S23.E10: Week 7

[radishcake]

Quote

An elimination occurs after the seventh week of performances. 

[RedFiat]

Moving from In the Media DWTS Thread 

http://www.justjaredjr.com/tags/dancing-with-the-stars/

Eras Night is returning to Dancing With The Stars next week!

We don’t know about you, but JJJLOVES Eras Night.

The night will showcases popular music throughout the eras from the 1920s through the 1990s with each celebrity performing a quickstep, rumba, Charleston, jive, tango, foxtrot, samba or jitterbug.

In addition, the celebrities and their pros will be grouped into two teams – Team Past and Team Future – with each performing a dance to celebrate songs and dance styles from  previous decades through present day. The team dance scores will be combined with the celebrity’s individual dance scores for a final tally. At the end of evening, one couple will be eliminated from the ballroom competition. 

Here’s the song, era & dance list:
Marilu Henner & Derek Hough – Charleston – “Never Forget You” by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox featuring Addie Hamilton (1920s)
Terra Jolé & Sasha Farber – Foxtrot – “Cheek to Cheek” by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (1930s)
James Hinchcliffe & Sharna Burgess – Jitterbug – “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (1940s)
Calvin Johnson Jr. & Lindsay Arnold – Jive – “Good Golly Miss Molly” by Little Richard (1950s)
Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy – Quickstep – “One Fine Day” by The Chiffons (1960s)
Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko – Samba – “Get Down Tonight” by KC and the Sunshine Band (1970s)
Maureen McCormick & Artem Chigvintsev – Tango – “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi (1980s)
Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke – Rumba – “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith (1990s)

The Teams:
Team Past: James & Sharna, Calvin & Lindsay, Ryan & Cheryl, Maureen and Artem.
Team Future: Marilu & Derek; Laurie & Val; Terra & Sasha, and Jana & Gleb.

[Padma]

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 7:59 PM, RedFiat said:

Moving from In the Media DWTS Thread 

http://www.justjaredjr.com/tags/dancing-with-the-stars/

Eras Night is returning to Dancing With The Stars next week!

We don’t know about you, but JJJLOVES Eras Night.

The night will showcases popular music throughout the eras from the 1920s through the 1990s with each celebrity performing a quickstep, rumba, Charleston, jive, tango, foxtrot, samba or jitterbug.

In addition, the celebrities and their pros will be grouped into two teams – Team Past and Team Future – with each performing a dance to celebrate songs and dance styles from  previous decades through present day. The team dance scores will be combined with the celebrity’s individual dance scores for a final tally. At the end of evening, one couple will be eliminated from the ballroom competition. 

Here’s the song, era & dance list:
Marilu Henner & Derek Hough – Charleston – “Never Forget You” by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox featuring Addie Hamilton (1920s)
Terra Jolé & Sasha Farber – Foxtrot – “Cheek to Cheek” by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (1930s)
James Hinchcliffe & Sharna Burgess – Jitterbug – “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (1940s)
Calvin Johnson Jr. & Lindsay Arnold – Jive – “Good Golly Miss Molly” by Little Richard (1950s)
Laurie Hernandez & Val Chmerkovskiy – Quickstep – “One Fine Day” by The Chiffons (1960s)
Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko – Samba – “Get Down Tonight” by KC and the Sunshine Band (1970s)
Maureen McCormick & Artem Chigvintsev – Tango – “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi (1980s)
Ryan Lochte & Cheryl Burke – Rumba – “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith (1990s)

The Teams:
Team Past: James & Sharna, Calvin & Lindsay, Ryan & Cheryl, Maureen and Artem.
Team Future: Marilu & Derek; Laurie & Val; Terra & Sasha, and Jana & Gleb.

Nice list and I love the "eras" idea too. But...I don't think I'm reading into it to say that Sasha and Terra's assigned song seems like a mean inside joke to me. I mean "Cheek to Cheek"--really?  There are dozens of great songs from the 30s they could foxtrot to.  Why choose the only one whose title is an immediate reference to her height? I do not believe no one noticed that or that it wasn't an intentional reminder that Terra's case they -can't possibly- dance cheek to cheek. 

Nice variety of dances and songs, otherwise.

