87 replies to this topic

[perky]

I started this season liking Bristol. Sweet girl, in over her head doing her best, but the last few weeks my good feelings about her have nosedived. She's coming across as a spoiled, entitled little brat. Her "I'm real" putdown of the other "fake" contestants really turned me off.
She did show some inprovement in her paso Monday night, however she didn't deserve nines. That's entirely the judges fault for overscoring her the previous weeks.
I now find myself in the postion of hopeing she fails big time at her freestyle so the judges can lowball her scores and hopefully negate the huge voting blocks that are keeping her in the competition. Wanting a person to fail on national T.V. doesn't make me feel very good about myself. It makes me feel mean and small, but I can't help it.

I dearly hope Lacey choreographs an amazing freestyle for Kyle. Derek's freestyles are always awesome so I expect him and Jennifer's to be great.

[miliosr]

Treefrog, on 16 November 2010 - 07:54 PM, said:

miliosr, on 16 November 2010 - 07:08 PM, said:

  Poor Bristol -- she may be praying that she doesn't win!

Why?

Because, there will be a storm of controversy no matter how the finishing order shakes out.

[miliosr]

perky, on 17 November 2010 - 06:23 AM, said:

I dearly hope Lacey choreographs an amazing freestyle for Kyle. Derek's freestyles are always awesome so I expect him and Jennifer's to be great.

Mark choreographed that fantastic freestyle for Shawn in Season 8 (which, I'm convinced, edged Shawn past Gilles for the title that season) so Mark and Bristol may be more competitive than you might think.  I don't know if Bristol can "cut loose," though.

[perky]

miliosr, on 17 November 2010 - 08:04 AM, said:

perky, on 17 November 2010 - 06:23 AM, said:

I dearly hope Lacey choreographs an amazing freestyle for Kyle. Derek's freestyles are always awesome so I expect him and Jennifer's to be great.

Mark choreographed that fantastic freestyle for Shawn in Season 8 (which, I'm convinced, edged Shawn past Gilles for the title that season) so Mark and Bristol may be more competitive than you might think.  I don't know if Bristol can "cut loose," though.

Yeah you're right, but he also had Shawn to work with!

[Marga]

I am completely floored that Brandy was sent home and that Bristol is STILL in the competition. Actually, this is not a dancing competition at all, is it?

If Audrina, who dances beautifully, can be sent home so early just because she lacks a wide fan base and Ms. Palin has been voted in week after week because of the clout she seems to carry, it is clear it's not about the dancing.

Every time I see Bristol Palin dance, I cringe through most of her movements. She doesn't realize that movement must extend through the feet and hands, much less that her upper body should be supple and pliant.

She knows nothing about articulation of body parts. Her head sits on her shoulders with no extension of neck at all. There is no high-held body carriage, no relaxed, stretched arching. When her arms are raised above her head, her shoulders go with them. Her upper body-torso-legs is one solid unbending piece.

The way she hooked her foot around Mark's leg in the tango, all turned in and with no finesse, just a chop of a movement, was the ugliest foot movement I've ever seen on DWTS.

Can you tell I'm not a fan?

[mom2]

Oh My!!

I've been busy the last couple of nights, so didn't watch.  Never thought that Ms Palin would be still in the competition over Brandy (or some of the others, for that matter).  Marga I "ditto" everything you said.

m2

[Helene]

Marga, on 17 November 2010 - 02:41 PM, said:

She knows nothing about articulation of body parts. Her head sits on her shoulders with no extension of neck at all. There is no high-held body carriage, no relaxed, stretched arching. When her arms are raised above her head, her shoulders go with them. Her upper body-torso-legs is one solid unbending piece.

Oh, dear.  (Are you sure you weren't watching me in Intro Flamenco class   )

[cubanmiamiboy]

Helene, on 17 November 2010 - 03:48 PM, said:

Marga, on 17 November 2010 - 02:41 PM, said:

She knows nothing about articulation of body parts. Her head sits on her shoulders with no extension of neck at all. There is no high-held body carriage, no relaxed, stretched arching. When her arms are raised above her head, her shoulders go with them. Her upper body-torso-legs is one solid unbending piece.

Oh, dear.  (Are you sure you weren't watching me in Intro Flamenco class   )

[sidwich]

Quote

She's coming across as a spoiled, entitled little brat. Her "I'm real" putdown of the other "fake" contestants really turned me off.
She did show some inprovement in her paso Monday night, however she didn't deserve nines. That's entirely the judges fault for overscoring her the previous weeks.
I now find myself in the postion of hopeing she fails big time at her freestyle so the judges can lowball her scores and hopefully negate the huge voting blocks that are keeping her in the competition. Wanting a person to fail on national T.V. doesn't make me feel very good about myself. It makes me feel mean and small, but I can't help it.

I can't fault her for the "I'm real" thing, mainly because I don't think we can realistically expect anyone to say, "I'm a terrible dancer and I'm only here because people keep voting me in."  

