Yamaguchi wins 'Dancing With the Stars'
What did I say about predicting the outcome of reality TV competitions?
To be honest, I was glad to see my cynical forecast of NFL star Jason Taylor as the sixth season winner on ABC's Dancing with the Stars proven wrong tonight -- mostly because ice skating champ Kristi Yamaguchi has nailed just about every dance and deserved to be the show's first female winner since its debut season in 2005.
Yamaguchi's facility and ease with all the moves made her the best celebrity dancer onstage by miles -- her freestyle routine last night set to Michael Jackson's Working Day and Night could have been an MTV video by itself. Only audience popularity or judging shenanigans could have unseated her, and thankfully, none of that went on.
And while American Idol has grabbed most of the magazine covers and press coverage, Dancing with the Stars has risen to see episodes ranked just under Idol in viewership, proving that a huge cross section of couch potatoes enjoy watching a bunch of sorta-famous faces try their hand at foxtrots and tangos.
The field was uneven enough that Taylor and Yamaguchi emerged as standouts by the third episode -- producers' biggest challenge may have been in making it look like a competition over the next eight weeks. And at least I can feel heartened that, two episodes in, I picked winner and the runner-up -- I just had them in the wrong order.
Yeah, I'm not buying that excuse, either. Still, it's heartening to see that occasionally -- even on reality TV -- the best competitor can win. Check out her way cool freestyle dance below:
The Feed is a blog on TV, media and modern life by St. Petersburg Times TV/media critic Eric Deggans. Possibly the most critical guy at the Times, he has served as music, media and TV critic at various times over 10 years.
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As a former professional dancer/teacher, I've enjoyed every show and Yamaguchi won from the first routine. Cheryl is #1 but most of all, we like to see the non-dancers compete. Kriti had quite an advantage but was deserving of a pretty much flawless win. It's not as easy as we make it look.
Posted by: MaryD | May 21, 2008 at 09:15 AM
As a former professional dancer/teacher, I've enjoyed every show and Yamaguchi won from the first routine. Cheryl is #1 but most of all, we like to see the non-dancers compete. Kriti had quite an advantage but was deserving of a pretty much flawless win. It's not as easy as we make it look.
Posted by: MaryD | May 21, 2008 at 09:16 AM
I can understand why you post about this in a media blog, but can anyone explain to me why this is pretty much being covered by every major news outlet?
Posted by: drinklime | May 21, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Because its the second and third most-watched TV show on television right now....
Posted by: Eric Deggans | May 21, 2008 at 01:09 PM
yikes
Posted by: drinklime | May 21, 2008 at 05:59 PM
I hope the NFL appreciates how well Jason Taylor represented the league this on the show (as with Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice before). Bill Belichick could learn something about class and sportsmanship from him.
Posted by: Frank | May 21, 2008 at 10:31 PM