DWTS Season 17, Week 4 – Cheesecake Bytes

Well, we have just a bit of cheesecake for you this week…

The Award for Petard Hoisted Pro, Week 4: Val Chmerkovskiy, for failing the Elizabeth stare down

Heidi: LOL – Val was so uncomfortable, it was written all over his face. The continual need to talk while Elizabeth was having her moment is a sure sign of extreme discomfort. I almost felt bad for him. But then I remember to cringe inducing rumba contemporary night with Kelly Monaco and got over it real quick like. 🙂 Really dude, after all the deep gazing with Kelly designed to highlight your faux romance (dude, do you DATE?) and making even Bergeron uncomfortable, you earned this cringe inducing moment.

Courtney: Elizabeth is…special.  🙂 I know she’s kinda into method acting, hence this exercise in “connection” with Val, but staring deeply into someone’s eyes is a rather intimate activity – and I’m not sure it’s one that is really going to help a dance partnership.  That, and I think Val was getting a bit impatient – which I can’t really blame him for, since I think they could have benefitted with an additional 45 minutes rehearsal time instead of…whatever this was.  But yeah – I do agree with Heidi that it felt like a bit of karmic backlash from a year ago, when we couldn’t get the image of Kelly & Val looking all smoochy-smoochy off of our television screens 😛

The “Oh just shut UP, already!!” Award for Inability to Keep the Trap SHUT: Christina Milian, for her constant talking during the judges critique

Heidi: I mean REALLY, STFU!!! “Uh huh, uh huh, got you, I understand…” blah, blah, blah, BLAH!! Lord have mercy, woman, shut it!! Elizabeth is a bit strange, but seems nice, but Christina? My sense is that she overestimates her own importance and the importance of her words. Not only is that a VERY annoying habit she has there, it’s also a sign, IMO, of basic disrespect. Like if she keeps telling them she gets it, maybe they’ll stop talking. Your turn to talk is over, sweetheart, let the judges have their turn without the responses.

Courtney: What I found REALLY interesting was not so much her constant need to interrupt – but her expressions and body language in between.  Girl was staring some serious daggers in the judges’ direction – particularly when Carrie Ann & Julianne were talking.  Is Christina this season’s Regina George? Methinks she & Leah are about neck-and-neck for that title…

The Best Moment of Season 17 So Far: Bill Engvall being told he was safe right after his dance.

Heidi: Now THAT is what I like to see after a judges critique!! Someone who is so happy and grateful to be there that he tears up when finding out he’s safe. Loved that moment. Made me weepy and I’m not even having the same degree of love affair with Bill that Courtney is. 🙂

Courtney: Bill, like Andy was last season, is everything that I’ve been missing from the show for quite sometime – somebody that just wants to learn to dance, is having the time of his life, is grateful for every week he gets to stick around, that doesn’t fight with his partner, gives each dance his all (even if he’s not very good at it), and best of all: none of us saw him coming.  I just thought it was the ultimate display of humility and gratitude when our little Cuban Pete teared up at being told he was safe – like the guy was seriously not expecting anyone to vote for him.  So refreshing, considering we have a few individuals in this season’s cast that seem to think they deserve to get tons of votes each week, just by showing up…

OTT Pimpage Moment of Week 4: The Judges Dancing Entrance, staring Julianne Hough

Heidi: I found this to be cringe worthy for a whole variety of reasons. First, it was stupid having CAI and Bruno up there faux dancing, followed by Julianne who, while doing reasonably well in movies ain’t the huge movie star that they pimped her to be. And I actually think she would agree with that. It was a stupid ending to a not-that-great opening dance. I get that LOTS of fans were happy to have her back on the show, but a MUCH better (and selfish on my part) way to introduce her would be to have her ACTUALLY dance with her brother. You know, the EMMY WINNER. Secondly, it was cringeworthy that they made such a big deal over Julianne, who left the show after only five seasons, after they failed to make a big deal over Derek winning them a first ever Choreography Emmy – the dude who has stuck with them and sung the party line for 12 seasons now.  Perhaps I’m jealous on his behalf and perhaps he didn’t want a big deal made – but I gotta be honest and say that this pissed me off.  And  can understand why some pros were less than thrilled – although it’s best not to act like brats in public, Tony.  Finally, as I’ve already mentioned, it just felt like a waste. Julianne comes back on the show and have the girl dance for real. I’m sure she’s not above it.

Courtney: Ok, gonna play devil’s advocate for a little bit here – while it would have been nice to see Julianne actually dance with Derek (or just dance “for real”, as opposed to the inane grooving we saw from her and the other two knuckleheads), I’m skeptical about how much of her mastery of Latin ballroom Julianne has retained in the 4 years since she left DWTS.  I recall thinking she looked pretty damn rusty (and heavy on her feet) when she & Derek did that number last year when she came back to promote Rock of Ages – since moving onto movies and doing decidedly non-ballroom choreo, I’m wondering if she ain’t quite the dynamo she used to be.  On top of that, the opening number was the biggest dud we’ve seen so far – and I recall pointing out on Twitter that it’s unfortunately a frequent side effect of having a non-ballroom choreographer, choreographing for a group of ballroom dancers.  Love Ray Leeper’s stuff on SYTYCD, when he’s choreographing for dancers that mesh with his style; hated Ray Leeper’s on DWTS, where it just felt Mickey Mouse-ish and aimless.  Not sure that anything could have improved that dance (even removing the silly judges dancing section), short of giving Ray the heave-ho and having one of our resident pros redo the whole thing.  As for the pimping of Julianne – *shrug* I guess I kind of expected that, since she seems to be the show’s “one that got away” and broke into “bigger and better things”, even though I don’t think she’s had a WILDLY successful film career.  Moderately successful? Sure.  But I daresay her relationship (and subsequent breakup) with Seacrest got her far more press than any of the movies she’s done…

Heidi: Oh, She was definitely rusty. I daresay her rustiness was part of the reason Derek dislocated his shoulder doing that dance. But damn, ANYTHING, would have been better than that opening dance with that ending. Ick.

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