S32.E01 Premiere

[MerBearHou]

I thought Matt Walsh gave it his all.  He’s not very good - yet - but he had such fun.

[nickp1991]

for losing a significant amount of practice time Matt Walsh honestly killed it 

[dancingdreamer]

Matt Walsh, he was suprisingly light on his feet. I don't  know who he is there

 

12

[MerBearHou]

Great last dance of the night.  They both looked phenomenal in red.  Don’t know her but certainly have heard about the scandal.  

[Annber03]

I didn't know about the scandal, other than hearing some vague reference to the show here and there. 

But yeah, that was a good way to end the night. She really sold the attitude of that dance. 

[dancingdreamer]

Ariana up next, I think Pasha is a wonderful  dancer/ teacher.

 

Wow, she did really  well. Good for her.!

 

21 

[Annber03]

"One of these couples is safe. The other couples are in the bottom two."

No shit, really? 

[MerBearHou]

This just sucks.  First night…

[dizzyd]

It was good to have the show back and I enjoyed it so much more than recent seasons at least for the 1st episode. No one annoyed me even Tyson and all his camera mugging. Nice variations in skill level and pretty evenly spread out scores. Sad to see Matt leave but guess someone had to and it wasn’t going to be AP. Matt is hilarious. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by dizzyd

[Annber03]

Not surprised, but kinda would've been fun to see how he might've fared going forward. 

[iMonrey]

That's too bad, I think Matt would have been fun to keep around at least another couple of weeks. 

[nickp1991]

Jason Mraz  was actually pretty good

[iMonrey]

I agree getting rid of Tyra was the biggest improvement the show made, aside from moving it back to ABC proper. Julianne was pretty good up in the skybox too. 

I thought Barry Williams was way overscored. His Foxtrot was pretty typical "old guy" dance. Mostly walking through the steps. Alyson and Jamie Lynn were better than him and got lower scores. I don't know why they felt the need to prop him, I'm sure he got lots of nostalgia votes.

I think Mira was the big surprise, she moves well and has great technique. I don't know how she'll do on faster dances though. Also Jason Mraz. I threw some votes his way.

Charity was good too but maybe a little overscored. Alyson was pretty decent but had the worst possible song to dance Salsa to. Way too slow.

Xochitl, Lele and Ariana felt like maybe ringers. 

[lavenderblue]

I'm seeing comments around the internet aghast that Matt and Koko went home first, that they were deliberately hosed because of the WGA strike, but like, even if he'd scored a little higher, I think they'd still be going home through no fault of their own. I adored Koko on So You Think You Can Dance, but last season she only got so far based on the apparently rabid Jersey Shore fanbase; otherwise, she probably doesn't have much of a DWTS fanbase relative to the other pros, Rylee aside. And I doubt there's big overlap between Matt's audience and the DWTS viewership. There'd be others I might have sent home over them, but it's not at all surprising if the votes just weren't there. Koko seemed pretty unshocked.

Jason Mraz was my biggest surprise (singers don't always = dancers on this show). Hope he and Daniella stick around!

[Stats Queen]

I really wanted Mauricio (magreasio for us real housewives of Beverly Hills watched) to be long gone.

I don’t know Matt Walsh but I love a comedian and he was at least entertaining to watch.

[Lady Calypso]

I'm bitter at the elimination. Matt had a lot of potential and did better than Tyson, Harry, Alyson and arguably Mauricio. It's a shame he was eliminated so early, and I guess the show's cutting the judges' save as well. That's even more of a shame, though the judges wouldn't have saved Matt, anyway. 

A lot of mediocre dancers this time around, with very few ringers and few dark horses. That'll make these first few weeks potentially more exciting, at least.

