Dancing With The Stars

[MsGuy]

The Hammer is back! Who says there are no second acts in American lives?

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE57G4L720090817

 

I'm starting to realize how my grandfather (b.1898) must have felt in the sixties and after. American pop culture sensibilities have shifted to the point I'm left scratching my head.

 

Is it stranger that some producer thinks this is a great idea or is it stranger that Tom DeLay signed up to do it? It's a puzzlement.

[Guest zipperzone]

The Hammer is back! Who says there are no second acts in American lives?

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE57G4L720090817

 

I'm starting to realize how my grandfather (b.1898) must have felt in the sixties and after. American pop culture sensibilities have shifted to the point I'm left scratching my head.

 

Is it stranger that some producer thinks this is a great idea or is it stranger that Tom DeLay signed up to do it? It's a puzzlement.

 

Every season the show's producers seem to think they need a clown. This year it's Tommy Boy. Are there any real hunks scheduled? I need eye candy to keep me watching.

And when are they going to ditch that loud-mouthed embarrassment, Bruno?

[MsGuy]

The clown part I get. That's been standard since the days of Arthur Godfrey. But why Tom DeLay? And why on earth does DeLay think this is something he wants to do?

 

Or maybe the producer has Tommie penciled in as the male eye candy.

[+ purplekow]

Perhaps this is something he has always wanted to do and now he has the chance for someone to pay him to do it. Perhaps he thinks this will get him fitter and he will live a healthier life. People should be able to break out of the mold if they want to do so. So as much as I disagree with his politics, I give Tom DeLay a salute for breaking out of his comfort zone and doing something different. I remember going into a bowling alley when I was a grammar school student and there was the principal bowling and people were calling him by his first name. It was shocking. I am adult now and can comprehend that public figures have private lives and in this day and age, some private lives are lived out of shows like Dancing with the Stars.

[MsGuy]

in this day and age, some private lives are lived out of shows like Dancing with the Stars.

 

PK, you've put your finger on exactly the thing that most makes me feel like Anna's King. I find it hard to wrap my head around a sensibility that sees serious national political figures and D-list wannabees as interchangeable entertainment.

 

I'm not condemning the show for inviting him or disapproving of Delay's acceptance. I honestly don't care one way or the other. It's the underlying zeitgeist that takes this kind of thing as commonplace that throws me.

[MsGuy]

Mr. DeLay speaks for himself. I gotta admit PK's take was spot on.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-08-17-delay-dancing_N.htm

[MsGuy]

Here's the final list of contestants/stars.

 

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/17/hamilton-osbourne-delay-dancing-with-the-stars/

[Guest TexHunk69]

Tom DeLame

 

Wasn't he part of the infamous "Singing Senators" that included John Ashcroft and Larry "I am not a homosexual" Craig? I predict that he will in no way be a lovable Jerry Springer who is kept on week after week, and will be one of the first voted off. Mark DeCascos is kind of a hunk, but overall, I find the entire line-up odd, scary, and in DeLay's case, vomit-inducing. Watch him win now! LOL

[Guest zipperzone]

 

Or maybe the producer has Tommie penciled in as the male eye candy.

 

You're speaking of the BLIND producer, right?

[Guest zipperzone]

It looks like the only real hunk this season is Ashley Harrison (son of George). Who knew he had a son?

[Guest TexHunk69]

I believe it's Ashley Hamilton, well-tanned George Hamilton's son who was married to Shannen Doherty for 5 minutes. LOL

[William]

DWTS Eye Candy

 

Every season the show's producers seem to think they need a clown. This year it's Tommy Boy. Are there any real hunks scheduled? I need eye candy to keep me watching.

And when are they going to ditch that loud-mouthed embarrassment, Bruno?

 

 

I am with Zipperzone on the Eye Candy issue, and it looks like a leaner season for DWTS under that criterion.

 

IMHO, however, the Eye Candy has always included the professional dancers like blond mophead Derek Hough, adorable brunette Mark Ballas (and his smoking daddy, Corky), the exquisite ballroom magician Tony Dovolani, and the other hotties that the producers have rounded up. They are often cuter than the females with whom they dance, and they usually have more attractive personalities. Plus they are excellent dancers and apparently skilled instructors.

 

I would watch the show even if the producers rounded up a bunch of people off the streets of NYC, so long as the show retained the permanent group professional dancers. Indeed, the New Yorkers would probably be more interesting people than the plastic "stars" the producers are able to recruit. (Still, I admit that DWTS is much better when there are some hunky contestants as well. Gilles (Be Still My Heart) Marini made last season special.)

 

Also, I love the judges, who are knowledgeable professionals in their own right (or so it appears to me). Len Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba balance each other very nicely; Len is my favourite, because he was actually a star dancer in his day, has good old-fashioned standards, and delivers relatively stern judgments but not in the cruel way that Simon Cowell does on American Idol, for a contrast. Bruno Tonioli is funny comic relief, but he is not the clown that Paula Abdul seems to be on Idol. (With sincere apologies to Zipperzone, I admit to finding Bruno kind of cute.)

[+ sf westcoaster]

I agree with William - just give me Tony, Mark and Derek and I don't care who the celebrities are.

[JT Brooklyn]

Americans are so easily Entertained..Apparently by just about any "Circus" that is in Town on the Tube!

 

This is one "UGLY" Season..not that I ever watched the Previous ones.

 

Enjoy!

[Guest zipperzone]

 

Bruno Tonioli is funny comic relief, but he is not the clown that Paula Abdul seems to be on Idol. (With sincere apologies to Zipperzone, I admit to finding Bruno kind of cute.)

 

 

I understand what you mean - he can be hilarious - but after awhile he becomes repetitious and predictable, loud and just as annoying as Mary Murphy on "So you think you can dance".

 

As for cute - beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[mansniffing]

Tom De Lay

 

Once an exhibitionist, always an exhibitionist. Though methinks voyeurs will not be watching.