Wait till he finds out just how thoroughly uncool the quickstep is! That is going to be such a disaster. *shudder* Just epic.

If anyone wants to rewatch the dances, Raphael Pungin has the videos up on his blog, including the professional exhibitions:
http://journals.rpungin.fotki.com/dance/entry/wttfkgqwtst/

What bothers me most about Master P remaining for another week is that his attitude ruins the show's spirit of competition. Except for him, the other celebrities appear to be training seriously and diligently for the program. My fear is that if Master P continues to survive each week at the expense of the other celebrities, the show will suffer in the ratings. I'm still perplexed why he was cast. When his son withdrew, the show could easily have aired with nine couples rather than 10. My hope is that the producers and the network will meet privately with Master P and ask him to withdraw from the competition because at this point his participation is making a mockery of what the show is supposed to be.

Or let the audience count as one vote and the three judges each get a vote for a total of 4 votes. That way the public vote could be enough to sway but not enough to cause ridiculous outcomes (like Master Pissy making it to the final 3?).

For all of you Kenny fans, the first celebrity eliminated from DWtS is scheduled to be a guest on Regis and Kelly on Monday.

ITA with FormerOlympian about Master P compromising the spirit and integrity of this show. It's not right that he continues to move forward in the competition when he shows it, his partner, and his fellow "stars" no respect. I have absolutely no idea who voted for him this past week because I've read posts on several boards and polled the friends and family members who watched on Thursday night and the consensus was that Master P was a disgrace and needed to be the first one voted off the dance floor. I felt SO badly for Tia when she was declared one of the "bottom two." She did not deserve that after all of the hard work and positive energy she put into her performance. I hope that this week's results scared the people who didn't vote into backing Tia, or anybody but P, next week. <crosses fingers and prays>

I loved the professional exhibitions last night and I'm so happy that the dancers are getting more attention on the show this season.

P probably got a lot of votes because of Ashly. I'm sure she's still carrying some old fans from the summer. And also probably because ... who the hell ever heard of Kenny before (not me)?

Thanks for the link! Wow, that Jerry Rice is sexy. It helps that his song was super sexy, as was that cute little Russian partner.

Kenny may have been joking when he said "Recount" but I don't believe it's too much of a stretch to speculate that ABC cooked the numbers.

Kenny Mayne was obviously hilariously entertaining but I think the ABC producers saw him as a loose cannon. They knew he wouldn't be their puppet. Master P postures but during the results show he was already showing signs of parroting producer-fed lines.

They knew they could never control Kenny Mayne. He's very witty and quick and very capable of maneuvering around them on a live show. So, IMO, they got rid of him.

Another factor I believe they had in the forefront was the long term contract to which Ashley Delgrosso is signed. They would have to pay her whether she was there or gone.

Oops, wrong thread!

A short, but interesting, article in this week's Entertainment Weekly:

Into the Groove

And a hearty amen to that!

When Bruno was giving P his thoughts and suggestions for next week, it seemed to me Bruno knew the results. He only added, "If you're here next week." Nice going, Bruno. You let us all in on the fix.

Dang, Lisa is making me like her more and more. She has such a super attitude about the whole thing.

I believe that if Master P had Drew's partner instead of Ashly, he'd be out. I believe that the votes that kept P in were for Ashly. It's too bad P can't be bothered to put forth the effort to DANCE.

The wrong celebrity got voted out, Tia was needlessly put in jeopardy. But at least we don't have a President Kerry.....

I would rather have Kenney entertain me while he can't dance, than P bore me while he can't dance.
Really annoyed by the million and one references to Tatum O'Neal as oscar winnimg actress. She won that a million yrs ago for being a precocious 10yr old, playing a precocious 10yr old. Nothing since, pretty much a one hit wonder. can you tell I don't like her.
I don't feel the excitement this go round, might be the last one.
Love seeing the pros do it right.

I agree that Ashly Delgrosso was one of the breakout stars of last season and has earned a lot of good will and loyalty with the audience.

But the first results show has left me with a very cynical and bad feeling about the producers of this show.

Although I very much enjoy seeing her, I wish Ashly were dancing on Broadway or starring and dancing in her own sitcom right now instead of being locked in permanently to this show. (I think I read that she had signed a 5-year contract.)