1. Xochitl and Val - They did fairly well, but I actually thought their cha-cha was rather slow. It felt like Val held back a little, and he could have pushed her further. She has talent, she has the rhythm, and was able to deliver what she was given, for sure.
2. Barry and Peta - Honestly, not necessarily the biggest surprise of the night, but the most pleasant dance to watch. It was great to see him have that rhythm going on. He has some real potential to get far. However, he WAS given the Foxtrot, so it'll depend when they give him some faster dances if he's able to deliver. But he has hip action and has the ability to do quite well and I'm glad Peta wasn't a first week elimination.
3. Tyson and Jenna - Honestly, a big fat yikes. I thought maybe he'd be a dark horse since I hadn't heard much chatter about him. However, no, he's kind of stiff and Jenna, as usual, took the "just spin me around and I'll dance around you" approach. He does seem excited to dance, which is why I hope his second week is better but he has to seriously step it up, because his dancing was one of the worst.
4. Alyson and Sasha - Damn, I really hoped she'd had some talent but she was probably the worst of the night. I can't tell if it was the music, the dance style or the fact that she really can't dance, but either way, Sasha can't rely on giving her his usual tricks. She did NOT deserve that 5. I love her personality and energy, but Sasha has to put in a LOT of work with her in the coming weeks.
5. Harry and Rylee - First off, welcome, Rylee, to the show. Second off, yikes. She's lucky she got a "star" who will slide by because of the section of the audience who are really into young hot guys. That's gonna be a huge benefit for Rylee to have time to try to get Harry to have any sort of dance ability. He was worse than I expected, he seemed way too nervous and timid, which caused his entire dance to be off. He feels like a Vinny, unfortunately. Likeable guy, but gonna do quite poorly in the dancing department.
6. Jason and Daniella - Now, they are my dark horse of the night. I really thought Jason would be terrible, but he was probably the best guy of the night. Such a fun guy with a lot of potential to be even better. Dani, once again, knocks it out of the park with a great partner.
7. Jamie Lynn and Alan - So, she wasn't terrible like I thought she'd be. I really thought she'd be awful and Alan would have to dance around her, but she did have some rhythm and could improve upon the next few weeks.
8. Adrian and Britt - I'm happy she gets to do flicks and flips and tosses in her dances. That's all I'm saying on that.
9. Lele and Brandon - She was great and had a solid first dance. I'm with Carrie Ann; Brandon has a partner who could get past 9th place. He HAS to step it up. This is 100% his make or break season. If he can't do well with Lele, especially amongst a bunch of mediocre dancers, he probably shouldn't be on another season.
10. Mira and Gleb - She did better than I thought she would. The older folk are absolutely demolishing a lot of the younger folk thus far. She has that rhythm and has that potential to get far. But hopefully Gleb also continues his trajectory from last season and doesn't get bored. Because a Gleb who doesn't think he has a ringer is a bad Gleb.
11. Mauricio and Emma - Didn't know who he was before, but he seems fine. I think he could do well based on the fact that he can move his hips but Emma will need to put some serious work in. He has potential, I just don't know if he'll get to show that potential before he's eliminated.
12. Charity and Artem - It was great to see her do well. Yes, she's another Bachelor Nation contestant and that's annoying, but she seems fairly likeable compared to the last three or four. I would not hate to see them get far.
13. Matt and Koko - The judges were on something. There's no way he was SO bad that they had to basically say that he was terrible but "he had fun". He had more rhythm than Tyson, Harry, AND Alyson...combined. He had improvements to make but he was not terrible. I'm super glad for the boos for the judges there. 
14. Ariana and Pasha - Fantastic to see Pasha finally get a real celeb he can get far with, and Ariana was fantastic to watch.

Gonna be bitter at the Matt/Koko elimination for a while, but excited to see what everyone can do. I'm definitely rewatching all the dances as soon as I can to make further notes.

As for Julianne and Alfonso, I do think they worked well. No surprise they both fumble their scripts, but I think both kind of recovered as best as they could. 

[Ancaster]

Having watched the first couple of seasons, lo those many years ago, I decided tonight to watch again.

