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DWTS Season 15 – The All-Star Season

Season 14 has concluded for Dancing with the Stars and TPTB have spent at least half of the season if not the past year fanning flames for Season 15. In the now-official announcement of an “All Star Cast” being on the horizon. For those that are confused, Vogue posted a video a while back of Mario Lopez joining Kelly Ripa on her show “Live! with Kelly” and mentioned that he was approached to be a part of the cast of Season 15.

But before I go any further let’s go back a few years. Back in late 2009, John posted a “All I Want for Christmas” DWTS wish list, who would have thought that some of the items would have come true:
1. Replace Samantha – TPTB DID replace Samantha with Season 7’s winner: Brooke Burke. In some ways that was an improvement, and in other ways… it still felt the same. Ah well
2. No Live Band – No such luck. *pouts*
3. More Behind the Scenes – I think there is quite a bit behind the scenes footage now… moreso than I remember there being before.
4. How about a themed DWTS? All sports people or all singers or all tv personalities. – Unfortunately when John first mentioned a “themed DWTS” he meant all the celebs be from a particular group versus themed nights… can’t have everything.
5. Dancing with the Stars All Stars – More on this later
6. More Pro Dances – This is also hard to see if it has happened or not.
7. DWTS Tour – Well we got a Vegas Live show now… that’s better than nothing.
8. Edyta For the Win – Unfortunately Edyta left after Season 10. So unless they bring her back for the All Star Season and make it so she wins… I don’t see this happening.
9. Fewer Contestants – Ever since Season 9 (which had a whooping 16 couples), TPTB had only 11 or 12 couples per season.
10. A DWTS Professionals Special – We’ve had a few specials that showed some of the best routines from previous seasons, be it celeb/pro dances or pro dances or pro group dance numbers. I say this was a win.

Of the above Top Ten wish list, I wouldn’t be surprised if TPTB actually went through the list and looked to see what was doable. Now the big one: Since 2009 PureDWTS have mentioned a desire for an “All Star Season” and how cool it would be to bring old favorites from previous seasons and watch them compete for their chance at the mirror ball trophy. In fact Cheryl Burke once tweeted that a possible “All Star Season” was in the works two seasons from when she first mentioned it. Looking at the date of the post… the “two seasons” lead into Season 15, then add to that Mario Lopez’s comment of being asked to be a part of the All-Star line up. Well… let’s just say that at the date that this post was original written (April 27th) we now know that this is a definitive possibility.

So where does that bring us? Well, I got curious, since I (Marianya) predict scores for the show… having an All-Star season would totally bust my predictions and calculations, because these would all be celebrities that now have some sort of prior dance experience coming in. Another factor is how many of them would actually remember want was taught to them the first time they were on the show? To me it doesn’t seem to be very many, but I could be dead wrong. One thing’s first certain, the expectations would be higher and the scores would be crazy!

Then there are the celebrities that are participating in the DWTS Live Show at the Tropicana, namely: Carson Kressley, Joey Fatone, Kyle Massey, Sabrina Bryan and Tia Carrere. Would they be counted out since they are already participating in another DWTS related show?

Taking what Tom has already mentioned on the show, he said that the contestants would include:
– Past Mirrorball Winners
– Fan Favorites
– Controversial Characters

Umm… I don’t necessarily mind the “controversial character” because I do see the draw of that to the show, but I have an issue with past Mirrorball winners. I mean, I would much prefer that everyone in the cast not have won before so it would give the celebrities a second chance to win. People don’t necessarily have to agree with me, but dammit I don’t think it would be fair for the celebrities in particular if there were past winners in the All-Star cast. In fact, I would much rather have a separate season (perhaps for Season 20?) where all of the previous Mirrorball winners would compete to see who is the best of the best… but that’s just me.

And then there is the question of: What constitutes a “fan favorite”? Do they have polls, numbers, know who averaged the most number of call ins? And on top of all that: Will they be nice and take one celebrity to represent every season of DWTS thus far, but wouldn’t that give those of Season 14 an unfair advantage? The questions are endless.

Still, this will undoubtedly bring a lot of the fans that have tuned off the show back on if they have the right mix of celebrities. I’ve talked to a number of my friends that were fans of the show but haven’t really had any huge desire to watch the show in recent months, so perhaps bringing in an All-Star season is exactly what is needed to bring a jolt into the series.