Watching her with Louis in the pro-dance last night and observing the way that dance had been choreographed for her and the way she was dressed makes me wonder about just what plans ABC/DWtS has in store for her.

Even though it was her impressive dancing talent, wholesome spunkiness and sweet connection with Joey that had endeared her to the audience last season, I don't think ABC is going to be able to resist attempting to corrupt The Nice Girl Next Door. They're just that low.

I see Ashly and ABC as maybe the story of the girl who gets to the big city all starry-eyed and then gets intercepted at the Port Authority by a pimp. Because really, if we could sit in on the production meetings for this show, would there be any difference in the ethics?

Since ABC owns ESPN, and since what we saw on Thursday and Friday is what everyone who watches ESPN sees on a regular basis, I don't Kenny's personality was any sort of sudden surprise to the producers of DWTS. I think he just got screwed by votes being cast in sympathy to Ashly. If any numbers were going to be cooked, I think the producers would have done it to get rid of P and promise Ashly a better partner for DWTS3.

I'll admit, I was tempted to throw one vote over to Ashly, simply because I adore that girl (and judging by the cheers in the audience when they introduced her segment in the premiere, so do a lot of people), and wanted her to get a fair shot, and I only voted last year for the dance off.

But Tia in the bottom two? The hell?! She cannot GO! I'm going to have to vote, aren't I? Bloody hell.

What? And lose access to all the free drugs?


(joking)

Probably as a favor to the DWTS producers and perhaps with an understanding that Romeo will be included in the next edition.

The way the show is structured this season, they *need* 10 celebrities in order to fill the hours of programming that were sold. They *had* to throw a body in there (ideally targeted toward the hip-hop/urban demographic), and it was probably *extremely* difficult to find somebody who could clear out their schedule and be available to do the show at one to two weeks notice. (I was working with charity on a benefit concert last year, and the main musical draw had to drop out. It was literally *impossible* to find anyone to replace him with THREE MONTHS notice).

There's also very limited "upside" for the celebrity in this particular case. The celebrity would also have to be willing to look foolish (because seriously, how good can you look at a couple of weeks notice with a routine tailored to a 16 year old?), and there's probably limited benefit to them because with the limited practice time, there's a high probability that they would be voted off early (the benefit of the show increases the longer the celebrity remains on the show).

There's a much bigger risk of downside for a celebrity, both in the potential risk to image and opportunity cost (giving up other opportunities with a much bigger possibility of gain).



Probably not, but I don't doubt this is the biggest break of Ashly's life. She is by far the least accomplished of all the dance instructors on the show, and the show has gotten her name out there far more than her dancing or teaching ever would have. Dancers like Ashly are a dime a dozen, and this show has probably set her up for the rest of her dancing and teaching life.

Not too much of a joke, at least in his old days. I'm unsure of the name of the song, but the hook was "m-m-m-make crack like this" and P proceeded to describe the process for making crack. I admit I own Master P cd's and that I think his music is awesome bad, but I did not want to see him stay in place of Kenny.

I'm amazed that P was so awful. I figured he had two things going for him entering the competition:

1.) He's a tremendous athlete, even holding his own in some NBA summer leagues and in free agent try-outs with the Denver Nuggets. Granted, having pro athlete ability doesn't guarantee dance success (see also, Jerry Rice and E. Holyfield), but the dude CAN move.

2.) He's obviously a competitor. He didn't build his business/music empire by being lazy and passive. They guy is a warrior.

I think once P starts taking the competition seriously, and forgets that he's surrounded by B- and C-list "talent" (c'mon, Lisa Rinna? George Hamilton? DREW LACHEY?), he'll impress. He obviously thinks he's above all this (he's by far the wealthiest and most still-relevant contestant, after all), so once the competitive spirit--and his pride--kicks in (and he continues to hear the scathing feedback on his performance), he'll be fine (or at least get him further than the wooden Harrison and plodding Tia).

ETA:



And P has the most to lose, cred-wise. He'll step it up.

Then I'd have to wonder if someone forgot to tell him that the "favor" goes beyond just accepting a check for appearing. It's one thing to have a hard time with the dance (like Kenny). It's a totally different thing to not even bother to show up for your scheduled practices.

