Dancing with the Stars Season 27, Week TWO – LIVE BLOG!

Well. Sore throat? Check. Tiredness? Check.  :::sigh:::  It’s as if I’m being punished for taking a vacation.  This show better be good tonight, if I’m going to stay out of bed. 🙂

T-minus ten minutes….

New York City Night  :::rolls eyes:::

The need to open with Val I will never understand. Of course, they’re also sucking up to the shippers who are just too easy, fawning over both Val/Jenna and Emma/Sasha…

Hey, who are these tappers….and why is Val there too?? Give it a rest. Ain’t nothing there I want to see. Tiler Peck, I believe is the ballerina?? Didn’t I see where she was going to be on the show?

Here we go with DeMarcus!! Love that smile! “Chocolate piece of steel…” LOL

He looks a bit stiff by himself at the start, but he looks pretty lovely in hold with Lindsay. This is not really a great style for him, at all, but he does a credible job.

Agree with Len who compliments his feet, and he also says he’s better tonight. Bruno is a bit carried away with his comments, no surprise.

He gets a 24 from the judges and I ain’t mad about it. Works for me. Maybe one 7 in there.

Hey Mark!!  This show could sure use you and your bro back on the dance floor. 🙁  Good job on Kinky Boots though – not my favorite musical, but I enjoyed it.  He rocks the boots quite well.

Danelle and Artem up next and I have to say she breaks my heart a tiny bit.  So damn likable…and I love puppies. 🙂

Oh dang, and this song was featured in Derek’s show that he did at Radio City….sigh. Determined to make me miss Mark and Derek tonight, eh DWTS???

Danelle struggled a bit with that dance. I read on Artem’s feed that she’s sick and the lack of rehearsal showed a bit. She was a bit stiff and uncertain.

Good comment Bruno – he’s paying her respect, and he’s right that when she started wrong she recovered. Well done. She didn’t fall apart. CAI says she notices radiance and confidence – I agree with that as well. I also agree with the props to Artem – he seems to be rising to the challenge. Len calls it a competent performance. I like that they’re going easy on her – does no good to be dicks like they were somewhat last week.

And she gets an 18 out of 30 – I would agree with that as well.

John is up next and he’s still handsome. 😀  Charleston…and he’s a guy who’s done musicals. With people dancing around him. 🙂

Love the outfit. Kicks with pointed toes!! Love Emma’s choreo – very clever.  Not a ton of charleston but it seemed to really suit him.

Agree with CAI –  It was quite polished. Well done. Len says he’s on the right track, great improvement from last week. Do agree when he says he would have liked more Charleston. Bruno calls it a mini-musical, first class ride.

And he gets a 23!! I think that was well deserved!

Forty minutes in and only 3 people have danced?? Come on, peeps.

Nancy and Val up next. Cha cha to Uptown Girl and I think Derek/Jennie. 🙂 Can’t help it.

The comparison ends there, of course, but Nancy does a pretty dang good job with that Cha Cha!! She’s determined not to let her foot get her down.

Len says she looked confident and better than last week. Thinks she had a little mistake, but it was nice well done. Bruno like her attitude as well, likes the dance, noted that she went slightly wrong but kept going. CAI says she started tentative but then opened up, thought she did great.

I’ll say it again that Val seems…lighter, more normal, not his typical preachy, over bearing self.  Thank you, Jenna. 😉

Nancy scores a 21 and I can’t argue too much with that.

Love Tom in his easy chair while he gives Jordan and Frankie a shot at his job.  Weirdness – Frankie and Jordan look really good together as a hosting team!! I’m surprised!

Alexis is up next with Alan and…she is stunning. A rockin’ bod and she seems pretty down to earth.  She’s a Tiler Peck fan!! I bet she’s loving it tonight then. She reminds me a bit of Shannon Elizabeth without the baggage.

Wait, she missed a step after a strong start. I’m not sure what this style is, I confess, but she’s doing a great job. AT??  Started out looking like a ballet piece. Amazing long legs. Pretty good job.

Bruno says she’s “prima argentina” – so it was an AT.  CAI is incoherent – did not understand what she said. Outfit and lifts not so great but the rest was stunning. Len was worried about the ballet start but calls it the best dance so far this season. I will have to watch it again to see if that is hyperbole or not.

And she gets a 9 from Len!! A total score of 25 – my initial impression was that it was beautiful but I definitely saw a mis-step. I’m going to have to watch it again.

Joe and Jenna up next and I’m shocked it took till the second week to pull Kendall into rehearsal.

Jenna’s dress is gorgeous. Love this song – one hour in and we’re on Billy Joel song number two.  LIFT!! But Joe is handling this dance much better than he did his first one. Loved the NYC graphic in the background!! He did a decent job!

CAI notes that he’s the only contestant with no performance experience. She sees a big transformation from last week, she points out the lift. Len says they went straight into the dance, last week a caterpillar this week a butterfly. Bruno says he’s lovable and endearing, says he hit some nice lines – I agree. He did well.  Bruno offers to help him.

Joe does have this bashful smile that is quite endearing. He gets a 17 which would have been an 18 if not for the lift. Big improvement from last week, but unfortunately for him everyone is scoring higher than last week. I’m going to have to watch it again, but he might even have been underscored relative to Nancy and Danelle.

