LondosHair
Regular
From time to time, I think we're all allowed to have lapses that go against our better judgement. I'm taking this opportunity to confess a particular lapse in judgement that I've suffered from for the past eight weeks. It's called "Dancing with the Stars."
I'm going to assume you know what I'm talking about here... I don't feel like explaining the whole thing. Suffice to say, I was suckered into watching something that my GUT told me was a sham... or at least half a sham... and now I'm mad at myself.
Now, before you assume I'm going to whine and complain about my pick WWE star Stacy Keibler coming in third place, well... you're half right. Long story short, she was technically and aesthetically the BEST on the show, bar-none... but a lackluster freestyle dance last week hurt her overall standings. I would have been just fine with her coming in 2nd place to Drew Lachey. He was very deserving, and both his dances last week scored big. Also, let me say that I've got nothing against Drew or Jerry Rice. I'm not the slightest bit jealous that they beat Stacy, even though I don't think Jerry was proficient enough to make it to the "big three."
What I AM mad about (and deep down have always been bugged by) is the fact that only 50% of the contestants' total scores is based on the professional judges' scores. The OTHER 50% comes from public voting. Here's the catch, though: you can vote once per IP address on the website, but you can vote up to FIVE times from any phone line. We are never told what the exact public voting numbers are on the results shows. Not even after the elimination results are made public.
Last year's DWTS got into some hot water when they awarded the win to a contestant who clearly did not deserve it. The entire contest certainly came off as "rigged." I dare say the results are similar this year, although in a much more subtle way. I'm reading many threads on the show's site at ABC.com that claim Stacy's phone line was busy for the entire 30 minutes after the show was over in the central time zone (the amount of time we have to vote)... yet Jerry's phone line was easily accessible. I can verify that her line was busy for the entire voting period, and I do have a friend who voted for Jerry successfully all 5 times. He ended up beating Stacy tonight, even though his score was far lower than hers. This, to me, is a crock of crap.
In fact, after Master P, who was truly horrible and obviously wasn't trying hard, somehow managed to hang on for far too long due to the public voting, I swore off the show. I allowed my better judgement to take over, as it should have in the beginning, and I skipped the following show. The week after that though, I was bored that Thursday night, and I started watching again. That little voice in the back of my head kept shouting "foul" to me, but I didn't listen, because the people on the show were so entertaining. I knew I was probably setting myself up for disappointment, but I kept watching anyways.
To be HONEST, Stacy was the only reason I started watching the show this season, since I'm a WWE fan. But to be FAIR, I was introduced to some really great people who were totally unfamiliar to me before this show. I'm talking about George Hamilton, Lisa Rinna, Tia Carrere, Giselle Hernandez. Each one of those celebs had an honest and total commitment to the contest. Their professional trainers all became major characters on the show as well. For that, I'm thankful. In the end, however, it's too bad true talent had to make way for the popularity contest. Jerry should not have made it as far as he did, although I have nothing against the guy. He made me laugh, and by all accounts he's a super person. Giselle and Lisa should have made it farther than him, if we were basing the contest on talent.
I don't think the show would fail in the least if the public voting was given a much-reduced role in the decision making. Two votes per phone line is what I'd limit the voting to... especially in this age of cellphones. I seriously doubt there are many households left that are restricted to a single phone line. I say this because even MY PARENTS have 2 phone lines and 2 cellphones.
Congratulations ABC, enjoy the ratings you got from me this year -- but you will NOT sucker me into watching next season unless the rules are substantially changed. Besides, I doubt you can come up with a cast that had as much comeraderie and chemistry as this one. That kind of lighting rarely strikes twice, as every B5 fan knows.
I'm going to assume you know what I'm talking about here... I don't feel like explaining the whole thing. Suffice to say, I was suckered into watching something that my GUT told me was a sham... or at least half a sham... and now I'm mad at myself.
Now, before you assume I'm going to whine and complain about my pick WWE star Stacy Keibler coming in third place, well... you're half right. Long story short, she was technically and aesthetically the BEST on the show, bar-none... but a lackluster freestyle dance last week hurt her overall standings. I would have been just fine with her coming in 2nd place to Drew Lachey. He was very deserving, and both his dances last week scored big. Also, let me say that I've got nothing against Drew or Jerry Rice. I'm not the slightest bit jealous that they beat Stacy, even though I don't think Jerry was proficient enough to make it to the "big three."
What I AM mad about (and deep down have always been bugged by) is the fact that only 50% of the contestants' total scores is based on the professional judges' scores. The OTHER 50% comes from public voting. Here's the catch, though: you can vote once per IP address on the website, but you can vote up to FIVE times from any phone line. We are never told what the exact public voting numbers are on the results shows. Not even after the elimination results are made public.
Last year's DWTS got into some hot water when they awarded the win to a contestant who clearly did not deserve it. The entire contest certainly came off as "rigged." I dare say the results are similar this year, although in a much more subtle way. I'm reading many threads on the show's site at ABC.com that claim Stacy's phone line was busy for the entire 30 minutes after the show was over in the central time zone (the amount of time we have to vote)... yet Jerry's phone line was easily accessible. I can verify that her line was busy for the entire voting period, and I do have a friend who voted for Jerry successfully all 5 times. He ended up beating Stacy tonight, even though his score was far lower than hers. This, to me, is a crock of crap.
In fact, after Master P, who was truly horrible and obviously wasn't trying hard, somehow managed to hang on for far too long due to the public voting, I swore off the show. I allowed my better judgement to take over, as it should have in the beginning, and I skipped the following show. The week after that though, I was bored that Thursday night, and I started watching again. That little voice in the back of my head kept shouting "foul" to me, but I didn't listen, because the people on the show were so entertaining. I knew I was probably setting myself up for disappointment, but I kept watching anyways.
To be HONEST, Stacy was the only reason I started watching the show this season, since I'm a WWE fan. But to be FAIR, I was introduced to some really great people who were totally unfamiliar to me before this show. I'm talking about George Hamilton, Lisa Rinna, Tia Carrere, Giselle Hernandez. Each one of those celebs had an honest and total commitment to the contest. Their professional trainers all became major characters on the show as well. For that, I'm thankful. In the end, however, it's too bad true talent had to make way for the popularity contest. Jerry should not have made it as far as he did, although I have nothing against the guy. He made me laugh, and by all accounts he's a super person. Giselle and Lisa should have made it farther than him, if we were basing the contest on talent.
I don't think the show would fail in the least if the public voting was given a much-reduced role in the decision making. Two votes per phone line is what I'd limit the voting to... especially in this age of cellphones. I seriously doubt there are many households left that are restricted to a single phone line. I say this because even MY PARENTS have 2 phone lines and 2 cellphones.
Congratulations ABC, enjoy the ratings you got from me this year -- but you will NOT sucker me into watching next season unless the rules are substantially changed. Besides, I doubt you can come up with a cast that had as much comeraderie and chemistry as this one. That kind of lighting rarely strikes twice, as every B5 fan knows.