[vavera4ka]

4 minutes ago, 1kittykitty said:

Laurie Hernandez just made a strong statement against home schooling as she has no historical background knowledge of the 60's.  I know lots of elementary students who could say more than she did.  At least she's worked on the odd facial expressions since last week.

idk how much of it is homeschooling. I went to one of the best schools in my country (that at that time had school education far superior to USA, they lost it since then unfortunately) and i would give just a little bit more content about 60s because I never was interested in modern history. I can talk your ear off on renaissance or ancient Rome. Anything after 18th century stayed in my head only as long as needed to pass the test.

Was Whitney homeschooled too? lol now THAT was bad

[spanana]

Between Lindsay and Laurie on the history front, I don't know which is worse.  Though Laurie has the excuse of being 16 and homeschooled.  I love Lindsay as a pro, dancer and personality but educated she is not.   

Edited October 25, 2016 by spanana

[McManda]

6 minutes ago, vavera4ka said:

idk how much of it is homeschooling. I went to one of the best schools in my country (that at that time had school education far superior to USA, they lost it since then unfortunately) and i would give just a little bit more content about 60s because I never was interested in modern history.

 

4 minutes ago, spanana said:

Also don't they teach anything about the 60's in school?  At the very least, the Civil Rights movement?  Yikes.

At least when I was in high school (ten years ago), really anything post WWII was confined to a specialized class. We had "Recent American History", but that's about it. Even the AP classes really tapped out after WWII ... if you had some time towards the end of the ear you might get lucky and learn about Korea, Vietnam, Kennedy, civil rights, etc, but it was guaranteed to be rushed and very surface level.

I laugh/cringed at Marilu's comment to Laurie about the 60s - "You wouldn't be talking to him [Val]." I couldn't tell if it was because of the age difference, the fact that it was the height of the Civil Rights movement, or during the middle of the Cold War.

Edited October 25, 2016 by McManda

[vavera4ka]

Terra looks GORGEOUS today. Can't take my eyes off her face!

[BamaGirl]

RAWR -- Artem in heavy eye makeup!

[McManda]

... Sasha speaks Russian?

[vavera4ka]

Just now, McManda said:

... Sasha speaks Russian?

i was surprised too

obviously i realized he was of Russian Jewish heritage, but i can't hear any accent on him, not even Russian melody of the phrase building... so that was weird lol

[vavera4ka]

NOOOO NOT ARTEM!

:'(

[spanana]

6 minutes ago, McManda said:

... Sasha speaks Russian?

Pretty sure Sasha was born in Russia.  Then moved to Australia later on.

Overall it was kind of an okay night.  I think I liked Calvin the best in the individual round.  James and Laurie did well too.  Don't know enough about quickstep technique to know if Len was right in calling out Laurie or if he was nitpicking.  I also don't mind that Val broke the rules, though if you are going to break the rules with lifts then at least incorporate cool lifts and really go all out.  The lifts he threw in were fairly lame.

I liked Team Past better than Team Future.  Glad Maureen left.  She was exhausting.

Edited October 25, 2016 by spanana

[mtlchick]

Team Past rivals the last year's Team Nightmare as my fave team dance EVER>.

 

Bye Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.

[McManda]

At first I thought Team Past was kind of boring (despite being set to The Skye Boat song ... probably more commonly known now as "the theme from Outlander"), but then I realized that I preferred it to Team Future. I thought Team Future had a more innovative concept, but then it just devolved into a standard Derek plug-and-play team dance. I'm kind of over those. (My favorite team dance, ever, is still probably Team Nightmare.) Sometimes things just come together ... and I don't think Team Future hit it out of the park.

I know she's crazy, but I would have preferred Jana and Gleb leave over Maureen. Jana doesn't do anything for me and I don't like Gleb at all. I don't think she would have made it past next week, but at least Maureen seemed invested. And I'll miss Artem's dancing for sure. Come back soon, Artem!

Quote

Pretty sure Sasha was born in Russia.  Then moved to Australia later on.

When he was three, apparently. I didn't know that. He was old enough to retain language skills, but is that the language his family speaks at home? I don't think I ever would have guessed.

Edited October 25, 2016 by McManda

[vibeology]

Derek pushing Marilu down was amazingly awful. It wasn't really his fault but it made for a dramatic moment in the dance. I'm glad the score reflected the problems with the dance. Also, I don't know what Terra is like on her reality show, but she is lovely here and I root for her. 

Team Past was beautiful. That's the sort of dancing we don't get anymore thanks to Mandy Moore so it was nice to have the pros come through.