Next up… I’ll have posts analyzing the scoring progressions of two of the stars that were rumored to be approached for the All-Star Season: Mel B and Mario Lopez as well as adjustments to the upcoming season.

May 28, 2012 I Written By

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

Vote for Your Favorites in the PureDWTS Season 14 End-of-Season Awards!!!

 Ok kids, it’s time once again to vote of our biannual “end-of-season” awards…our sort of “wrap up” for season 14, where we see what you guys think were the highs and lows of this season 🙂 If you want to get a feel for how these awards work, you can check out previous seasons’ award recipients here.

First, the rules: I’ve picked what I deem to be the most likely candidates (with the strongest chance of winning) for each category – of course, some of you are going to disagree, and that’s fine.  If you don’t see your pick listed as an option, you can write-in your own nomination in the “other” box.  But here’s my biannual disclaimer about the dreaded “other” box: if I can’t read what you wrote because it’s badly misspelled/grammatically nonsensical/generally incoherent, YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  If your response to the question does not make sense (i.e. you simply vote “Donald” for best dance), YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  If you simply repeat one of the already listed responses because you can’t be bothered to actually pay attention, YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  If you’re just generally being a nudnik and giving harassing responses, YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  *shakes head* I still can’t believe that I have to give this spiel twice a year…

…anywho, we’ll give you guys a week to get your votes in, and then we’ll reveal the results in a series of posts starting next week.  Now ready…set…VOTE!!! 😀

Read more..

May 24, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

Mel B Rumored To Return To Dancing With The Stars For All-Star Season

I can’t believe we’re having to report on rumors for next season already 😯 , but, here goes! As you know from the announcement on the Results show last night, there is indeed an All-Star Season planned for Dancing With The Stars next season. Today Radar Online is reporting Mel B’s return to the show is “practically a done deal”. Below is more. Check out the tweet she made as well….

“Mel absolutely wants to come back and take another crack at winning the coveted mirror-ball trophy,” a show insider tells RadarOnline.com. “Mel and Maks had great chemistry together and they definitely push each others buttons, which only makes their dances more intense and fiery. Remember, Maks has never won the trophy before, it’s a constant thorn in his side, and he knows his best chance of winning is going to be with Mel. It’s practically a done deal that the duo will be dancing together this fall and they are already talking about how they are going to win this time.”

During Tuesday night’s elimination show, in which fan favorite, Maria Menounos was sent home, it was announced that for the 15th season of the hit talent show, it’s first ever all star edition will air.

Mel B came in second place during the fifth season of the show in 2007, with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. The British babe has appeared on the show as a guest judge and has remained very good friends with Maksim.

Dropping a not so subtle hint, Mel posted on her Twitter account Tuesday, “@MaksimC are we gonna do this or what brotha???” Brown is currently in Australia doing X Faxtor auditions as she is a judge on the version based in Oz.

If this rumor is true, bring her on. Though I was kind of hoping Kirstie would come back to dance with Maks…or maybe Willa Ford?

So, what do you think of Mel B returning to dance with Maks: For or Against?

May 16, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

Mel B and Damian Whitewood Making A Big Splash On Australia’s Version Of Dancing With The Stars

…but, not without some big waves!!

Have any of you been keeping up with Australia’s version of Dancing With The Stars? I’ve had several fans tweet me for how good it is this season. As you know from previous reportings, Spice Girl and season 5 contestant, Mel B is presenting on the show, but, not without some criticism. Below is a take from the Daily Mail for what happened last week when Mel B told the first eliminated contestant to go and “get wasted” after the show.

But it was her hosting on Sunday night’s show that prompted fans and viewers to complain about her, especially after she told the first eliminated celebrity, TV presenter and former Miss Australia Erin McNaught, to go and ‘get wasted’ after the show.

They took to Twitter and other social networks to express their outrage and dismay that she was co-hosting the show with one saying: ‘Risking disapproval here, but honestly, Mel is awful to watch on Dancing with the Stars. She’s classless and offers nothing.’

Another wrote: ‘Dancing with the Stars Australia is bloody awful. It’s so embarrassing, what on earth is Mel B doing with her life!?’

