Dancing With The Stars II - week 1

[rpungin]

Ok, so you've seen the first week of the show. Who do you think will win? I know it's early to tell, but what does your gut feeling tell you? Who would you bet on? Who do you think has potential?

Also, who do you think is the next one out?

Go ahead and place your bet by selecting one couple from the list under first week videos on my DWTS page (dwts.info). Hurry up! The poll will close at 8 PM tomorrow! The results will still be available after that. Each week there will be a different poll (obviously with one couple less), so we'll see if people's expectations will come true to life by the end of the season!

[Joe]

P must go.

[Purr]

P must go.

Agreed.

[Purr]

Ok, so you've seen the first week of the show. Who do you think will win? I know it's early to tell, but what does your gut feeling tell you? Who would you bet on? Who do you think has potential?

I think Drew Lachey has the potential to win.

[Purr]

Do you get a discount for having your lesson on Thursday? G/f....gotta change the schedule!

My lesson tonight is at 6:45 p.m., so I'll be home in time to watch the show. Yeah! :)

[Ithink]

I think Drew Lachey has the potential to win.

I agree, especially if his standard ends up being as good as his latin. Although I doubt that'll be the case given his instructor and the initial difficulty of standard for the man...

[wyllo]

For Lachey it will depend on how quickly he picks up standard. Stacy Keibler probably stands a good chance of winning -- she's attractice, flexible and coordinated. I also wouldn't rule out Jerry Rice or Lisa Rinna just yet either. I do hope that P is able to come out and make a good showing this week. Heck, if he does even a mediocre job he might end up coming back another week if voters reward him for the improvement.

[alemana]

in general i would be surprised if a male celebrity won, and similarly would be surprised if a female celebrity partnered with a standard pro won. i think people are more easily swayed by the latin dancing than the standard, which they have trouble evaluating.

[SDsalsaguy]

My lesson tonight is at 6:45 p.m., so I'll be home in time to watch the show. Yeah! :)
:banana::banana:

[SDsalsaguy]

in general i would be surprised if a male celebrity won, and similarly would be surprised if a female celebrity partnered with a standard pro won. i think people are more easily swayed by the latin dancing than the standard, which they have trouble evaluating.
Good point about the latin vs. standard alemana. Still, I think it gets complicated because I think people often can evaluate smooth (at least to the extent they can latin), but at least Len Goodman will slam any couple who strays too far in this direction. As far as a "standard pro," the closest this season is really nick, no? I'm not saying that the other male pros don;t have some standard/smooth trainig (some have a lot), but all the rest are most widely recognized and known for their latin/rhythm.

I also think that, in the absence of a stand out (like last year's John O.) that it is harder for the male celebrities than the female ones -- but that dynamic is true to all pro/am after all. I think a lot will depend on how good a job Drew does with the non-latin dances.

[SDsalsaguy]

Stacy Keibler probably stands a good chance of winning -- she's attractice, flexible and coordinated.
As I mentioned in my response to almeana above, I think an overly smooth vs. standard depiction of any dance will continue to draw low scores from Len at least. The reason I bring this up is that Tony's routine for Stacy was the only one of the waltz routines that didn't have even an instant of closed hold in full body contact. If that continues in the other smooth/standard dances then it will probably hurt their judging score but, ironicly perhaps, boost their audience vote as smooth is generally more "viewer friendly" (especially to non-dancers like the majority of the viewing public) than standard. In any eventuality, it will be interesting to watch how everything plays out...

[mamboqueen]

in general i would be surprised if a male celebrity won, and similarly would be surprised if a female celebrity partnered with a standard pro won. i think people are more easily swayed by the latin dancing than the standard, which they have trouble evaluating.


I agree with this. I think it'll come down to Tony/Stacey or Tia/Max. I have a stronger disposition towards Max (and then some :)), but I think he may come off as being a little arrogant or hard on Tia....which might work against them. On the other hand, people could give Tia the sympathy vote if she keeps playing up the "new mother" aspect. Whoever wins doesn't *have* to be the best dancers...we all know that!

[wyllo]

As I mentioned in my response to almeana above, I think an overly smooth vs. standard depiction of any dance will continue to draw low scores from Len at least. The reason I bring this up is that Tony's routine for Stacy was the only one of the waltz routines that didn't have even an instant of closed hold in full body contact. If that continues in the other smooth/standard dances then it will probably hurt their judging score but, ironicly perhaps, boost their audience vote as smooth is generally more "viewer friendly" (especially to non-dancers like the majority of the viewing public) than standard. In any eventuality, it will be interesting to watch how everything plays out...

I wonder if the pros will catch on and include at least one clearly recognizeable standard move in all of their smooth routines? Especially after Len gushed over Max & Tia's oversway throwaway last week.

