Dancing with the Stars...on ABC...in HD! - Page 166

The scuttlebutt at work(just average watchers, no insiders) is one of the two leading ladies could go I'd sure hate to see that happen They also seemed to agree the judges scoring last night was on the odd side...

I haven't been able get Maria and her Bollywood dance out of my head all day. OMG was she HOT or what? I don't care what the tabloid sites say....her and Derek have something going on. Always calling her "Baby" and the congratulatory kiss on the lips. It's on between them 2. I don't care what anybody says.

Len was apologetic about the Bollywood score to Maria on a morning TV interview. He said he'll feel like a swine if she gets voted off, but still stands by his judgement that it wasn't a Samba or enough of one. He raved about the choreography and performance ... tough time to enforce his ballroom sensibilities. Yeah, I'm concerned either or both Maria and Katherine might pay the price tonight.

If you work the percentages (especially with two dances to average out) I think the judges voting will have little affect... at least as far as a couple of points. Unless of course the public voting is extremely close... which I can only guess isn't.

I tend to see Katherine and Maria sharing the same fan base and as such the odds are pretty good one will have to go soon. One would hope Melissa is gone which leaves one left. I'd say Roshon but he has been coming on strong plus there is no one left similar to draw votes away from him. For me Donald is very good but I'm not sure he is all that attract as far the the voting public. Hard to say but doesn't appear to have that Emmitt charm.

I agree with the Bollywood dance. Derek's choreography of late has been stellar. She was framed wonderfully throughout the entire dance and it was worth a 10 solely on the choreography. Not to mention Maria was fantastic... just the right attitude.

Dial Idol predicting Melissa as safe...everyone else in jeopardy with Kat/Maria the bottom two. DI is usually wrong, but there's an 80k difference between Melissa and the next pair...William/Cheryl.

And that would be an absolute joke, making the show look very bad. Melissa has improved but she isn't close to Katherine or Maria. I have been very unhappy with what the judges have done to Katherine. They seem to find obscure things to ding her on. Maybe they originally felt that they needed to bring her down to the pack but they may have overplayed their hand and it could earn Ms. Jenkins an undeserved trip home.

The show is about ratings... not the best dancer. And finding an underdog to support is part of the plot. Also, the judges largely score on a sliding scale based on perceived talent. At times they will try to separate two couples as in to protect one of them (at least that's my take). Without knowing how the voting goes we have no idea if the judges score really matters (to any degree). Perhaps even getting lower scores might rally their troops and stop them from being voted off if they were scored higher...

After how many years you haven't realized that people vote fan favorites and likeability over skill. Think Marie Osmond, Kirstie Ally, and the list goes on and applies to the other shows as well

Taylor Hicks versus Katherine McPhee
Michael Grimm versus Jackie Evancho
Benji Schwimmer versus Travis Wall

Well woohoo for another week. Can't say I have a favorite between the 4. I enjoy them all. May the best dance win, again and once more.

All is right with the world (for a change). This is one of, if not the best semi-final in the show's history. The remaining celebs are all excellent dancers and any of them could win this thing.

It's not all practice...



The article includes the Katherine rumors... looks like Derek is giving Mark a run for his money.

She's a cutie...no doubt...and from what I've seen of her personality on the show, I think I'd like her. Derek's a good pro and she has talent. Maybe not enough, but I'm glad she's still in it. I like all the remaining contestants, even though I suspect that William is a bit of a sleaze...seems he likes to record his sexual encounters on his phone and show them to new recruits . Hell, if I coulda, I woulda.

My two favorites on the semis.. of course Maria and Katherine..

I guess I should get in line behind Derek and Mark for Maria? ouch.. too much competition... maybe I'll sneak attack and get Katherine instead.. :P

So the final is 3 couples? right?

Yeah - season one only had two finalists with a total of six contestants. Back in the day... After the winners were announced they came back and had a dance-off and lost to the second place couple. With the rumored all-star season coming up it will be interesting to see if the old couples can catch up to today's level of dancing.

