11/21 DWTS13 Show Discussion *West Coast Spoilers*

[Tilden]

Does anyone find it odd people vote exactly how the judges give scores? Rob has been stiff and clumsy looking from the start. Yet, judges praise him and viewers go along with that. Makes me wonder if producers even look at viewer votes, maybe to gauge how many people watch. While great dancers are voted off bad dancers stay until the end. If it's on the up and up why doesn't DWTS show number of viewer votes each dancer gets? Good dancers are entertaining but unfairly allowing bad dancers to stay in the competition is not entertaining to me. I would like to know what viewers think instead of everything going along with the judge's decision, which is way off most of the time.

Actually, given that we don't ever know exactly what the audience vote totals are or why they vote, I'm not sure we can tell how the judges' opinions affect the viewers' votes or vice versa.

[TIA__MA]

I'm sure Rob will get showered with praise over how far he's come since week 3 and get at least second (I may toss the TV through the window if he gets 1st and the 30-they better be making it a red herring if they're going to make it look like he's winning).

Or shoot your TV like the one guy did here in Wisconsin regarding Bristol Palin.

[Bloomers]

Does anyone find it odd people vote exactly how the judges give scores? Rob has been stiff and clumsy looking from the start. Yet, judges praise him and viewers go along with that. Makes me wonder if producers even look at viewer votes, maybe to gauge how many people watch. While great dancers are voted off bad dancers stay until the end. If it's on the up and up why doesn't DWTS show number of viewer votes each dancer gets? Good dancers are entertaining but unfairly allowing bad dancers to stay in the competition is not entertaining to me. I would like to know what viewers think instead of everything going along with the judge's decision, which is way off most of the time.

I would like to comment on the bolded statement, please. It is human nature for people to be influenced one way or the other by the judges' opinions. Sometimes it backfires as we have seen. Other times, people seem to be led as sheep.

My first wish ( of several if given any) would be absolute beyond a doubt vote account verification from an independent outside accounting firm who is bonded or whatever needs to happen to insure integrity.
Who REALLY goes out in the second round? Round 3? How about 5 and 6?
If our votes DO mean that much then we should see verification of our votes. ( I don't mind the fake bottom 2, but I do think who goes home should absolutely be verified as on the up and up every single time, and I don't have that assurance.)

My next wish would be that the judging would be handled in some fashion similar to So You Think You Can Dance. The judges still try hard to influence the voting; however, after a certain length of time, viewer votes determine completely who goes and who stays.
I would like to see the judges on DWTS perhaps have half a say through the Final 5. By the time the Final 4 legitimately gets through, then I think the judges should still make their critiques and comments, but the viewers should have ALL the determination on who goes through - who goes, who stays, and ultimately, who wins.

The rest of my wishes basically co-incide with everyone elses' although I do try to be a little ascerbic, maybe?

[Fanny Mare]

LOL (thanks, I needed a laugh about now).

I was out last night so recorded the show. So far I've only watched the first set of dances.

I think most of this season's dances have been blah. There haven't been that many dances this year where my reaction is wow - I want to see that again. Sometimes it's the choreography, sometimes it's that the pair is having so much fun (even though there are technical faults), I'm left smiling. Sometimes it's that everything has come perfectly together.

I'm rooting for JR. Rikki has done well - I'm not rooting for her because of my bias against Derek (though I'm not disliking him as much this season). Rob has definitely improved the most - but he doesn't move as well as the other two - he seems so leaden moving around the floor. I think he deserved to be in the finals over Hope. I had no idea there were so many Kardashian fans - it kind of makes me despair for our society.

I am a Rob fan, I dont care about his last name.I cant see how you cant separate the two, makes me sad for our society

I wouldnt even say I am a fan, but given he's improved alot since the first time he danced, I am elated that he's in the final three.No matter his last name

[karalott]

I would like to comment on the bolded statement, please. It is human nature for people to be influenced one way or the other by the judges' opinions. Sometimes it backfires as we have seen. Other times, people seem to be led as sheep.

My first wish ( of several if given any) would be absolute beyond a doubt vote account verification from an independent outside accounting firm who is bonded or whatever needs to happen to insure integrity.
Who REALLY goes out in the second round? Round 3? How about 5 and 6?
If our votes DO mean that much then we should see verification of our votes. ( I don't mind the fake bottom 2, but I do think who goes home should absolutely be verified as on the up and up every single time, and I don't have that assurance.)

