242 replies to this topic

[ari333]

Well, it's official; I'll watch anything.

We’ve already seen the stars dance and skate on ABC, and tonight they dived (dove?) in the network’s newest celeb-reality TV show, “Splash."

Ten celebrities trained and competed in regulation springboard/platform diving in front of an audience whose votes were tallied with the two judges.

I really felt for Louie Anderson. And I thought Keshia, (Rudy from The Cosby Show) was gonna cut a bitch.

[Elle45]

I can't believe I watched the entire show - it was pretty terrible. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the format of the show. It seems silly to vote someone off before everyone has the chance to dive. Not sure about the judges- I didn't understand the scoring at all. Louie and Kareem had the weakest dives but Keisha was sent home? Okay.

Not sure if I will tune in next week.

[LakeGal]

Obviously Kareen should have gone home before Keisha. But he got the sympathy/popularity vote so he stayed.

[ari333]

They seem to be judging on things in addition to, other than, the actual performance of the dive.

When it got down to Miss Ala and Keisha and Keisha got booted, she smiled, but she looked really steamed. I thought her dive was better, but because Miss Bikini, er, Miss Ala dived from a higher spot she got the judges' save.

Edited by ari333, Mar 19, 2013 @ 9:42 PM.

[twitter]

Kareem is 65 years old and 7'2"; That dive took some serious balls.

And Louie at age 59 and over 400 pounds is no chicken either, especially when he took it up a notch - or however many feet higher he chose to go at the last minute.

[ari333]

Keisha may have been at a slight disadvantage having gone first ...as far as the scoring goes.

I wonder if they have to lock in ahead of time what dive they're going to do or if they can change at the last minute after they see the competition's dives.

[twitter]

The format needs some tweaking because it blows. By that I mean, Keisha is already gone before the other five even set toe 1 in the water.

What if she were better tonight than all 5 of the others (tonight's non-divers) will be next week? Plus, she looked hot and athletic and skilled, even for a beginner. And wasn't she the only one to do the handstand dive, for cryin out loud? Come on, show.

Edited by twitter, Mar 19, 2013 @ 9:51 PM.

[ari333]

Is Joey Lawrence that short? Some of those folks were towering over him.

[Try Again]

Keisha should've done DWTS instead of this hot mess of a show.

[Modernwhimsy]

This show is too popularity based. Keisha got kicked off because she is the least known celebrity. Isn't Miss Bikini's 15 minutes up? I was scared for Louie...less so for Kareem.

[rubyred]

What on earth has Joe Lawrence glued on his head?

[Cuppiediva]

What a horrible hot mess. I totally agree that the format needs fixing. The audience decides half the vote? Seriously, come on! And to have only half of them "compete" before an elimination? Yikes.
There must have been a LOT of time from the time the beauty queen dove to the "dive off".. Her hair was dry and styled. I cannot fathom how dull it must have been to have been in that audience.

[C-Bo]

I cannot believe that a) This show is on the air and b) how much I love it. I will watch this entire season, and reliving my high school diving days!

Also: terrible marking. But whatevs. It is Diving with the Stars.

[Rickster]

I don't see the appeal of watching people fall awkwardly into the water.

My recollection is that this was a huge hit somewhere in Europe (Netherlands?) and I guess they're trying it here.

At least on Dancing With the Stars, most people can at least clump around the dance floor, you've got music, an attractive and talented pro and sparkly costumes to entertain you. But being a decent diver takes a lot of training and skill. I admire the guts to go up the platform and jump in, but it's not that entertaining to watch.

[Uncle Chuck]

David Letterman has been doing this show for years--only without the expense of all that water. He tosses objects off the roof or high window of a NYC building to see what makes the biggest SPLAT!!!!
I'll give Louie props for falling 23 feet on purpose. My gosh he did make a good splat.

[aceplace57]

I was extremely disappointed. The Olympics diving always has a close up as the divers enter the water. The commentators discuss how vertical the entry was and how little splash.

These idiots only had long shots of the dives. It was hard for me to see clearly how vertical the divers were when they entered the water. Kareem really screwed up. It looked liked he came close to a belly flop. I'm pretty sure he hit the water chest and knees first. That dive didn't deserve a 3. Even for an amateur celebrity competition.

It's impossible to accurately judge these dives without a close up of them entering the water. I'm amazed Greg Louganis is letting them attempt the high platform with such terrible diving form. The risk of getting hurt goes way up when you don't hit the water correctly.

Maybe the first episode was filmed a few weeks ago? I'm hoping they get better form by the season finale.

Edited by aceplace57, Mar 20, 2013 @ 1:33 AM.

[A Boston Gal]

What a strange little show! Although, I was amused by the individual theme songs written for the contestants.

[Skittl1321]

I thought her dive was better, but because Miss Bikini, er, Miss Ala dived from a higher spot she got the judges' save.

