What lip synch fiasco? I don't remember this. Of course, I was in 9th grade by then, and was busily ignoring NKOTB, cause you know, I was too cool to still like them.

Does the woman own any other color? She looked like she'd been hosed down with Pepto Bismol. (tm Steel Magnolias)

I don't remember a New Kids lip sync fiasco either. The only lip sync fiasco back then that I remember was Milli Vanilli. Also, not so much a fiasco, but the embarrassing revelation that Whitney's stirring Gulf War rendition of "Star Spangled Banner" was a tape?

Nowadays we've got Britney, Asslee, Lindsay Lohan.... all these no talent lip synching wonders.

I can't believe I saw some of this either. I actually thought that J. Peterman was one of the worst. I thought he let her do all the work and he just put his hand up and let her control it. Also, Evander Holyfield was just embarrassing.

I missed the beginning of this, but I'm wondering if any other spouses were shown. Because I REALLY did not need to be treated to a shot of bad poetry writing Ryan. Gah.

Their former musical director sued them to a lot of fanfare, claiming that they essentially pulled a Milli Vanilli: they didn't do their own singing on their albums. They in turn, had to stop their tour in Australia, fly to L.A. and virtually defend themselves on Arsenio Hall's show. They seemed to proved their point and eventually the director did pull the lawsuit (quietly, it should be noted), and basically admitting he made it up. But by then, the damage was already done and whatever credibility they had left here was pretty much gone.

I remember the New Kids lip sync fiasco... and I think they went on one of the late night talk shows to show they could sing live... but did a really bad job and someone everyone finally realized that they were just a manufactured band...

That New Kid does have rather large fake new teeth as someone up-thread mentioned... I wonder why he changed them, his originals were nice...

I didn't like Rachel's dress until she twirled and then I understood why she wore it. It looked beautiful in motion.

Is it possible to be too short to be good at this type of thing? The soap actress just looked bad and silly. Considering she's an actress, you'd think she could pretend to be happy out there.

I liked the constructive criticism that the judges gave.

I am exactly 25 years old, and I LOVED NKOTB. I'm not like, in love with any of them today, but I still have a little bit of my old crushes for them. I personally was a Donnie fan, but Joey seemed to be the most popular among my group of friends.

I watch a lot of reality tv, but this show really made me uncomfortable with the degree to which people are willing to go to be on tv. I just can't comprehend why on earth any "star" would subject themselves to this potential humiliation. I'd be on Hollywood Squares before this.

I were a star, celebrity, or quasi-famous, I'd do a show like this without hesitation (whereas I'd seriously have to think twice about many others (ie: Fear Factor, and wouldn't even consider going on a show like Howard Stern)).

Why? Because it's off-beat in a fun and funny sort of way! I'd do my best, enjoy the process, and if I did well...great. If not, who the heck cares? You've got to be willing to make a donkey of yourself. And I'm always intrigued by people who are willing to make donkeys out of themselves! Sometimes, it turns out that they're really just donkeys (ie: asses), but sometimes they're really just fun people who are a pleasure to watch & who you end up thinking "Gee, I think I'd like to hang out with that person!"

I loved watching this but I was annoyed by the use of two different dances. As a home viewer who may not know all the ins and outs of a dance, it would be much easier to compare teams that are dancing the same thing!!!

Personally, I felt that all of the female celeb teams were weak, but I wonder how much of that is due to the slower pace after the enthusiasm and up tempo songs of the male celeb teams.

Oh and all of the female celebs looked crappy to me. Bad colors, bad headdresses, and bad fit.

Exactly!

Even if the celebrity still can't learn to move their feet (Holyfield), they still come off looking pretty good.

The Surreal Life type shows look like desperation, but this kind of thing just looks like they are up for a challenge.... and they do come across as someone who might be fun to get to know...

Blush or bashful?



I watched the repeat last night (shut up, Sunday night TV sucks) and I think she was just trying not to puke.

Yes, but are we less tolerant when women do this? All of the women did more real dance moves and were better than Evander, but I was ready to give him a "pass" (like the judges). Is it because my expectations of him are lower, or that you expect women to be the "show" in a dance and that they therefore have more pressure to do everything well?

