Bella May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 Someone mentioned this as a thread concept, and it sounded like fun, so here it is. You're not paranoid if they really are out to get you, etc. 2 Link to comment
Uke May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 With all the shenanigans on DWTS....LOL! It was a pretty busy thread back on the other site. Link to comment
WhitneyWhit May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 I'll get us started. I don't believe for a second that Meryl was in any danger of going home and that they only put her there for the drama of pitting her against Charlie. In fact, I believe Candace was in more danger than Meryl and Amy but they called her safe early so they could get the drama of the three Olympians in danger. 4 Link to comment
Flick May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 I don't believe for a second that Meryl was in any danger of going home and that they only put her there for the drama of pitting her against Charlie. I think that's probably spot on and Charlie has voiced his agreement, too. He didn't really appreciate it, either. "The thing is, you don't know if it's always the bottom two," Charlie explained. "Honestly to me, that felt contrived. I wasn't happy that they pitted me against Meryl like that." But Charlie isn't too worried about it, as he told us, "I think our love triumphs over what makes for an interesting moment. I love that girl. We have been through 27 years and won an Olympic gold medal." Source Link to comment
ari333 May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 I think some of the shenanigans are partly in the semantics -- the sneaky snakes - for example, "You're in jeopardy" is used frequently. Isn't everyone "in jeopardy" until called safe? It's very different, imo, (if we want to get all literal) than saying, "You two couples are the bottom two - or three, as the case may be - vote-getters." Hmmm. "vote-getters," probably not a word, but there it is. Love the Knoll. Thanks! for the thread. Link to comment
smiley13 May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 I don't believe that Candace was really in danger of going home all of the times they tormented her with the "not necessarily the bottom two." I am just glad Danica left so we were not subjected again to some contrived non-rivalry between her and Candace. Link to comment
Bitsy May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 I think at this point, "fake jeopardy" isn't even a conspiracy theory because everybody knows it's nonsense. 1 Link to comment
OakGoblinFly May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 The show has also been a bit - shall we say manipulative - with pushing its agenda; usually it's been subtle. This season the manipulations are extremely heavy handed and make it so that I don't even want to watch any more. 2 Link to comment
BoogieBurns September 23, 2014 Share September 23, 2014 I'm not trying to pick on a little girl, but Sadie's jazz reeked of producer manipulation. 1. No one else got to do Jazz in week two (surely Alison would have loved that!) 2. They pre-taped a scripted segment with her Dad, while almost every other celeb was shown in candid moments of frustration 3. She got the pimp-spot, aka the last dance of the night The order they dance in should just be picked out of a hat. It has such a huge effect on scores, they are just stacking the deck in her favor. All my opinions of course, I do not actually feel one way or another about Sadie. Just hate being manipulated. 4 Link to comment
ari333 September 23, 2014 Share September 23, 2014 I'm not trying to pick on a little girl, but Sadie's jazz reeked of producer manipulation. 1. No one else got to do Jazz in week two (surely Alison would have loved that!) 2. They pre-taped a scripted segment with her Dad, while almost every other celeb was shown in candid moments of frustration 3. She got the pimp-spot, aka the last dance of the night The order they dance in should just be picked out of a hat. It has such a huge effect on scores, they are just stacking the deck in her favor. All my opinions of course, I do not actually feel one way or another about Sadie. Just hate being manipulated. Get out of my head! THIS.(Do we still say, "co-sign?") heh Also, love the knoll and glad to see it pop up. Apparently hip thrusts are ok. That is all. 3 Link to comment
MortysCleaningLady September 23, 2014 Share September 23, 2014 Adjusts tin foil hat and casually puts giant target on back of my cardigan set -- Bethany already has an injury? Already? Sure she might, but it feels like Derek's partners always get the medical personnel (and thus a sob story) early. Sure was amazing that the adrenaline pumping through her system not only got her through the dance, but helped her run across the dance floor and up all those stairs. 7 Link to comment
