DWTS has had some bad times on occasion, but this week the cracks in the mirrorball began to show. A complete dismissal of the judges’ importance coincided with the single worst guest judge this beleaguered show has had yet, throwing into question the very role the judges play.
Dancing with the Stars has always been a popularity contest to some extent. Several times, winners were crowned who were clearly not as good dancers as the runners up because they were more appealing to the audience. But the premise has always been that audience votes count for only 50% of the final total. Of course, that’s not actually true, because of how the voting system works (both scores and votes are taken as a percentage of the total, then added). But it used to be pretty close.
In the last few seasons, the scores have gotten inflated – this week there were two perfect scores in Week 3, which is unprecedented in the show’s history. A paddle below a 5 has not been seen in years. This serves to make the scores matter less: the higher the total of scores, the less each point matters. A similar issue arises from the addition of a fourth judge.
Then there is the judging itself. Once, the judges used to actually judge the dancing. Now they give out “A” for effort, and seem more concerned with saying “Good job for trying!” than with critiquing. Carrie Ann doesn’t even pretend to care about the dancing anymore, focusing on emotion and feelings. Bruno still gives constructive criticism, but always buries it under over-the-top metaphors and flirting. Len tries to critique the dancing, but spends more than half his time providing disclaimers to his critiques: “Well done. I enjoyed it. You tried. I smiled.”
Even those viewers who would vote based on dancing instead of popularity found their job infinitely harder as the seasons went on. Back in the day, every night would have three or four dance styles selected, and all the couples would perform those styles. This allowed a side-by-side comparison of the couples’ dancing. Now, the assignment of dances is completely random, and only half of them are ballroom. How is the average viewer supposed to compare one couple doing a traditional waltz with another couple doing a funky contemporary with lifts and tricks? It’s apples and oranges.
To further the judging problem, there has been a plethora of dreadful guest judges in the past year. People with almost no dance credentials have sat at the judges table to give out scores for being fierce or something. Having Robin Roberts or Redfoo judging waltzes further eroded the judges’ credibility. Tonight, DWTS finally got a judge who did not even care about reasonable scores. Kevin Hart – a comedian with zero relation to dancing – gave out nines and tens to mediocre dances that got sixes and sevens from the other judges. The message came through loud and clear: judges’ scores don’t matter, so might as well treat them like a joke.
As this was going on, there was also drama surrounding new pro Allison Holker. Allison was an import from So You Think You Can Dance, and missed the memo that this is ostensibly a ballroom competition. She arrived with big plans to experiment with dance styles and try new things; then proceeded to get cut down by the judges for it last week. Distressed by this, she went to regular rule-breaker Mark Ballas for advice. And Mark Ballas had some pretty damning things to say, which boiled down to: “My first few seasons, I used to really take the judges’ comments to heart.” Then he realized he can ignore them and do as he pleases. Allison seemingly took that to heart.
So, the very same night that a guest judge made a complete mockery of judges scores, one professional dancer told another in full view of everyone that the judges don’t matter.
Carrie Ann must have realized that extensive damage control was needed. She told Allison that the judges are “not there to stifle anyone’s creativity.” They just want Allison to be the best she can be! And look, it worked because Allison and her partner had a really good performance this week! In other words, Carrie Ann desperately wants the judges to be relevant, but this was a pretty transparent attempt to cover up their obsolescence.
The question is where does DWTS go from here? It has gotten very far away from being a ballroom dancing competition, and is shedding the last pretenses of such every week. Do they keep the judges for the familiarity of the format, even if it’s pointless? Do they keep the judges for commentary but not scores? Or do they admit that DWTS is a dancing showcase, not a dancing competition, and just let the audience dictate everything?
What do you think of the judges on DWTS? Would you rather they have more say or less? And what do you think the show should do going forward?
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.