James and Terra had my favourite dances of the night with Calvin and Laurie close behind. 

Gleb needs to shut his mouth. He argued with Carrie Ann even though there were three lifts in that dance and the new he argued with Len when most of the dance was disco and not samba.  I'm sure Jana and Glen weren't actually the bottom two this week, but I could easily see them there next week.

[Callaphera]

What the fuck was that last team dance? I felt like I should have been on some heavy duty drugs in order to appreciate it. I get the whole futuristic, emotionless stuff but that was just weird. Very weird. And wow, did Marilu take a header on the floor.

I am so happy to see Maureen gone. The only time she seemed genuine was when she was crying and that was 90% of her packages. She just seems so affected and like she's trying to act like the perfect person and say the perfect things and make the perfect faces. Honey, you don't come across as more genuine just because you open your eyes a little wider and slap a look of earnest fascination on your face. Yay! No more tear soaked packages! (And Artem didn't look so much like Axl Rose during their first dance, Mr. Callaphera and I immediately thought of Nikki Sixx for some reason.)

I don't know why but Terra's dances always make me smile and James always brings the entertainment.  

[RedFiat]

What a night!  I loved Team Past.  I just loved the reverence they gave the Viennese Waltz, it was just so beautifully crafted, and the outfits were just gorgeous. It was really smart to get the majority of the dancers, Calvin, Ryan, and Maureen already having done a VWaltz on the show,  only James had to learn it from scratch.  In contrast I thought Derek went to formation, individual couples and back to formation.  It is a tired formula, it had some sync issues and Marilu fell.

I am getting worried for her. She has been an amazing trouper, but at 64 it is really really tough to do these dances under so much pressure. 

[sinycalone]

Team Past was the highlight of the show for me....beautifully choreographed and performed.  The fact that Calvin and James were singled out for their perfect independent dancing, yet meshed with the group, says volumes.

James and Sharna did deserve the highest scores.  Calvin and Lindsay were my 2nd favorites.  Both men get right into their characters.

Edited October 25, 2016 by sinycalone

[McManda]

1 minute ago, Callaphera said:

like she's trying to act like the perfect person and say the perfect things and make the perfect faces.

...unfortunately that's basically Maureen's life. She's spent her entire life trying to mask her stress and act nonplussed and say the perfect things with the perfect face and project that everything is perfect when really everything is breaking and wrong and hard. 

[RedFiat]

My favorite dances of the night were the In The Mood Jitterbug and Team Past.  Sharna is just hitting it out of the park this season. What an amazing little vingette - Hinch is a consumate performer and yes, he can do lifts.  Amazing considering his accident. 

Edited October 25, 2016 by RedFiat

[vavera4ka]

13 minutes ago, McManda said:

 

When he was three, apparently. I didn't know that. He was old enough to retain language skills, but is that the language his family speaks at home? I don't think I ever would have guessed.

most likely. I know a family that moved to America with two kids, youngest of whom was about Sasha's age (i think he was 4 though). Parents, though assimilating and learning the language quite well still speak Russian at home. A girl that moved at 10 can carry conversation in Russian, that boy though... understands a lot, but can speak very light Russian, with very heavy American accent. I wanna hear Sasha speak more Russian than just "Da!" now lol

I loved team Past. That waltz was gorgeous. I wanted more druid feel, but that was really nice too. I'm a sucker for a good waltz, my fav type of tempo, old or new.

ETA: Val was super sweet in his little moment with Terra.

Edited October 25, 2016 by vavera4ka

[mtlchick]

Quote

The fact that Calvin and James were singled out for their perfect independent dancing, yet meshed with the group, says volumes.

Not to mention they crack me up the most.  At the beginning I thought Laurie was a shoo in for the win.  Now?  Calvin and James can make the final and I'll be torn between the two for the win. I'm beginning to think Laurie peaked too early. 

[Callaphera]

5 minutes ago, McManda said:

...unfortunately that's basically Maureen's life. She's spent her entire life trying to mask her stress and act nonplussed and say the perfect things with the perfect face and project that everything is perfect when really everything is breaking and wrong and hard. 

I realize that but for me as a viewer, it's frustrating and not that much fun to watch. This should be the show where you let loose and have fun. Sure, you can argue it's a competition. Really, it's a popularity contest than anything, just with ten times the sequins and sparkle of other popularity contests. She just never looked to be having fun and that makes it less fun to watch. 