My next wish would be that the judging would be handled in some fashion similar to So You Think You Can Dance. The judges still try hard to influence the voting; however, after a certain length of time, viewer votes determine completely who goes and who stays.
I would like to see the judges on DWTS perhaps have half a say through the Final 5. By the time the Final 4 legitimately gets through, then I think the judges should still make their critiques and comments, but the viewers should have ALL the determination on who goes through - who goes, who stays, and ultimately, who wins.

The rest of my wishes basically co-incide with everyone elses' although I do try to be a little ascerbic, maybe?

The Polish version of DWTS does something I wish ours would. When they announce which couples are safe, they do it in order of how they ended up faring when the judges and viewer votes were combined. So whoever is declared safe first was first overall, and so on down the leaderboard. At the very least, I wish they'd go back to having an actual bottom 2, and not just naming the bottom 2 when they want to save someone (not that it worked for Nancy, but it might have bought David a few extra weeks). I'm sure there's strategy and manipulation as to why they don't do that. But because it may or may not be the bottom 2, I don't get all worked up if my favorite lands there but survives. I don't think a lot of people do anymore. I feel like the judges get their say and then the viewers should get ours and it should stay with what the overall decision is. When the judges are grossly overscoring one couple and nitpicking a better dancer, and the better dancer winds up going home, I can't say it's totally the viewers fault. Because Tom has always said "millions of you voted", I've always wondered just how many millions that is. Since they don't reveal the number, I have to think it's well below what the total viewers are. Since there's really no restriction when it comes to e-mail (when you are able to vote with as many e-mail addresses as possible), that's likely where the chunk of votes comes from.

I think they need to shake the show up next season. Enough with the producer manipulation and overdone story lines that viewers can see through, and see coming before it happens. Actually judging and not hysterics from CA and Bruno and no playing favorites because you like the pro (or don't) or are hoping for a cameo on a certain someone's show. Judge the actual dancing and if they stink, break out the 1 and 2 paddle. If they are 8 worthy week 1, make them actually work. I hate seeing celebs gets 8s, 9s, and 10s so early, because they have no where else to go. And it's not like the judges will mark them too low, even if they don't match a particular performance from a week ago. The judges need re-vamping, Brooke's job is pointless, they need better filler, and they need to show the good and bad moments with everyone, and not pretend it's all gloom and doom with some couples, and sunshine with the others. I'd like to see some dance styles brought out of retirement-salsa, mambo, the lindy hop, and more AT instead of all the cha chas and rumbas.

[Tilden]

I like the idea of announcing who's safe in the order in which they actually rank when judges' scores and viewers' votes are taken into consideration. At the very least, I'd prefer we always had real bottom twos. I just don't think it's very fair making people who weren't actually among the lowest scoring couples stand there and worry that they were.

Oh, and much as I like a good jive, they could give that dance a rest for a season and substitute in something like a lindy hop, which the stars seem to have a better shot at making work. Either that or make sure that the jive is saved for the latter half of the season for everyone, so the dancers most likely to mess it up may be gone by then.

[TIA__MA]

I like the idea of announcing who's safe in the order in which they actually rank when judges' scores and viewers' votes are taken into consideration. At the very least, I'd prefer we always had real bottom twos. I just don't think it's very fair making people who weren't actually among the lowest scoring couples stand there and worry that they were.

Unless the stars are told after the results show what order they fell in in voting, by knowing where they fell in the rankings it might serve as a motivator for performance improvement.

[Alexxxx]

I purposely avoided this whole season and only tuned in last night to see the final 3. My only observation is this: I guess we finally had a season without a ringer as the pre-determined winner.

And that's a good thing.

[Dahlia97]

I think Rob has shown a lot of improvement....it was easy to spot the improvement because he was totally wooden and walking around at the beginning.
It's more difficult for us to judge the improvement of someone who began with more rhythm and natural ability...what I look for is the difficulty of the choreography.

Rob has improved but the skill that is asked of him in no way compares to what is asked of Rikki and J.R...that's how those two show their improvement.

[Fanny Mare]

I cant believe people actually think there is some kind of inside job or that somehow the producers rig it when it comes down to the elimination process. As far as I know, shows that do take viewer votes into account have to have some kind of integrity to their system.
Also, I cant see Len as someone who would have a producer tell him that because of the way the votes are now, they have to give team X this score and team Y this score. I think people need to calm down in regards to saying the show is rigged.

Well said