Rewatching last night, I felt the judges should also say more to the professional partners. Those people obviously all worked hard with their partners and getting "7" or "4" must be pretty shocking--plus all the negative comments, even toward the pros.

I thought Rachel did very little actual waltzing, and am guessing that her partner thought the choreography would hide her weakness (dancing) and emphasize her relative strength (striking various beautiful poses).

But Kelly got the real movement around the floor that Rachel lacked and seemed to really be waltzing. She did a lot more -real dancing- than Evander did.

Even listening to their comments again, I'm completely baffled why her marks were so very, very low and the comments were so harsh. Maybe someone more familiar with pro dancing here can explain it?

This? would be heaven.

I watched the repeat airing too. Hated Rachel Hunter a little more than I did the first time around. I still love Jonathan though so I'm looking forward to seeing what they do this week.

I agree that Evander wasn't that great and I think he is being given a pass by the judges because "hey he's Evander Holyfield he's such a manly boxer and who would have expected him to be even bright enough to remember ANY kind of moves let alone do them halfway OK".

I also don't understand why Kelly got a 4. I'm no expert, but I didn't think it was that bad at all. I'm wondering if the judges are trying to purposely eliminate someone they don't like. They're not going to eliminate any of the guys, because, hey, they're guys, and they're supposed to be bad at this. I just wished they had picked Trista.

The cynic in me believes that ABC has decreed that their reality whorse Trista makes the final two, and that nothing short of armageddon will prevent it. Ugh.

The funniest part on this show are the professionals. They are soooo serious. You really have to tivo it to take it all in. I can't remember most details, but if Kelly cracked a smile the judges wouldn't have been so harsh. I give them all credit for putting themselves in that nerve wracking position.

I think women are hard on other women. I give Trista credit for making a name for herself. Ain't nothing wrong with that. If she's able to make some jack for having fun, then good for her. She seems to have a positive outlook and enjoys life. I think she is good enough to be there. "Reality Star" is just how she is known. Plus Ryan is hot, so I want her to stay around. If Rachel or Kelly have hotties, I'd be glad to see them too. Is she a total bitch? I doubt it, a girl who can speak her mind and is not passive is a good thing.

I guess it depends on the next dance as to who gets to be the first reject.

Oh, preach it, sister! (Or are you a brother?! If so, I apologize!)



I agree. I find her a bit vapid, but overall pretty tolerable. And I imagine she's a genuinely nice person [/ducks to avoid fast-moving fruits and vegetables].



Absofrigginlutely! Not that I'd know anything about this, you understand. Snerk.

I missed the repeat last night and I wasn't paying super close attention to it Wednesday night, but I really enjoyed. Like many others here, I used to watch the Championship Ballroom Dancing competitions on PBS. Joey McIntyre's partner was really cute and while I never had a crush on any of the guys from NKoTB, I completely understand her gushiness. John O'Hurley totally sold it to the audience including myself. I can't wait till this coming Wednesday night.

Sister, (but I've learned not to take my cat's name as a screen name next time :) ).

Seriously, I'm usually all "sisterhood" this and that, so I was annoyed with myself watching these dances. I'm like, "Evander, yeah can't cha cha, but what he's doing is so hot! Keep him!" and "Joey...not enough wiggle, but trying! and cute!" and "John! Mmmm...!"

Then I was sooo critical of the women. What's with that? Actually, rewatching last night, I think all the women had more to remember than a couple of the men did and I thought Kelly (whom I have no feeling about one way or the other--no idea who she is) was actually -much- more deserving than Evander.

I predict a final between John and Trista, with Trista winning.

I think one of the reason why I am harder on the women in general is that I'd say 80% of ALL the females I know have taken some sort of dance class at one point in their lives, so even if only a few of the women I knew went to college on dance scholarships, many of them were coordinated enough to do simple routines (which is what they are doing on this show so far). Guys, on the other hand, are a different story. Even guys who are athletically coordinated are not always so hot at dancing. For our spring dance concert, it was hard enough to find five or six guys (water polo players are the way to go if you're looking for coordinated guys, apparently!) - and my graduating class had over 600 people to give you an idea of what kind of percentages we're talking about.

