dual personalities

Daughter #1 here. Happy Wednesday. I thought about doing a post about the Country Music documentary (hence the title) but I don’t really have the bandwidth today. So, I’m going to talk about Dancing with the Stars (I have a lot of feelings) again.

The themes I stated last week, were even more pronounced this week. The dancing skill level is still pretty low–I mean, the highest scores are for the woman from The Office who seems just as surprised as we are that she is doing this. I mean, I tend to love those storylines–but it loses its charm when everyone is pretty average.

The uneven scoring–which was exacerbated by horrible song/dance choices. It’s not a level playing field when Lauren Alaina has to dance a TANGO to “Pretty Woman” while James Vanderbeek danced a rumba to that song from the Bradley Cooper/Gaga A Star is Born. And why did Kel Mitchell have to dance to “My Heart Will Go On”???

Also, whenever James Vanderbeek dances, I think of this.

And the booing. It was even worse this week. Karamo, the guy from Queer Eye, gave a decidedly bad performance. And when the judges expressed an accurate assessment, they were booed. I mean, what is wrong with the state of our society that people think someone should win a contest with rules (that are well-established before the start) just because you like them? Let’s just eliminate the judging and give everyone hugs for doing a dance each week.

On the other hand, I feel very #blessed (but literally) that I get to watch this show in my nice, clean, and spacious apartment with a glass of wine. We are all so lucky–and it is important to remember that.

Daughter #1 here. Well, I’m going to talk about Dancing with the Stars. It has been a year since the last season–and I was really looking forward to the premiere last week. But, I have to say, this season is not clicking for me. Part of it may be that I don’t have cable so I am forced to watch on Hulu the next day, so maybe it is missing some energy. But, also, there’s no one that is really impressive immediately. I mean, the dances are all kind of meh.

Props to you if you can identify these people without cheating.

In the first two weeks, the show has demonstrated its usual inconsistent scoring. But added this year is a twist where the judges get to “save” one of the bottom two couples. Essentially, they pick who is eliminated. I imagine this is to prevent a reoccurrence of last season when Bobby Bones won despite not actually being the best dancer. Yes, we all thought Juan Pablo would make it to the final–but we don’t really need to change the rules to prevent that from happening again. Hmmm, sounds familiar.

Along with this, the crowd continues to boo everything Len says vociferously. And it’s like, sorry, Len prefers traditional dance steps and less booty. He’s always been this way. The pros know this. And when he is critical of dances that veer from the traditional ballroom style, booing isn’t necessary. And yet, apparently it is.

I don’t have a prediction about who will win or even be in the final because there are just not really any standouts. The pairings are odd. My prediction for most-likely-to-be-carried-through-based-on-his-“celebrity”-status is the guy from Queer Eye. He’s not very good but Carrie Ann and Bruno were agog over his decidedly mediocre dance. Plus, his parter is Jenna and the judges love everything she does.

I could go on and on and include reviews of each dancer–but I’ve gotta save some content for next week. I kid. In reality, I’ve got Ken Burns’ Country Music to catch up on–and Longmire to read!