Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva,scotia,Anonymous,Cornytiv34, for Donating to support the site

Strictly - Lindyhopafixathon

Reviews, favourites and suggestions
zico
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2139
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 12:12 pm
Has thanked: 1074 times
Been thanked: 1086 times

Strictly - Lindyhopafixathon

#184057

Postby zico » November 30th, 2018, 7:20 pm

Graeme & Oti (Quickstep). For this routine, Graeme is dressed up as a sailor in the kind of outfit that newsreaders used to wear when doing a musical number in a Morecambe & Wise show. However, the newsreaders danced a lot better than Graeme is doing. Poor Graeme gets into several big muddles, almost falling over at one point. Oh dear. Will Craig go easy on him? No chance. Craig compares him to the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. Sympathetic judges’ marks of 6,6,6,6 for 24 points.

Ashley & Pasha (Samba). They’ve got feather fans that light up, to make up for their boring taupe/fawn/light brown outfits. There’s nothing like a fun party Samba, and this is indeed nothing like a fun party Samba. Ashley is her usual very competent self, but it’s all a bit stiff and joyless, and without any Samba bounce, as if a pro dancer was demonstrating a dance she didn’t much care for. Left me cold, I’m afraid. Craig agrees with us at Zico Towers about it being too staccato and stiff, and Shirley adds something about lack of softness in the knees. If Ashley is happy about all the criticism about her technique, she’s hiding it very well indeed. Scores are in 8,9,9,10(!) really Bruno, for 36 points.

Faye & Giovanni (Waltz). Apparently they’re down to do an American Smooth but then Giovanni puts his back out, so they’re allowed to change their dance to a waltz. Is this a real Strictly competition rule, or do they just make it up as they go along, like the “10 seconds out of hold” rule that seems to have sunk without trace this series. Faye is clearly very good at spinning, so Giovanni has included lots and lots of spinning on the spot. Faye has a dramatic red dress, while Bruno is dressed in black, and they look good together. Competent enough, but to me, just a dull bog-standard waltz. However, the judges are very impressed. Darcey says “oh, my goodness” and Shirley adds a lot of stuff about technique, the gist of which is that Faye does lots of good technical things that we viewers wouldn’t even notice without Shirl there to kindly point it out for our benefit. Shirley adds “exquisite” at the end for good measure. 9,10,10,10 for 39 points.

Joe & Dianne (Street Commercial). They have the “Couple’s Choice” this week and go for a US Basketball high-school routine, complete with props of small basketballs, then big basketballs. Well, this seems to be a bit all over the place. It looks a tricky routine, but mainly because Joe seems to be having trouble with it. There’s not much dance content to admire, so it’s vital for these type of routines to be exactly in sync, and this routine often isn’t. Joe keeps looking at Dianne to check about what he’s doing. Looked a bit of a shambles to me. Craig says Joe was obviously concentrating too hard and it wasn’t in sync, adding something about him needing to release his inner homeboy, but the other judges amazingly go bananas about how great Joe was. Scores are in – 7 (bit generous from Craig), 8 from Darcey then 2 10’s from Shirley and Bruno to give him 35 points. We’ve all got used to occasional bonkers markings, but this is on a whole new level, and in my humble opinion it’s the most overmarked routine in Strictly history. Are the BBC just desperate to keep Joe in, and get his millions of YouTube fans hooked on BBC and tuning into Michael McIntyre, or does Joe have kompromat on Shirley and Bruno?

Charles & Karen (Tango). In rehearsal, Charles talks about having lots of trouble picking up the tango, and I bet his difficulties are of a different magnitude to Ashley worrying about a routine. Charles’s worries are fully justified. He’s got a strange posture, which looks a bit hunched and he really looks uncomfortable here. Karen has a beautifully shaped green dress, and is trying her hardest to distract us from watching Charles with some good moves of her own. To cap it all, somebody has decided that “Eleanor Rigby” is a good tango song, so there’s very little in the music for Charles to latch onto. This routine also looks a mess, but what will the judges say? After tonight’s earlier marking oddities, I honestly have absolutely no idea. Craig says it lacked drive and the frame was odd, looking more like a paso frame. Darcey surprisingly likes it. 6,8,8,8 for a rather generous 30 points.