I took a ballroom class with 50 guys and 50 girls when I was in college. There were a fair amount of athletes among the guys, but out of the entire class, about half were reasonable coordinated enough to learn the dances, less than a quarter were decent dancers, and the rest of them were hopelessly "two left feet, no rhythm" guys. Although the guys are suppose to lead, most of the girls ended up dragging the guys around in an effort to avoid having their (the girls') feet stomped on.

I took another class that was just swing - there were 20 people in the class and only four of them were guys. All four of them were hopelessly uncoordinated. Because of the M/F ratio, our teacher had everyone learn both the male and female parts and we switched back and forth between who was the boy and who was the girl constantly. All the girls in my class were able to do both parts and were fairly decent, but the guys could barely learn the boy choreography, let alone switch to a different part.

My point is that in my personal experience, girls have an easier time learning dances, so I expect in a competition like this where they haven't done anything very difficult yet that the girls will do a little better. My standards for them are a little higher than my expectations of what the guys can do. True, there are guys who can dance up a storm, and heck NKOTB had all those dance routines back in the day, but in general my expectations for guys' dance abilities are lower.

ETA: D'oh! I almost forgot to explain one of the major reasons why I have such low standards for male dance skills: in high school, I was in show choir and we always spent HOURS trying to teach these guys simple things like step tap, step tap. Jazz squares, the staple of show choirs? Forget it! Show choir is where I first learned that the boys are the frame and girls are the picture. Sometimes we had to take that literally and let them just stand there while we danced around them. Just remembering some of those routines cracks me up - "No, you just stand right there - I'll come to you!"

Word on the "guys not expected to be coordinated" standard. I was just impressed Evander didn't fall flat on his face so I gave him a pass. It will be interesting to see the guys do the waltz.

I've been to numerous weddings where just trying to teach a guy how to dance a polka,which is one of the easiest basic steps IMO, is an exercise in futility. Thank goodness I married a man who could dance (he did Polish ethnic dancing until he graduated high school, so at least he has a sense of rythym). My mom taught my brothers how to dance when they were younger, and she got them to go along by telling them that a guy who knows how to dance attracts the girls. I guess she was proven right when my one brother met his wife at a bar two-stepping (well, he does live in Texas so when in Rome...)

Even if girls didn't attend some sort of dance class, years of doing aerobic dance at least taught women some basic steps and how to move on a beat.

I appreciate the posters more familiar with pro dancing telling me that Kelly was actually doing some real dance steps, because, to my untrained eye, she just looked dull and uninspired.

My untrained eye also thought that Rachel's beautiful, outstretched poses made her the best dancer, so I am going to have to come here and learn a bit more about ballroom dancing!

I was hoping for an out and proud gay man to host. Just think what Carson from Queer Eye could do for this show. RuPaul as a judge! Trista would get highlights and point her toes. Rachael would get some hair conditioner and stand up straight. What's his name's ugly bound and gagged ponytail would get sawed off.

I'm looking forward to SO TOTALLYwasting every Wednesday night of the summer on this show!

Several pages back, a poster who seemed very familiar with dance explained that Kelly was behind the music and her partner was dragging her along to keep in time. I know nothing about dancing, but that explanation made sense to me.

But if we're going to judge people based on gender steretypes why not racial ones as well? Should we hold Evander to a higher standard than the white contestants? :-)

never mind. Move along, nothing to see here.

Personally, I can't wait until Trista leaves, but I took another look at this episode, concentrating on the first set of dancers (Joey and partner) and Rachel as well, because I hadn't watched them critically the first time it aired. Totally underrated Joey's performance, even if his footwork was a bit 'stompy' as the judge noted. Still, he was loose, executed the footwork and led his partner well.

Rachel had nice extension, but she was stiff with her posture and the movement wasn't as good as it could have been, which could explain why they choose to hold certain posititons for longer than they should have. My former partner and I used to do the same thing while dancing the tango. We were never able to get it past judges either.

Evander wasn't down with the technical aspect of the cha-cha-cha; Kelly had most of the techs down, but not the swagger. I've been judged on both dances in the past and what happened with these two is typical - the waltz is a harder dance to get a higher grade on. Kelly was good, but her nerves made it a 'going through the motions' dance to watch, which made her lose points. Evander got some of the tech down, but he brought carriage, swagger, swing and hipwork to the cha-cha-cha. This is why he got the higher score, IMO.