Here's my first question - I'm on the West coast, watching (the new episode) at 8pm.  Immediately it flashes up that the phone lines are closed and voting is over.  How can that be?  Do only people on the east coast get to vote?  What's the point of that?

(I should that I don't like the voting on these shows - I think that it should be limited to one vote per phone number, but that's a different conversation!)

Thanks!

[Lady Calypso]

4 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

Here's my first question - I'm on the West coast, watching (the new episode) at 8pm.  Immediately it flashes up that the phone lines are closed and voting is over.  How can that be?  Do only people on the east coast get to vote?  What's the point of that?

Because the show is live on the East Coast, technically everyone can vote, but the West Coasters basically have to vote blind. 

[babyhouseman]

I've never watched Housewives or the show he's on, but Mauricio seems sleazy. 

Boo to the Bachelor Nation for giving us two boring Bachelorette winners in the past. She's going to get far, but she can move.

I'd like for Sasha to win for once, but that's probably not going to happen. Why can't he get a Bachelorette(who's a top 3 guarantee)? Is it the height? 

At least, Tyra is gone. Maybe they left her on another planet in that weird intro. 

[Ancaster]

12 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Because the show is live on the East Coast, technically everyone can vote, but the West Coasters basically have to vote blind. 

Seriously, how stupid is that?

[Diana Berry]

Very enjoyable.  It looks like no one is an obvious dancer. The point of the show in the early days was watching the celebs learn to dance.  

[crowceilidh]

I thought the whole show seemed a little shaky, but I enjoyed the HELL out of Tyra being gone.  TBF the show's producers made quite a number of other eff-ups in that time period, but she made me stop watching the show. 

Alfonso continually calling out to Tom by saying "Live" in a strange manner might get old.  He needs to be himself. 

Julianne was meh (as per usual, my opinion, ever since Apolo) and I would like it if she stumbled over her lines a lot less.

Edited September 27, 2023 by crowceilidh

[Stats Queen]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

Because the show is live on the East Coast, technically everyone can vote, but the West Coasters basically have to vote blind. 

As this is only the second show I felt the desire phone/text/remote dial in to vote on (so you think you can dance in the first seasons the only other one) This voting and elimination on the same night is so messed up. I live in the East Coast but had other things going on and by the time I tried to vote, voting was closed - seriously I was 3 hours ahead of those on the West Coast who had a window for 3 minutes to vote and they had only seen 4 of the performances…

[MerBearHou]

I will actually say that I thought the judges were rude to Matt in their comments.  Boooo on that.  But I’m not shocked that he and his dance partner didn’t get enough viewer votes to save them from elimination this week. 

[853fisher]

I do wish they could figure out some other way to handle the voting.  It’s never been quite right since they cut the separate results show the night after the live dancing show.

I recall that, for a little while, they would do eliminations at the end of the weekly show, based on that week’s scores and last week’s votes.  It allowed time for everyone to vote on every dance, but sometimes the results felt out of sync - like someone would get a 30 the week after they did badly, and still be eliminated, and it felt like it was at least in part because they were going by last week’s votes.  So that didn’t quite work.

Surely there must be some other way.  The British show tapes a results show for the following day, beginning an hour or so after the live show finishes.  It’s only 5pm local time at the studio when our live broadcast starts.  Perhaps they could have a dinner break afterwards, then tape a results show once the show is over on the west coast? (With apologies to Hawaii and Alaska.)

The British pad it out with extra chitchat, a "dance-off" between the bottom two, and a musical guest and pro dance, some of which is recorded earlier on the day or even on another date.  They’re out of the studio maybe around 11:30 or 12:00, which is a long day, but maybe “that’s showbiz.”

Edited September 27, 2023 by 853fisher
Forgot the dance-off!

[Stats Queen]

2 hours ago, babyhouseman said:

I've never watched Housewives or the show he's on, but Mauricio seems sleazy. 