Lauren & AJ (Salsa). Lauren dances this exactly like a teenage athlete feeling uncomfortable about having to wear a short skirt and tackle a sexy, flirty dance. AJ’s routine is quite good, but she just doesn’t commit to it at all. A shame after her recent improvement. Darcey says “my goodness” to gain thinking time while casting about desperately for some positive comment, alighting eventually on “Not bad” – which coming from Darcey means “Not good”. Craig says her placement was all over the place. 5,6,6,6 for 23 points, which means the judges think her routine is even worse than Graeme’s, even though he made a total hash of his routine.

Stacey & Kevin (Paso). Stacey has got a proper Spanish black flamenco dress, they’re dancing to proper Spanish music and Kevin has been delving deep into the make-up box. There’s lots of drama, although Stacey looks less like a Spanish flamenco diva from Malaga and more like someone about to start a fight at the Old Vic. She also doesn’t quite have the proper paso shape. She certainly attacks the routine. Great fun and drama, with just a bit of oddness about it, and the crowd really go wild. Darcey not only says “oh, my goodness” but also adds “my goodness” so I think she’s impressed. Judges say it was dramatic, powerful and brilliant. 9,10,10,10 for 39 points and Stacey does one of her screams about 2 inches from Claudia’s face. I like Stacey, shame about the screaming.

Stacey and Faye are equal top, with Ashley 3rd, Joe 4th, Charles 5th, then Graeme and Lauren last. But that could all change in the Lindyhopathon. Or maybe not. Based on judges’ obvious preferences so far this series, I expect the Lindyhopathon scores to be – 1st Ashley, then Faye, Joe, Stacey, Charles, Graeme and Lauren.

The Lindyhopathon has all the couples on the floor at the same time. We get lots of jerky camerawork flitting between the couples (Charles seems to be doing quite well, Graeme is doing nothing) then the judges confer, lose bits of paper, get flustered, and Shirley says "we've lost the papers" while calling out Ashley’s name first to general confusion, before Bruno leaps to the rescue as the efficient organiser and calm head in a crisis that we always suspected he was. Shirley then reads out the results, which (surprise, surprise) are exactly in the order I expected, though she adds a bit of unintentional comedy, by announcing in fifth place it’s Charles and Diane (sadly, not Charles & Diana) before the other judges remind her that Karen is Charles’s partner. Claudia adds to the confusion by saying “just to recap, 7th place is Graeme” (maybe she saw how badly he was dancing) and then gets corrected by the other judges, and Claudia tries to makes light of the total scoring shambles. Always entertaining when a live show gets in a mess.

After all that, Faye is now undisputed top, with Ashley as the only big gainer from all the faffing about, making it up to equal second place with Stacey. Claudia announced the voting is now “OPEN!” and the judges hold up “N”, “O”, “P” and “E” paddles, unfortunately not in that order.
Judges are clearly signalling Graeme and Lauren should be in the bottom two, but I’m hoping we get a surprise in the dance-off, as we’re well overdue for one. The public has been disappointingly predictable this year, maybe thanks to the lack of celebs who are bad at dancing but entertaining to watch.

Results Show

The pros do an opening dance with a dance troupe with varying levels of disability, which is impressive in its own way, and good to see. Tess has a dress with trademark weird cutouts, while Claudia’s dress is inspired by a paper-shredder. Results are in – Joe and Faye are through and Graeme is in the dance-off for about the fifth time.

Musical interlude is from Sir Rod Stewart. There’s a saying about old rockers never die, they just fade away, and Sir Rod’s voice is definitely fading away here – unless they just forgot to turn his microphone on. He goes quite badly off key at one point, and the song sounds like one of his own compositions – dull and sentimental. Rod has some backing singers, and you won’t be surprised at all to learn they are all tall, slim and blond. Pro dancers are on, but surprisingly the crowd doesn’t react at all to their moves. At the end of the song, Rod asks “Any good?” Ah, I was hoping you wouldn’t ask. Personally I liked "Mandolin Wind" more, when you sang it in 1971.

