2019 Week 2 notes

Week 2 is often the worst. The first week would be, except they have four
weeks to practice. With Week 2 they have only six days, maybe five.

Such a cool effect when those silver balloons floated down at the end of the
James and Emma dance.

Just like last week there was some odd camera work, as if they jumped to a
camera before the operator was ready. Wonder if there's a new director this
season.

Always fun watching Val's reactions to being judged. So expressive.
He's smiling and laughing most of the time.

Almost painful watching Ray Lewis stumble through his dance. Luckily for him,
others are much worse, so he'll probably be around for a while. Interesting
that the judges openly admit that they're judging on charisma as well as
actual dancing.

Carrie Ann seems quite animated tonight for some reason. Not only does she
get out to hug a contestant, she dances the dances from her chair.

The judges are not afraid to use the 4 and 5 paddles this season. Apparently the first week was not an exception.

Not sure why there was a huge image of a tiger on the back wall during
Lauren's dance.

Karamo got a 5 from Len, but 7s from the other two judges. Jenna
probably needs to work harder on incorporating the kinds of features Len
wants in a dance.

Kate Flannery is pretty clearly doing her homework. Even though you can see
the gears turning while she dances, she looked much better than some of the
dancers who went before her.

Don't think Kel shouldn't do a fake fail in week 2; looks way too much like a
mistake. Wait until you've proven yourself.

Lamar Odom talked about having short-term memory loss, but he seems to
remember the steps okay. It's just that he lumbers through instead of
dancing them.

Tend to think having the judges save a contestant a bad idea. Really puts
them in an uncomfortable position because what they're really doing is
deciding who goes home. Will take some getting used to.

Really bad to see leaving one of the only stars I had heard of before.