I don't care what's happened in your life, what scandal you've been involved in, what your sob story is. I want to be entertained. 

[stonehaven]

This whole night made me smile...I loved a lot of the dances..thought some were underscored..and others were praised too much...

I've gone from "Ryan, go home" to "Oh yeah, Ryan's there too"..must be an improvement..

I adore James, Terra and Calvin...and I thought Marilu killed it in her dance..but the highlight was Team Past..just beautifully done..should have had a perfect score...

The other thing that made me laugh was Helio throwing shade to Juilliane..wonder why the producers allowed that diss in the package...

Overall, a nice happy, diversion from the non-stop election coverage...

[PTVjones]

I'm totally here for a James and Calvin bromance. They have a great chemistry together and should do Dance Center together every now and then in future seasons when they need time slots for the results show. 

I may be in the minority for really liking the future dance. I'm a sucker for Dystopian though so... I may be biased. However, I'm a big Outlander fan so... I could have gone with either. 

However I will say I was more interested to see the dynamics between all the pros in the future dance than what was going on with the celebs lol. Too many "cooks in the kitchen" potential there that could have been interesting to see. I must have missed Sasha speaking Russian, I'll re-view to see that. 

Happy that Calvin and James are growing! I'm all for a Laurie-Calvin-James finale. 

Oh yea, shoutout to the best 70's Samba that's been on this show (not forgotten)

[RedFiat]

I am all for a James-Calvin-Laurie finals and hope it ends up that way.  Sharna is by far my fave choreographer this season. 

[vavera4ka]

1 minute ago, PTVjones said:

I must have missed Sasha speaking Russian, I'll re-view to see that. 

it was kinda behind the scene while Terra was tearfully talking how Sasha speaks Russian so she doesn't understand and get even more upset...

Val: Sasha, mozhno? (may we?)

Sasha: Da. (yes)

[Uke]

Everytime Tom said "eras", I kept hearing "errors".  Oh well.

Laurie:   Ahhh life didn't exist before she was born. Do teenagers really know nothing about the 60s? (it was an honor for people to dance with each other? Burning bras was just something funny that women did? Yah hon, just for laughs.)  That was fully-loaded, to where it seemed a little frantic.  At one point, it looked like Laurie was leading.  Very bouncy bouncy.  Two lifts and a break in hold plus a lot of fussing about before starting - no rules again this week?  At least CAI mentioned it.  But the second lift had an awkward setdown.  Scores were about right.

Ryan:  A little awkward to start but was nice once they got going. I think Cheryl missed a drop (where she's spun on the floor).  She started to lean into it but then there was an odd pause - maybe she felt Ryan didn't have a good enough grip on her.  Len needs to get over himself. His 7 included an extra point for not messing about? Underscored. There should have been an 8 in there.

Marilu:  This looked very under-rehearsed. Nothing really wrong but not really right either.  Out of sync a few times.  And some of her facial expressions...eeks!  Why was Derek showing off his tapping while Marilu was just trying to match the steps?  That didn't really work.  Derek should have skipped the tapping and used regular steps.  Disagreed with the 8. All 7s would have been right.    

Calvin:  Very enjoyable! He just looks like he's having fun which makes him so fun to watch.  I'm glad they showed why he can't point his toes. His footwork was spot on but he did look a little hunchy in the shoulders at times.  Agree with the scores.

Maureen:  I was so distracted about this is sooo not her personna.  An obvious stumble, not sure it was Artem's error.  What's with her facial expressions during JH's and CAI's judging?  Scores were a bit high - there should have been a 6 or two in there.

Terra:  Very sweet.  She really had the character going on there.  Nice job!  Agree with the scores.

Jana:  That seemed like a disco with a few awkward samba rolls thrown in.  It all seemed strange and out of synch.  Disagree with JH - this did not work.  Scores much too high. Expected all 7s.  A little too much truth out of Gleb - this is a dance show not a dance competition?

James:  That was fun. The first lift didn't quite work but the rest of it was really good.  He really gets into the character.  Sharna was noticeably limping after the judging and heading for the stairs.  Agree with the scores.

Team Past:  I loved this!  I miss this kind of group dance on the show.  Already decided this should get the higher score.

