Dancing with the Surviving Idol

[puppetmaker]

Since three reality series have finished up with their most recent winners. I thought I would take a moment to comment on each. Understand that Survivor was really hit or miss on my viewing schedule this year, but I did watch the other two pretty consistently.

Survivor had yet another interesting idea to pit fan favorites against fans of the show. A previous contestant won, Parvati Shallow had participated in Cook Island. I really wonder how it would have gone with out the major injuries that seem to plague the contestants this year. Three out because of life threatening complications is the most so far. Yeah the women decided early to play the men and did a good job of it to get it down to an all female final. Overall what I saw was not bad but I felt that other than the real injuries, they had to create a lot of false drama to make it interesting.

Dancing with the Stars had an interesting set of contestants. I was cheering for Penn. Ariel was cheering for Marisa. Marisa made it much further than Penn. Apparently large men are at a disadvantage in this contest. It was pretty obvious that Kristine had an edge in this contest. Her training for skating, like Apollo's previously, gives her a sense of balance and body placement that the other contestants don't have. There was a lot of good dancing this year on both the participants and the other people they had dancing during the results show. But I have to admit my inner Whovian did a happy dance when Kylie was the singing guest. There is still something about this contest that has us tune in each year to watch.

American Idol was rather weak this year to me. If these were the strong singers they were boasting about, it didn't come over on tape. I thought most of them were OK. My favorite went out in a vote that I still don't believe. I liked Carly Smithson's smoky voice and song choices. Ariel was a David Archuleta fan from his audition. She thought he was so cute and had a pop voice. Ariel said last night, before the airing of the show, that if it was a contest for a pop idol based on vocal abilities then Archuleta had it in the bag. If it was a popularity contest then Cook would win. Cook won and Ariel turned to me and said popularity contest. Yeah, but that has always been American Idol. But Ariel and I think that both Carly and David A are going to be OK.

I am grateful for these sorts of shows even though the padding of the shows is hitting the absurd point.

Comments

[wookiemonster.livejournal.com]

I called Kristi from the start. Every skater we've had on our team has needed only a month or so of training before winning in Silver and moving on to Gold.

As for Penn... Yeah, I would have loved to see what he would have come up with. The problem is that he's build for Smooth/Standard, and his size is a disadvantage when it comes to Rhythm/Latin. This is why I don't like how the competition is run and would prefer to see it run more like real dance competitions are run. But, the show itself may not do as well, so...yeah.

All I know is that our team's head coach has worked with some of the couples and has been invited to judge on the show... Heh.

[lilia2000.livejournal.com]

Now I thought the total opposite about American Idol. I thought this year was much better than the past couple of years, that both Davids' deserved to be in the top two and that they could both sing REALLY well.

Although being a fan of rock, I have always liked Cook much better than Archuleta. Ariel was rigth that Archie had a pop voice but I think all the past winners prove that the contest isn't looking for a pop singer. Consider Carrie Underwood who has done amazing in the country scene, but not so much the Top 40/pop scene.

Vocally I think they both were amazing and either one deserved to win. Though I've always been a fan of Cook. I don't think Tuesday night he quite showed his range except in the first song.

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

I liked both David's in AI. It was a hard choice for me. I agree though, I really liked Carly. David Cook is certainly no Chris Daughtry. I liked him from the beginning in that season of the show.

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

I had the opposite thought of the two Davids. I was sure that Archuleta was going to win, but I felt that win would have nothing to do with his voice and everything to do with the fact that he was a cute puppy all the young girls would want to take home. So Cook's win was entirely unexpected for me.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Jonathan and Eliza had an alliance with Natalie, Alexis and Kathy. They probably would have hooked in Jason as well (although according to the Survivors posting at Sucks *everyone* hated Jason). That would have given them the edge going into the merge.

As noted at the reunion, Penner was the one who outted Parvarti as a major player and a threat to win. He wouldn't have let her near the end game.

Cirie would have switched in a heart beat had the situation been reversed and threw the major physical threats Ozzy and James under the bus the first chance she got.

What I loved about this season was how one little thing could have changed the entire game, and there were several of those "little things" (including Joel being so paranoid that he voted out strong players who were helping the team instead of ones who were holding the team back, which torpedoed the fans.)

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

I am grateful for these sorts of shows even though the padding of the shows is hitting the absurd point.

Cheap programming + High Ratings = padding

:)

'Dancing' is the only one I watch

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

I'm with Ariel -- I was rooting for Marissa.

I also had two of the three finalists pegged by the end of the first show -- Jason and Kristie. Christian was a surprise -- I was sure Mario would be a finalist.

My favorite "pro" dance of the season was the first one -- the one choreographed by the Cirque du Soleil person. I will occasionally watch it again on youtube.