One viewer even said the show had gotten ‘so boring’ now she was hosting and another said: ‘Still unsure about Mel (spice) co-hosting Dancing with the Stars!!!! Her voice…’

Her presenting debut even prompted Paralympic triple gold medallist Evan O’Hanlon to write: ‘When Mel B comes on my television I want to throw my TV out the window! Why did they break Australian television like that???’
But Mel, 36, who was a contestant on the US show in 2007, said she doesn’t care what they say as she is having a great time – and getting paid for it.

She said: ‘I don’t care, I’m getting my pay cheque and I get to do my live show and I’m loving it. I get to wear gowns every week which is nice and I’m here to get the job done.

‘It’s only the second week and I’m always a bit nervous. I don’t mind a bit of nerves, it keeps me on my toes.

‘It’s live television and you saw we had some classic clangers and everyone loved it.’

Hmmm, not sure that behavior would fly here either? But, I’d take Mel B over Brooke any day. You can read more at the Daily Mail.

Also, I have to mention this too while we’re on the topic of Mel B. Below she is pictured with Dame Edna who was unveiled as the new face of Jenny Craig in Sydney this past week as well. Mel B recently lost 33 pounds on the Jenny Craig diet and Dame Edna took to Mel B for a kiss and some advice. The video below is a hoot. How about Dame Edna for Dancing With The Stars?

Back to the Australia’s version of Dancing With The Stars… Damian Whitewood, one of the most loved pros on the U.S. version of Dancing With The Stars, is dancing with singer, song writer Danielle Spencer. Here they are dancing the Viennese Waltz, the Jive, and the Samba for their first three dances. What do you think? Do they have what it takes to win?

Not bad I’d say! I especially loved their Samba to Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro”.

Much luck to Damian and I hope he’s asked to come back to the U.S. version of Dancing With The Stars some day. He has to be one of the most requested pros by fans to come back! TPTB, are you listening? 😉

Thanks to PureDWTS reader Carlos and @Edyta_and_Alec at twitter for the inspiration for this post. xx

April 29, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

DWTS14 Casting Rumors – The Typecasting of Season 14, Part II

So we’re less than 24 hours away from finding out who is and isn’t part of this season’s cast.  Who’s pumped??? I know I am…but we’ve still got a few hours left to speculate, so let’s see what other cast types we’ve to fill this season, shall we? 😉 For those of you that may have missed it, check out part I as well.

The Teen Idol

Previous examples: Joey McIntyre, Aaron Carter, Donny Osmond, Lance Bass, Mel B., Joey Fatone, Drew Lachey, Joey Lawrence, Ian Ziering, Cody Linley, Sabrina Bryan, Mario Lopez, Kyle Massey, Chelsea Kane, Romeo

Advantages: If sales of Tiger Beat are any indicator, the teenyboppers will come out in full force to support their favorite heartthrobs/idols.  Being young & good-lookin’ sure doesn’t hurt! Many also have the added advantage of having a decent dance background, especially if they were part of a musical act.

Disadvantages: Youth can also have its disadvantages – as in immaturity.  What some might call “youthful exuberance”, others might call “immaturity” or “attention deficit disorder” – poor Cody Linley had a hard time sitting still! Emotional immaturity (a la Aaron Carter’s post-rumba meltdown in the confessional) can be especially off-putting. They’ve also got to contend with the large middle-aged female contingent of viewers/voters – they far outnumber the young viewers likely to vote for them.

Possible candidates this season: There’s that random Nicole Anderson chick that’s a friend of Chelsea Kane’s, and Heidi found some compelling evidence that rapper Darnell Robinson may be participating this season.

The Host

Previous examples: Jerry Springer, Brooke Burke, Leeza Gibbons, Mario Lopez, Kenny Mayne, Lisa Rinna, Tucker Carlson, Mark Dacascos, Rocco DiSpirito, Erin Andrews, Wendy Williams, Mike Catherwood, Carson Kressley, Nancy Grace, Ricki Lake

Advantages: Being that they’ve been at the helm of their own shows, these guys usually have the media savvy & charisma to appeal to the masses, as well as the previous exposure & recognizability.  Most (not all!) are also decently attractive, which never seems to hurt (unless, of course, you’re a model – see previous post for explanation).