So does one person get eliminated? Do we get to see new "stars" dancing every week?

I'm hoping when some real "stars" see this show, they might want to give it a try.

Well just some thoughts from a competitive ballroomdancer (pre-championship level, not nearly as good as the pros on this show, but compared to the "lay person" I have 6/7 more years of competitive training).


In terms of the abilities of the pros on this show, it would go

The 5 latin dancers
-------------------
- Louis Van Amstel is by far and beyond the best latin dancers amongst all, formerly top 6 in the world at Blackpool, he's good enough to coach all the others in latin. Not much of a standard (waltz, tango, foxtrot, quickstep, viennese) dancer however. He's always been known for his innovative choreography. No he does not have the fastest spins on mother earth, that would be Michael Wentink, he may be 2nd fastest though.
- Jonathan Roberts the next tier, he's more of a top 24 type.
- Alec & Edyta another *slight* tier below. They just recently turned pro from amateur. If they competed professional at Blackpool, good chance of top 48 but no chance of top 24.
- Ashley is by far the weakest of the group, even back in her prime-- and now she's out of dancing shape. Think top 100.

Charlotte was one of the top, top standard girls in the world--placing as high as 2nd in Blackpool. However she is not a latin dancer. In standard she'll be lightyears above the others ability wise.


* Louis Van Amstel's ego is every bit as big as you've seen on the show. He's considered by many to be an arrogant jerk IRL. The others (Alex & Edyta aside) are usually more modest in person...the producers must've egged them for the "every lady's dream" type comments.

* That said, "Fook Yu" from Austin Powers has no business criticizing Van Amstel for anything. She will never in her life be 1/10th the dancer nor chorerographer that Louis is.

* Evander was truly terrible, there was barely any vestiges of ChaCha in his dancing. John was misstepping at times, but it was ChaCha...and to a less extent Joey. Evander also had by far the worst posture.

* Throwing random pivots and poses together does not a waltz make. There was very little waltz content, Lee's criticisms were legitimate. It's supposed to be a waltz, so let's see more waltz instead of pro dancers dragging the ladies around and posing. It's a common phenomena however...pro-am dancing is a major industry in North America, usually consisting of very rich ladies paying big bucks to have pros drag them around on the floor.

* As in pro-am dancesport, the male pros have a significant advantage, because they can lead and if all else fails drag their partners around. The opposite would be, well, Evander standing around gyrating while the lady dances circles around him...not exactly the masculine, in-control image of dancing one wants to portray. That said, J. Peterman has held his own well. It's also worth noting in pro-am competitions, one's supposed to ignore the pro and judge only the amateur, though in practice that may be hard to do.

* Yes you do smile in waltz. Kelly Monaco's facial expressions were painfu. However, I still would've marked her above Trista, who as Bruno pointed out does not at all finish her movements. It's as if she's striking sudden poses like a cheerleader, and it was awkward.

* Not much to pick on for Rachel and Joey...I guess it was decent dancing considering the timeframe.

Stereotypically speaking, I would say that 'big, dumb jock can't dance' cancels out 'black man can dance'. Therefore, I'll still give Evander some props for his moves.

On the other hand, I expected more from trained-dancer-turned-cheerleader Trista.

Oh, and...

Note to John: I was too distracted by your facial expressions to even pay attention to your dancing. You might want to work on that.

As we saw in the second season of the Aussie version, 'big dum jock can't dance' even cancels out 'gay boy can dance'. Ian Roberts, who made quite a name for himself as a Rugby League player (a game derided by some as Cross-Country Wrestling) and came out soon after retiring (IIRC), was told early in the piece that he looked like a building trying to dance.

But having said that, he did come second. Mainly because for a big boofy jock, he was a very nice guy.

But it's NOT a stereotype. My current dance instructor (and previous ones) have told me from experience that women pick stuff up much faster than men. Part of it is that it's more difficult for the men because they have to know steps and they have to lead it with their upper body.

I know NOTHING about ballroom dancing, or about the professionals paired with these stars. But in watching Kelly and her partner, I thought that HE was part of the problem. Whenever there were moves where he had to support her, those moves seemed very shaky, and it didn't seem like she trusted him to keep from dropping her. They didn't seem to click as partners. He didn't seem smooth, and she didn't seem comfortable with him.