From his negative reaction at advancing, my guess is that he thought he'd take the DWTS money, look as cool and "too good for it" as possible, make zero effort, and get voted off right away. "Collect the money, lose, and not have to do anything else."

This actually makes me want to vote for him next week, since I really hate his attitude and think it would be amusing for his plan to fail. Some others could be eliminated first (if George leaves next week or the one after probably won't matter much), and P could be kept for comic relief and the idea of a "lesson learned".

Since he's athletically talented (and I'm sure has more rhythm and dance ability than he's shown so far), I'd also really like to see what he could do if he really -had- to try.


ETA: If anyone wants to see the movie Tatum O'Neal got her Oscar for ("Paper Moon"), it's on Turner Classic Movies today at 3:15 PST.

A few extra thoughts: Anna T. is one hot babe but needs to showcase Jerry more. I didn't like his costume - the colors made him blend into the set and didn't frame his movements against the lights and background. The right costume could make the most of what he's doing. She was Kelly Moncao-naked and looked great, but like one review said, she could learn he's the star in this situation. Looking over at Drew and his partner - that's a big bossy aggressive personality too but she worked it so he was highlighted.

ETA - curious how that Anna/Jonathan marriage works. They seem very different.

I wonder if Jerry didn't want to wear anything too 'fruity', and so went for the street wear look. Anna's dress was done up in the 49-er colors :-)

Jerry's such a handsome guy, I'd love to see him in some of the kinds of outfits they put Evander in. Evander didn't dance so well, but he looked great in his costumes!

I was joking when I said I wanted to bring back Master P just to make him suffer through the Quickstep. I didn't actually vote this time, but I guess a lot of other people had that same perverse idea! And/or just love Ashly (which is completely understandable). I better vote next week to keep Tia in....

When I saw Pop P had filled in for his son, my first thought was Romeo pulled a snotty kid act and refused to work/dance. Producers called him on it because he was under contract so Pop P filled in with the full intention of blowing it off and getting voted off.
Just a thought, no info to back it up except how hurt can a teenager get in a basketball game and not be able to recoupe in a few days. There has been no notice of any broken bones.....

Tia has a movie playing on "Lifetime" this afternoon.
Vote for Tia next week!

I thought I read somewhere that Romeo had sprained something? Those take longer than breaks to heal, and if they're severe enough, can take months to heal. Been there. Done that. Got the crutches and scars to prove it. LOL

Oh thank God for Raphael Pungin's blog. Yay! I got to see them all dance (wish he posted the practice footage too but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.)

Lisa and Louis might wind up being my favorite just for Harry's enthusiasm in the crowd. I noticed he leapt to his feet at the end of their dance clapping his hands over his head. I think they might be my favorite threesome ever.

Drew and Cheryl were wonderful, too. He did great. All those sharp movements and all. What fun to watch. I officially love them, too. (And Nick was in the audience as well. Awww... brotherly love.)

What I really liked was that they had the professionals pair up to show the next dances. So much better than the brief snippets they showed the first time around. And they gave all the professionals a chance to show their stuff. The rhumba is very 'suxy' but I think it's my least favorite Latin dance (favorites being the samba and the cha-cha) but it was great to see the slightly different takes on it (yay, they paired up Ashly and Louis... I loved those fan kicks they did) and I adore the Quickstep. It just looks so fun. It was like 'Oh, so that's what those dances are supposed to look like!'

I did find myself thinking that the outfit that Edyta wore in the preview dance was very much like something Janna Kunik would wear. Every time I saw her dance she had some long ruffle down the front and a completely bare back... it's a very striking look and for Latin where you're supposed to see the line of the back and the leg, it works.

I'm so glad this show is back... and is PBS doing another championship show in February?! Shazam!!

I just rewatched Kenny Payne's performance on Raphael's blog because I was enjoying myself too much during the show and falling off my seat laughing while Kenny was on. So now, after viewing the video, here's what I don't get.

How could Kenny possibly have been rated by the "judges" only one solitary point higher in his score than P?

Kenny may have been awkward but watching the video makes it obvious that he had learned and then executed the entire routine. It's an insult to all of the other dancers to have P, who made no effort and treated the whole thing with contempt, anywhere near any of the contestants in score. His score should have been isolated at the bottom far below anyone else's.