Disadvantages: Many hosts are only used to hosting – as in just sitting down & talking (or dodging the occasional punch, if you’re Springer), so the lack of movement experience problem seems to come into play.

Possible candidates this season: This category seems to have EXPLODED with possibilities this season – the most solid of which being Sherri Shepherd, who was caught leaving the DWTS studio the other day.  I’m still wondering if someone fr0m GMA is part of the cast this season, since they all seemed to act so coy when announcing they’d be revealing the cast. And then we have the Maria Menounos rumor as well.

The Actor

Previous examples: John O’Hurley, Melissa Joan Hart, Steve Guttenburg, John Ratzenberger, Debi Mazar, Denise Richards, Ted McGinley, Shannon Elizabeth, Jennie Garth, Vivica Fox, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Shannen Doherty, Jennifer Grey, David Hasselhoff, Ralph Macchio, Kirstie Alley, David Arquette

Advantages: Being that their bread & butter is acting, most can usually nail the emotions of the dances. Bonus points if they’ve done any Broadway (like Winokur) because they have likely had dance experience.

Disadvantages: For lack of a better term, many of them seem to be “has-beens” – actors that haven’t been particularly active in the mainstream in the past several years – or were never that big to begin with (can anyone else think of anything John O’Hurley has been in BESIDES Seinfeld?), making it harder for them to garner votes from a public who may not remember them.

Possible candidates this season: We’ve got Melissa Gilbert & Ryan O’Neal, of course, but nothing really beyond that.

The Reality Star

Previous examples: Kim Kardashian, Kelly Osbourne, Melissa Rycroft, Steve-O, Holly Madison, Trista Sutter, Shanna Moakler, Kate Gosselin, Jake Pavelka, Audrina Patridge, The Situation, Rob Kardashian, Kristin Cavallari

Advantages: Many have achieved pop culture icon status on their respective reality outlets, making them fairly recognizable.

Disadvantages: They may be memorable for the wrong reasons – people tended to remember things like Kim Kardashian’s sex tape more than her reality show when she was on DWTS, and people seemed more focused on Holly Madison’s split from Hef than her antics on The Girls Next Door.  Many can also come across as attention-hungry & talentless(*cough*JakePavelka*cough*) – reality TV is often looked down upon as a way to get famous without having any talent whatsoever.

Possible candidates this season: Lots of talk about Ali Fedotowsky, who suspiciously moved to LA last week.

The Singer:

Previous examples: Mya, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mario, Belinda Carlisle, Master P, Chuck Wicks, Sara Evans, Willa Ford, Monique Coleman, Toni Braxton, Macy Gray, Nicole Scherzinger, Chynna Phillips

Advantages: As with the teen idols, many have had dance experience concurrent with their music careers.

Disadvantages: Most seem to be committed solely to one genre of music (often R&B or country), making it hard to appeal to a wide fanbase.

Possible candidates this season: Lots of loose lips at the Grammys about Gavin DeGraw, but it seems like less of a possibility now, considering that he is about to go on tour.

The Wild Card

Previous examples: Heather Mills, Tom DeLay, Mark Cuban, Steve Wozniak, Priscilla Presley, Buzz Aldrin, Bristol Palin, Chaz Bono

Advantages: The sheer novelty of having someone with such an off-the-beaten-path claim to fame (famous divorcee/widow, entrepreneur, disgraced politician, etc.) may be enough to have the public voting them – just to see what happens.  Being the “underdog” is a powerful thing…as we saw with Bristol in season 11!

Disadvantages: Due to their often dubious fame, people just may not have any clue who they are – I personally had to Google Mark Cuban’s name. There’s also the risk of backlash from some viewers who don’t think they’re “stars” per se, and shouldn’t even be on the show in the first place.

Possible candidates this season: Surprisingly, not too many outlandish rumors…especially since Herman Cain & Michelle Bachman have denied they’re doing the show. Phew!

So we’re getting down to the wire, kids…any last-minute predictions before the big reveal? 😉

February 27, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

Pure DWTS Random Talk On Mel B, Brooke Burke, Corky Ballas, Madonna, And The Super Bowl

Just some random reportings today on things related to dancing and Dancing With The Stars!!

First up, join us in congratulating Spice Girl and Season 5, 2nd place winner Mel B as she has been signed on to co-host the Australian Version of Dancing With The Stars. Below is a take from Adelaide Now with a quote from Mel B confident that she can pull the job off. We wish her much luck!