 

I admit that my guilt pleasure used to be all the real housewives shows.You hit the nail on the head, Mauricio is sleazy…

Edited September 27, 2023 by Stats Queen

[DEL901]

46 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

I will actually say that I thought the judges were rude to Matt in their comments.  Boooo on that.  But I’m not shocked that he and his dance partner didn’t get enough viewer votes to save them from elimination this week. 

Especially since he went second last and didn’t have the name recognition for folks to vote before he danced.  

[Lindsay Loo Hoo]

Xochitl - She really needs to work on her face, her mouth was gaping open the entire time

LeLe Really Surprised me and Brandon really created a solid traditional tango. 

Alyson was so so much worse than i was expecting

Ariana Slayed, glad pasha has a contender

Jason Mraz also Surprised me and was really very good

Peta created a cute foxtrot and i really enjoyed it, Barry wasnt bad!

This Harry Jowsey thing is so wooden and bad. 

Jamie and Alan, snoozefest

Mauricio shouldnt have been in the  bottom

The rest didnt make an impact on me at all and were just kind of there

 

 

[boyznkatz]

How weren't Adrian and Jamie Lynn on the bottom two? They weren't the worst dancers, but they are horrible people. Sheesh.

Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised. No obvious ringers. Yay! Last season was boring AF because Charlie had it in the bag from day one.

My early favorites are Jason Mraz, Lele, and Xochitl. I had no idea Mraz could dance.

Alfonso did a good job as host. He's not Tom, but he's a lot better than Tyra!

Charity and Pasha's partner have "surprise elimination" written all over them. LOL

[vibeology]

What I got out of this episode was that Alyson Hannigan was absolutely correct to tell Joss Whedon that she shouldn't do any dancing in the musical episode of Buffy. 

I'll be cheering for Jason Mraz. He went for it in a way that most celebrities don't in the first week when nerves are such a big factor. He's joyous. I also feel like Xochitl, Ariana, Lele and Mira are all going to be great. I think for an older competitor, Barry Williams has potential to make it farther than most older contestants which would be fun. Tyson was someone I expected to be stronger so that was a disappointment.

I don't really know anything about Ariana and the scandal around her beyond her basic description but I do know about her revenge dress and I thought it was great how costuming here referenced it.

Harry and Rylee may be good. I couldn't even tell because I was so distracted by that version of Rock Your Body. It felt like it was so much faster than the original. 

I think it's rather garbage that they didn't mention at all that Matt Walsh had stepped back from the show in solidarity with the WGA and had much less rehearsal time. I know that it was his choice but I think people may have been willing to cast him a few votes to see what his potential could be if he had the same amount of time as everyone else.

I just want Adrian Peterson and Jamie Lynn to go home but I fear both will be around for a while. And him first since he's leagues worse than her as a human but I don't enjoy awful people on this light, fun dance show. I don't know why the casting continues to do this. Except I watch so I guess I do know why they do this.

I'm looking forward to the tribute to Len that they said was coming in a few weeks. I hope they extend invitations to everyone involved with the show to participate. Tom especially should at least be given the chance but there have been so many co-hosts and cast members who left the show under not the best circumstances and I hope the producers aren't petty about this. Even Tyra, who I hate, should be invited to participate.

[Lindsay Loo Hoo]

I really miss Len, that being said, alot of this felt like the old show. 

I love that Tyra is gone. I love that there were no "troupe" or big productions in the dances.

Jason was fantastic and i look forward to more of him. I also root for Ariana because I love Vanderpump Rules. I just hope it's more about her dancing and her as a person rather than it being about what her horrid narcissist ex did to her or its going to be old very quickly.

 

[boyznkatz]

It would be totally cool if Barry Williams won the whole thing. With the Golden Bachelor, ABC seems to finally be acknowledging the millions of senior citizens who watch their shows. If anyone can win with an older contestant, Peta can. He seems like he's in good shape and can move, so maybe he'll be the next Tommy Chong. Go Barry!