Team Future:  For the usual militaristic lockstep, 1 couple was consistently out of sync (DH+Marilu).  It looked like DH pushed Marilu a bit too hard. (Maybe he was just in a bad mood.  A little passive-aggressive reprimand at last rehearsal. Calm down dude!)  I didn't care for this at all.  Scored too high. All 8s would have been plenty.

I can't really say I'm sorry to see Maureen go. It was time. She didn't seem to be enjoying this.

[Quickbeam]

I thought Marilu's dance was cringe worthy. Her legs looked stiff and tense. Wasn't sure where those scores were coming from. Otherwise, Team Past! And how cute is that little Penelope! 

[thefog]

I am on board with a James/Calvin Final 2 Bromance.  I can see that being very fun and entertaining.

Shout out to Team Past, considering going into this, they had 2 of the weaker competitors in Maureen and Ryan.

Edited October 25, 2016 by escape

[tearbender]

That was an interesting episode. Felt like old school DWTS in some ways. In many ways, the teaching process was more interesting than the actual dancing, along with the strategy for the dances, and the camaraderie, or lack thereof in some instances. I would watch an entire hour of team dance rehearsal footage, honestly.

I think I enjoy the partnership with Sasha more than Terra herself, but wow, my heart went out to her in the rehearsal practices. I can relate to having that kind of hyper awareness in a group setting, and I felt so bad when she said that Derek was asking permission for every move he suggested, to make sure Terra could do it. I hope the other pros on Team Future were not consistently communicating in Russian during rehearsal because that’s kind of rude to Derek.

The team dances also reminded me of last year with Team Nightmare vs. Team Who You Gonna Call, with the former team being underdogs by virtue of not having Derek on their team, and yet still pulling out a showstopper.  Color me surprised they chose the theme from Outlander for a Team Dance. I thought it was lovely. On a shallow note, Team Past looked fantastic in those costumes. Especially Calvin, mmm. I think it was an interesting choice to go for a more cohesive approach for Team Past, where nobody really stood out like Bruno said, but the overall effect was better IMO.

Team Future gave me interpretive dance, junior high dance recital vibes, but I did kind of dig it. And the production quality and effects for both dances were awesome. I was worried after hearing Team Past’s song that Team Future would get a much more upbeat song, which the show used to do and it made the Team dances quite uneven right from the start.

Ryan Lochte being confused by circles pretty much sums him up. Sadly, I can see him outlasting Jana, Terra and Marilu.

Edited October 25, 2016 by tearbender

[RedFiat]

James did amazing on the lifts on the jitterbug tonight. I was even more impressed with his ability to dance solo with the troupe,  be humorous and tell a story. And of all the contestants James is the only one who really had to learn two brand new dances. 

I like Calvin, he has a great personality for dancing but I do not like his technique on the jive. Apart from a lame flicka kick, (as Carrie says he dances differently- ) a chicken walk, and a few basics it was pretty short on Jive. Also, he messed up the ending and nobody called him out. But he knew it.  His expression said it all. 

Edited October 25, 2016 by RedFiat

[wanderingstar]

I think Calvin and Lindsay and James and Sharna's dances were my favorite f the night.

I like Marilu a lot, but man am I sick of Derek.

[LotusFlower]

I think Maureen was drunk during the rehearsals and packages - maybe that's why Artem always seemed so bummed out and frustrated.  She was on another reality show awhile back called something like Celebrity Fit Club, and she had a drinking problem, including drinking in the morning.  I noticed it a lot tonight in the packages, esp. when she said she was "tipsy on dancing....weehoo!"  I'm guessing the producers knew.

[sinycalone]

Just watched Team Past's waltz again..  All of the performers did an amazing job...pros and celebs.  If I had tuned in late, I probably would have assumed it was the pro troupe dancing.  And I never thought I'd post this:  Ryan actually looked comfortable, assured and graceful.  Perhaps it was because he wasn't alone in the spotlight.
 

[RedFiat]

1 minute ago, sinycalone said:

Just watched Team Past's waltz again..  All of the performers did an amazing job...pros and celebs.  If I had tuned in late, I probably would have assumed it was the pro troupe dancing.  And I never thought I'd post this:  Ryan actually looked comfortable, assured and graceful.  Perhaps it was because he wasn't alone in the spotlight.
 

Absolutely that and the fact that he learned VWaltz earlier, so this was all about polish and syncronization.  

