5 posts tagged “dancing with the stars”

Watching Dancing with the Stars season finale last night has me nostalgic, thinking back to all the previous seasons.   I have to admit, I haven't been happy with the winner of Dancing with the Stars (on wikipedia) since season 2.  There, I said it.  But, I also must admit, I haven't voted more than a few times.   The timing has always been too hard to stay up and actually vote at the right time.

Season one, I didn't start watching until a few weeks in.  But I was easily rooting for Kelly Monaco because that's why I started watching the show - she's on my fav soap, General Hospital.  So that wasn't a tough choice, she looked really good, and Alec Mazo caught my eye as her partner because he moved so fluid.  So it was a big yay when they won.

Season two, I started out the season watching every week, but not the recap show because it was on at the same time as something else.  The person I knew of the most starting out that season was Lisa Rinna because of watching Days in college, but I knew *of* Drew Lachey.  Tia Carrerre was fun to watch, especially when she did the Tango to the same music as she did in True Lies :)  Stacy Kiebler was amazing, I loved her dances.  But Drew Lachey was my favorite, he did such fabulous dances, and his freestyle was my favorite (although I also enjoyed the Paso to Thriller).  I love that Cheryl put actual dance steps into the freestyle, it wasn't just showboating and lifts.  So another big yay!

Season three, I started out the season watching every week, and not the recap shoe again.  The people I knew the most going into it were Mario Lopez (hours and hours of Saved by the Bell as a teen) and Joey Lawrence, and I knew of Vivica A. Fox (Independence Day) and Jerry Springer (who I truthfully expected to hate because of his show - and changed my mind) more than the other contestants.  I loved Mario the best this season, his dancing with Karina fit so well (and obviously they had chemistry because they are still together).  His Paso with her fancy yellow dress was my favorite.  Their hiphopy freestyle wasn't as great.  Joey was so full of class, and this was when Edyta really caught my eye - she's one of my favs.  Their ballroom (vs latin) dances were super.  Emmitt just didn't get me the same way, even though I like Cheryl.  So I was disappointed that 1-it wasn't between Mario and Joey (I would have loved to see their freestyle), and 2-that Mario didn't end up winning.

Season four, I was a die hard fan by this point.  I knew all the professionals by this point, and knew what to watch for in each different type of dance.  This made it more fun, actually.  I was excited to see Ian Ziering because I spent so much time watching 90210, and Joey Fatone was someone I recognized.  I was pleasently surprised by Heather Mills (I didn't know anything about her, but her dance to Mambo Italiano with the flip was one of my favs).  I loved watching Ian, he was such a classy dancer, and Cheryl really showcased his talents well in the choreography.  But my fav was Joey Fatone.  He started out a little shakey but got much better as the season went on, and so I was rooting for him.  His freestyle was super great (to "Last Dance", starting out ballroomy and turning flashy), he looked good in tails in at least one dance, and his jive was memorable too.  My fav was actually his Tango to the Star Wars theme.  It's not just that I like memorable music, they did it in a really unique way, and it's like if the dancer likes the theme, they put more work into it.  It's not that I hated Apollo, some of his dances were okay, but I felt like Julianne just made everything so flashy and showcased her rather than Apollo, masking dancing that wasn't as technically sound.  (My fav Apollo dance was the "move it" Samba where J wore the cheetah suit, that was really well done).  Oh and Leila was a joy to watch too, she worked so hard and had some super dances with Max that were so technically good.  Overall, I felt like Joey was the better dancer and should have won.

Season five, the season which just ended...  The people I knew the best going in were Cameron Mathison (from All My Children, which I've watched quite a bit over the years) and Jennie Garth (90210).  I knew others from other stuff.  These two ended up being my favorites to watch, truly.  Rewatching some of the dances from the season last night made me sure wish that the fan vote didn't count as much as the judges vote because people like Albert Reed and Sabrina Bryan were really good technically.  Just because Jane Seymour and Marie Osmond had a lot of fans shouldn't have kept them around as long as they were here.  Jennie's first tango captivated me, but I was mystified by the music they were assigned for some of their dances.  Her last dance (to Mustang Sally) was so confident looking.  Cameron just was so yummy to watch, with the Superman dance, and the wonderful Jive and even the waltz to Hagrid's theme.  And then out of the finalists, I was rooting for Mel B (I was sure hoping Jennie would be in the end, but figured Mel would be more likely to win).  She really was a super dancer, doing so many highly technical moves.  And I wanted to see Mel win, after Leila didn't make it last time.  Some of my fav Mel dances were the Paso with "free your mind" (well, the 2nd time she did the Paso to "satisfaction was also great) and the Waltz with the splits, wow.  Helio was not as good technically IMO, and I hated that Julianne just danced around him and his footwork was sloppy.  At least with Apollo, there were dances I liked, but with Helio, there were so many small mistakes that it detracted from my enjoyment.  I don't understand how the judges treat the males and females differently, it seems like it's easier to be a guy and stand there in hold while the girl dances in front.  He wasn't awful like Master P awful, but he wasn't as good as previous winners by any means.  So yeah, that was pretty disappointing to me.