In addition to going off the high dive, she also took the judges feedback and went into the water head first. If Keisha did the dive she did as her 'goodbye' dive, she may have been there, because it wasy the same dive the other girl did, but MUCH better, although lower.

The fact that ringer, excuse me, skiing guy, was in the bottom shows what BS the judging was. Ringer or not his dive was WAY better than anyone else's.


Personally, I thought the show was fabulous, but I do wonder how they are going to sustain it as a series. In "Skating with the Stars" they had a new challenge each week- learn a spin, learn a jump, do a death spiral, etc. If this show did 'everyone platform dives low", "everyone springboard dives", "everyone high dives", or "back dive", "forward dive", "inward dive" then it would progress, but since everyone is doing whatever they want/feel comfortable with, it seems like it will be the same thing every single week, though hopefully they will get better.

At least the judge weren't being jerks.

It's impossible to accurately judge these dives without a close up of them entering the water.

Most of them were pretty over vertical. It is just the same as going to a diving competition- you don't get a close up there, but when I went we could almost always guess the judges scores. Maybe as they get better and actually hit a close to vertical position and not a shamu-sized splash we'll get that camera angle.

Edited by Skittl1321, Mar 20, 2013 @ 7:45 AM.

[WhatDoYouKnow]

I was a competitive swimmer for 12 years, so I know enough about diving to know A. I can't do it, and I don't want to. B. Whether something is a good dive or not.

The scoring on this show was horrible. Putting fears of diving off heights aside, it's actually easier in many cases to complete the same dive from a higher platform because you have more time to complete your elements. You can rotate at the speed of Kareem, instead of the speed of David Boudia, and have enough time to complete the flip if you start higher. Exceptions to this would be in cases like Louie's dive. It would have been a better dive if he'd started at his original height because he wouldn't have had as much time to over-rotate like he did and would have finished much more vertically. Kareem's dive would have worked much better if he'd done it on the 3-meter springboard, not the 1. (I think he was on the 1.) OR, if Greg had taught him how to jump and use the springboard's bounce to get some actual height. He might be 65, but he was a professional basketball star. I assume he can jump.

Keisha was really good and didn't deserve to get voted off. Even when I was watching her practice film, I thought if she'd started diving in high school she could have been a pretty competitive high school diver.

They were rewarding people for really dumb things. If the dives aren't even remotely comparable difficulty or performance wise, you can't give the worse dive better scores just because it was from a higher platform or the diver is older or something. That's ridiculous.

And if they reward you for "growing" as a person or whatever it was they said, what are they going to do about Rory who can't dive off of anything higher? He doesn't have much room to impress them now.

Just jumping off the 10-meter can hurt a lot if you smack the underside of your arms flailing about like they showed Katherine do. Why didn't Greg give them some instruction on how to safely jump? Here's what wikipedia says about belly-flopping off the 10-meter. It can't kill you, but I still wouldn't want to do it: hitting the water flat from 10 m brings the diver to rest in about 1 ft. The extreme deceleration causes severe bruising both internal and external, strains to connective tissue securing the organs and possible minor hemorrhage to lungs and other tissue. This is very painful and distressing, but not life-threatening.

Or, it can just knock the breath out of you and then someone has to jump in and save you so you don't drown.

I think they should have limited the show to the 1 and 3-meter springboard and the 5-meter platform. It would have been safer, but it also would have helped eliminate some of the "he jumped from a higher platform than you, even though his dive sucked, so he wins" scoring.

I'm sure the same thing happened with Dancing with the Stars, which I only watched season 1 of, but I don't understand dancing, so it wasn't as obvious.

I'll probably keep watching, because I do admire them for doing things I wouldn't even attempt, but I suspect I'll have to continue yelling at the judges.

ETA: Was Greg Louganis as overly-tanned to the point of being almost leather as he looked or was that lighting or the color on my TV? I know he works outside all day long, but it looks like if he's not careful, skin cancer will kill him well before anything HIV-related.

Edited by WhatDoYouKnow, Mar 20, 2013 @ 8:09 AM.

[ari333]

I thought it seemed dangerous too.

If Keisha was going to be the bottom one for the evening, however absurd that may be, they should have at least waited and put her up against the bottom person for next week, and then booted someone. It's preposterous to me that she is gone and half the cast hasn't even jumped/dived yet.

Poor obese Louie. Before he took his dive, someone said, "Leave some water in the pool, Lou." I get the sense that he has made some healthy changes or has done some swimming since he's been involved in this because he said (and they showed a clip) that he couldn't even get out of the pool by himself initially.

Interesting to see them practice on the trampoline. I have wondered, from watching Olympics, etc, how someone learns to do a dive like the flipping and twisting for the first time like how do you know what to do with your body in the air on the first try.

[Skittl1321]

teresting to see them practice on the trampoline. I have wondered, from watching Olympics, etc, how someone learns to do a dive like the flipping and twisting for the first time like how do you know what to do with your body in the air on the first try.