Uke September 23, 2014 Share September 23, 2014 (edited) I'm not trying to pick on a little girl, but Sadie's jazz reeked of producer manipulation. 1. No one else got to do Jazz in week two (surely Alison would have loved that!) 2. They pre-taped a scripted segment with her Dad, while almost every other celeb was shown in candid moments of frustration 3. She got the pimp-spot, aka the last dance of the night The order they dance in should just be picked out of a hat. It has such a huge effect on scores, they are just stacking the deck in her favor. All my opinions of course, I do not actually feel one way or another about Sadie. Just hate being manipulated. Mark explained why they got the jazz in an interview with either Access Hollywood, ABC w/GeorgeP. Sadie was told to name her favorite song. The tempo of the song didn't work with any of the ballroom/latin dance styles. So the producers asked Mark if he could make it work with jazz. Since there's so many styles in jazz, Mark took it. It wasn't favoritism, they were just trying to find something that would work with the song. I think the pre-taped segment was a humorous play on the Erin chat last week saying that Sadie's dad approves the outfits. With Sadie's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all sitting in on all the rehearsals, I doubt there's any real drama going on. I think there's many factors considered in deciding the order of the dances, including popularity of the star, who got a lot of media buzz during the week, what the show is up against on other channels (I think they compare in 15 minute segments), etc. They also wouldn't want to bundle the same dances together so that they're not quite so comparable. There's lots of factors but everyone who stays awhile does seem to take a turn as one of the first dances and one of the last dances. This is only week 2. Edited September 23, 2014 by Uke Link to comment
RemoteControl88 September 23, 2014 Share September 23, 2014 Bethany got the "injury" edit vs. the candid frustration clips from Lea, Janel, & Alfonso. In general I just feel the big push from producers to make Bethany a "thing." I just feel like they are pushing too hard. I don't need her to take over youtube twitter(45 million followers) for an hour....so she can basically promote voting for herself. Not really necessary when she already has close to 2 million of her own followers. There was such cries of unfairness in previous seasons because Cody Simpson & Zendaya had millions of followers, but those were their actual fans. Bethany is doing just fine...problem for me is that she hasn't wowed me yet and I haven't seen an improvement yet. I know she's injured but so far she been okay but kind of lost in the shuffle. Alfonso & Lea wowed me in week 1. And I feel like Janel improved in week 2. Sadie the other top dancer...I 100% co-sign everything you said BoogieBurns. 4 Link to comment
BoogieBurns September 23, 2014 Share September 23, 2014 (edited) The tempo of the song didn't work with any of the ballroom/latin dance styles. Gettin Jiggy Wit It isn't typically a Samba, so that doesn't really count. Edit: I re-watched and Alfonso's song was a great Samba song. So, I'll change my statement to "Girls in Bikinis" not being a Samba. Edited September 23, 2014 by BoogieBurns Link to comment
Uke September 23, 2014 Share September 23, 2014 Gettin Jiggy Wit It isn't typically a Samba, so that doesn't really count. Edit: I re-watched and Alfonso's song was a great Samba song. So, I'll change my statement to "Girls in Bikinis" not being a Samba. I can picture a slow paced Samba to Girls in Bikinis. Samba has the fun-in-the-sun, island-feel though IMO Michael wasn't going to do anything resembling a Samba regardless. But that's a tough song with the tempo changes. Oh well, Emma did the best she could with it. Link to comment
kitcloudkicker September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 I don't need her to take over youtube twitter(45 million followers) for an hour....so she can basically promote voting for herself. Not really necessary when she already has close to 2 million of her own followers. This is a conspiracy if mutual beneficial marketing agreements are conspiracies. Youtube's been doing a huge push highlighting their content creators, including Bethany, Michelle Phan (who was there last night) and some others. Long game: they want to be the future of media, and they get to use DWTS to give them some spotlight. In the short term, ABC gets DWTS promoted to those 45 million follows. To put on my Littlefinger hat, the likes of Derek and Bethany are only pawns in this Game of Thrones. Link to comment
Runningwild September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 (edited) I always thought the pimp spot went to the dance projected (from rehearsals) to have the biggest wow factor or to be the best. Edited September 24, 2014 by Runningwild Link to comment
McManda September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 I always thought the pimp spot went to the dance projected (from rehearsals) to have the biggest wow factor or to be the best. If that's the case, they missed the mark with Sadie. Her dance was underwhelming and not all that great. It would have been better to give someone like Alfonso (who is going to wow even if his dance isn't strictly traditional) or Janel (with a Chmerkovskiy's choreography and her capabilities it's bound to be interesting) or even Lea (with a dance background and a new, fresh, pro). There's nothing interesting about Sadie, her partner, his choreography, or really, her skills. All she's got going for her is the daddy's-values thing, and that'll wear thin if they push it too hard too long. 1 Link to comment
BoogieBurns September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 "Not necessarily the bottom three." That's all I'm going to say. 1 Link to comment
smiley13 September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 I Think Sadie was awesome and was underscored. Putting her in the fake bottom three was cruel. I think Mark did a great job with the jazz to the Aldean song. The only Grassy Knoll I see is the YT chick already having an "injury" yet she could run around and dance on it just fine. It seems to be Golden Boy's script to have an "injured" partner. 4 Link to comment