6 minutes ago, LotusFlower said:

I think Maureen was drunk during the rehearsals and packages - maybe that's why Artem always seemed so bummed out and frustrated.  She was on another reality show awhile back called something like Celebrity Fit Club, and she had a drinking problem, including drinking in the morning.  I noticed it a lot tonight in the packages, esp. when she said she was "tipsy on dancing....weehoo!"  I'm guessing the producers knew.

Yikes.  I had no idea. 

[LotusFlower]

1 hour ago, vavera4ka said:

it was kinda behind the scene while Terra was tearfully talking how Sasha speaks Russian so she doesn't understand and get even more upset...

Val: Sasha, mozhno? (may we?)

Sasha: Da. (yes)

And then Derek asked "Can she?  Is that possible?" right in front of her.  I felt really bad for her.  I know they didn't mean it, but they were being pretty insensitive to her.

[MsJamieDornan]

Quote

I think Maureen was drunk during the rehearsals and packages 

I think you're right. So glad she's gone. She was tiring me out.

[peach]

I continue to love James and Calvin.  They both bring joy into their performances, along with their skill.  They were both great, although I think James was best.  I voted for both of them.
I feel like Val's choreography is getting repetitive with Laurie.  Tonight was very meh for her, but I hope she makes the finals with James and Calvin.  I think all the other things she has going on is affecting what she can do here. 

I FF through some of the packages, so I didn't hear anything Ryan said, which was a help.  He really looked handsome this week, and while he's not great, he was enjoyable.  I liked that performance, overall. 

Jana does zero for me.  Also, sorry to nitpick, but that Pucci style dress was 60's go go style, not 70's disco.  Also, the whining.
Terra was fine.  I did feel bad for her when practicing the team dance.
Maureen and Artem's costumes were so distracting it took away from whatever they were doing with their feet.  Also, she is too old for that look, and I would say that about myself at ten years younger.  Plus it was a bad song choice.  Blech.  Really won't miss her.
Marilu.  I feel bad for not liking her performances, but I don't.   She's doing great for 64, no doubt!  But I'm not into it.

Team Past was so lovely, and gave me actual feels.  Team Future fell flat for me.  I also hated the camera work.  I think if they hadn't zoomed in each couple like they did it would have looked better.  As it was, I couldn't get the sense of an overall, full floor performance.  Sort of like in ice skating when they camera stays too tight on the skater and you never see the overall choreography to it.

 

[PBGamer89]

It's so obvious that the show is over Laurie. She's been constantly screwed over since her perfect score in Week 4. She's getting hammered with judges critiques, while others get away with more. They've not given her great music recently. One Fine Day wasn't bad, but her music for Paso and Salsa were badly matched for those styles.

The judges pets are so clearly James and Calvin now. James has been only getting 9's and 10's now, added in with ridiculous comments like "you're unbeatable/best male celeb ever", and a Jitterbug, a style not seen since season 19 and likely won't see the remainder of the season.

Calvin's last real Latin dance was Week 1. He's gotten 3 back to back "little rules" dances that involved lifts (Jazz, Charleston, Argentine Tango), and by the time he gets to Salsa, Rumba, and Samba, the scoring will adjust to the point where 9's and maybe an 8 or two will be the "not your best" score.

I think it's the narrative of getting Sharna a win finally. They've tried to hard recently with Charlie and Nick especially. Noah was a fanbase ringer, someone who going into the show would get mass amounts of votes no matter how they dance, and then Antonio, pre-season, on paper, seemed like the likely winner, even later giving him the "you're improving so much" arc to attempt to get him further.

Edited October 25, 2016 by PBGamer89

[kitcloudkicker]

Okay, my DWTS tea leaves are feeling more stable with this week.

Laurie/James/Calvin back solidly in the top. Calvin is fast becoming my personal favorite, and Lindsay one of my favorite pros. (I still think this is likely headed to a Laurie/James final two, but maybe Calvin can stay in the mix)

Terra back on track to round out the top 4. Her partnership with Sasha is fun, she gives a good energy, and she meets her challenges head on, which the audience likes. 

Ryan/Marilu/Jana in the bottom. Ryan feels like "the guy that keeps getting votes" to me, and I'm almost inclined to declare him safe. Marilu had the Derek fan wildcard, I still think they might have the power to keep her around a week or two longer. Jana - I'm just not sure how her support is and she still seems the type that tends to get "shockingly eliminated" around this time. I'm inclined to pick her as the next out (just because then I get to say I called it a week ago) but really, I won't be surprised with any of these three out.

