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Last night was the start of the third season of Dancing With the Stars. Despite some problems with the show, I was a big fan of the previous two seasons but last night’s show was just so boring. I think perhaps it just went on too long, or maybe the stars just weren’t very interesting or recognisable. The football star was better than last year’s but didn’t deserve any standing ovations; its only one show and already everyone is showing the same old biases. The judges are already bickering and, like with American Idol, it isn’t entertaining any more. There were some highlights: I loved the foxtrot by Vivica A. Fox and the ex-Miss USA contestant. Jerry Springer was fun to watch, and any time Karina Smirnoff is on screen is a good time by anyone’s standards.

So you didn’t listen to me on Thursday, or perhaps you voted for Jerry just out of spite? Dancing With the Stars has problems with its final show – Jerry is almost guaranteed to win as he clearly has the popular vote. But anyone with one half-working eye knows that his dancing is not on a par with the others, and the articles are no doubt already being written about what a sham the show is. Because of the ranking system used, about the only way Jerry can lose is if the judges tie Drew and Stacey for first place. If that happens then Jerry can only come second no matter the viewer vote. But if there’s a tie, we’ll all know that the ‘fix’ is in. Like I said, the final is damned no matter what.

We all know reality shows are little to do with reality but in most cases the person who goes further than they should is usually gone when it comes down to the trophy, and the winner is usually deserved. But here that person is likely going to win if the show doesn’t get rigged against him, and I’m not sure that’s happened in a reality show before.

I deliberately haven’t blogged about this season’s Dancing With The Stars but feel compelled to urge you all to vote for Lisa tonight. Yes, its admirable that Jerry Rice has the balls to try dancing but he truly is the worst person at this stage of the competition. And not just by a little, but by a whole planet. Its a dance competition, folks, not a celebrity fan club event.

I know Lisa has no chance, but wouldn’t it be nice if for once a reality show put forward someone who met the talent criteria rather than the most popular person? Come on, American, I know you can do it.

Fox (or rather producer Nigel Lythgoe) showed once again that they know how to do reality TV right; So You Think You Can Dance was far more enjoyable than Dance With The Stars. The dancing was great, we didn’t have to suffer too many fools in the auditions, and the judges were spot on with their comments. My favourite of the night was the girl in the brown dress who did a jazz/modern-type ballet with amazing footwork. Least favourite was Isis – the belly dancer with the huge fake boobs – now that was scary!

(It seems trite to talk about fluff when bombs are going off in London but life must go on. I can only say that I hope the British Government finds out who is responsible and sends our crack SAS team to visit them in their sleep)

Well, I thought I’d state my disappointment at the outcome. I don’t mind too much that Kelly won (from the beginning the reality TV boards all said she would as she was the most popular) but in the manner that she won. John and Charlotte never got a single 10 and yet they were always the “couple to beat”.

Watching the freestyle I was 100% sure that John/Charlotte would win the judges vote, Kelly has improved but she never even tries to get over her feet and that makes the whole thing look frantic. When the comments came, I knew the ‘fix’ was in.

I liked the flashback and then the return of the couples. It was great to see how much Joey had improved from that first Cha Cha, couldn’t say the same about Evander but kudos to him for being there. I was sad that we never got to see Trista dance more.

My wife called me right after and said she was disgusted at the ‘vote rigging’, this morning all my co-workers have said the same, that it was ‘clearly fixed’. As we know with Idol, all this means is that more people will watch the next season. As disappointed as I am, I bet I will still be one of them.

Had to comment on last night’s opening episode of ABC’s Dance With The Stars.

Overall, I thought it was enjoyable entertainment, though the show really doesn’t know whether it wants to be American Idol (all the criticism was constructive so why the booing from the audience?) or Martha Stewart-like (no, not criminal, but refined and elegant). I think thas been a problem with dancesport for a long time, its hard for the public to take it seriously as a sport but at the same time the public doesn’t much care if its all ball gowns and elegance.

Dance-wise, I thought all the celebs did pretty well. In 5 weeks of training they aren’t ever going to become accomplished so I was hoping to see presentation and performance. My favourites were definitely John and Charlotte, and Rachel and Jonathan. Special mention goes to Edyta for a body that just wouldn’t quit and reminding me what I used to love the most about competing.

I didn’t much care for the professional intro’s, all arrogance and ego. Now I know most of these people don’t need prompting to brag about themselves but it was hard to take the likes of Alec Mazo boasting about himself. Please Alec, you are second-tier at best, you should be cleaning the other pros’ shoes after the show.

I liked the first waltz but the other two waltzes looked too much like latin dancing, which is not surprising since the guys involved were latin dancers. A little disappointing though as surely they could have performed it correctly if they are the dancers they claim to be. Louis, especially, is a legend of the dance world and I thought would do it better. But I hope he and Trista make it to the next round just so I can see him over-dance in the latin dances. I feel sorry for Trista, I doubt he will be dancing with her next week, only at her. My least favourite couple were Alec and his partner and I hope they are the ones eliminated next week.

So, all in all, an enjoyable hour. I wish the style of the show was consistent but any time dancing is on TV and not the butt of everyone’s jokes, its a good thing. I’ll be watching for the next few Wednesdays.

This weekend sees the opening of the new version of Shall We Dance with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. As many people hopefully know this is a remake of a fabulous Japanese original movie.

Despite my dance background, I don’t intend to see the new version as I can’t see how it works. What makes the original so great is the premise of the man going behind his wife’s (and his culture’s) back to take dancing lessons, thereby freeing his soul from the sad life he has fallen into. The remake tries to keep this premise intact but I don’t see how anyone can take such a thing seriously in Western culture. Whilst they might be fine actors I don’t see Gere or J.Lo portraying the dignity that is evident throughout the original.

So far, I’ve read a bunch of reviews that agree with me so I am confident that I am not going to miss anything by not seeing it. Rather I’ll dust off my copy of the original and spend a sure two hours with Koji and Tamiyo. And, no matter whether you see the remake or not, I urge you to do the same.

In other movie news, I see that one of my favourite movies ever in the whole universe is finally out on DVD – Betty Blue. I’ll be buying my copy real soon, and you should rent this too though it’s content is less suitable for children than Shall We Dance.

Hey, why not have yourself a foreign film night?