Maybe the reason I think back fondly at the old dances is just because I've seen so much now that it doesn't seem new and exciting to see these dances, so I expect more?  I don't know.  I still like the show and I'll keep watching, but it leaves me a little sad to see such a pattern of people who I like not ending up being there in the end.

Well, one week into the fall season, and I watched just about everything on my planned list.  Here's some thoughts as I went through the week.  I'll try not to say anything hugely spoiley, but if you haven't watched your tv from last week yet, you might skim this!

Dancing with the Stars.  The people I am most excited about going into this are Jennie Garth and Cameron Mathison - both of which I've spent many hours watching on TV (90210 and All My Children, which I don't currently watch, but spent many years watching it).  I'm sad about the first voting off, simply because I love the pro on that team and feel bad for him.  One of the highest rated people so far looked spastic to me, but I wasn't as big of a fan of Apolo and Julianne's dances, so maybe I'm just a little fuddy-duddy sometimes :D

Prison Break.  I watched the first episode because it wasn't on up against anything.  After Jen mentioned that Sarah Wayne Callies wasn't coming back, I was already unhappy, but the first episode just didn't have anything that made me need to keep watching.  I didn't watch the 2nd episode.

Chuck.  I watched this on Amazon Unbox before the premiere week, and I was glad I did.  This was great, I really enjoyed the humor, and the action.  I may have started out just wanting to see what Adam Baldwin was going to play on the show, but now I'm more into it for the whole cast.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Matthew Bomer (last seen on Traveler, also on Tru Calling).  Definitely will keep watching this.

Heroes.  YAY, it's back!  I was cheering on Monday as we got up till the time, and I wouldn't let E fast forward while watching for fear we'd see something as it was stopping too soon. :D  Yes, I'm a dork.  This first episode back was great, I am very excited to see so many of the characters back on the first episode because I was worried we'd spent more time on new characters.  I laughed a lot at Claire's family updates for their day.  The last few minutes had me quite excited from this coming week. 

Journeyman.  This is a great new show.  I was impressed by the storyline, and how they took the basic concept of traveling through time and added a lot to it.  I'm so curious to see where they go with this.  I like this lead actor (Kevin McKidd), and usually, I'm more likely to go for someone I associate with another show I've seen.

Bones.  I was really looking forward to this coming back.  I'm a little sad that they are going into a long-term mystery rather than a single or several episode case.  But I loved Zach, and Angela and Hodgins searching together was super fun.  I hope for more good development in the soon-upcoming eps.  And kissing would be nice ;)

Cane.  I watched so many commercials for this during As the World Turns that I really wanted to see where they go.  I like the actors and that was really nice to have so many familiar faces.  I decided that I like the "mob-like" storyline because it's similar to the Sonny/Jason storyline on General Hospital.  I think I'll try this a few more times before deciding if it'll be a permanent addition to my schedule.

Private Practice.  I was more interested in this than I was Grey's Anatomy, after the season finale felt dud-like to me.  And I really like the characters here, as much as I hoped.  The chemistry between them all really felt good, and I'd like to keep watching to see how they work together.  I liked how happy Addison was, dancing to the music in her new house. :)

Bionic Woman.  Also watched on Unbox before premiere week.  I liked it a lot, this definitely was the one that caught me with a sci-fi/adventure theme, and Katee Sackoff is definitely someone I wanted to tune in to see.  I love the pilot, and I hope the rest of the season is as good.  When questioned, E said this was his favorite new show this year.