I had been unfamiliar with Kenny's sports career so this show was my first exposure to him. And it made me an instant fan of his. I'm really going to miss him on this show.

I wish the sports community would rally some kind of write-in vote or something to try to get him back on. Those kind of laughs, that kind of entertainment that he brought to the show, all within the context of at the same time working hard, learning and respecting dance, are going to leave a void when the show continues without him.

I loved when Kenny Mayne dragged out a drawing he said was done by his daughter. "My daddy isn't a 4. The judge is a 4." That was great, especially since Kenny Mayne was actually trying. The humor with attitude works for me if the celeb dancer is also working hard.

I rewatched both Jerry Rice and Drew Lachey's dances to regroup my thoughts. Rice could have worn black and been better, and that would have been masculine and dignified. His outfit ended up looking kind of brown/rust and against the aggressive orange/amber lighting he blended. Anna just thrives in the spotlight, she worked the camera, she used Jerry more as a prop while she played to the crowd. That's her way of selling it. Drew's partner is as kick ass as Anna but she really sold Drew - she almost never took her eyes off him, she sold it like she was taking some movement cues from him when he led, so all the focus led back to him from her. And the black/white costuming worked better than orange/rust under amber lights.

When he was back on "ER," George Clooney ended up on crutches from playing pick-up basketball on the set of the show. It actually had to be written into the script because "ER" couldn't shoot around his injuries (Dr. Ross was hobbling around for a few episodes). I'm not saying that's what happened with Romeo (this is the Hollywood spin machine), but it's totally possible.



Master P does not need the check. People do this show for the exposure, and for his empire, he doesn't need exposure either. He's far from an ideal candidate for this show, but at this point, the producers are probably grateful there's a living, breathing body out because otherwise they'd be up a creek as to how they would deliver the show on *their* contract.



I was trying to think of whose costumes it reminded me of, and it *is* very Janna Kunik!

Janna Kunitz? I agree -- it's very much in her style, and she was always so stylish when she and James competed.

I am curious to know who is doing the costumes this time around, because I like them a lot better this time! Everyone looks more elegant, more like the outfits were planned for them as individuals.

I am glad this show is back! My feeling is that Master Pathetic should be gone! He is annoying and I feel bad for Ashly. Also his shoutouts to New Orleans are stupid! Yeah like the people from New Orleans are going to be watching the show they have more IMPORTANT things to do! I hope he is gone next week. Also if Tia Carerre(who I am specifically watching for) had gone this week I would have as well. She was good so was Lisa Drew, Giselle. The other ones give or take. Kenny was funny to watch and so is George H. I wish they had gotten new judges I HATE these judges! If they were pairing up people by size they should have paired Ashly with Drew(although I can't stand to see her with anyone but Joey they just were adorable!). Can't wait to see how they do this week. This is replacing my other favorite ballroom show Ballroom Bootcamp.

After spending last night in shock and saying over and over that there is no.way.ever that I could vote for the worthless P, I may end up eating my words.

As I've witnessed too many times in ABC reality on The Bach/ette, ABC has no trouble selling their soul and making a deal with the devil. If the disgrace that is P makes it past next week, I may give ABC what they've bargained for. I'm sure they aren't happy with his lack of everything that is worthy, but it's the road they chose and they may just have to live with it.

How ABC can promote the disgusting P after scrolling down this lovely list of articles is beyond me!

"Worthless"?

From an interview in the link doublestandard posted:



For that alone, Master P is getting all ten of my votes next week. Haven't seen that much substance from most of the other contestants (and of course, assuming he's better next week...if he coasts through that one too then he, well, sucks).

An article in the same link mentions his career in the ABA and his NBA ambitions.

Granted, he may have coasted through his performance, but I'm going to pull for him. While the rest of the has-beens on the show are trying to jumpstart ailing careers, he jumped in while still at the top of his game, and it's more obvious than ever that he's doing it more for his son, not the contract and definitely not for the self-promotion.

Just hoping for a MAJOR improvement. Go, P!

