September 26, 2012

 

DANCING WITH THE ALL-STARS

  1. . . . The 15th installment of the show kicked off Monday night on ABC, 8 – 10. I watched the whole thing to get reacquainted.
  2. . . . It’s old news now but Pamela [Sue] Anderson got voted off.
  3. . . . She didn’t seem up to snuff.
  4. . . . The setup piece they did showing her and partner Tristan MacManus practicing was awkward. She and he seemed a bit in disarray.
  5. . . . She didn’t look as va va voom-ish as she usually does and he needed to clean up a bit, had that scruffy, unshaven look which seemed a bit disrespectful, considering it wasthe prime-time premiere of the most popular show on TV, for crissakes.
  6. . . . BACKING UP . . .
  7. . . . NEW THING. Now the judges can use “half votes/point 5’s” this year.
  8. . . . It was explained by middle judge Len Goodman (the cranky one) that it gives them a bit more flexibility and accuracy in scoring.  Whatever.
  9. . . . For me it’s harder to figure out the total at home when Carrie Ann Inaba, Len and Bruno Tonioli announce their scores and use a decimal. It takes me more time to calculate.  (I like to add it up before the announcer says what it is.)
  10. . . . Soon I’ll need an adding machine, er . . . I mean, my iPhone calculator, handy. (Don’t want to sound too dated here.)
  11. NOTICED OR UNNOTICED. I didn’t catch the whole opening of the show so I don’t know if they were there but . . .
  12. . . . Did they show the four singers who sing all the songs for the dancers?   They showed musical director Harold Wheeler and members of the band but not the vocal group. Did I miss the shot?
  13. . . . BECAUSE OF THAT . . . It seemed to me that the songs/vocals sounded pre-recorded. Too perfect and not live and they never cut to a shot to show the singers who are normally standing in the background.
  14. . . . THE CHA-CHA-CHA, THE FOXTROT, THE PASODOBLE, THE TANGO . . .
  15. . . . Why not update the show a bit and have the couples do that Gangnam Style dance that South Korean singer/rapper/dance musician PSY does. Or see how good they are at the Macarena or the Watusi or the Mashed Potatoes or the Hustle or even the Twist.
  16. . . . What, not ballroom-ish enough?
  17. . . . Come down off your high horse.
  18. . . . Apolo Ohno (who judge Inaba blushingly said was sexier than ever) and Karina Smirnoff danced the “cha-cha-cha.” (Can we leave off one “cha” please?)
  19. . . . The song they did it to was LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” which seemed to me an unlikely choice for such a dance. They weren’t exactly zombie shuffling as they do in the video but what they call a cha-cha-cha is sure different from the cha-cha I grew up with.
  20. . . . A very loose interpretation.
  21. . . . ASKING. How do we like Bristol Palin’s relatively new chin? She sported it on the show.
  22. . . . Her partner, the bouncy Mark Ballas, told her in practice to shake her “a_ _ like it had a brain” and she followed his instructions during her performance.
  23. . . . She was shaking her tassel-fringed, angle-cut dress like crazy, throwing caution to the wind.
  24. . . . Len said she had “nice hip action.”
  25. . . . She’s learned a lot, come a long way.
  26. . . . ADVICE. “I wanna see firm but not rigid,” said judge Inaba in a sexual innuendo-ed appraisal of contestant Drew Lachey’s performance, supposedly referencing his shoulders or something.
  27. . . . That comment was met with an “ahem”-type reaction from Lachey, his partner Anna Trebunskaya and others.
  28. . . . It got nervous laughter but it was funny.
  29. . . . Sex it up folks. Lather it on. That’s what the producers want the public to see. Let it all hang out. Everybody’s half-naked anyway.
  30. . . . The returning Kelly Monaco (first season winner in 2005) and partner Val Chmerkovskiy – he’s no Maks (his brother)  – cha-cha-cha-ed to “Bang, Bang,” a great Latin party song pulled out of the vaults and was originally done by the Joe Cuba Sextet (Tico Records) and a big urban hit in 1963. You don’t hear that one much.
  31. . . . Both Chmerkovskiy brothers like to show their shaved, chiseled, spray-tanned chests. They know it’s a big turn-on for American audiences who goo goo and gush at just about anything.
  32. . . . Maks was paired for the second time with Kirstie Alley. They’re considered chemistry-laden, volatile, combustible. We’ll see as the season ramrods to the finish line.
  33. . . . Maks likes to pat his gals on their behinds.
  34. . . . (A nice gesture? Approval for performance?)
  35. . . . That’s what he did to Kirstie on the way up to the judges’ panel. She didn’t seem to mind.
  36. . . . That Maks.
  37. . . . Host Tom Bergeron seemed a bit tired all night and a little impatient at times. Maybe he was up late the night before after he won his Emmy for Outstanding Host for Reality or Reality-Competition Program.
  38. . . . Co-host Brooke Burke (Charvet) was nice and beautiful as ever.
  39. . . . UH . . . “You Are So Beautiful” – Joe Cocker, on A&M Records, 1974.
  40. . . . I know, I know. I’m gushing.


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