Dancing with the Stars -- The Sabrina Ripoff

[Buffacuse]

For me, Mrs. Buff, Madre de Buff and a bunch of other folks I've talked to the show is now a total joke--ala American Idol with blocks of voters supporting favs regardless of their relative talent.

I don't plan on watching again this season and maybe not ever again--that kid worked her heart out, was clearly one of the best two, and got shafted.

[silvercamaro]

For me, Mrs. Buff, Madre de Buff and a bunch of other folks I've talked to the show is now a total joke--ala American Idol with blocks of voters supporting favs regardless of their relative talent.

I don't plan on watching again this season and maybe not ever again--that kid worked her heart out, was clearly one of the best two, and got shafted.

So, did you make the effort to vote for Sabrina?

To one degree or another, it's happened every year. It also happens in every other show that permits the audience to vote.

For that matter, high school cheerleaders are not necessarily the prettiest, best dancers and gymnasts, nor are Presidents chosen by virtue of superior intelligence, virtue, experience, or diplomacy. When people vote, you will lose some good candidates. On television, if the audience couldn't vote, many of them wouldn't watch the show in the first place.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Last night was the first time I voted, and I used my phone and internet votes for Jane Seymour.

[peacock2121]

I agree with Uday and as usual will be less tactful in my response.

Blaming a show for what the voting public does or doesn't do is rather silly and misplaced anger, especially if you didn't vote 10 times for your favorite dancer.

Additionally - who shafted her? Not the show.

[fuzzywuzzy]

For me, Mrs. Buff, Madre de Buff and a bunch of other folks I've talked to the show is now a total joke--ala American Idol with blocks of voters supporting favs regardless of their relative talent.

I don't plan on watching again this season and maybe not ever again--that kid worked her heart out, was clearly one of the best two, and got shafted.

I voted via the Internet for Sabrina & Helio! Shocked was NOT the word I was thinking when they announced that she was leaving. fwh & I, are excellent choosers when it comes to these shows. I had her pegged to go a long way.

I too, am NOT going to watch the DWTS ever again!

ABC = FOX in my book!

fuzzy

[mrkelley23]

This show is a little different, in that it weights the judges' scores much more highly than most "audience participation" shows. The judges' scores accounts for fully half the dancers' scores for the week.

SWMBO's opinion was that the judges consistently underscored Sabrina, with little to no explanation, and consistently overscored Jane and Mel B. Being the conspiracy theorist that I am, it was my opinion that TDWTSPTB were trying to engineer an all-female finale, so they wouldn't have yet another male winner.

On the night Sabrina lost, she scored only 25. According to Wendy, that put her in the bottom 2 as far as judges' scores went. I watched the replay, and though she might not have been the top dancer that night, she certainly didn't deserve to be in the bottom two.

Being in the bottom 2 of judges's scores meant that she had to significantly outscore at least one other dancer, and there was no sense of urgency, as everyone seemed to assume she was an easy pass on to the next round. No mention was made of the fact that she was in the bottom two of judges' scores, either during dance night or elimination night, which I can't figure out.

I don't care much about the show -- SWMBO loves it, and I enjoy watching it with her, but I would never watch it on my own. But if enough people feel the way Buff and Fuzzy (Whoa! I think I've got a new title for a TV show) do, TDWTSPTB may get the idea how dicey their method of elimination is, and adjust.

[peacock2121]

I am behind on the tapes of this show. The last one I saw, the judges gave her all 10s.

[wbtravis007]

I'd bet that, starting next week, the judges are going to be more likely to put more distance between the top dancers and the bottom ones. We've only been watching the last two seasons, but I've never seen them as shocked at the outcome as they were this week.

I'd bet you anything that Seymore, Osmond, and the blonde lady will all get significantly lower scores than the others next week.

Is it true that the race-car driver is the only one who hasn't been in the bottom two? That's the way it seems to me, just from memory. That seems pretty weird.

I still wouldn't rule out that gambling might influence all of this, at least occasionally. Stranger things have happened.

[ontellen]

I think Sabrina had 2 things working against her. When the show began there was mention made of the fact that she does a lot of hip hop dancing in her act and therefore had a leg up on the other dancers.

I also have absolutely no idea who the hell she is and I'm sure lots of people are voting for Marie Osmond and Dr. Quinn simply because they know them, or at least think they do.

[pcmaxey]

Judges' Leader Board for Monday, Oct. 29:

Melanie - 30
Helio - 28
Jennie - 27
Sabrina - 25
Cameron - 25
Marie - 23
Jane - 22

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I voted for Jane because I thought that she did a lot better than Marie and deserved better scores. Marie has an advantage due to her fainting stunt last week.

[kayrharris]

I felt like Marie would get a lot of "sympathy" votes as well.

[wbtravis007]

I hadn't thought of this Grand-dadism for awhile:

It's bad enough to get ****ed, but when you get ****ed deep, that's different.

[mrkelley23]

Judges' Leader Board for Monday, Oct. 29:

Melanie - 30
Helio - 28
Jennie - 27
Sabrina - 25
Cameron - 25
Marie - 23
Jane - 22

Thanks for posting this, pcmaxey. I know my wife is not the most objective observer, but I didn't know there were two contestants clearly beow Sabrina and Cameron.

It does, however, reveal the flaw in the elimination process. There are seven contestants left, which means that if America votes for all equally, they would each get about 14 percent. Now assume that Marie and Jane got about two percent "bumps" each, due to sympathy or whatever. If the other 5 are splitting the remainder equally, it's easy to see how Cameron and Sabrina wound up in the bottom two, and Sabrina wound up losing.

While Jane's and Marie's sympathy-inducing incidents are obviously real, I would expect future contestants to be smart enough to find heart-wrenching stories to manipulate the voters, if this show continues to be as popular as it has been.