 

Team Dances: Team Future wasn't as bad as I thought, given rumors of the song being weird. I thought we were up for another techno tango, and I was glad it wasn't. Team Past I thought had the music edge (just because this show does so many techno tangos and pasos, that the more classic music stands out) but I did kinda find myself getting bored halfway through. Still the clear winner on account of no big mistakes.

Edited October 25, 2016 by kitcloudkicker

[spanana]

3 minutes ago, PBGamer89 said:

It's so obvious that the show is over Laurie. She's been constantly screwed over since her perfect score in Week 4. She's getting hammered with judges critiques, while others get away with more. They've not given her great music recently. One Fine Day wasn't bad, but her music for Paso and Salsa were badly matched for those styles.

The judges pets are so clearly James and Calvin now. James has been only getting 9's and 10's now, added in with ridiculous comments like "you're unbeatable/best male celeb ever", and a Jitterbug, a style not seen since season 19 and likely won't see the remainder of the season.

Calvin's last real Latin dance was Week 1. He's gotten 3 back to back "little rules" dances that involved lifts (Jazz, Charleston, Argentine Tango), and by the time he gets to Salsa, Rumba, and Samba, the scoring will adjust to the point where 9's and maybe an 8 or two will be the "not your best" score.

I think it's the narrative of getting Sharna a win finally. They've tried to hard recently with Charlie and Nick especially. Noah was a fanbase ringer, someone who going into the show would get mass amounts of votes no matter how they dance, and then Antonio, pre-season, on paper, seemed like the likely winner, even later giving him the "you're improving so much" arc to attempt to get him further.

I don't agree with all of this.  Laurie has been getting nitpicked some the last 3 weeks, I don't disagree, but last week she scored at least one 10.  I feel like it's hard to complain about the judges being mean to you when you are still being given a 10 from at least one of the judges. This week the only person that gave her any sort of harsh criticism was Len.  Carrie Anne's critique was about Val and the lifts, not Laurie. I don't think she said one bad thing about Laurie, and Julianne and Bruno did nothing but praise her.  So is she being nitpicked? Somewhat.  Hammered?  Not at all.  Also in the long run the judges are doing her a favor because it's created this sort of faux underdog arc for her where people now see her as the underdog as opposed the overwhelming backlash she would be getting with perfect scores every week.

Also IMO Calvin has not been overscored or coddled.  Calvin often has been getting the worst spots in the dance order.  With the exception of last week he almost always dances at the beginning of the show.  He was getting straight 8's until maybe last week and he still hasn't seen anything resembling a perfect score.  I also don't see how one can see Calvin as being coddled because he got assigned jazz, when Laurie has also done jazz.  I'm also willing to bet that Calvin won't have any real problems with samba, salsa or rumba because he seems to be a very hard worker who has done a pretty decent job of mastering every dance he has been given (or as much as a non dancer can master said dances in the course of 5 days).  I've seen nothing to suggest he will suck at the other latin dances.

Now I do think the fact that they started mentioning tonight about how Sharna has never won before, a la shades of Val in S20 with Rumer or Maks and his entire season with Meryl, may be the show trying to propel James forward.  I'm not 100% sure they care if James or Laurie wins, but I do think they want it to at least be a close battle and Sharna winning her first mirrorball with the guy that came out of nowhere is probably a better storyline than Val wins another trophy with the obvious frontrunner.

[katha]

I like Laurie best of all the contestants this season and I thought her dance this week was precious and made me smile so much. (-: But I don't mind that they're somewhat nitpicky with her. And it's mostly just that they give her the kind of scores she probably deserves, while arguably others are judged more generously. No one is being mean to her, she gets nice edits, the judges are constructive. It's also natural that with her crazy schedule, the time restrictions for rehearsal since she's a minor and the general "gymnasts aren't all that suited to some aspects of dancing" stuff kicking in, not all of it has been coming easily for her.

And they are really actually helping her with this, I believe that as well. It would create resentment and backlash and hate if she was constantly leading, the general DWTS audience is very unforgiving and unkind towards female contestants. Particularly female ringers. Now you've got a song of "Poor Laurie! They are being so strict with her!" LOL. That's actually quite devious from TPTB, you have to admit. (-; It also tells me that she probably doesn't have trouble with votes at all and they don't feel the need to pimp her and push for her mid-season. The same might be true for Calvin, vote-wise I mean.