OakGoblinFly September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 I always thought the pimp spot went to the dance projected (from rehearsals) to have the biggest wow factor or to be the best. There's also staging to consider ........ what props need to be moved, lighting, and so on .... sometimes the last dance is the dance that requires the most staging to set-up/break-down. Link to comment
galax-arena September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 The tempo of the song didn't work with any of the ballroom/latin dance styles. Like that's ever stopped the show before. 1 Link to comment
Runningwild September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 There's also staging to consider ........ what props need to be moved, lighting, and so on .... sometimes the last dance is the dance that requires the most staging to set-up/break-down. True. Plus, they can't have Alfonso last every week. Link to comment
Uke September 24, 2014 Share September 24, 2014 From http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2014/09/dancing-with-the-stars-week-2-elimination "Val and Janel, who told me on Monday night that they'd be doing the Viennese Waltz to West Side Story, revealed that that plan has now changed. "Now we're doing the jazz to West Side Story," revealed Janel. The reason for the change? "I want to do movie week justice," explained Val, "and I want to do West Side Story justice. I wanted to have a little bit more freedom with the choreography." " It used to be the producers would assign a dance and a song and if the two didn't go together, too bad. It was up to the pro to make it work. They were also very restrictive in allowing the pro to make any changes to the arrangement. The pros generally weren't allowed to even correct the tempo or speed of a song to match the requirements of the dance style, never mind wanting to do a song or movie "justice". Now with a new show runner, it looks like they might be allowing the producers to work WITH the pro who understand music and the dance styles better than the producers ever will. That would be a nice change. I don't see this as favoritism towards Val, just like I didn't see jazz for a country song favoritism towards Mark. It appears to me to just be better cooperation between the producers and the pros. 3 Link to comment
BoogieBurns September 30, 2014 Share September 30, 2014 Well, we got two perfect scores in week 3. Shady... 5 Link to comment
smiley13 September 30, 2014 Share September 30, 2014 Well, we got two perfect scores in week 3. Shady... And what is even shadier is the two pros that got them....... 3 Link to comment
Princess Sparkle September 30, 2014 Share September 30, 2014 Janel's I bet is less about Val, and more about ABC trying to ensure that one of their own "stars" isn't booted early on - I'm guessing her votes must be low. Still shady as hell. Not that I wanted him to get a perfect score in week one, but if those two dances tonight got all 10s, Alfonso deserved 11s for his jive. 2 Link to comment
Uke September 30, 2014 Share September 30, 2014 Shady is right! I'm not so sure Janel's was 10-worthy but...whatev. But Beth & Derek? That was ALL about Derek and his wanting to associate himself as the new Gene Kelly. He LOVES his fans calling him that and he wants the press to call him that too. Those scores were all about Patricia Kelly watching at home or in the audience + Derek fulfilling his dream. I'd bet Beth never even heard of Gene Kelly before this week and she certainly didn't pick that movie. Derek piled on so much stress, Beth looked terrified to make a mistake. And I guess the out-of-sync instances were choreographed??? Just appalled. 5 Link to comment
Dancingjaneway September 30, 2014 Share September 30, 2014 I don't think ABC is all about Janel because of her being associated with one of their shows because if it was like that they would be propping Lea up more(she's on Switched at Birth). I think they want Val to replace his brother and of course Derrick continues to get his ass kissed because this show seems to feel like it cannot survive without him or his sister. Link to comment
MortysCleaningLady September 30, 2014 Share September 30, 2014 (edited) When my 42 year old fat ass-et gets the call to be on DWTS, I want to be Derek's partner. I still have great ankles for rhythmic flicking and would much rather sit on a park bench and toss umbrellas around. Sitting with an umbrella and Derek to Singin In The Rain = 10. Dancing with an umbrella and Sharna to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious = hard work and a 9. Seriously, I'm a bigger household name at my house than any vlogger. Edited September 30, 2014 by MortysCleaningLady 11 Link to comment
Thadeeeyus September 30, 2014 Share September 30, 2014 ....Sitting with an umbrella and Derek to Singin In The Rain = 10. Dancing with an umbrella and Sharna to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious = hard work and a 9.... Haha. I will never forgive them for that. And Charlie actually danced! Sucks he had to have a partner that wasn't being promoted by TPTB. 4 Link to comment
Dancingjaneway October 3, 2014 Share October 3, 2014 This week Derek/Bethany and Val/Janel have the same dance. Way to be subtle DWTS PTB. 2 Link to comment