“To have the opportunity to host Dancing with the Stars is great, as I know exactly what the contestants will be going through,” she said.

“To be honest, I’m just really looking forward to this year. I feel like it’s going to be my Aussie, Sydney year. I also hope to get my (Spice) girls out here.

“Emma (Bunton) and Victoria (Beckham) have new babies. As a group we’ve only been here two days, so we never got to really experience it and I’ve been telling them how fabulous it is out here.”

Speaking of co-hosting, there has been some chatter here, around the internet at various places, and at twitter about Brooke Burke possibly not co-hosting next season’s Dancing With The Stars since she tweeted about some disappointing “crazy Hollywood Industry” news which hit her hard this past week. The tweets lead many to believe it had something to do with her losing her co-hosting job. Well, with two tweets similar to the first tweet below within 8 hours apart yesterday along with Tom Bergeron addressing her as his “partner” in reply, I think it’s safe to say her job is safe?? Then again, who knows? The Hollywood Industry is indeed “crazy”. Look what happened with Steve Jones, Nicole Scherzinger, and Paula Abdul on the X Factor this week. Never did I think they’d be let go in such a fashion and so soon. 😯

Moving on! Give it up to Dancing pro Corky Ballas!! He’s been recently helping Olympic ice skating hopefuls Maia and Alex Shibutani on their choreography since last year’s world championships in which they finished third in just their first season as senior skaters. Below are some takes from ESPN. Be sure to read the link in full as they write about how costume designer Randall Christensen helped them with their costumes as well.

The Shibutani siblings got in touch with Corky Ballas through their agent, using the Yamaguchi connection, and headed to Los Angeles to begin working with him after the worlds last summer.

“But we are the first skaters he’s worked with in a while,” Alex, 20, said. “Obviously with his background, his son, Mark, and Derek and Julianne, we were honored to work with him. He’s such a fun guy to work with. It was an intensive boot camp-style Latin training with him. He’s kept up with our performances. He thought we could use a breath of fresh air.”

The coaches had high praise for the Shibutanis’ performance.

“It was awesome, awesome,” Zueva said. “All the changes worked really well. Most Latin dance movement is very sharp off ice, but it totally disappears on the floor because the surface is different. [Ballas] found them the best movement on ice.”

They worked with Ballas again in Detroit after the ISU Grand Prix Final, where they finished fifth. Alex said they have gotten “really comfortable” with the Latin style, a break from their usual, more classical style.

“The new program is much more exciting and a much stronger vehicle for us,” Alex said.

Lastly, if you are a fan to dancing in general and huge dance productions, be sure to tune into the Super Bowl halftime tonight. According to the New York Post, Madonna will be dancing, performing and singing 3 classics: Vogue Vogue - Celebration , Ray Of Light Ray of Light - Ray of Light with Holiday Holiday - Madonna mixed in it, Like A Prayer Like a Prayer - Like a Prayer , and her new, hot single Give Me All Your Luvin Give Me All Your Luvin' (feat. Nicki Minaj, M.I.A.) - Give Me All Your Luvin' (feat. Nicki Minaj, M.I.A.) - Single from her new MDNA album Give Me All Your Luvin' (feat. Nicki Minaj, M.I.A.) - Single - Madonna . I wanted to give this a special mention since number one, I’m a huge fan 🙂 and, number two, Madonna did a Salsa in challenging Dancing With The Stars rumored contender Victor Cruise at a press conference on Thursday, and number three, Nappytabs has been helping with the production of it. As you know they’ve helped with choreography on Dancing With The Stars among many other dancing accomplishments in their career. They are also currently helping Derek Hough with his new movie Cobu3D. Below are some tweets Tabitha shared about rehearsals.

Yes, can you tell I’m excited? 🙂 Be sure to let us know your thoughts and here’s to a fun Super Bowl Holiday!! xxx

UPDATE: According to Madonna website Madonnarama, the Ray of Light and Holiday Mash-up has been replaced by Music(ft. LMFAO – “Party Rock Anthem/Sexy and I Know It” Remix). Also, there will be an
“Open Your Heart/Express Yourself” interlude to transition from Give me all your Luvin’ to Like a Prayer. Madonna has tried to keep the final setlist a secret as long as she could.

