Telling a Story on Dancing with the Stars
Like everything else, each episode of Dancing with the Stars strives to tell a story. There’s the beginning, the middle, and hopefully, the climactic denouement. This week’s story, however, felt contrived and forced.
Week 8 of DWTS had a good start by yet again crushing the confidence of Jennie Garth. Though this time, her attitude was a little different. Instead of being completely dismantled, Jennie had a hint of defiance perhaps signaling a marked change needed for the finals. But can she finish her story before being voted off the competition?
The middle of the story was boring and non-dramatic. Cameron Mathison has plateaued and unfortunately cannot master the nuances of the dances that all the judges recognize. With only two weeks left in this season, it’s just too late for his story. Marie Osmond’s story has been overtold. With the Osmond PR machine in full gear, I’m tired of this story. All the extra activities have robbed Marie of practice time and it’s shown with content-lacking performances.
To lead the story to an enchanting end, the producers saved the top contenders for back-to-back performances. Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough got the only perfect scores of the night with their quickstep after a technically accurate but boring paso doble. Mel B and Maks couldn’t quite continue their story of perfection but still had a solid night.
Even though Helio and Julianne got a perfect score, I didn’t think it was their greatest (except for that wet, sloppy kiss Helio planted on Julianne at the end of their samba). It seemed more like the crowd, the show, and the judges were looking for any performance to laud since everything up to that point was pretty benign. Hence my feel that this show’s story was contrived. The ending needed a bang and the judges obliged.
You think one of the Kardashians or decathlete Bruce Jenner will be on DWTS next season? They were shown in the audience quite a few times.
Related: DWTS Season 5 Recap
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