MortysCleaningLady October 7, 2014 Share October 7, 2014 Normally, bringing in a star gets you that prime last place slot. I think it's pretty interesting that Alfonso and Whitney got the last slot (much deserved IMHO for the modernized Carlton) while Derek brought in Colby Carrington (the pretty pianist/ singer and I don't think that's her real name, but it was something that made me think of Dynasty and Emma Samms) for his completely lacking in content rumba. I did enjoy Derek's use of SmartBoard technology for his commentary on bullying, but I'm not sold on that being Bethany's issue. It could be; I really don't know her. The choice of bullying as a topic tied in really nicely to Derek's choice of Taylor Swift's new Pop song, "Shake It Off" in the first week of the competition. I could also see a certain blonde haired boy who grew up to be a professional dancer being bullied in his youth a bit more easily than a successful, young entrepreuner who got her start with internet videos and make-up -- that takes a lot of guts in my book. (More power to both of them though!) 1 Link to comment
spanana October 7, 2014 Share October 7, 2014 Normally, bringing in a star gets you that prime last place slot. I think it's pretty interesting that Alfonso and Whitney got the last slot (much deserved IMHO for the modernized Carlton) while Derek brought in Colby Carrington (the pretty pianist/ singer and I don't think that's her real name, but it was something that made me think of Dynasty and Emma Samms) for his completely lacking in content rumba. I did enjoy Derek's use of SmartBoard technology for his commentary on bullying, but I'm not sold on that being Bethany's issue. It could be; I really don't know her. The choice of bullying as a topic tied in really nicely to Derek's choice of Taylor Swift's new Pop song, "Shake It Off" in the first week of the competition. I could also see a certain blonde haired boy who grew up to be a professional dancer being bullied in his youth a bit more easily than a successful, young entrepreuner who got her start with internet videos and make-up -- that takes a lot of guts in my book. (More power to both of them though!) I don't know a whole lot about Bethany, but I'm pretty sure bullying has been her platform long before DWTS. Link to comment
BoogieBurns October 7, 2014 Share October 7, 2014 Do we usually get a live singer during a competition dance? I know we get them during results shows or for opening numbers sometimes. But Colbie Callait premiering a song on Dwts seems like an unfair advantage to the couple who gets to dance to it. I'm not counting any of their "band members" in live performances, because those are covers of songs and usually would sound better from the CD. 1 Link to comment
Uke October 7, 2014 Share October 7, 2014 Do we usually get a live singer during a competition dance? I know we get them during results shows or for opening numbers sometimes. But Colbie Callait premiering a song on Dwts seems like an unfair advantage to the couple who gets to dance to it. I'm not counting any of their "band members" in live performances, because those are covers of songs and usually would sound better from the CD. I believe I've heard various pros say that they prefer NOT to have live guest singers for the competition dances because most of the stars dance to the music cues and aren't experienced enough to adapt to the singer making small changes in the song performance. The band singers (at least the previous group before they changed to the new band) understood that they had to be consistent. The guest singers perform as they would at any live show and tend to change it up a bit each time they sing the same song which can cause havoc for a newbie dancer. For this reason, I was surprised they brought in Colbie for Bethany's dance. Derek might not have had a choice in the matter. I believe "Try" was actually debuted by Colbie who performed it on a Hollywood teen awards show not long ago (Aug or Sep?). The show was pretty much a DWTS alumni gathering with Cheryl, Derek, Kelly O, James, Audrey P, Cody, Louis Vito, I can't remember them all, but it was a lot of DWTS stars. That's probably where Derek first heard the song and decided it fit for Bethany. Colbie has a new cd coming out soon, possibly this week. Link to comment
SnarkyTart October 7, 2014 Share October 7, 2014 Poor, desperate Derek. First the show brings on Gene Kelly's widow to pronounce Derek as her dead husband's successor. Then the show brings in Colbie Callait to sing live for him. Still he's not gonna take home the mirror ball this season. He'll be lucky to make it to the top 3. 3 Link to comment
tarotx October 7, 2014 Share October 7, 2014 Well, maybe not exactly the same, last season Maks and Meryl had a guest Violinist Lindsey Stirling for their Foxtrot. Link to comment
spanana October 8, 2014 Share October 8, 2014 Kellie Pickler's husband performed live during her rumba with Derek. Link to comment
BoogieBurns October 8, 2014 Share October 8, 2014 So the live singer isn't an advantage, necessarily. Kellie Pickler and Meryl Davis won their respective seasons though. I'm sure someone who didn't win has had a live singer too. Link to comment
Dancingjaneway October 9, 2014 Share October 9, 2014 It is going to be interesting to see if the show trys to derail the Alfonso/Whitney train at all in these next few weeks. He has picked up serious speed thanks to this week. If this keeps up I don't see Derek getting that mirrorball trophy. If they were smart they would enjoy the publicity from Alfonsos dance and just let things be. But we all know that's not going to happen ;^) 2 Link to comment
Thadeeeyus October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 Wow. It couldn't have been more obvious to me last night that the judges were just holding up preassigned scores. None of them seemed to care what those scores were. I've always believed that, but at least they used to try not to be so obvious, What a joke this show has become. 1 Link to comment
howmanywords October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 It is going to be interesting to see if the show trys to derail the Alfonso/Whitney train at all in these next few weeks. He has picked up serious speed thanks to this week. If this keeps up I don't see Derek getting that mirrorball trophy. If they were smart they would enjoy the publicity from Alfonsos dance and just let things be. But we all know that's not going to happen ;^) I thought it was interesting they didnt hide the fact that Alfonso caused a huge stir last week since they made it known on air that his dance garnered 11 million views. So yeah I think they love any kind of buzz regardless who they can get it from and they'll boast about it. And Alfonso gave them some much needed buzz. To be honest I dont think there's this big conspiracy to try and let Derek win again. Mainly because I think it looks bad if he just keeps winning over and over. If he does win I chalk it up to Derek himself always being as good as he is and having a partner with a quite rabid fanbase. Janel seems more pimped than any of them because I think if anything the show has been wanting Val to win for a while now. . 1 Link to comment
superdeluxe October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 To be honest I dont think there's this big conspiracy to try and let Derek win again. Mainly because I think it looks bad if he just keeps winning over and over. If he does win I chalk it up to Derek himself always being as good as he is and having a partner with a quite rabid fanbase. Janel seems more pimped than any of them because I think if anything the show has been wanting Val to win for a while now. Word, word, word to this. There's no big conspiracy to let Derek win. If anything, they've been trying to get him to not win. He wasn't supposed to go far with Amy Purdy and I'm sure Amber Riley was supposed to be some kind of tough assignment, too. If Derek does win again (he won't), just chalk that up to Derek himself and a partner with a rabid fanbase. But yes, Janel is the one who is more pimped than anybody because the show has been trying to get Val a win for a while now. His last few partners have been super ringers. If that's not trying to get him a win, then I don't know what it is. Link to comment
Supersonic October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 Okay... this is my first comment but I felt compelled to comment after reading the previous comments. I think people seem to forget this is a highly produced reality show... Emphasis on highly produced. Whatever you may think about Derek or Val (or anyone else), do note that nothing happens on that show that the tptb don't want to happen. So, let's not start in the blame game (if anything, blame them). Yes, the public's votes do matter but only when it is conducive to the show's ratings and beneficial to their bottom line. Plus, there is so much that they don't show us... I think even with the all-access cameras we don't really see everything... Now if they have us all access camera footage to their rehearsals and production meetings, that might be a different story... Makes me miss the confessionals even more. We don't get to see much outside the highly edited rehearsal packages. 2 Link to comment
spanana October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 The only reason I'm not totally buying that Janel is really being pimped so far is they have yet to let her dance last. Alfonso has gone last twice (jive and jazz). Sadie has gone last (jazz) and goes near the end of the show almost every week. Bethany has gone last (jazz) and now Lea has gone last (broadway). At this point Janel is the only one of the remaining "good" dancers to not get this spot. I would think they have to finally give it to her next week, but then again I thought they would give it to her this week. The show is pushing her as the sexy girl and they are of course pushing the whole Val thing, but I also think that is just partly because she doesn't seem to mind and there is nobody else to push in this role. 2 Link to comment
Uke October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 I don't know what youtube channel DWTS was looking at for 11 million views of Alfonso's The Carlton. The ABCDWTS official channel is currently at 3,455,703 views. The most popular channel for a long time has been BallroomStars1 (for international viewers, particularly the UK) but ABC has been making the guy take down his videos. Maybe DWTS was looking at all postings of the dance (that they haven't forced to shut down). But 3million+ views is still remarkable considering for the prior 2 weeks, Alfonso's dances have only gotten less than 100,000 views per week. Link to comment
Runningwild October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 I think it was all the combined sites. It kept popping up on Facebook under different websites. Link to comment
Uke October 14, 2014 Share October 14, 2014 I think it was all the combined sites. It kept popping up on Facebook under different websites. That must be it. But why are they shutting down the BallroomStars1 guy and not all those others? BallroomStars1 was consistently getting much higher view counts and still is, despite ABC opening up it's own channel. I understand they're trying to feed traffic to their own channel but it's like they're going after this 1 guy. I don't know if the ABCDWTS is accessible in the UK but DWTS is hugely popular there and there's been a campaign to get it put back on their UK channel so they can more easily watch it live. And they do hit up the website to vote. Link to comment
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