Oh god..Not pleased to see Maks return. Thought we had seen the last of the misogynistic, disingenuous and arrogant pros when Val was kicked off.

I am irritated with Val also.

He is making the rounds with Elizabeth doing interviews saying that hard work and love of dance is not appreciated. Liz wanted it more than anyone and the others are there just to pick up a check or promote themselves. Elizabeth just wanted to dance for the love of dance and she was denied. Yet on his exit interview on ABC he said he was not bitter. I think his true feelings are coming out and he is indeed bitter about the elimination. I have no problem with that but don't say one thing one day and another the next.

So his gallant blog about defending Bill's right to be there and preventing him from quitting was a load of bs.

There are a series of interviews with Bill and Emma on Access Hollywood.

Funniest thing said was by Emma. Evidently she and Sasha live with Tristan and Sasha and Tristan like to hit the pause and rewind button every time Emma is crying in the eliminations. Hahaha.

Still as modest as ever. Erugh. Cannot stand Maks.

When did Maksim say this?

It was an article much earlier from Wet Paint. His quote is here.


I do think Maks would up the ratings as a judge especially alongside of Len.

I enjoy seeing them also but when the public votes for those big personalities who can't dance and a good dancer goes home then it is a barrage of travesty and just plain wrong from every which way. There is no way Bill can feel good with all negative attention he is getting or could even enjoy getting through.

It is pyrric victory for him. He is called a coward for staying and just as much coward and a disappointment to his fans if he voluntarily quits. And it does not matter how much he is trying because he is going backwards instead of forward. And his fans are called idiots. Who knows, maybe they are. I have enjoy Bill a lot so I am one of those idiots. . I do think he is leaving this week though but obviously too late to save those that went home.

And there are those despise the network chasing ratings and feel the show is for people who love dancing and that is is it's core audience.

Since there have been numerous calls to change the voting system everything from giving the voters only 25% to eliminating the bottom of the leaderboard weekly unti the semifinals, the judges the option of a "save" every week and so on it does seem to be dwts is going in a bad direction. I think changing the voting would be a good idea. Even a bottom 2 won't work if Bill has not in been the bottom 2 which I really don't think he has.

Luckily somone like Jack or even Leah had a chance to improve before they got the boot but the fans of Elizabeth and Elizabeth and Val themselves feel suckered punched and I can understand that. Who knew a little dance show could cause this much controversy. If they fix the voting situation people can go back to complaining about costumes.

I would not change anything about the vote as it should be a public show.

I am glad at these results because at the start of the show whoever was lowest scorer went home. Made the show boring.

How can it be a pyrrhic victory when Bill gets mostly praise to his face, and effusive praise at that! Even the tongue-in-cheek "Star" of DWTS--according to Derek haters--said Bill deserves to be there, deserves to win, and he wouldn't be surprised if Bill did win!

Did anybody seriously think Helio Castroneves was a better dancer than MelB? Donny Osmond better than Mya?

I think Bill probably was in last week's actual bottom two. And I wouldn't be surprised to see him go next Monday. But nothing would surprise me, even to see Bill win.

As far as ratings, it's not a fool's errand to chase ratings, it's a live-or-die situation. Literally. We just had to attend a taping of a Let's Make a Deal in order to get priority tickets to Monday's DWTS semifinals, and they told the audience how brutal the competition was, saying that unless the audience showed EXTREME enthusiasm, the show could get cancelled.

They also told the audience their target viewer is Des Moines, Iowa. Middle America. That must also play a big part of casting DWTS, appealing to Middle America. Thus the country singers, the rodeo cowboy--and perhaps even not-really-redneck comedian Bill Engvall.

DWTS is still way ahead of American Idol, which it used to trail. American Idol didn't fare well with revolving-door judges. Tom Bergeron said theme weeks have been a resounding success. He was so afraid Classical Week was going to be Grab the Remote Week, but he was pleasantly surprised.

I don't think it's broken. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But we'll see what the producers decide to do. If I recall correctly, the latest executive in charge of the larger ABC group DWTS is a part of is female. Whether she likes dancing, or dancing shows, is another question. Guess we'll find out.

I find that such an insightful post, Dancefan - thanks! But I thought the executive producer (or showrunner) of DWTS was a British man named Conrad Green -- and there were two lesser executive producers, one of which is a woman whose name I don't remember but I think she's fairly new and young (30's or so) but Conrad's the main guy (and main decision maker)?

They also had a huge drop in the demos (18-49 year old viewers) for last Monday's episode -- 3/10ths. I don't remember such a big drop in the past, though I haven't followed it very carefully. They were at 1.7 -- the lowest performance night in the history of the show. If that was known when the announcement was made about the huge importance of the audience reaction, that big drop may have prompted it.

Conrad Green is the executive producer of DWTS, as are longtime underlings Ashley Edens-Shaffer (with DWTS since 2005) and Joe Sungkur (with DWTS since 2009), now co-executive producers.

