Dancing with the Stars final

[mrkelley23]

More inexplicable judging, but since I only watch for my wife's sake, I was more than willing to help her vote for her favorite.

Got 30 internet votes in for Marie, while she THINKS she was successful in getting 3 phone votes in during the same time period.

Sigh.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I didn't watch the show yet.

I am amazed that Marie has lasted as long as she has because she wasn't one of the top three dancers, but she has the most personality of the three that are left and it might actually allow her to win the competition.

[tlynn78]

Sorry, but personality shouldn't win this particular competition. Marie should have been gone long ago, based on dancing ability.

t.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Sorry, but personality shouldn't win this particular competition. Marie should have been gone long ago, based on dancing ability.

t.

I agree, but the fans are keeping her in the competition. She's got a huge fan base. Most people don't know who Mel B and Helio are, so they vote for Marie because they like her.

[tlynn78]

the fans are keeping her in the competition. She's got a huge fan base. Most people don't know who Mel B and Helio are, so they vote for Marie because they like her.

Exactly. If just the peeps who buy her dolls on QVC vote, the others are doomed.


t.

[tanstaafl2]

It will be the fan base that carries Marie forward if she is able to advance or even win. While she has made a remarkable improvement and is certainly very charismatic she is does not appear to be the best dancer of the bunch!

I think Helio, as noted by the judges, has shown the best combination of improvement, technical skill and entertainment and would be my choice.

If I ever voted. Not that I ever have despite watching from the beginning of the first season.

Mel is obviously also very talented but didn't appear to have as far to come. And I just find Helio's enthusiasum infectious.

And since he is my choice that means he will probably finish third! Being one point behind Mel in the judges voting makes him more vulnerable to the Osmond voting machine that has carried her to this point.

[christie1111]

I hope Mel B wins. She is the best dancer. Also, my sister-in-law in England knew her just before she was getting her break becoming a Spice Girl. I think she has the same personality that Jenine had.

But Helio could win for most improved.

Both may suffer because Marie is the only American left. I wish that didn't impat voters but it might.

Marie does win on personality though. I give her a lot of credit for her perfomances. And she has lost a lot of weight!

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

After Jane Seymour left, I started voting for Helio. I was impressed by the fact that dancing wasn't part of his usual job description, but he did so well.

I don't think that he will win.

[wbtravis007]

More inexplicable judging, but since I only watch for my wife's sake, I was more than willing to help her vote for her favorite.

Got 30 internet votes in for Marie, while she THINKS she was successful in getting 3 phone votes in during the same time period.

Sigh.

I didn't see any of the first dances last night, but saw all of the second ones.

I'm astonished that y'all would be voting for Marie. Not because her dance (the second one) was so awful -- (that should not, I suppose, necessarily be dispositive) -- but because of her attitude and behavior.

I mean, you could tell by the expressions of her brother and her other people that even they knew that she was terrible. Let's face it: it was horrible, even before she fell on her ass.

Anyway, when that Lynn guy started to critique her -- using kid gloves, I might add -- she rudely interrupted, blurting out (in a very disrespectful and dismissive tone) something like: "I'm not buying it!" In an ideal world, he would have given her a "2" and explained that it would have been a "1" except that it seemed appropriate to go with a "2" seeins how that's the international symbol for CRAP and what not.

Then, while her partner tried to drag her from the stage, she continued to protest, saying something like "I was being a doll." The announcer (the guy) just said something that "We know" or "We got it". He should have said "Du-uh." Talk about pathetic! She reminded me of a fighter who's had his ass kicked trying to insist that he's fine and that the fight shouldn't have been called. Or a drunk guy being pulled away from a lady at a bar while protesting that he's not harassing her at all.

I think this thing has unhinged her a little.

Somebody ought to advise her that she should show up tonight and forfeit -- first thing. She could graciously announce that, while she appreciates all of her fans and blah-blah-blah, upon further review of her performance last night, and the way she acted, her conscience wouldn't let her accept the trophy.

That's the only way she'll ever redeem herself in my book.



By the way, I've thought all this time that they'd charge you to vote. Is that not the case?

[kusch]

Should win: Mel
Prolly will win: Marie

Mel is by far the best dancer of the the celebs. Oh, and she is hotter than hot.

Helio is flashing and has pizzazz, but technically he is not that much better of a dancer than Marie.

Marie is just plain entertaining, but her free style dance last night might keep her from winning. I would imagine she has a huge fan base that has kept her in this long. For that reason I believe the judges tried to set their scores for Marie so low that the huge fan base can not overcome the deficit.

[mrkelley23]

I voted for Marie because my beautiful bride (apologies to nitrah, but I call mine that, too, sometimes) wanted to. She was immediately turned off to Mel B, thought she had been consistently overscored by the judges (and can point to the technical mistakes Mel had made, yet still gotten 10s from the judges -- my wife is not uneducated in the art of dance). She was mortally po'ed by the Sabrina situation, but instead of boycotting the show, started voting on a regular basis for whomever she liked the best. She likes Helio, and thinks he has made worlds of improvement as a dancer, but it is her contention that ballroom dancing is much more difficult for the female than it is for the male (and I am not going to argue about that!) so it's time for a female to win.

For everything the message boards say (and that Travis and others have implied in their posts) this is NOT a "who's the best dancer?" show. If you believe that, then you believe celebrity BAM is about who's the best trivia expert. It's an entertainment show, with a bias toward popularity, although not as much as some entertainment shows.