Tinashe is up next with an Argentine Tango. Oh boy, some of these tricks…

Pull the booty in girl…but dang, she is great . Flawless first trick. Well done. This song sucks for an AT, in that it doesn’t have an AT feel at all. I think I would have dressed her differently to give it more of an AT vibe. But she is an excellent dancer and I didn’t see any flaws.

Len says the lifts were spectacular, but talks to Brandon in that you can go too far from the heart of the dance and this dance lacked some AT flavor – totally agree. He does say that she is an excellent dancer. Bruno goes a bit nutty with Barbarella references and Lady Gaga reference. He says all her lines were there and the lifts and extensions were there. Agree with that as well.  CAI is incomprehensible a bit, but says she nailed ever picture and is the bomb.

Tinashe scores nines from CAI and Bruno with an 8 from Len – I would agree with that score.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson handing out pretzels?? LOL.

Milo up next with a Charleston. Dude is way too young to be having trouble with this dance.

Milo is so tall and gangly but he manages to do a great job not being too small.  Good choreo from Witney although the tricks weren’t as complicated as Brandon’s – great job!! Loved that dance but it made me tired. 🙂

Bruno says it was exhilarating, and bursting with excitement. Says the control on his legs tonight was fantastic. CAI says it’s week 2 and it’s ridiculously so good. She’s blown out of the water. Len says there was a lot of Lindy and Charleston, a lot of energy. He says the cast is fantastic this year. I would agree. The whole cast so far is doing great getting past the week 1 “everyone’s good” deal.

Milo is CUTE. That is all.

And he pulls two nines from CAI and Bruno with an 8 from Len. Good deal! Can’t argue too much with that.

Hahaha…GMA crew pretending they are live with DWTS yet the windows outside show it’s daytime. I’m a time zone behind them and it’s dark as hell outside. 😀

Up next are Mary Lou and Sasha with a waltz.  If you have to a chance to see the musical Beautiful, do it. I loved it. And they get the lead singing Natural Woman while they dance.

Mary lou is going a great job so far, no mis-steps, very graceful…love the dress. 🙂  I don’t like that they ended the dance by giving it up to the singer. That’s a bit unfortunate and seems like a missed opportunity.

CAI says the song is an anthem and says that ML let go in the middle of the dance and was very natural, she opened her heart. Agreed. Len says it was a lovely natural performance, very well done. But watch your shoulders. 😉 Bruno says it was beautiful and inspired. She let herself go with the flow, embracing the music…but be careful to not lose her neck. 🙂

ML does look lovely tonight and you could tell she was having fun and that she felt good.  She scores a 22 out of 30…I think I would have given her another 8.

Okay Cheryl has some weird panels on her dress….I guess we’ll see what’s up with that in a minute. 🙂

Juan Pablo is next with a Quickstep…Cheryl says JP doesn’t like rules. 🙂

A tiny stumble in the middle…very tiny. Other than that, excellent job, from what I could see. But I was too distracted by the overly dark panels on Cheryl’s dress.

Len says it was joyful, full of energy but he needs to work on his frame. Needs more finesse. Bruno says it was a smash hit, very satisfying. CAI is babbling, says this is one of her new favorite quicksteps, and it was really good.

He’s the first, I think, to get no Erin time…and he gets a 26 out of 30. I dunno,  I don’t feel as enthused about that score as I have about the others. Can’t put my finger on why….

Evanna up next with a Samba…flashing back to Len’s BS comment.

Putting the challenge to Len is never a good idea. They’re doing a fashion week Samba. Again, another dance that looks on the surface nothing like it should to please Len. She’s going a good job with the dance though, I think. She kind of alternates between totally into it and not so much…

Bruno says there’s a little devil in there and he loves it. CAI says watch out, Evanna is coming for you, had a lot of core power, and that it was fierce. Len says she had a bit of Harry Potter magic in there, he thought it was terrific. I think that’s a tiny bit overhyped. I love Evanna but I think she was a bit let down by the choreo.

And she scores a 24 – I think I agree with that!

I thought World of Dance was bad with the commercials, but DWTS is far worse. We’re getting ONE dance with package between commercials. And at this point I just want to go to bed.

Oh, now we have Kelly and Ryan introducing Bobby Bones? Okay. Kinda dig Sharna’s hat with that bob haircut.

Oh man, the iconic New York New York. He’s a little ahead of Sharna, and needs to calm down a bit. Frame needs a bit of work, but he sure is having fun. Some very obvious counting in the middle.  Shit. Love the bit of him dancing at the end and I think that was totally unscripted, judging by Sharna’s reaction. 😀

CAI is confused, and Sharna says the end was all him. CAI says he’s joyous when he dances and it’s contagious. Len – youthful exuberance, but not the most elegant foxtrot he’s ever seen. Bruno says it was brilliantly bonkers.  They are correct, the technique wasn’t there but he is loving life and that is contagious.

He gets a 20 out of 30 which isn’t too bad. I don’t think I would argue with it.

Erin confirms that the couple with the lowest combined total of the scores of both nights and tonights votes will go home.  We have intel that says it’s a double elimination – we’ll see.  Because of how many dang acts they have scheduled for tomorrow and the way they were flying by the seat of their pants last week, we’ll see if that comes true. They barely made it through 12 couples dancing tonight – how are they going to do that tomorrow with two musical acts plus special appearance by Celine Dion and…someone else….

Thoughts??