DWTS: It's Time To End The Zendaya Debate

Enough with Zendaya.

She's not a ringer, she's a girl who has had Hip Hop classes. I might take this debate more seriously if she were a trained ballet dancer or ballroom dancer, but it's time to stop.  Here are my reasons for ending the Zendaya discussion on DWTS:

1. It's a TV show: Having great dancers and bad dancers all lumped into one variety show is fun. I cheered on Andy Dick as much as I have cheered Zendaya and Kellie Pickler this season.  I did make fun of Sean Lowe's dancing a bit, but it made for some interesting topics of discussion on our AfterBuzz TV show.
    And guess what? By constantly debating that "Zendaya is a ringer" and "Kellie is being underscored"(Although the "7" from Len was ridiculous, it also made for good TV.) topics, you are playing into exactly what ABC wants...controversy.  It makes for good television and it gets us all watching each week.
    One other argument is that ABC wants to promote its own network stars. If you look at the statistics, this is a bad argument.  Let's look at the ABC stars who have won DWTS:  Season 1 Kelly Monaco, General Hospital. That's it, kids.  You could argue Melissa Rycroft from Season 15 as she is a former ABC employee with The Bachelor franchise/former GMA & Bachelor Pad host, but ABC has not used her in that capacity since April 2012. If there were a series of ABC winners, I would agree with you. 1 winner out of 15 does not make for an ABC push for a winner.
 
Supplemental reading: Carrie Ann Inaba talks Kellie Pickler 

2.  Zendaya Hears You:  If you think this 16-year-old doesn't hear your criticism, she does...and she takes it personally.  If you read her Access Hollywood blog, she knows exactly what is going on in the forums.  I feel badly for her because I remember being 16 and we don't need to help anyone's teen insecurities along.

Supplemental reading: Zendaya's blog

Even with dance training, Zendaya doesn't have lines like Kellie does. Beautiful!

3.  Twitter followers:  Yep, Zendaya has more followers than anyone, but she's also of a generation that is more tuned into social media than say...Wynonna's fans.  Different generations, different demographics, different use of social media.
      I know many of you are upset that Zendaya got Hip Hop this week. She asked for it, the fans gave it to her. Aly asked for Afro-Jazz, Kellie asked for Flamenco, everyone got the exact dance they wanted. While Flamenco might be harder for Kellie than Hip Hop is for Zendaya, it is Derek who wanted this dance. He has something in mind choreographically just the same way Mark wanted to try Afro-Jazz on Aly.  They know their partner's strengths.
      Also, ABC is trying to keep up with the times and keep this show as interactive as possible for all of the fans.  Twitter is social media site that keeps growing while Facebook's growth has stagnated over the last two years, that's why they are using it for voting.  While not every experiment on DWTS works, I like that they are trying to keep current and relevant.

Supplemental reading: Carrie Ann Inaba names best DWTS dancer ever

Honestly, I would rather talk about the great dancing we are seeing from Zendaya and Kellie this season and how much I've enjoyed watching them each week.  Val and Derek have both stepped up their game choreographically and it's been a treat for the viewers.  With two weeks left, let's end the debate and see who's going to come out on top.  Remember last year, we all thought Shawn Johnson was going to win.

Let's end the debate. You are missing some good dancing.

Okay, your turn to comment. Please post in the comments below...

UPDATE:  Thanks for all of your responses so far. While some of you agree with me, I want to address those that don't agree with me...of course, I respect your opinion. However, hurling insults my way weakens your case. Instead, why don't you comment below and give me some facts to back up your argument.  I am totally up for rational discussions. It's refreshing to hear a different perspective when it's done with respect.  

The other thing you must remember is that I compliment both Zendaya and Kellie in this post. I like them both. I haven't chosen sides.  

I also want to disclose I have interviewed Zendaya many times, so I was very familiar with her work pre-DWTS. If you want to see some of that coverage, go here and here. 

Anyway, thanks for all of your feedback. I appreciate it!   

Preview: AfterBuzz TV DWTS, Week 8

Okay, I know a lot of you have been asking who are guests are this week. My answer...I don't know yet. Jake is working hard on it back in LA, so hopefully we will have a guest this week. If not, you all know we have plenty to talk about with Len's "7", Sean's elimination, and Kellie and Derek were in jeopardy-ish this week.

UPDATE:  Our guests tomorrow night are Sasha Farber and Emma Slater...get those questions in!

DOUBLE UPDATE: Tristan MacManus is coming, too! #PartyTime

TRIPLE UPDATE:  No Anna tonight. She's performing in Vancouver.

So...if you have been following my tweets, I am not in LA. I am working in Houston this week.  In addition, Suri is not in LA this week either. She's starting the ProGym Challenge in Pennsylvania. It will air on ESPN2 in two weeks.  We will both be joining the discussion via the phone while Jake and Anna hold down the fort in LA.

I will be LIVE tweeting tomorrow night again like I did back in March when I was out of town for work.  Remember to use the official hashtag to talk with me and Suri:  #ABTVDance.

I am still collecting questions for Anna here on my site, so make sure to leave all of your comments and questions below.  Can you believe we only have 2 weeks left?

If you are a fan of SYTYCD, I will be starting the AfterBuzz show next week with my co-host AJ Gibson. I will have more details on time and date soon.

AfterBuzz TV DWTS: Victor Ortiz

I'm dramatically talking about Ingo and Kym's Viennese Waltz.

