Those who know me well know that there are only three reasons to turn on the television in our house. The most important one is to watch a Packers game. No other screen in the house does a football game justice.
Same goes for the second reason, and that’s to watch Dancing With the Stars (DWTS). I wrote a short blog post last fall when we started watching it again after a couple year break. It truly is My Guilty Pleasure (linked here). Randy enjoys it too so it’s one of the few things we watch together these days.
The third reason we turn on the TV is to occasionally share something we both want to see, or if we want to see a video we’re all interested in with guests, primarily Rumble or YouTube.
That’s it. As far as we’re concerned, there’s almost nothing else of value on the TV.
On Sunday we watched the Packers win an exciting game that came right down to the last seconds, without their new wunderkind quarterback Jordan Love. When you’re born and raised 6 blocks from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, and used to sneak kisses under the bleachers there during the game when our high school football teams played each other, Packers football plays a role in your whole, entire life.
But the big news in the Grathen household this week (other than we’re having all the glass in our house replaced with new, hurricane impact windows) is that the new season of Dancing With the Stars premieres tonight. It’s kind of pathetic that we look forward to that so much, but it is what it is.
One of the things I enjoy most about Dancing With the Stars is the artistry the human body is capable of making through movement. Not MY body…but I am enthralled by those who can…and do, move so beautifully.
Of course, like all good television (even though I think good television is actually an oxymoron), the stories behind the dancers, their backgrounds, why they chose to accept the invitation to be on the show, and how they are affected and even transformed by the experience, make the show interesting as well. Everyone’s got a story! And I’m interested in all of them.
Sometimes, the stories are too full of manufactured drama, and of course, the producers sensationalize whatever they can for the sake of ratings. When the stories are rife with negative drama, I try my best to ignore them. Thankfully, more are uplifting and positive.
I’m very open about the fact that I’m pop culture illiterate. I glanced at the list of cast members and recognized 3 out of 13. Another face was kind of familiar, it was the geeky guy who won the pommel horse competition at the Paris Olympics. I only know that because his videos were all over YouTube a couple of months ago.
I read a bit about each of them and realized this year’s big producer’s controversy is going to be about the chick who’s a convicted felon. I don’t have anything against convicted felons…I have one in my family. But this woman is still on house arrest and is wearing an ICE-mandated ankle bracelet. Hmmmm. House arrest, yet she was given permission to enrich herself by being on Dancing With the Stars. If you’re a crook in America these days, you gotta love the American justice system.
Even Derek Hough (one of the most popular pros ever to dance on DTWS, and now a judge on the show) said he just didn’t get it, it being having someone on house arrest on the show. He added that regardless, one thing he was sure of was that that ankle bracelet was certainly going to be bedazzled to the max. I’m sure he’s right. I wonder though, if that thing is going to throw off her balance while she’s dancing.
I don’t know why they bring in “stars” who have dance training, like this season’s Chandler Kinney. According to her DWTS bio, she started as a child at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and the Los Angeles Ballet Academy. That hardly seems fair to other contestants like the pommel horse Olympian, although maybe he’s got an advantage because he’s really good at swinging those hips around in circles. I do like the aspect of the contestants having no dance training or experience. It just seems to make the dance competition more real. Although, in truth, it’s a popularity contest as well. Case in point, Bobby Bones won Season 27. He was very likeable, but certainly was not the best dancer of the season.
One of my good friends, in a fairly new relationship, called the other day and mentioned that she wants to take ballroom dancing lessons. Her partner isn’t fully on board yet. In fact, I’m not even sure if she talked to him about it. She asked if I was interested.
I’m interested all right, because I’m interested in all kinds of kooky, impractical, and impossible things, but I just can’t see myself doing that. Heck, I tried line dancing a few months back and thought THAT was a disaster. And I don’t see Randy having the patience for the hours and hours and hours of practice it will take to be decent at ballroom dancing.
But let’s say, just for a moment, that we do decide to take dance lessons. Once you learn to do that, then what? Our living room is too small to do justice to waltzing or tangoing around the house. Which means, then, that you introduce yourselves to and get involved in a social scene that features actually going to dances. Which necessitates getting out of the house, usually, during evenings, and staying out after dark
Hmmmm….thinking 2 steps ahead about this reveals some consequences that aren’t that appealing.
So, my final answer is that we’ll just skip the lessons for now and enjoy dancing vicariously through the “stars” and pros who do it so well. (OK, some stars don’t do it so well, but we enjoy it anyway.)
Who’s with me and is excited that Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars begins tonight?
P.S. Wow…these new windows are amazing. We can hardly hear the garbage and recycling trucks anymore at 5 in the morning, and Randy says the air conditioner is not only not as loud in the house, it’s running less. We may earn back the investment sometime this century!
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