This seems to be the most evenly matched final four in quite some time. Barring one of them flubbing big time tonight, any one of them could be leaving tomorrow. Donald's chances of staying are pretty good since six of the past winners have been sports figures. The other three are all matched with pros who have multiple wins under their belts. Derek with three, Cheryl & Mark with two each.

As you say, barring a fubar, the judges scores will probably be close enough that the vote will decide this tonight and next week. Whoever's got the strongest following will win it. While I like the girls, Donald would seem to have an advantage. I'm not sure, even though the audience goes crazy for him, William really has the votes over DD. It would seem to me the girls will split their segment. However, just a thought, I did read that Maria and Derek get far and above more youtube views of their dances. Don't know if thats relevant or not. Maybe she's more popular than I think.

One of, if not the best semi-final in the show's history. All four celebs were excellent. Maria and Derek's Tango was superb. If you didn't know better, you would swear that these two were totally into each other in a blazing love/hate relationship. Len, as usual, couldn't see the Forrest through the trees when he dinged Katerine for an entirely insignificant issue. It's too bad that she had the issue at the end of her second number. She was killing it prior to that and would have had at a least a 29. I suspect that she will be bounced tonight, maybe being saved by Donald leaving instead. It's now clear that Maria and William will joust for the win. Maria is the better dancer but William gets the women's vote going away.

Maria is the winner for me... but it comes down to votes, maybe 70%+ of the viewers are women and will vote for William...

Yeah it's between Katherine and Donald for going home tonight.. I would have loved a Maria Vs. Katherine at the very end..

If history tells us anything...

Season 1 - Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo
Season 2 - Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke
Season 3 - Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke
Season 4 - Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough
Season 5 - Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough
Season 6 - Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas
Season 7 - Brooke Burke and Derek Hough
Season 8 - Shawn Johnson and Mark Balllas
Season 9 - Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson
Season 10 - Nicole Scherezinger and Derek Hough
Season 11 - Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough*
Season 12 - Hines Ward and Kym Johnson
Season 13 - JR Martinez and Karina Smirnof

A hunk won't win and the ladies have won almost half of the time. However I do think William is better than most of the previous hunks. I believe it comes down to how much of the voting block that typically vote for ladies are split between Katherine and Maria... if one is eliminated (tonight) the other stands a good chance of winning it all.

If you wander over to the DTWS board, you'll see threads dominated to Maria hate (or Derek hate), very few positives. Katherine is about 50/50 love/hate. Both William and Donald threads seem to be about 95% love. This just might mean that catty folks just can't shut up. I kind of think this is the case since there were quite a few pro Mel/Maks and Roshon threads on there previously most of which focused on Maria and Katherine hate...and it didn't help them. Probably the same posters starting new threads.

BTW, Louis Van Amstel and the NY Times dance pros all felt everyone was overscored last night (for the most part).

All my votes were sent to Maria, I have like 10 email accounts.. LOL

I don't have ATT so I didn't vote with that method..

I wander pass most of the posts in threads I read here so I'll pass. I do think team MariaDerek is rather polarizing. Personally, I find her attitude refreshing (she never even mentions her injuries) and her chemistry with Derek is incredible. Lastly, you really need to credit Derek for his choreography as I think this year it has been way above the others.

Looking over the list of past winners it's hard to think many of them would beat any of the remaining four. Perhaps a couple.

Nicole is the most polished contestant I can recall and a Hines Ward/Donald Driver competition would be very close. I think Gilles Marini was better than William in the hunk category, but you're right any of these contestants could have won it all in previous seasons. I also agree about Maria. She's got heart and doesn't complain. The injury drama has been overplayed (again) by the producers. That said, if Katherine had been paired with Derek, she'd be the odds on favorite this year. He seems to have the magic touch in getting the most out of his partners.

Good for them...and congrats to Donald and William...I'm sad about Maria. She grew on me the most.