That's because Alec is a DanceBot. Maybe he was starting to short circuit during the performance.

Thanks, pasodoble, that was very interesting!

Actually, like most Europeans, Louis is trained in both latin and standard and (speaking from experience) is a gifted coach in Smooth, the style they were performing last week. That being said, coaching is not dancing. And Louis has no experience leading in a pro/am situation, which this really is. You have to learn how to make your student (am) believe in him/herself so that he/she can perform moves they don't know all that well as if they've been performing them for years. Part of this is the choreography, part of it is how the material is presented to the student, and part of this is exuding a confident attitude that the student can pick up on.

And Charlotte was a latin dancer in her youth (not so long ago). She's no stranger to the Cha Cha. And although she also has never danced in a pro/am competition, she spends most of her lessons actually dancing hands on with her students.



Not too shabby, being one of the top 24 in the world at what you do professionally.



OK, it's true that men have to lead, but I believe the reason that men find dancing so much more difficult than women is cultural. Since dancing is considered to be sissy, men who are learning to dance carry a heavier psychological burden than women. Women are supposed to dance; it's even acceptable for 2 women to dance together without stirring up rumors about their sexuality. In the US, a man dancing with a women often has to deal with rumors about his sexuality...talk about uncomfortable.

I played ball in college and spent several years in the pros. As an undergrad, I took a few dance classes, including ballet, to help with my footwork. It was good for my lovelife, but I took some ribbing from a few of the guys...some of whom would peek through the door to get their daily laughs watching me struggling at the barre. To this day, I still incorporate some of the stretching exercises I learned.

Switching topics, who will get the boot tonight? I'm going with Kelly Monaco and her partner.

I won't be surprised if Kelly and her partner go, but I also won't be surprised to see Rachel and her partner leave. She wasn't very memorable, whereas Kelly may have garnered sympathy points. I hope Kelly and her partner get another week. She was better than Rachel IMHO.

I would think that Kelly got a ton of sympathy votes. I would never count out the soap opera fan crowd either, they are among the most organized groups of fans out there with anything having to do with voting.



I noticed that too. There was one move in particular, where she did a dip and he was trying to move his support leg out and it was very shaky looking, like his shoe wasn't sliding across the floor properly.

Does anyone know if last week's episode has been uploaded to the web anywhere? I'd be interested to see it.

Evander is working against a lot of bulk, he won't be as flexible or fast on his feet. He's got some charm and he's fun to watch which may help him. Wasn't he a heavy weight fighter? A bantam weight boxer might fare better in a dance contest.

The pro women definately have it harder because the men are supposed to lead. If they are off, the woman is off or has to lead, which is a big no-no. I took a tango class and was very frustrated by this. If I led, my instructor barked at me, but if I didn't we got yelled at for being offbeat.

Some of the dance moves were a bit too showy. From the little I've seen of competitive dance, the waltz can be a very beautiful dance, but is not a dance that is about elaborate flourishes and motions.

Fancy footwork from fading stars

Woot Woot! Can't wait for the show tonight :)

I'm hoping for more attitude from Rachel (love her spunk), more white socks/dark shoes/gyrating from Evander, more exaggerated expressions from Mr Peterman, more sexaaaayyy dancing from Joey, and for either Twista or Kelly to go home. Sorry, I didn't care for either of them all THAT much! I've decided that I'm happy Evander seems to be getting special treatment from the judges, because he's just plain fun to watch.

And? I didn't really notice his partner's body that much last week, just her obnoxious personality (Evander's hip-shaking, uh, distracted me...BoomChickaBoomBoom). So this week I really want to check out her amazing body that I keep reading everyone talking about here! (And I'm a straight female!)

Right there with ya! I saw an ad for the show & the tag line at the end was something like "you can't talk about it if you don't watch". That cracked me up! Yep, here we are talking about it & in not nearly as snarky a way as I imagined. Damn ABC, how did they know?