Their real boss is Anne Sweeney, Co-Chair of Disney Media Networks and President, Disney/ABC Television Group. Not that she makes the day-to-day decisions about the show (I don't know if she ever gets involved or not), but she decides whether the show lives or dies, so she holds the ultimate power.

Anne Sweeney was named as one of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, overseeing a global team of 10,000 employees and 10 divisions of Disney--from ABC Television Network to Hyperion Publishing.

Here's an interview she gave to Forbes several years ago. She doesn't say anything about DWTS, however.

As far as the ratings drop, it's typical for viewers and ratings to decline during the season then pick up again at the end, but even though last week's drop was the biggest to date, a 1.4 drop from the Season premiere of 3.1, that's the only week that had such a big drop. The ratings had been relatively consistent compared to performance shows in earlier seasons.

This season outpaced a year ago (Season 15) when the premiere had only 14.11 million viewers. This season's premiere had 16.04 million viewers. But Season 15 ended with 16.73 million viewers and a 3.0, a surprisingly good finish.

After the season is over we'll see the final numbers and put it all into perspective.

So who do we think is going next? I guess two will be eliminated? I find it very hard to rank the celebs in popularity but surely Leah has to go? I get the average Woman appeal but lets be honest, her personality is kinda awful isn't it?

Leah is staying. She did a stand out performance with the 3 judges which was memorable so I imagine her vote percentage is high and will ensure she makes the final. Depending on the scores.

Bill E is out though.

Oh I see - thanks Dancefan. I was confused. Lovely lady, Ms. Sweeney. Nice to see a woman in a high position on ABC.

It'll be interesting to see how ratings do with Maks on the judging panel -- and then for the 11th week finale with a pretty low standard of dancing, Leah, Amber and Corbin (though he's good) - assuming Bill doesn't make it. If he does, it'll be a hoot (and might get higher ratings.)

If Leah, Amber and Corbin are the three finalists, then I hope Corbin wins, even though I'm not an enormous fan of Karina. Leah irritates me and Amber strikes me as being overmarked, with Corbin being the better dancer. However, with Amber's Glee fanbase, it wouldn't surprise me if she won.

I'd rather see Bill in the final than Leah, though I don't actually want him to win.

Where do you think Jack will end up?

This season has really flummoxed me. I completely forgot about Jack! I guess they might have it planned for him to equal Kelly, his sister, to be polite? I think she was 3rd. So I'll guess: Bill goes out next; Jack 3rd; Amber 2nd; Corbin 1st. And a surprise double elimination to get rid of Leah at the same time as Bill?

And that's a wild guess. Odd set of finalists, imo. I don't really care about any of them and haven't voted since Valerie Harper left. But then I'm only still watching the show because of one of the pros, Tristan. It's gotten so fake and manipulated it sickens me. I do like the judges, though, and I'll miss them, when I finally pry myself away from this guilty pleasure (which has become a displeasure.)

I hope Strictly is holding up better for you guys! I loved the Matt-Flavia season so much - still think of it fondly, though I felt sorry for Gethin being steamrolled off in the semi's so Alesha could win (at least that's what I think happened.)

I don't think they can do much to manipulate the results. They may as well quit their jobs because it would take just one whistleblower among hundreds of staffers to get the show canceled.

But let's say Conrad Greene would like to see another Brit, Jack Osbourne, win. What's the likelihood his two co-executive producers would agree with him? Pretty remote, imo. Everybody has their own preferences. And there are dozens of little power centers throughout the production, field producers, story editors, schedulers, media coordinators.

I doubt the judges have any idea of the voting numbers and I'd be disappointed if judges were compromised by hints or suggestions how to do their jobs.

And I definitely don't believe voting results are tampered with.

That leaves only music choices, dance assignments, dancing order, hair, wardrobe and makeup, which field producer each is assigned, weekly packages for each couple, highlight editing and outside media coverage as the only real ways some might get favored over others.

Kris Jenner credits her "girlfriend' Deena Katz, Casting Head and Sr. Talent Producer of DWTS, for coming over for dinner one and telling her, "You guys are so much fun with so much going on. You should really have your own reality show!" Thus was born Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Bruce Jenner said Conrad Green is his "best friend." Bruce said he really wanted to do DWTS but Conrad told him no, you already did a reality show. It's too soon." That was years ago and Bruce still hasn't been on DWTS.

If the top Executive Producer and his Sr. Talent Producer, couldn't save their friends' daughter Kim Kardashian with her 1+ milion twitter followers, who could they save? Don't forget, Kim wasn't even the low scorer when she was eliminated!

Kim outscored Cloris Leachman by 2 points and chef Rocco DiSpirito by 1 point. You would think it would have been "easy" to send home Rocco DiSpirito instead. The fact they didn't, but followed the protocol of combining the judges' scores with the viewer votes and send the lowest couple home, shows me, anyway, that it's not manipulated.