[Thadeeeyus]

Quote

Everytime Tom said "eras", I kept hearing "errors".  Oh well.

I was hearing "heiress".  

Yay for Calvin still being on the show!   I honestly thought he was going to get lost in the shuffle without having an emotional backstory or  special treatment.  I'm ok with Maureen leaving but would have preferred Jana or Ryan.  Though I liked James tonight, I'm with Len in wanting to see more Jitterbug.  Where was the hold?  And how nice of Len to point it out and then announce he was still giving a high score. 

Loved the team waltz. Just beautiful, but it seemed the awarding of the points was very low key.  Don't they usually announce a "winning" team?  

Nice knowing you, Gleb.  I think most of us realize it's an entertainment show and not a dance contest, but still....   

Edited October 25, 2016 by Thadeeeyus

[goldensglitter]

I agree about Gleb, i bet he will not be back next season.  After the comment about not putting in more moves cause, well, you know, it's not a dance contest, its an entertainment show.................yikes! Out of the mouths of babes.

I have watched Terra's show, Little Women of LA, she definitely is not a shrinking violet on that show, far far from it.  I had to laugh when she said she was meek and mild.  That is far from what she portrays on that show, just saying'.

[LexieLily]

9 minutes ago, Thadeeeyus said:

Nice knowing you, Gleb.  I think most of us realize it's an entertainment show and not a dance contest, but still....   

Yeah, that wasn't his finest moment. I don't know why he got asked back as a pro, honestly, since he was a one-and-done guy a few seasons ago with that Real Housewife that carried her (admittedly cute!) dog everywhere and incorporated it into one of the dances. Considering his start to the season was a too-steamed-up-and-inappropriate-to-the-dance Waltz, and last week's bed-and-shower AT, it seems like since he has a young and acceptably attractive partner, Gleb has one mode: sex, sex, sex. I was so hoping Len would have given him a point or two lower than the other judges for the individual dance just to shut him up about all the "messing about."

I can only hope he gets demoted back to the troupe like Keo finally did.

[Love2dance]

I was there in the 60's and there was no quick step at the prom, for sure. They should have danced the twist, watusi, mashed potato, jerk, or at least an American Bandstand style swing.

[kitcloudkicker]

3 hours ago, Uke said:

Everytime Tom said "eras", I kept hearing "errors".  Oh well.

A hometown accent thing? ;P

[Mondayeve]

Could be.  As someone who lived in Mass. for a while they add an R where there isn't one (along with taking it out when there is one).  They say terlit for toilet, pizzer for pizza and idear for idea.  So era would be eerer or error.  Although Tom has really learned not to sound regional or like he is from Mass.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Boy.  After a few weeks of conscious underscoring, they sure went overboard propping up Calvin!  I'm happy they did it, but oh man...That was either the least, or second least, content he has yet performed.  He literally stood like a statue for the final 32 bars.  This, in a dance made for his advantage - athleticism!  

I was appalled at the music choice for Maureen's Tango, and danged if it didn't turn out to be a great tune for Tango!  The KC song for Samba?  Now, THAT was horrid.  4/4 time signature?  That was a march.  Loved those outfits, though!  But, they must have really got to Len.  I've never seen him dress down a pro as he did Gleb.  Wow.  And YES!!!!!

Laurie stretched some more (good on her!) and I thoroughly enjoyed Val's deliberate trashing of CAI's lift penalty.  Very 60s, for sure.  The post-performance interview was among the very best evah.  Erin and Val were thick as thieves, and Laurie's natural and youthful spirit shone through!

I truly loved the Team Past dance at Court.  Remarkable synchronicity.  Beautiful.  Elegant.  What a great tune.  Gorgeous in its simplicity.  Incredible costuming.  May have brought a tear to me peepers.

Dance of the night, maybe the season, for me, though, was James' Glenn Miller (YES - faithful rendition!) Jitterbug.  He was such a loose and fancy-free dancer!  He completely evoked that era.  Stunningly so.  He looked like he lived during that time and somehow channeled it.  He was that brilliant.  Sharna?  My goodness.  She was breathtakingly beautiful as a WW II canteen volunteer.  Dances like this are the very best of what DWTS can be.