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Season Seven Review — Top 5 Couples
By Dr Matt
Here are the weekly Recaps from the Top Thirteen Couples to the Final Three:
Intro 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 Final 3
Howdy Dance Fans!!
Two Dances are performed by each couple this week: A Standard Ballroom Dance and a Latin Dance. Plus each Star has to perform 15 seconds of solo in their Latin Dance. The pressure intensifies!
After two weeks with substitute Pro, Edyta, . . . Cody rejoins Julianne
Here's my Less to Best Ranking for Week Number Eight:
** Click the Pro's Name to see a Video of each couples Intro & Performance
Again, to my frustration, I haven't been adding links lately, because Dick Clark Productions has been on a rampage, shutting down every new YouTube posting of DWTS. Sorry! They're acting like they own the copy rite—of course, they do. :o)
10 - MAURICE GREENE — Cheryl Burke ( J-Score: 8 + 8 + 8 = 24, J-Rank #8 )
Paso Doble —
On the positive side, Maurice captured the intensity of the dance; he was aggressive! But on the sad side, Mister Sprinter twirls a cape, in leau of real dancing, for his 15 second solo. That wasn't good enough to score high in my rankings.
9 - CODY LINLEY — Edyta Sliwinska ( J-Score: 8 + 8 + 8 = 24 J-Rank #10 )
Mambo —
Cody continues to be stiff, but danced the choreography pretty clean. Chief Judge says "well done"—I think he's trying to maintain this teenager's self esteem. It's clear that Cody is at the bottom of this competition right now. He's going to need Fan support in order to make it through another week, and he will return to his original partner Julianne Hough.
8 - CODY LINLEY — Edyta Sliwinska ( J-Score: 8 + 8 + 8 = 24 J-Rank #9 )
Foxtrot —
Cody was a little stiff, but danced the choreography quite clean. Chief Judge, Loony Lenny, liked it . . . he was pleasantly surprised! That's a good sign. Three "8" scores. This is a good start for Hannah Montana's boyfriend.
7 - LANCE BASS — Lacey Schwimmer ( J-Score: 8 + 7 + 9 = 24, J-Rank #6 )
Samba —
I didn't like the choreography. The solo was obviously put together by a girl. Even though Lance is "gay," he should still dance like a man . . . and Lacey didn't do him any favors. Too much Boy Band . . . and not enough Samba.
6 - MAURICE GREENE — Cheryl Burke ( J-Score: 8 + 8 + 8 = 24, J-Rank #7 )
Quickstep —
Cheryl Burke is such a fantastic ballroom dance teacher. Maurice looked great, while doing a lot of detailed footwork in the Quickstep (yes, the SAME dance that is the dreaded kiss of death in the "So You Think You Can Dance" series).
Maurice showed no dread of this dance. He pranced and trotted and skipped his way through this dance very well, thank you! It's clear that Maurice worked very hard on this dance, as well as the Paso Doble.
5 - WARREN SAPP — Kym Johnson ( J-Score: 9 + 8 + 9 = 26, J-Rank #5 )
Jive —
What's up with the inflated scores for Warren? Let's get real. This was NOT a "9"-worthy performance. This Jive looked like Frankenstein on uppers! Big Boy is just not able to pull off the light, quick, flicking Jive technique. Big Boy doesn't do . . . "light."
On the positive side, he did perform this Jive with a lot of energy and personality. With the score inflation that is happening for Big Boy, . . . I'm thinking that Warren and Kym are being groomed for the final three.
4 - LANCE BASS — Lacey Schwimmer ( J-Score: 9 + 8 + 9 = 26, J-Rank #4 )
Foxtrot —
Getting docked for dancing in their bare feet last week, Lance and Lacey play it straight for crazy Lenny's sake. It was a cute routine, but I preferred the technique attempted in the Foxtrot danced by Edyta and Cody—which was International style compared to L&L's American style foxtrot.
3 - WARREN SAPP — Kym Johnson ( J-Score: 10 + 9 + 9 = 28, J-Rank #2 )
Tango —
All the Stars are dancing at a higher level. Being coached by Pros for over two months is paying dividends, and it showed in this routine by Warren Sapp. First, kudos to the costume department, Warren's suit looked very slimming!
Well executed choreography. It was clean, and had no obvious gaffs; just little breaks in technique, typical of an amateur dancer—a dancer that just learned the routine in the last 6 days.