I think the judges, and the producers (or maybe BECAUSE of the producers) have been guilty of manipulating dancers' scores to get the outcomes they want. I don't understand why they don't just change the voting rules, but I'm not in charge. In any case, it's this perception, which my wife and apparently many other people share, that has led to the Marie backlash. It's not just "Mormon nation" (what a laugh) or the doll customers who are voting for Marie. It's the casual viewers, like me and my wife, who are turned off by what the show has become. It's not that we're "voting for the worst," a la the internet site; but that we're voting for a person who has the charm and personality to win us over.

[wbtravis007]

mrk said:

For everything the message boards say (and that Travis and others have implied in their posts) this is NOT a "who's the best dancer?" show. If you believe that, then you believe celebrity BAM is about who's the best trivia expert. It's an entertainment show, with a bias toward popularity, although not as much as some entertainment shows.

I didn't mean to imply that. In fact, I said the opposite. I said that the quality of the dance shouldn't necessarily be dispositive.

What turned me off was her attitude and behavior (as I said).

[mrkelley23]

mrk said:

For everything the message boards say (and that Travis and others have implied in their posts) this is NOT a "who's the best dancer?" show. If you believe that, then you believe celebrity BAM is about who's the best trivia expert. It's an entertainment show, with a bias toward popularity, although not as much as some entertainment shows.

I didn't mean to imply that. In fact, I said the opposite. I said that the quality of the dance shouldn't necessarily be dispositive.

What turned me off was her attitude and behavior (as I said).

Sorry, my bad. I was juxtaposing someone else's message with yours in my head -- it's dark and evil in there, y'know.

In response to your post, what Wendy and I saw in Marie last night was a good, healthy attitude, but I understand how others could see it differently.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I knew she was faking her fainting spell.

http://www.tmz.com/2007/11/27/fainting- ... as-a-fake/

[ne1410s]

Where's our bored docs?? I thought when you fainted you always fell forward...

[silvercamaro]

Because I was in my dance class last night, I finally saw a video of Marie's dance and the judges' remarks on the internet.

I was annoyed by the judges' statements that the concept was "unique." No. It was a ballroom adaptation of the ballet Coppelia to rock music.

[kayrharris]

I want Emmitt Smith back. He was my favorite out of all the seasons. He worked hard, improved a whole bunch and smiled the entire time. They haven't had anyone with his charisma before or since. JMHO.

I've thought from the beginning that Marie's fainting spell was fake.

[earendel]

Where's our bored docs?? I thought when you fainted you always fell forward...

You do on M*A*S*H*, at least according to Winchester.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Where's our bored docs?? I thought when you fainted you always fell forward...

I think that if you really and truly faint, your legs wouldn't be so primly put together, so as to avoid any unwelcome crotch shots.

[Appa23]

I knew she was faking her fainting spell.

http://www.tmz.com/2007/11/27/fainting- ... as-a-fake/

But what does the National Enquirer, World Weekly News, and The Onion say?

[wbtravis007]

Further evidence that Marie's become somewhat unhinged in the last few weeks: the way that she pointed to the judges and called them "the three step-sisters" (or something like that).

She knew what she was saying. She'd thought it out. Even Donny grimaced.

If the boys in investments had bought the value of my perception of her six months ago, and then sold it a few weeks ago, they'd have made some money for us. Right now, that stock is close to worthless.

Rest will do her good, I hope.

[minimetoo26]

No female will ever win this show. When one won on the first season, the outrage of the female voters brought out the danceoff and awarded a second trophy.

It's a Chick Show, and no Cheetah Girl or Spice Girl or other hoochy-mamma type will get their votes. My m-i-l is the only person I know who watches, and she's 68. Her boyfriend is 86. Young females are totally screwed.

[earendel]

No female will ever win this show. When one won on the first season, the outrage of the female voters brought out the danceoff and awarded a second trophy.

It's a Chick Show, and no Cheetah Girl or Spice Girl or other hoochy-mamma type will get their votes. My m-i-l is the only person I know who watches, and she's 68. Her boyfriend is 86. Young females are totally screwed.

And last night the winner was Helio Castroneves, confirming your theory.

[Rexer25]

No female will ever win this show. When one won on the first season, the outrage of the female voters brought out the danceoff and awarded a second trophy.

It's a Chick Show, and no Cheetah Girl or Spice Girl or other hoochy-mamma type will get their votes. My m-i-l is the only person I know who watches, and she's 68. Her boyfriend is 86. Young females are totally screwed.

And last night the winner was Helio Castroneves, confirming your theory.

My wife had DVRed (will that be a "real" word soon?) the show, and I walked into the room as they were preparing to announce the winner. After they announced who won, I told my wife all he needed was a quart of milk. We were both kind of startled, then amused when he got it (although it was a half-gallon in plastic, instead of a quart in glass).

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

No female will ever win this show. When one won on the first season, the outrage of the female voters brought out the danceoff and awarded a second trophy.

It's a Chick Show, and no Cheetah Girl or Spice Girl or other hoochy-mamma type will get their votes. My m-i-l is the only person I know who watches, and she's 68. Her boyfriend is 86. Young females are totally screwed.

And last night the winner was Helio Castroneves, confirming your theory.

Either that or there is a secret audience of NASCAR dads who voted for him obsessively.