Unfortunately, I don't think the judges are going to give her terrible scores on Monday because a) the producers are not going to risk antagonizing a large bloc of viewers and giving her 1s and 2s would be a huge slap in the face to people who are voting for her, and b) with a vote as large as Bristol's must be, it's actually not a slamdunk that bad scores will get someone off the show.  Kelly Monaco's initial scores on the first season of DWTS were quite low and she still never got voted off (and in fact, she won even though she may have my vote for worst dancer ever on the show).  

Having worked in reality television in the past, I can tell you producers don't really like the idea of negating the viewer vote.  It distances the viewership from the show instead of getting them fully invested in the show.  DWTS is already unusual in having a judges vote at all, and the producers tend the lessen the impact of it over the course of the season by having the scores converge over time.  I really don't see them pulling their punches on the finale.

Quote

The way she hooked her foot around Mark's leg in the tango, all turned in and with no finesse, just a chop of a movement, was the ugliest foot movement I've ever seen on DWTS.

For me, Laila Ali had the worst feet ever on the show.  No point and push at all.  It was really obvious as the show went on.

[Barbara]

Reading Marga's comments made me wonder - do the pros give their partners actual dance training? Or is there only time to teach the steps to the current dance(s) while throwing in a comment or two about posture, foot pointing, etc? Is it legal within the parameters of the show to bring in another instructor to give a straight dance class throughout the season? Maybe there's not enough time to do that and also learn the dance steps. Btw, I also agree with all of Marga's comments.

[perky]

There are ways of explaining your own appeal without putting the other contestants down. I thought her words were snarky.
My sister is a big fan of Bristol on DWTS and thinks she should win. My sister is also very involved in the Tea Party. Are these two things mutually exclusive? Does it really matter?
I think the only way to avoid these polarizing fan bases in the future is to quit casting politicians, family members of politicians or anyone involved with politics period. With so much anger and intolerance in politics nowadays I really don't want to see it spread to what should be a fluffy feel good dance show competition.

[richard53dog]

sidwich, on 17 November 2010 - 05:11 PM, said:

Unfortunately, I don't think the judges are going to give her terrible scores on Monday because a) the producers are not going to risk antagonizing a large bloc of viewers and giving her 1s and 2s would be a huge slap in the face to people who are voting for her, and b) with a vote as large as Bristol's must be, it's actually not a slamdunk that bad scores will get someone off the show.

That's true as far as it goes and it doesn't hurt to remember that this isn't an artistic competition, it's a reality show trying to snag the biggest share possible of the tv viewing audience.

But a wrinkle here is that I've heard reports that tea party websites are instructing followers to vote en masse for Bristol.
It's a way of "enlarging" her mother's "importance". And so a lot of the voting is coming in from people who don't even watch the show. They are distorting the voting results. But I doubt that the producers would try to adjust for this. How could you split out the results that are nothing more than a political muscle flex? Pretty impossible to quantify.

[Natalia]

Well, I could see this coming, from the moment that Sarah Palin first appeared in the audience during one of the early shows and many in the studio emitted loud boos (which we the viewers heard in the distance, as another couple was being interviewed in the waiting room after their dance). As much as I dislike Palin politics, the booing actually made me root for Bristol, as it was so tacky and inappropriate for a studio audience to burst into "boos" just because Bristol's mom had entered the room. Think about it.

[richard53dog]

Natalia, on 18 November 2010 - 06:46 AM, said:

Well, I could see this coming, from the moment that Sarah Palin first appeared in the audience during one of the early shows and many in the studio emitted loud boos (which we the viewers heard in the distance, as another couple was being interviewed in the waiting room after their dance). As much as I dislike Palin politics, the booing actually made me root for Bristol, as it was so tacky and inappropriate for a studio audience to burst into "boos" just because Bristol's mom had entered the room. Think about it.

I think you are right, it's really impossible to keep politics out of the equation in this kind of situation and the producers most likely knew it.
But it's all about the ratings for the current season, at any cost, which is why TV shows "jump the shark" so frequently. They are very willing to sacrifice anything in the future for a gain in this season.

[bart]

I have been following this thread with interest and real enjoyment.  Thanks to everyone who has posted.

The latest reports on Sarah Palin have made me curious.  What, exactly, Bristol Palin is a "star" of?  Other than her mother's political campaigning, I mean, and its pin offs into sexual abstinence advocacy and teen pregnancy counseling.

If Bristol Palin's invitation to appear on a show entitled "Dancing with the Stars" is is based on her connection to her mother's political ambitions and political issues, it seems unavoidable that "politics" will come into play.

While booing a performer's mother is not, of course, a nice thing to do, there are mitigating circumstances.  Whether you respect her or not, Sarah Palin is one of the most polarizing and confrontational political figures in the United States.  She has been a trail-blazer in the art of flaunting her family life for political advantage.  Her decision to make a personal appearance at a top-rated nationally televised performance seems like an invitation for some kind of audience response.  

While Ms. Palin would understandably have preferred cheering,  someone on her staff might have advised her of the possibility of a more negative reaction and suggested, ever so gently, that she stay at home and let her daughter perform without distraction.