February 5, 2012 I Written By

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.

DANCING WITH THE STARS on GSN!! Season 4, Weeks 3 and 4 on January 28th!

Don’t forget – DWTS Season 4 is on GSN on Saturdays.  This saturday (tomorrow) we get weeks 3 and 4, at least according to my TiVo.  My contact at GSN tells me that while I was correct that it airs in the eastern time zone at 6pm, I should give 8pm for the pacific time zone. But, as always – check your local listings to be on the safe side. 🙂

Some videos that I was holding off on posting until now…first, the beautiful Gilles.

January 27, 2012 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

DWTS Season 4 on GSN – Coming This Saturday, January 21st!!!

Are you guys ready for Apolo Ono and Julianne Hough?? Lalia Ali?? Joey Fatone??  Join us on a trip back to the spring of 2007!!  GSN will be airing back to back performance and results shows from Season 4 on Saturdays at 6pm Eastern (5 pm Central). And guess what?? Some of our most popular features are going to flashback to 2007 as well! This will take retrospective Cheesecake to a whole new level. 🙂 We can’t guarantee we’ll do it every single week, since Courtney and myself do enjoy our little vacations from the DWTS schedule, but we are thinking we will get flashes of inspiration from watching older seasons of the show. I’m seeing possible LOLz posts, some numbers just to see if how close (or not) eliminations were, and who knows what else? Maybe Courtney will be inspired to a “Who Wore it Better” in conjunction with Randall’s guest posts. Of course, it will help if you’re watching along with us. 😉

And of course, we’ll keep watching out for rumors and innuendo. 🙂

NOTE FROM COURT: If my DVR is correct, they’re going to be airing the season 4, week 1 & week 2 performance shows back-to-back, followed immediately by the week 2 results show.  So the cheese/WWIB/Randall’s Retrospective/etc will be covering those two weeks – be sure to watch them both 🙂

While you wait, GSN’s Site has a new video to enjoy –

And then there’s the matter of pictures I got from GSN and neglected to post… 🙂

Photo: Courtesy of GSN; Photography: Kevin Lynch

Photo: Courtesy of GSN; Photography: Kevin Lynch

Photo: Courtesy of GSN; Photography: Kevin Lynch

Photo: Courtesy of GSN; Photography: Kevin Lynch

Photo: Courtesy of GSN; Photography: Kevin Lynch

Photo: Courtesy of GSN; Photography: Kevin Lynch

January 18, 2012 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

DANCING WITH THE STARS on GSN!! Starting January 21, 2012

This is just a tease for some upcoming information about DWTS on GSN.  I am working on getting a bit more information – as soon as I know it, you’ll hear about it.   From GSN:

GSN (Game Show Network) has an amazing gallery of stunning new original art—as well as revealing one-on-one, behind-the-scenes video interviews—with a buzzworthy group of DANCING WITH THE STARS celebrity alums and pro dancers from a variety of seasons, including reigning champ J.R. Martinez!

As we recently announced, GSN has acquired seasons 4-14 of DANCING WITH THE STARS, and we assembled a one-time only group of series veterans and dance pros to celebrate and promote our upcoming January 21 launch of the series.

….

GSN will kick off our airings of DWTS with Season 4 on Saturday, January 21, 2012, at 6:00pm ET/5pm CT.  Season 4 episodes will air back-to-back every Saturday night on GSN through March 3, 2012.

GSN sent us some High Res photos for your enjoyment (Derek Fans head to PDH). Read more..

January 5, 2012 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

DWTS13 Freestyle Retrospective: The Top 10 Worst Freestyles in DWTS History

So every season, as we draw nearer & nearer to the finale, it seems like the question on everyone’s lips is “What are they gonna do for their freestyle?” We debate which pros are the stronger freestyle choreographers, which celebs can handle the lifts, who’s got the most dance skills, who is going to struggle, etc. So Heidi & I decided to tackle the big question: what makes a good DWTS freestyle?