[TVMovieBuff]

A good beginning. I don't pay attention to scores on Opening Night, it is just to get them out on the floor the first time and have it done, so they can get to the real competition. 

I vote partly strategically on night 1. I voted for Jason, Mira, Lele, Ariana & Alyson. Just because I didn't want Alyson to be gone on night 1. The other 4 are my favorites so far. I didn't vote for say, Charity even though I like her, because I know she isn't going home, and doesn't need me. Who I vote for in future shows may shift some and narrrows as the weeks go by. 

I just had to give 10 votes to Ariana, to reinforce that living well is the best revenge. And she was great. Daniella is the new Karina. She's brilliant. 

[jennifer6973]

I actually enjoyed last night.  I only vote for the names I can spell.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I do wish they could figure out some other way to handle the voting.  It’s never been quite right since they cut the separate results show the night after the live dancing show.

Yeah, I wonder why they aren't doing a results show. Lord knows ABC needs the content with the writers strike. DWTS might not get the ratings they used to but what else does the network have to air right now? 

(I'd also be interested to know if the ratings are better now that Tyra is gone, LOL.)

I'd also be curious to know if Matt would have gotten more votes if he had danced earlier. I didn't really start voting until it was closer to the end and I had seen most of the dances because I wanted to see who was probably going to be in danger. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Whether it was deliberate because he stepped away from rehearsals in solidarity w/ the writers or not, Matt got hosed by a minimum of 4 points. Even the judges comments didn't match up with him getting three 4's. He was better than or at least even with Harry, Tyson, Alyson, Mauricio, & JLS. Would that have kept him in the game? I dunno know. He struck me as sort of a Male version of Nikki Glaser. Neither really "fit" the types of comedians that actually have done well on DWTS in the past..

As of right now, Jason, Lele, & Ariana are at the top for me. I know Charity scored the highest, but Artem does nothing for me & it's not particulary shocking a professional cheerleader translates into a pretty strong dancer.

I have a tiny bit of hope that Rylee might be able to coax out "Alek Skarlatos" level ability out of Harry (at least on the Standard dances & the lift/trick heavy ones). That might be enough to get him to mid-pack. Hopefully Val can elevate Xochi too. She had to go lead off, which cost her a couple of points. But she wasn't near as fluid/graceful as I thought she might be..

Adrian, Tyson, JLS can go the next three weeks if I had my wish.

[Rickster]

Were we the only ones who noticed Alfonso announced Jason (I think) at the top of the leaderboard before the judges revealed their votes? And amazingly, he had the right vote total?

[Catgyrl68]

14 minutes ago, Rickster said:

Were we the only ones who noticed Alfonso announced Jason (I think) at the top of the leaderboard before the judges revealed their votes? And amazingly, he had the right vote total?

I certainly did notice this! Kinda bummed me out, because I really don't want to think the show is that rigged, but...

I'm loving this season already! SOOO much more relaxed and happy since Tyra's gone.

[boyznkatz]

19 minutes ago, Rickster said:

Were we the only ones who noticed Alfonso announced Jason (I think) at the top of the leaderboard before the judges revealed their votes? And amazingly, he had the right vote total?

Yep, I noticed that. It was definitely weird, like he knew the scores. I guess he might have assumed he would do well based on the judges' reaction.

[DEL901]

26 minutes ago, Rickster said:

Were we the only ones who noticed Alfonso announced Jason (I think) at the top of the leaderboard before the judges revealed their votes? And amazingly, he had the right vote total?

Apparently the judges submit their scores BEFOFE they hold up the paddles.  Maybe someone in the control room passed the leader info to Alfonso before they were supposed to?

[Catgyrl68]

5 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Apparently the judges submit their scores BEFOFE they hold up the paddles.  Maybe someone in the control room passed the leader info to Alfonso before they were supposed to?

Oh, that's good to know! Thank you for that info.