Okay, thanks to that Raphael's Dance Blog, I finally saw Master P's performance. Now I'm sad that Kenny Mayne got the boot; at least he was trying. His attitude just screamed, "I'm too cool for this." I'd rather see a guy who was hilariously inept but still trying to do his best, than a guy who just doesn't care. Evander Holyfield was a good example of this.

Hopefully he got shamed by Jerry Rice setting a good example. I have a feeling that P would respect Rice alone among the celebs there. As a longtime SF 49ers fan, I was really proud of Jerry for representing "The City" well and proving that big athletes don't have to suck at dancing (I'm looking at you, Evander).

Poor Evander. It's not his fault that his feet weigh 50 pounds each. At least he tried.



That's exactly what I thought too. Given the fairly loose definition of celebrity they use, I'm sure ABC could have found another one if they really wanted too. I think that P was roped into doing this because of the contract violation, hence his shitty attitude. He should have been ashamed for turning in a worse "performance" than the people in my college gym ballroom dancing class did the very first day. And most of us were only doing it because we whiffed the placement test. Jackass.

I do think it was obvious that somebody talked to him about his attitude. The comments he made during the live show were slightly more gracious than the ones he made during the taped interviews. Still, Ashly deserves better than to be pushed around by Master Poser.

Chainey and alynn I share your suspicions. While I have never heard of P, if he really is as big in his field as others have said, I just don't see why he is on DWTS. He sure as hell acted like he would rather be anywhere else on Earth.

I wasn't sure if he was trying or not. At first I thought he wanted to be voted out, with the way he was talking to the judges, and his "who cares" gesture when he missed a move during the dance.

I thought a few of the guys had that attitude. The best, by far, was Drew Lachey.

Why did they exhume George Hamilton? O'Hurley was bad enough. Does ABC need to give him and his ex-wife Alana employment every few years so they don't have to work for a living? I hope he goes next.

A few people mentioned Ashley and whether or not the show had to keep her. IMHO she thought she was going. She seemed REALLY shocked she wasn't eliminated. She looks so much like Stephanie from Survivor. I hope Steph doesn't kidnap her and take her place. "I'm so deserving!!"

O'Hurley was my favorite from last season. His and Charlotte's paso doble and foxtrot were my favorite dances of that series, and Joey and Ashley's paso doble third.

Currently I like Drew Lachey, Jerry Rice and Stacy Kiebler, in roughly that order with Tia Carrere making the fourth if I run out people to root for. Jerry Rice definitely worked at it and didn't cop out.

Now I'm picturing what a semi athletic but not necessarily graceful ex-Survivor would look like trying to dance with MasterPisspoorattitude. My God that would be the only thing that could be worse than his first performance...unless Bai Ling was singing the song they danced to. Excuse me I need my teddy bear.

Amen, sidwich. I really don't get all the Ashly love. All the other professional women are dancing circles around her. I'm sure she's very nice and she's a cute little girl, but she's not so very fab that she's worth keeping in spite of Master P.

And I shudder at the thought of Drew dancing with Ashley instead of with the fabulous Cheryl. They'd look like kids at a sock hop.

Loved Ashley in the black dress last night....gorgeous.

P deserved to go instead of Kenny, but his non-dancing amuses me to no end. I want Lisa Rinna to go next. Her "enthusiasm" at advancing I found to be sheer obnoxiousness. Plus she's simply hard on the eyes. Honestly I'd rather Tia had gone instead of Kenny. At least he and P were memorable (though not in the best sense). Tia fell victim to generally being unmemorable.

Am I the only one who wished Drew did his cha-cha to "Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)"? Or, better yet, with Nick singing it (since he was there anyway)? Oh well.



Giselle's most recent gig prior to this show was as co-anchor of the KTLA Morning News here in L.A. (which is where the anchor clip they showed came from).

I enjoy George Hamilton quite a bit, though I do find it funny that he and Alana Stewart have been on a few ABC reality series. Besides Dancing, George did the shortlived reality show, The Family. And then Elana did I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! in 2001.

I thought her name rang a bell--I've been in L. A. numerous times over the past year and a half or so, and I have seen her on KTLA many times (and thoroughly enjoyed her broadcasts each time!)



I couldn't agree more--in fact, I think I said either earlier here, or else in another forum, that it was ironic that a former member of 98 Degrees was dancing to a Ricky Martin song!