[Another Elizabeth]

in general i would be surprised if a male celebrity won, and similarly would be surprised if a female celebrity partnered with a standard pro won. i think people are more easily swayed by the latin dancing than the standard, which they have trouble evaluating.
The only female celebrity partnered with a standard pro is Tatum O'Neal, right? I don't see her as being a top contender, but it's more because I don't think she has the personality for Latin than because I don't think she'll get the training for it. I honestly don't think that the general public will be able to distinguish between Louis' Latin and Nick's, even though we will know the difference.

[alemana]

I honestly don't think that the general public will be able to distinguish between Louis' Latin and Nick's, even though we will know the difference.


oh of course not... i can barely tell the difference between the standard skillz amongst the pros (of all stripes) on the show and i'm a freakin dancer.

[Ithink]

I wonder if the pros will catch on and include at least one clearly recognizeable standard move in all of their smooth routines? Especially after Len gushed over Max & Tia's oversway throwaway last week.

You know there is a picture of it on the ABC website, and their throwaway oversway looks really good!! Like her position and everything is very impressively good! When I saw it I was shocked cause I didn't like their dancing that much overall but the pictureline on the photo looks awesome!

[Ithink]

The only female celebrity partnered with a standard pro is Tatum O'Neal, right? I don't see her as being a top contender, but it's more because I don't think she has the personality for Latin than because I don't think she'll get the training for it. I honestly don't think that the general public will be able to distinguish between Louis' Latin and Nick's, even though we will know the difference.

Nick is NOT a standard dancer although his standard is very good. He's the reigning Smooth US Champion, not standard. Although, I am sure he was trained in standard being Australian and all... People don't know this but he also did latin before and is pretty darn good at it. I know this because after judging my partner and I in latin in one comp his comment to my partner was that he needs new latin pants (which he subsequently made for my partner) which flare out more on the bottom and cover his not-so-dainty feet, a comment he said he once also received from a judge after competing himself:)

[Another Elizabeth]

Nick is NOT a standard dancer although his standard is very good. He's the reigning Smooth US Champion, not standard. Although, I am sure he was trained in standard being Australian and all... People don't know this but he also did latin before and is pretty darn good at it. I know this because after judging my partner and I in latin in one comp his comment to my partner was that he needs new latin pants (which he subsequently made for my partner) which flare out more on the bottom and cover his not-so-dainty feet, a comment he said he once also received from a judge after competing himself:)
Right - I know that Nick is smooth, not standard. The comment I was replying to seemed to be using "standard" as generic for both. If you separate them, then there are no professional male standard dancers, after all (and now there are no female standard dancers, either). I did not know that Nick had competed in Latin, though - that's interesting.

[Larinda McRaven]

He and Elena were the Australia 10 dance champions.

[Joe]

They did Latin at Blackpool as recently as 2002.

[DancePoet]

What is a real shame is that someone from ESPN got kicked off. That would have been a HUGE boom for us if he had stayed on. He would realize the difficulty, yet increasingly feel good about his performaces and his challenge. Now sadly I am afraid he will out of "saving face" just scoff at the whole thing... and we have sorely missed our chance to be taken seriously by the sports network.
That is a bummer. Could have provided some extra publicity for the dance community if he kept making it into at least the next few rounds. :(

[DancePoet]

Good point...but there's still plenty of opportunity with Jerry Rice on the show. If ABC has any part in airing the NFL playoffs (starting this weekend), they would have him do some guest commentary on the games and work some snippets of the show in. It would really expose the show to a huge audience who might not otherwise be watching on Thursday nights. I'm just not sure off the top of my head what part ABC has in the playoffs.
Hmmm ... I wonder if the football ... guys (was was going to use a different word) ... would really appreciate Rice's effort or think poorly of him instead?

[gusmahler]

ABC will be airing the Super Bowl this year.

[Bradamant]

Hmmm ... I wonder if the football ... guys (was was going to use a different word) ... would really appreciate Rice's effort or think poorly of him instead?

I don't know. But in the SF Bay area the the sportscast always contains a word about DWTS and Jerry (and even other people the second week) on both the Thursday and Friday night news. And I saw a moment of the Raider's Report or some hour show like that on Sunday where they did a little blurb about Jerry Rice on DWTS. It seems that the sports blurbs I saw before the show started were encouraging if somewhat uncomfortable in a funny way. But over the course of the past couple of weeks even the sportscasters seem to be taking it more seriously. They've never said anything negative. So at least the public face of his sports buddies is a positive one. (They're probably ribbing him behind the scenes, but who knows.)

[Medira]

It seems that the sports blurbs I saw before the show started were encouraging if somewhat uncomfortable in a funny way. But over the course of the past couple of weeks even the sportscasters seem to be taking it more seriously. They've never said anything negative. So at least the public face of his sports buddies is a positive one. (They're probably ribbing him behind the scenes, but who knows.)
Probably poking fun at him about being taken to task by a little slip of a woman. ;) Seriously though, I'm glad to see it getting some positive, serious coverage in the sports world. :)