The diving center at our university has a harnes that they can work in too. So I presume for really complicated dives you go 'trampoline', 'harness', and then dive. I don't really know how the harness works, but if it is anything like ice skating, a coach would be able to pull a line to slow your fall, so if you were about to belly flop, you'd do it with less force, or if you weren't quite where you need to be on rotation, it would give you time to finish the movement so you didn't land on your back. At least in skating, it still hurts when you fall, but less. I figure the diving harness is like that.

[olivia1]

I knew Louie or Kareem wouldn't get ousted first. I suspect a lot of people are watching to see what those two extreme-sized and not so young body types can do, plus I think they are probably the two most well know of this bunch. I could be wrong. I am rooting for both of them. I would never be willing or able to do those dives much less in front of an audience and on national TV so..Bravo!! Since everyone didn't get to dive I can't remember the others, but it seems most of the "stars" are young and fit.

I felt so sorry for Louie trying to get out of the pool. That would be so humiliating to need so much help. I hope he loses some weight and gets healthy. He seemed very emotional about getting this chance and I liked seeing him get the support from all the others.

[WhatDoYouKnow]

It's hard when you're tired and can't touch the bottom to get out of a pool. Though if I remember correctly the deck at the pool they were using was level or about level with the surface of the water. That makes it a lot easier. But, that's why pools have ladders. Did this one not have one? Could he not swim to the ladder? If someone can't swim well enough to get to the ladder, I would refuse to coach them in diving.

[DT3]

I assumed Louie didn't use a ladder because it was more dramatic the way it was shown. Which is ridiculous and humiliating and he must really need the money. It's like how on The Biggest Loser they have to 'weigh' the contestants shirtless, so the full extent of their obesity is on display like in a circus sideshow. At least they let Louie wear a body suit here.

At least on Dancing With the Stars, most people can at least clump around the dance floor, you've got music, an attractive and talented pro and sparkly costumes to entertain you.

Well, they did have sparkly, bedazzled swimsuits and big sparkly earrings and bracelets and full makeup.

I didn't want to watch this show because Greg Louganis' accident freaks me out (still), but there was nothing else on. If contestants start doing those platform dives where they rotate in, I'll have to stop watching.

[soymilk]

Was Greg Louganis as overly-tanned to the point of being almost leather as he looked or was that lighting or the color on my TV? I know he works outside all day long, but it looks like if he's not careful, skin cancer will kill him well before anything HIV-related.

He's half Samoan so some of it is his natural skin tone, combined with being outside a lot.

[braggtastic]

Total guilty pleasure watch. I took a diving class in grad school a few years ago. We only used the 1 & 3m boards, but 3m was fucking high when you were up there!

I was amused by the individual theme songs written for the contestants.

All of the contestants except Miss Alabama. I guess they couldn't figure out what the hell to sing about for her - she just had an instrumental.

Why is Joey Lawrence's hair orange and so weird. He does not look good. Has he been on meth? His face looked jacked.

Greg Louganis flipped his tint. He used to be paler with dark hair & now he's overtan with pale hair.

I have no idea why Kareem got 7.5 for a horrendous belly flop. And why didn't they show the audience scores? Poor Rudy shouldn't have been the first one out. They needed to multiple by degree of difficulty or something. I like that the current US diver demonstrates things, but why oh why does every judged reality show have to have someone from another country as a judge? There seriously isn't an American coach who could have done this?

I already know Chuy

Spoiler

doesn't dive because he broke his foot at a party during their training time, not even while he was diving. I don't know who the alternate is who takes his place though.

[WhatDoYouKnow]

They needed to multiple by degree of difficulty or something.

Yes. Definitely. I was thinking if they cared so much about giving "bonus points" for people for being tall/fat/old/whatever, they could add that into the Degree of Difficulty or something. Like, this dive we'd normally call a 2, but you're so tall, we'll call it a 2.5. But that's too difficult for the "dumb American audience."

Louganis was always tan, but now it's icky and looks unhealthy to me. I was also disappointed at how simple of a dive he did at the beginning of the show. I know he's in his early 50s, but I'm sure he can do something harder than that. Or, if he can't, then he doesn't need to do a dive at all. He's not the one performing here.

There seriously isn't an American coach who could have done this?

I was wondering if diving is one of those American sports where we're almost always coached by someone from another country (like elite gymnastics), but a brief wiki search makes me think that's not true.

[ari333]

I could not believe they were diving with earrings on. If they were clip-ons, how do they stay on and what's the point? And if they're pierced... just - smack! ouch!

Also, all the cleavage. Really. REALLY? And then there's the little string bowtie thing around the upper thigh/hip. That has wardrobe malfunction written all over it.

[camom]

I'm not terribly discerning in my TV watching, but I won't waste any more time with this show. It was awful!

[bataviaduo]

We watched 15 minutes. I used to be a lifeguard and a competitive swimmer and I have done some diving. This show is an insult and Greg must be needing money to be involved in this. I feel bad for the contestants.