[seacliffsal]

First time I have watched since they hired Tyra (and I don't have Disney+).  The new elimination process is inherently unfair IMO as they are asking us to vote before even seeing all of the dances.  I guess it reinforces the idea that this show isn't about dancing but is solely a popularity contest.  I like Matt and felt his scores were intentionally low-he was much better than some of the other men (realtor, football player, model, reality show guy) IMO, and would be far more interesting to watch going forward.  And so much 'look at me, look at me' desperation from so many of the participants ('stars' and pros alike).

[vibeology]

13 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

Apparently the judges submit their scores BEFOFE they hold up the paddles.  Maybe someone in the control room passed the leader info to Alfonso before they were supposed to?

Yep, the judges submit their scores as soon as the dance is done before they start their comments. Watch Carrie Ann - she is the one who collects the scores from the other judges and passes them to the producer who runs the scores to whoever does the graphics. Sometimes you can see her handing them over if someone takes too long to decide. 

Also it has happened where a judge grabs the wrong paddle but its the score that is submitted after the dance that counts. 

[cali1981]

14 hours ago, LexieLily said:

It's a good thing I recorded this episode to watch it this weekend and knock off an hour's worth of commercials. Lol. 

Here's hoping Jamie Lynn Spears and Adrian Peterson are the first two eliminated.

Apparently, the price for getting rid of Tyra was a sub-par looking 720P picture and a boatload of commercials. The TV Gods have a cruel sense of equities 😄.  I forgot that the show was on both Disney Plus and ABC so I watched it on D+ with the same mediocre video feed and all of the commercials.  My DVR has been set to record new episodes for years which I discovered later.  I should have watched Ahsoka first and then the recording of DWTS.  I won't make that mistake again.

Edited September 27, 2023 by cali1981

[kristen111]

14 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Just WTH do I have to kill to have Mira's LEGS?! Jeez Louise!  💃

Loved her in Romi and Michelle with Lisa Kudrow.  They were hilarious.

 

 

 

[Arkay]

I stopped watching with the pollution that was Tyra.
 

Goodbye and good riddance.

 

These two hosts are much better, but I felt that Julianne was yelling at me all night. 
 

She’ll find her footing as a host, which could never be said about Tyra and her version of the show , which essentially was Tyra Banks modeling clothes and oh yeah, some people are also going to be dancing.

[Nunyabiznis]

16 hours ago, Stats Queen said:

I probably should watch all of them before I saw there aren’t any ringers.

I had such high hopes for Tyson Beckford after watching his intro and then his dance just disappointed. I am not watching live, I am watching it recorded the next day and just saw his scores. Just hoping he's not eliminated and gets another chance. I am really not familiar with many people on this season! At least I knew his name.

[jennifer6973]

2 hours ago, Rickster said:

Were we the only ones who noticed Alfonso announced Jason (I think) at the top of the leaderboard before the judges revealed their votes? And amazingly, he had the right vote total?

No, probably because the producers already knew the vote total.  They write it down and give it to the producers just after the dance is over.

[Quickbeam]

18 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Holy cow, that singer butchered “Roxanne”.  I was reaching for the mute button.

My husband asked me why I muted this. I just stared at him. The horror. 

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, Arkay said:

These two hosts are much better, but I felt that Julianne was yelling at me all night. 

I thought she was less manic than Erin used to be. BTW, how many skybox interviewers have we had by now? First was Samantha, then Brooke, then Erin right? Am I forgetting anyone?

Quote

I am really not familiar with many people on this season! At least I knew his name.

I think I'm more familiar with these "stars" than in several previous seasons, although that's not saying much, and minus one now that Matt has been eliminated. But I know who Barry, Tyson, Alyson, Jason, Jamie and Mira are. With Matt that was seven out of fourteen. Usually it's a much smaller percentage than half with so many Bravo-lebrities, Bachelors or Bachelorettes and social media influencers.