Grey's Anatomy.  Besides Prison Break, this was the biggest return disappointment.  I was really hoping they would come back with something really good after the finale.  I was almost going to be happy, I did like the interns, but then they did some really retarded stuff with Izzie (and I like her so much), and the last few minutes particularly and the previews for next week had more Izzie stuff I didn't like.  I guess Meredith and Derek did make me smile, and I'm excited for Lexie to see how that works.  I'll give it another chance, of course, but I sure hope it gets better.

The Office.  HILARIOUS.  OMG, we laughed so hard.  This was a really good return for the show.

Big Shots.  I knew that people were saying this was underwhelming for the actors in the roles, and I have to agree a bit.  I did enjoy these actors, and I'm excited to see Charisma Carpenter when she starts.  So I'll probably give it a few more episodes.

Numb3rs.  After the finale, this was a welcomed episode.  I'm glad to see the way the storyline went with the team, and look forward to see where they go next.  I love that Charlie and Amita are happy together.  And Larry and Megan are back.  Should be a good year.

Stargate Atlantis.  If I can't have SG-1, this is the next best.  But I was disappointed with who the lead actors are now, and I was disappointed that it was a 2 parter after such a cliffhanger last year.  IMO, they should have had a 2 hours season premiere to try and get people back in after canceling SG-1.  Obviously, nobody wanted to consult me :P    I am glad to see Amanda Tapping and Jewel Staite, but hopefully they do some storylines that I'm excited about!

I haven't watched ER, it's still on the TiVo waiting for me.  Desperate Housewives is taping right now, and I'm going to watch it just to see how Nathan Fillion's character turns out - I haven't watched the show since the beginning of first season.

So it seems like in most cases, I'm giving everything another week to really make decisions on what will be my fall schedule.  It sure has been a fun week checking out so many different things.  I'm happy for my VCR to let me double tape a few things, too!  Yay for Fall TV!

Next season's dancers announced yesterday, for the 4th "season" premiere on Monday, March 19th:
I don't think the word "season" is really right on these reality shows that are 2 times a year!

• Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy - daughter of Muhammad Ali
• Billy Ray Cyrus and Karina Smirnoff
• Clyde Drexler and Elena Grinenko - former Portland Trailblazer, my brother will be thrilled, he loved him! ;)
• Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson - NSync (sorry now all I can think of is the Robot Chicken featuring him!)
  
• Shandi Finnessey and Brian Fortuna (new) - Miss USA 2004, Game Show Network
• Leeza Gibbons and Tony Dovolani
• Heather Mills and Jonathan Roberts
• Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough (new) - short-track speed skater, Olympic medal winner
• Vincent Pastore and Edyta Sliwinska - The Sopranos, etc.
• Paulina Porizkova and Alec Mazo - supermodel, former face of Estee Lauder
• Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke - 90210!

(list from abc.com)

I always loved Ian Ziering, so that was a treat when I got to the end of the list!!  I'm excited to see so many of the professional dancers that I love - and Alec is back, woo!  I'm glad they haven't just decided enough is enough and made Cheryl leave, she's such a good choriographer.  Ashley Delgrosso is gone, but it looks like she's pregnant according to her site.  There's quite a few people that I don't think I know who they are, or I certainly wouldn't recognize them.  2 models of sorts (Shandi and Paulina), 2 teen idols (Joey and Ian), a sport star (Clyde), a singer (Billy Ray, ugh), and a bunch of others.  Seems like an okay mix.

I'm not sure about the timing of this season - they are trying to avoid being up against American Idol, so it means being on Mondays, but there's no way I'm giving up Heroes for this, and I'd rather not give up Prison Break.  I'll have to find out when those two show are over - it may be a VCR season of Dancing with the Stars, and that really backfired on me last year when I had to VCR the last show of the season and my VCR screwed up somehow and only got 7 minutes of it!

If you could be on any reality TV show, which one would you pick and why?

I have watched very few reality TV shows, truthfully.  Real World for a few season (only early ones) and now Dancing with the Stars for 2 seasons.

So I'd love to be part of Dancing with the stars, but obviously I'm not a star.  And I'm not very coordinated at all.  So if I could, I'd go work in the background on the show.  That'd rock :D

(Yes, Kelly Monaco drew me in several episodes in, I can't help that I'm a hopeless General Hospital fan.  But then I got hooked and had to watch the next year.  And I can't wait for this season!)