good for Emma that she finally has someone with real potential! Seemed a bit overscored as well, but since he really comes in with zero dance experience...I guess it's okay if they are more lenient at first with candidates like that. The two waltzes were my favourite dances of the night, lovely choreographies from both Artem and Maks. Nancy came across quite well, I thought. Introverted and snarky and self-depreciating, but she seemed genuinely excited to be on the show and very appreciative of it all. Danced really well, if a bit tentative. The question will be how she does in the latin category, but if she's decent there she could have a shot to go far. Not everyone likes her, but she's known to the main demo, on facebook and so on people were pretty interested in her since the announcement, the partnership with Artem looks good so far and she made a positive first impression (both with her dancing and personality wise). If she can keep that up, there's potential. Heather got the expected "we're both judging you on a different scale since you're the biggest ringer this season and because we want to temp down on backlash for you", so 7s were okay in that context. I thought she had the best dance of the night, though. It was understated, but with interesting details and nuances. Where I could see problems for her is if they give her the Nastia Lukin "you're just so cold" edit, there's nothing to be done about that, though. If she's quiet and stoic, she's quiet and stoic.

Personally, I'd be totally fine if Heather didn't do any contemporary, jazz, Broadway or any of that stuff. I'm generally annoyed with the ringer complaints every season, but she does have a clear advantage in those styles. But then, I'd be totally fine if DWTS did away with those styles in general (though I don't mind them from time to time and some programs have been nice) or at least scaled down on assigning them, so I'm biased. It would perhaps also cut down on resentment for Heather? Like, for example, giving Zendaya hip hop was such an unnecessary move on the part of the show IMO. Mostly it seemed to create further backlash from the "she's already got dance training, so unfair!" crowd. And right before the finals, too. How about some swing or lindy hop or mambo instead? They used to do those in the earlier seasons and I always found them enjoyable.

They're going way easier on the male celebs with the dance assignments, which I guess makes sense. Tango in first week seems unusual, so does quickstep. But Simone and Normani seem capable of producing good dancing. Val usually does nice quicksteps anyway, Tamar's in her first week was fun as well. Nancy might do well with ballroom, so I'm looking forward to that. Maks has done his fair share of good waltzes and the song is nice, so I'm looking forward to that as well. It won't be in Heather's comfort zone, though, relatively speaking. But then I have a hunch that's what they're planning to do anyway: Not give her things that are close to the styles she's trained in (including assigning her Maks as a pro....the furthest from cross-trained you can get in this pro line-up).

I rewatched some dances from the earlier seasons and wow...it was a way different show then. DWTS had to adapt to survive for so long, but some of that traditional latin/ballroom flair is really missing. Also? When Maks is on he does stellar work in this traditional vein, fantastic stuff. Great mambos, sambas, rumbas, cha-chas that cover the whole floor. Pasos and tangos were always his thing anyway and he's done his fair share of nice ballroom as well. He just needs to concentrate and avoid trainwrecks, lack of consistency was always his problem. And terrible freestyles, of course. (-;