Okay, what a week it was!  We started off the night with a bit of a disappointment that Sean Lowe and Peta Murgatroyd were tied up (again!) at another taping and they couldn't make it to our set. However, Victor Ortiz was in the house and he couldn't have been a better guest. We really appreciated the fact that he showed up because he came from a long day at the gym and rehearsal to join our show.

As you can see, he was a fun and lively guest who gave us some inside scoop on the personalities of the guests:  Sean is a good guy who obeys the rules, Jacoby is a jokester, and DL is serious on set.  I also appreciated Victor's honesty about his developing friendship with his pro partner Lindsay Arnold. He also dispels the dating rumor about the two. 

Oh...and how about the caller, Patty, who talked about wanting more new pros versus old pros?  I thought Anna was going to faint right there in the studio. 

Also, this is my favorite Jake DuPree moment (above) last night when he was talking about Sean's solo. Don't miss this moment.

I also posed the question at the end of the show about DWTS being about talent or improvement.  It was brought up in an article by Rebecca Martin of Wetpaint, so I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Read the article here and then post your thoughts in the comments below.

I don't have any guests to announce for next week...yet. Stay tuned on that topic.

If you want to see our group shot with Victor, head on over to my Facebook page.

Watch this week's AfterBuzz TV show for DWTS below:

AfterBuzz TV Week 4 DWTS Preview

What did you guys think of last night's DWTS show?  The competition is definitely stepping it up! Suri and I appreciate all of your comments, so we made a fun little video addressing some of your feedback from Week 3. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it below:



There is one thing I want to address that was not in the video...placement of the guests in the studio.  We have added to our panel and Jake DuPree and Anna Trebunskaya have done a tremendous job with their thoughts and opinions. It is nice to have an uncensored pro who tells it like it is and who can explain why certain things happened they way they did.  With four of us on the panel, that means our guests are on the couch.  It is set up like Howard Stern's show. Click here to see an example.

It is not a slight, it is designed to give the guests maximum exposure while we interview them and it creates a clean camera angle for the crew to shoot them.  Please understand that while we are the faces of the AfterBuzz TV show, there are many who work tirelessly behind the camera to make this show happen.  We want to make it the best show possible for all of you. If you have feedback that I cannot address or you want to take it to the executive producer level, email here: info@afterbuzztv.com

If you missed last week's show, watch it here.
California DWTS fans, click here to read about a DWTS ticket opportunity.


We will see you on Wednesday at 9pm PT on AfterBuzzTV.com
with Anna Trebunskaya, Sean Lowe, Peta Murgatroyd, and Victor Ortiz. (Reminder: Schedules announced guests are subject to change.)

Don't forget to put your questions for Peta, Sean, and Victor in the comments below. We might read your question on the air!

Dancing with the Stars Show: Tristan MacManus, Henry Byalikov

Whoa! What a show, right? It was a cast of thousands in the studio last night with Tristan MacManus, Henry Byalikov, and Anna Trebunskaya at AfterBuzz TV. Thank you so much for all of your questions and to Grant for calling in.  You will see how much fun we had because we could not stop laughing throughout the show. What you didn't see was that Maria Menounos was with us before the show started. So, the photo up top proves she was in the building last night!

Me and Henry

We will be back next week with even more exciting guests...are you ready to hear who will be in our studio?

Guests: Peta Murgatroyd, Sean Lowe, and Victor Ortiz....and yes, Anna Trebunskaya will be back!

As always, put the questions and comments below for next week and spread the word about next week's show!

Thank you for your support!  We love you guys. xoxo

If you want to download the podcast, go here.

Me, Tristan, and Suri

AfterBuzz TV: DWTS Week 2 Show Updates

I know I have been chatting with a lot of you on Twitter, so some of you know I am working in New York this week.  I will still be participating in the show though. (And what a week it was! Wow! I wouldn't miss it.)

As of right now, this is how the show will run:

Suri will be leading the show and joining her in studio: Jake DuPree,whom some of you may know from AfterBuzz TV's Vanderpump Rules show. Also in studio, Anna Trebunskaya, last seen in Season 15 of DWTS: All-Stars with Drew Lachey.

I will be joining the show live on the phone from New York.

As for Peta (See, I got her name right!) Murgatroyd and Sean Lowe, they are still up in the air. Their schedule keeps changing, so it's been a "yes" and now it's a "maybe."  The rehearsal schedule is brutal and everyone wants to compete and win.  We have to be patient, but we will get as many guests for you as possible this season.

If this news changes, I will try and update it here and on Twitter.

Thanks for all of your comments and support. I have tried to answer as many of your comments as possible this week. Let me know if I have missed you somehow.

See you tonight on AfterBuzz TV!

Watch the show here live at 9pm PT/Midnight ET.

If you missed any of my DWTS coverage from last week, you can find it here. 

AfterBuzz TV's Dancing with the Stars: Sharna Burgess

We are finally back for Season 16 on AfterBuzz TV and Suri Surano and I started off with a bang!  We had guests Sharna Burgess, who is paired with Andy Dick this season, and professional dancer/choreographer and coach on Stars in Danger, Karl Warden, in studio with us.

Let me know what you think of episode 1. We always love your comments. And yes, I accidentally called Peta by the wrong name. I know her name isn't Petra.  Anything can happen with a live broadcast so mistakes do happen. Yep, I made a mistake! I'm human. 

Check out my EXCLUSIVE interview with Sharna Burgess for SheKnows:
DWTS' new pro Sharna Burgess:  Andy Dick is "in a great place"

Next week's Guests:  The Bachelor's Sean Lowe and Peta Murgatroyd. Same time, same place: 9pm PT on AfterBuzz TV.

If you want to listen to the broadcast in iTunes, you can download it here.