Well, I disagree but happy to agree to disagree -- they threw out Kim's votes because they said they found out she'd hired a hacker - at least that's the rumor - but I know a thousand more and anyway, I don't really care because I hate the show now, to an extent I never dreamt was possible and don't want to debate or talk about it, so ok, maybe they never scheme at all in any way whatsoever -- I despise it just as much either way.

In any case, if they continue to give Tristan abominable partners, which all five of his have been, while Derek, Mark, Val and Tony get better partners, then I am rather desperate for this crapster to be canceled, but then, maybe I should just get some courage and turn the stupid telly OFF.

That's not even a good rumor because Kim is the best hacker herself! She just didn't get the votes, period. They weren't there to throw out.

I love Tristan too! He looks like my hubby, who is Irish like Tristan. Somebody did point out that Tristan had Pamela Anderson for All Stars and she could have done much better if a) She'd had more practice time (she was busy doing Big Brother) or b) he didn't choreograph that disliked Domestic Violence number, even if he was just doing her bidding. They both paid the price.

Oh I just can't help being conspiratorial. But my earlier faves were Alec Mazo and Dmitry Chaplin and both were treated like dirt (imo) by DWTS so I'm just a grumpster in extremis. I also loved Damian Whitewood and Fabian Sanchez who I thought did great but were booted out the door after one season. Never mind me - I'm harmless with my paranoid theories. I'm just nursing a lot of old grudges.

I like Tristan a lot but tbh, he's not the best dancer, shows zero competitive edge (not that that's a bad thing as such) and although a patient and sweet teacher, he has yet to produce a routine of any real note (difficult with poor dancers sure but not impossible). So im not sure he's being that hard done by.

I'm no expert on these things but we have a dancer named Tony Dovolani who's sort of renowned for boring choreography, dull dancing, he has little sex appeal and he's 40, yet on his 16th season and apparently going strong - still in this season with Leah Remini. Maks is another one whose choreography has been almost unanimously criticized throughout his many seasons - and he's not gone for that reason but rather his explosive abusive temper, and entitled attitude (and will be judging next time nevertheless.)

But as far as Tristan routines, I loved his "Toyboy Rumba", "Spamalot Rumba" (that Carrie Ann called a "show stopper") and "Naughty Lady Tango" with Nancy Grace; with 67 year old Gladys Knight, he had a charming Rumba, in purple clothes I think? and the opening Cha Cha they did was fantastic; I liked his dances with Dorothy Hammill as well though he admitted he hadn't been trained in Contemporary and she had a spinal cyst and could hardly practice - I still thought it was a good story in their opening number and it was charming. Poor Valerie couldn't remember anything and staggered through -- and still, I thought the Freddie Mercury number was well-thought out and I loved their Paso. His early pro-rumbas with Kym and Peta were fantastic imo - and I liked his "Dark Waltz" with Karina and his Beyonce-inspired Samba with Chelsie when they were featured as fan-voted favorite pros.

There are some others I can't remember off hand but he has a smoldering, sexy style that I find really appealing -- but he had a significant knee injury in the summer of 2012 that hampered him a lot for a few months there -- the Pamela season and when he performed with Katherine Jenkins on her Christmas special, but I still enjoyed the dances - he brings a lot of emotion and acting-ability imo.

Anyway, it is what it is. I wonder if he'll be back - and I even wonder if he wants to be back. DWTS is sort of a star vehicle for Derek Hough and now Val Chmerkovskiy -- and Mark is well-established. I think they all have good points and bad -- in particular, I'm tired of Derek's smoke and mirrors, hiding partner flaws with tricky eye-distracting techniques, and some examples have been pretty outrageous, but he's their prize pony and just won an Emmy - he's probably going to be the "star" till this thing finally bites the dust -- and it's got less than half the audience it had in Season 11 (in Fall of 2010 I think?) It's sinking like a stone, so I'm not sure their overarching plan is working -- or maybe American audiences just don't have the kind of attention span and staying power yours does.

OTOH, I didn't understand why the British "So You Think You Can Dance" folded after two seasons while ours has been going on for ages. Interesting that your Strictly continually outdoes our DWTS -- but our SYTYCD has been relatively much more popular than your short-lived version, even with Nigel Lythgoe at the helm of both and Arlene Phillips as judge on the British version as well, while ours came in as all relatively unknown.

I had decided that I was going to step away from DS because of the lack of interest in DWTS this season but I thought you might be interested in what Conrad Green has to say in this latest interview about the voting.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/11/18/dw...oting-changes/

I think he is correct. You will never please all the people all the time. You just won't.

You always find the best stuff, Lili. Don't know how you do it but please don't stop!

Loved Conrad's interview. It's like he read our minds answering questions people had brought up (or worse, accused them of). Now if someone would just send this article to the folks at that website Pure something or other, where at least one mod there is always accusing the judges of knowing the voting results and adjusting their scores accordingly; maybe they could finally relax and stop fretting.

I did not know that's how they did the scoring in Season 1 of DWTS! Fascinating.