ETA: Not only is the timing perfect in that sense, MsDeacon, but also in the sense that enough time had elapsed since both the regular season and the dance-off that people were hungry for it again (unlike say, the Apprentice--both versions--and Last Comic Standing, which suffered from back-to-back seasons without any real time to give us a chance to miss them.)

I think Drew hit the jackpot in his partner choreographer this time. She's not a stress puppy like Ashley or a seeming diva like Anna. Even though she's tough she's got a soft voice and it seems an easy sense of humor. She carries herself with a lot of confidence but not a distracting aggressiveness, and I thought the cha cha she choreographed was the most interesting number of the night. It showed confidence in Drew, insisted he rise to the occasion, and it wasn't as obvious with him as with others that she was compensating for him. She made him dance, he had to do a lot of mirror moves, and she danced with him like she knew he'd pull it off. There was even a spot where he had to do solo steps while she vogued around him. She rocks. I'd love to see what she could do with Jerry.

I think Edyte is probably a strong choreographer also, but was limited because GH can't move much. Ashley did choreograph a great paso doble last year. I also remember Joey wanting to sell more on style. I think if she ever gets a Drew, or a Jerry, she would show she's talented choreographically. Her resume might be thin but she got Louis Amstel in her corner for some reason.

Edited: I didn't think season II would be the same hit the summer series, but again the timing is perfect. It's post holiday season, everybody is burnt, this is the perfect way to chill during the grind of winter.

I was worried that Season 2 would have abysmal ratings (compared to its summer success) but was pleasently surprised that it had retained most of its audience. Hopefully it can keep building on it as it did during its first season and ABC will have a reality hit comparable to American Idol.

Even the results show did well for a Friday night, scoring an 8.6/15.

If the show stays successful then I hope they can at least improve the music (which has gotten WORSE - how is that possible?) and shut the audience up. I don't want to hear people "BOO!!!" every time a judge doesn't fellate a dancer. If they're going to be on the show, then the audience should try to grow up. Otherwise I hope the show just edits out all the constant booing and screeching. This audience makes the American Idol audience seem mature, which is quite an accomplishment.

The music hasn't sucked that badly this time around, Tegan Jovanka--at least not yet. Still, I'm hoping that the producers of the American version watched the clips from the Dutch version when that show aired last fall--there, they used some REAL ballroom dance music, with very few misfires (except for one Paso Doble--the music used was Ravel's Bolero--yecch!)

I won't complain unless we start getting dreck like Toxic for the Tango, I Got You, Babe, for the Viennese Waltz, or Eye of the Tiger for the Paso Doble again. If that happens, I WILL punch someone at ABC in the head!

I must be the only one that enjoys the music. I like the fact that the dancers are doing their thing to catchy, popular songs. For the most part, I don't want to hear the music that is generally played with certain types of dances. That can get repetitive quickly, which is why I think ABC switches the music up, keeping the audience (or just me, apparently) interested.

The version of What a Wonderful World they used was just hideous, and there was another song they had later in the show, with Tatum or Giselle or another woman, where you could hear the male singer cracking note after note after note. I was so disoriented by the murder of this song, I could barely even concentrate on the dancers.

I did like the selection for Drew and his partner, but most of the other stuff I had to tune out or I couldn't tune out even when I tried my best.

I like to think that Lisa Canning is getting her revenge by blackmailing the producers into hiring Yoko Ono as music director.

stinger, I don't mind the pop songs as much as I mind the often VERY shaky covers of those pop songs. If they can't afford the original, or a decent cover, then they should go elsewhere, IMHO. Hell, I'd rather hear selections from the Star Wars Christmas album. Let's see Lisa Rinna dance to What Do You Get a Wookie for Christmas?

Ah, The Family one of the best reality shows ever. George was awesome in that one.

When I re-watched George's routine, he is actually pretty light on his feet and if he didn't have the rib injury it would have been much better.

Kenny's dance looked better the second time around, especially since I wasn't covering my eyes for most of it.

I don't care if Master P is the second coming of Mother Teresa - if he's not going to try than I don't want him getting in ahead of people who actually want to be there. I'm also in the camp that Romeo doesn't have an injury and some back dealing went on there for contractual reasons.