The Judges’ Recap thingy is far less entertaining since Len left, but slightly interesting tonight, as the slo-mo replays give Craig the opportunity to point out how he was right and Joe & Dianne were clearly out of sync, and there’s also a replay showing Ashley & Pasha out of sync.

More results – Lauren through (Hooray!) and Stacey so it’s between Charles and Ashley, and - Ashley in the bottom two. As the results are announced, Ashley actually does a little double-take with her face (I didn’t think people did that outside of 60’s comedies) and Charles and Karen’s faces are a perfect study in bewilderment. Darcey gets a bit cross about the public not voting for Ashley and is apparently in all seriousness giving Ashley advice about how to improve her performance to be able to beat Graeme in the dance-off, when we all know she just has to turn up and stay conscious throughout the routine.

It’s Graeme’s last dance, so we’re hoping he’ll do it right this time. He nearly does, but sadly gets in a tangle right at the end. Ashley seems to have taken Darcey’s advice on board, and is a bit softer, though still lacking in either bounce or fun.

Tess sticks rigidly to her standard script, including the bit about how Shirley gets the casting vote if the other judges are split on their decision - which is somewhat unlikely to happen tonight. She really could save a fair bit of time by saying “hands up if Ashley’s going through”. It’s obviously a no-brainer, and Craig is short and not sweet saying “it’s obviously a no-brainer”. Darcey is more tactful, but clear that it’s Ashley. Bruno starts his remarks with “No disrespect” (usually a very good predictor of upcoming disrespect) and goes on and on detailing how Ashley is far superior to Graeme in every conceivable way, and there’s simply no comparison (even though he’s just spent the last few minutes making lots of unflattering comparisons). Well Bruno, no disrespect, but at times you can be a tactless, cruel, verbose, starstruck, hurtful, unfeeling, mocking, mean-spirited, insensitive bit of a rude pillock!

Graeme ignores the comprehensive slagging-off from the judges, and gives a nice speech about what a great experience it’s been, and jokes about his 25 years of secret dance experience, saying he’ll never forget all the things that Oti shouted at him, but then goes on and on and on, and on, thanking everyone involved and it's starting to sound like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Oscar speech. Oti’s speech is shorter and to the point, saying that in all her time in Strictly, she’s never laughed so much or been so angry at someone. They seem to mean their “best friends” comments, and head off into the middle to do a crazy dance. Graeme has been a lot more entertaining than I expected, but it’s definitely time for him to go. Not that big a surprise that Ashley was in the dance-off, because people expect she’s safe anyway, and even in the dance-off she’ll beat anyone except Faye. It'll be interesting though to see if she stays out of the dance-off next week.

todthedog
Lemon Slice
Posts: 397
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 4:24 pm
Has thanked: 165 times
Been thanked: 118 times

Re: Strictly - Lindyhopafixathon

#184090

Postby todthedog » December 1st, 2018, 6:49 am

Great review.
As someone who watches whilst reading,Mrs T is a big fan I do enjoy the non dancers improving or not as weeks go by, thought it great that the public voted the dancer from the professional dance troupe (pussycat cat dolls) into the dance off. Not her fault of course.

dionaeamuscipula
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1095
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 1:25 pm
Has thanked: 101 times
Been thanked: 374 times

Re: Strictly - Lindyhopafixathon

#184165

Postby dionaeamuscipula » December 1st, 2018, 2:53 pm

todthedog wrote:Great review.
As someone who watches whilst reading,Mrs T is a big fan I do enjoy the non dancers improving or not as weeks go by, thought it great that the public voted the dancer from the professional dance troupe (pussycat cat dolls) into the dance off. Not her fault of course.

It's not a positive vote but a negative one, ie not enough of the public voted for her.

In previous years, when this sort of thing has happened it has resulted in many more voting for the dancer the next week.

DM


Return to “Music, Theatre, TV and Film”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests