The first part of the finals on Skating with Celebrities
You know what it’s like when you rent a movie from the video store that you’ve been dying to see? You can’t wait to turn it on and see what all the hype is about. Your anticipation is great - It’s going to be a fantastic movie!
And then you sit down to watch it - and it stinks! It’s nothing like you thought it would be. The storyline is bad and the acting is worse. It’s painful to watch. You know you should just turn it off and return it to the store but you can’t. You have the feeling that as bad as it is you still need to keep it on to see how it finishes. That’s where I am with Skating with Celebrities.
Kristy Swanson and Lloyd Eisler and Jillian Barberie and John Zimmerman are the two teams left. Two celebrity women and two professional men, so we’re comparing apples to apples so to speak. It should be good right? In theory yes. In reality no.
The show starts with all the eliminated stars and professionals returning to the ice to perform. Does this sound a wee bit familiar? Didn’t we see this same exact time-wasting ploy last night on Dancing with the Stars? At best the performances are unmemorable and dull. At worst they’re downright sad.
The first actual skating routine didn’t start until 8:19 pm when John and Jillian took the ice for their short program. Jillian did hit the desk really well - you could barely tell she messed up. Overall the program was just ok - but John Zimmerman did look fantastic in his leather pants.
In between John and Jillian’s performance and Kristy and Lloyd’s short program we’re forced to watch yet again the celebrities who have been eliminated from the competition. I think Fox is trying to generate some excitement or nostalgia. All it did for me is remind me of why they were kicked off the show in the first place.
After yet another commercial break we finally get back to the competition. Kristy and Lloyd’s performance begins at 8:41 p.m. (If you’re counting that’s 22 minutes after John and Jillian.) I still can’t get over the last interview I saw with Kristy - on the semi-final episode. She said at the time her relationship with Lloyd was like that of a brother and sister. Does that mean the fact they are now a couple in the biblical sense meaning they’re doing something sick and twisted? They skated a romantic number to “Unchained Melody” - surprise, surprise. Sick and twisted I tell you.
At the end of the evening Kristy and Lloyd were in the lead. On Thursday the couples will skate their free programs. Maybe Fox is trying to capitalize on the Thursday fans who don’t have Dancing With The Stars to watch that night. Maybe they’re hoping to carry fans in from American Idol.
Whatever the reason, we don’t have to wait another week to see who wins Skating With Celebrities. I’ll be there. I’ve invested too much time to turn it off now. Maybe there will be a surprise that will make my agony worth while. However… I won’t be holding my breath!
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