Eww, Louis the Letch dancing with Trista the Pure! Someone get the girl a better wardrobe stat. The kiss and Louis saying “I felt it” about the "passion" was yuck, just yuck. At least they’re gone. That and Kelly’s wardrobe (did anyone else think of tassels on a stripper’s pasties? No, ok then...) make me need to take a shower after the show.

I totally agree with Len, we need to see more basic dancing. Nothing against Rachel and Jonathan, but it felt more like a series of poses than a dance. I wouldn’t be surprised to see points docked from teams that don’t have the basics as the competition progresses.

I also want to ask what is up with the music selections. I just can’t figure out what the criteria for making their selections are. I’m watching ballroom and I want ballroom music. John and Charlotte have made good selections. Standards actually make it easier to dance and show off the fact that they can do the fundamentals.

Well, well.

Kelly: There was heat. There was passion. What was missing? DANCING. All she did was gyrating her body, twirl and pushing her partner dramatically. Although I would KILL for that body, dancing isn't her strong suit. She did get burned on the scores but it's not surprising. And she was saved by the public. Damn you GH fans!

Trista: I do feel a bit bad for her about being uncomfortable (and Louis isn't even hot.) That said? Woman, FAKE IT. Thankfully, we have been spared by the public. Now I hope to be spared from her for the rest of my life.

Rachel: Most improved tonight. She needs some fine tuning, but her leg stretches were outstanding. And what about that split?!

Joey: SQUEE! Ahem. There is improvement in the feet, but what bugged me that he was pretty much counting outloud. Not that it's bad, it strikes me as funny. And hun? Burn that hat.

Evander: Uh...nice tie? He tried, but you can tell that they slowed down the pace of the footwork for him. He's got about two more weeks here at most.

John: I have to say it: when he dances? DAMN sexy. Grace, style, panache...and was having a blast out there. And Charlotte is too cute for words. Despite the NKOTB fan in me, I have to toss my vote to them.

One final note: whoever was signing? Needs to be replaced. Pronto.

Between this, Hit Me Baby One More Time and TAR reruns coming next month (Whohoo!) my TV watching is going to rock.

YAAAHOOO!!! Yes, Trista, the public is sick of you.

So I guess the home audience is tired of having Trista on their TV as much as I am.

Now go back to your made-for-TV husband and never be on my TV again.

So Trista? Got a clue yet? Time to go home, bake brownies, have a baby, join the Junior League and Get. Off. Our. Televisions.

John & Charlotte
Kelly & Alec
Rachel & Jonathan
Joey & Ashly
Trista & Louis
Evander & Edita

Those are my rankings on the night. I'm soo glad Trista is gone. I really like Louis, but Trista just ruined that Rhumba for me. I think Edita is absolutely great (I'd kill for her body), but that dance was just so off.

I lurved John & Charlotte and Kelly & Alec. Joey & Ashly and Rachel & Jonathan were enjoyable too.

Am I the only one, or did Joey look a little 'heavy' on the footwork?

Trista's gone? We now return you to your regularly scheduled life.... without her.

Her problem? She never connected with her partner - she spent all her time mugging the camera. 'T'ain't dancin', my dear.

Next.

Awesome! Take that, Trista!! America HATES you!!
John and Charlotte are awesome.
I really like Joey's partner.
Evander just blows. I dont know how he is getting through. He looks like his legs are made of very heavy wooden logs. Edyta is sooo sexy. I feel bad that shes stuck with that lunk.
I was SO glad Kelly scraped through. She and Alec were smoldering tonight. (I cant believe I used that word, but its true!)

I'm not surprised that Trista went home. You know, it's funny, because I don't like her and her reality whorse status, but I grew not to hate her. However, maybe it's because I hated her arrogant partner even more. What a jerk. I think Trista had a good attitude and her "it sucks" reaction to being eliminated was so natural and normal.

I really like Rachel Hunter. She is beautiful and her dance was very sexy. I thought she was the best of the women tonight.

Evander Holyfield is simply just terrible. Hopping on one foot repeatedly and then switching and hopping on the other doesn't make for very fancy footwork. He should go home. But I think he'll get a pass for being Evander Holyfield.

I'm glad that Kelly Monaco gets a chance to stay at least until next week. I don't understand what was wrong with her dance tonight because I bought it. She and her partner have good chemistry. Plus I liked her outfit. :)