But the scoring? HELLO! Let's get real. That was NOT a "10"-worthy performance. Warren must be raking in lots of popular votes, so the Producers are creating an illusion of competition via contrived judge scoring.
2 - BROOKE BURKE — Derek Hough ( J-Score: 9 + 9 + 9 = 27, J-Rank #3 )
Mambo —
I though her Latin round would be much more exciting; and it was visually, but as to dancing technique, Brooke's Mambo was not as good as her tango!
Carrie Ann Inaba saw what I saw: Brooke looked a little awkward in some of her body positions during this dance. But, all is forgiven, when she stands in front of the judges podium and shakes her booty. Brooke does good booty-shaking.
1 - BROOKE BURKE — Derek Hough ( J-Score: 10 + 8 + 10 = 28, J-Rank #1 )
Tango —
Two perfect "10" scores from the Judges that are NOT Loony, and an "8" score from one that is! With his "8" score, Loony Lenny is going to give em' something to talk about over the water cooler tomorrow! Plus, the Judges need to hold down Brooke's scores, so she doesn't run away from the rest of the competitors. Hence, Loony Lenny provides the illusion of "close" competition.
The overall score is about right, I was expecting 3 "9" scores. For me, this Tango was NOT a "10" performance. The standard we expect from Brooke is very high, at this point. So, when she isn't jaw-droppingly fantastic, . . . we are disappointed.
Elimination Prediction:
How convenient that the scores for Cody and Maurice were exactly the same? At this point, I think the Producers wanted the likely losers to have an even chance at elimination—and put the decision in the hands of the fans.
We will see if Maurice, the Gold Medal Olympic Sprinter, has more fans than Hannah Montana's boyfriend? I'm guessing that Maurice will go.
Now, what's up will only ONE female Star surviving? Who watches Dancing with the Stars anyway? Is it guys who want to see MORE of the scantily clad Professional Female Dancers? Or is it females who want to see MORE of their favorite male Stars?
Like last year, when Christy Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas were head and shoulders BETTER than everyone else, . . . Brooke and Derek are pulling ahead in similar fashion. However, on a good night Lance and Lacey can look pretty good. BUT Lacey's inexperience at putting together choreography is showing through. Here Samba was pretty weak. And when you compare Lacey's choreo to what Julianne can do with lesser dancers, then you know Lacey needs to UP her game to match the competition.
Maurice Greene & Cheryl Burke . . . Run out of Gas!
Results Show Recap:
First competitors to be saved: Warren & Kym, then Lance & Lacey. Again, another attempt to make it appear that Brooke & Derek are NOT dominating this competition (which they are).
FAMILY SHOW APPEAL: Brother & Sister performances by Benji Schwimmer and Lacey Schwimmer. They do a barn-burning dance with a country flair! Benji's got fantastic facial expression when he dances. Hopefully, I can find this dance on YouTube (and Dick Clark will not enforce their Copy rite).
More Brother & Sister Pizzazz: Derek Hough and Julianne Hough. Holy Mackerel . . . Julianne's BACK in a BIG WAY from her appendectomy! She must have stretched her stitches during this sizzling hot routine!
Mormon Alert! Did you know that the previous two Brother & Sister Duos are all . . . Mormons? I point this out, because . . . Dr Matt is a Mormon too! So, if you'd like to double check your assumptions about Mormons, to see if your view is based upon fact, . . . please contact Dr Matt.
Next to be saved . . . surprise, surprise . . . the best dancers in the competition: Brooke & Derek! So, the bottom two are exactly as the Judges have ranked them: Maurice & Cheryl, and Cody & Edyta. The SHOW is making a little "hay" about whether Cody will make it one more week, so that Julianne might rejoin the partnership—post surgery!
I'm rooting for Cody & Julianne! So, we'll see if it happens! We'll also see, just how many teenagers are watching DWTS?
Perfect ending! Maurice & Cheryl are tossed in the trash, and Cody will now rejoin Julianne—after competing two weeks with Edyta. As I've pointed out before, Julianne is able to do choreographic magic with her Stars.
You've got to believe that the DWTS Producers were hoping that Cody would advance to the next round, just to get the very popular, two time champion, Julianne Hough, back in the game!
:o)
Dr. Matt
P.S. Here's the Review for DWTS Week #9—the Four Couple Recap
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