While everyone may argue over what works and what doesn’t, with 12 seasons under our belts, we have enough historical data to see some patterns – and there are definitely some things that all good freestyles seem to have in common, and some things that the bad freestyles have in common. Today we’re starting with the worst – these are examples of what this season’s finalists should likely avoid, and of which they should probably try to do the opposite 🙂

A little insight into how we arrived at this list: I made a list of my own, and then bumped it against a list Heidi made and we looked for similarities. I also asked for suggestions on Twitter, to see if my finger was on the pulse of the more dedicated viewing audience; I polled my co-workers (likely more representative of the average viewer than most of us lurking on the Net ;-)) as well to get their thoughts. Turns out, most of you guys came up with the same examples of good & bad – which is good, since it shows that opinions on freestyles seem to be pretty universal. But without further ado, I give you the top 10 WORST freestyles in DWTS history:

10.) Chelsea Kane & Mark Ballas, season 12

Courtney: This was one that a lot of you seemed divided on – some of you loved it, some of you hated it. I ultimately decided to include it in the “worst” list because it seemed to have something in common with a lot of the other freestyles on this list: it wasn’t reflective of the celeb it was meant to showcase. Yes, it was high-energy, it was well-executed (for the most part), and it was entertaining – but what did it really have to do with Chelsea? While she managed to keep up with Mark fairly well and got through the choreography, I never really got the feeling that it was a routine she really felt connected to, or that she even would have picked for herself. It was as if she had given Mark carte blanche with the routine and he chose everything – the music, the costumes, the theme, etc., and Chelsea was just along for the ride. I think choosing an obscure song didn’t help, and the choreo seemed to showcase Mark more than Chelsea – the poor girl just seemed to be trying to keep her head above water. Add to that some bland costumes and a wardrobe malfunction, and you’ve got a freestyle that’s overall just “Meh.” Definitely not 30-worthy, IMO.

Heidi: Well, this one I would have put in “dishonorable mentions” but it’s almost in that pile anyway, at slot #10. 🙂 The problem here, like you say, was Chelsea wasn’t connected to it (and similar ideas appear throughout this post). Not only that, but the music didn’t really match the costumes and none of it matched the choreo. It seemed all mixed up to me. It had a latin flavor, yet they were doing a light hip hop type choreo (I don’t really know how else to explain that) and their costumes matched neither. Then – why the lights and the bike?? I feel like I missed something on this one. There was also a section where it seemed like they just went from one cool trick to the next. The best freestyles (including some of Mark’s) had a good bit of actual ballroom dancing thrown in in places. This one is just a bit weird for me.

9.) Evan Lysacek & Anna Trebunskaya, season 10

Heidi: PEOPLE, unless your pro is Dmitry – do NOT argue with them about choreography. At all. Geez. That said, this is another freestyle that was good on paper, but in execution just didn’t work for some reason. Clearly it worked in person, since the studio crowd loved it…but the dance didn’t seem to fit either Evan OR Footloose. When Derek did Grease with Brooke, there was a clear, but brief, homage to the movie. The dance went with the song and it worked perfectly for Brooke. When he did a song from Dirty Dancing with Jennifer – again, a subtle, brief homage to the movie and it worked for Jennifer because, of course – she was in the movie. I think by the time they get to the freestyle the pros are just drained and they forget to really tie it altogether – and if you pick an iconic song, you have to really tie it altogether so that the dancing fits the iconic song but also works for your partner. It seems like this dance doesn’t fit either. He didn’t dance it badly by any stretch, but neither did Gilles in their Flashdance freestyle. That doesn’t make it good.

Courtney: I was always a bit puzzled as to why they picked Footloose – did one of them really, really like the movie? Or was it just another easy, dance movie theme to go with? I think that’s the one big difference between a freestyle like Jennifer’s and a freestyle like Evan’s (or Mya’s, or Gilles’, or Stacy’s – see below) – relevance. Dirty Dancing was relevant to Jennifer; but was Footloose really relevant to Evan? I want a freestyle to basically sum up a partnership for me – I want it to feel like both the celeb & the pro connect to both the dance and each other, and for the routine to feel like a nice closure to their season together. For me, going with Footloose as their theme left more questions than answers. Ooh, and can I just say that I think bringing in an outside choreographer is the absolute kiss of death? It doesn’t see to mesh well with the chemistry the couple has forged over the course of the season, and usually leads to coupled being led dangerously out of their comfort zone. And both Evan & Anna seemed uncomfortable with this one – almost pained, at times. Read more..

November 16, 2011 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.