Rick's Question: What is your favorite Season?

Season 15: All-Stars was Janet's favorite!

Janet: Well, it's an obvious choice to me, Season 15, DWTS All-Stars. It was so jam-packed with talent and amazing dance routines. It felt like the finals for the entire season. Every dance was great (within reason), and it was really fun to see all the different season winners going head-to-head. 

I was pretty disappointed that some of my favorites didn't make it farther, specifically Hélio Castroneves and Joey Fatone. I was also disgusted the Bristol Palin didn't get kicked in the first week, what an eyesore. Despite the teasing she got from everyone, I thought that Pamela Anderson had a lot of potential and I wished we could have seen more of her. Kirstie Alley is just so annoying, I would have been happy to see her go sooner. 

I also loved that season because I adored watching Shawn Johnson, what a little firecracker! Such explosive talent! And Melissa Rycroft was just exceptional, but so was Kelly Monaco. Loved Emmett and Apolo, both favorites of mine, and I was sorry that they didn't go to the finals, but how can all of them make it?! 

It was an awesome season! Ok, YOUR TURN! And MK LaRUE, YOU TOO! :D

Rick: Sheesh, not even a thought for other seasons hunh? I like it when you show this decisive side. I agree, season 15 was amazing. How could a season with Kelly Monaco and Shawn Johnson not be. Shawn is just one big ball of energy and Kelly Monaco is sexy, almost hauty but with a touch of vulnerability that makes you want to protect her. Wonderful season.

Season 14, featuring Donald Driver, Katherine Jenkins and
William Levy get Rick's favorite season vote!

However, I struggle with choosing between seasons 14, 16 and 18, but all things considered, I have to go with season 14. I was a DWTS virgin for that season. I had never seen the show prior and my sister in Louisiana finally talked me into checking it out that year as she knew I had an interest in dance. Lo and behold, in week 1 came the most lovely dancer performing a foxtrot dressed in a yellow sundress with this killer Welsh accent, a smile that could light up Times Square and blessed with incredible grace and elegance. Katherine Jenkins although she looked like Marilyn Monroe that first night!! Her week 2 jive is a classic and her waltz to her father in week 3 may be the most beautiful dance I've ever seen. I was DWTS hooked from that week 1 moment forward. They say you never forget your first and that is true for me. I remember that being such a competitive season. Donald Driver was a strong and powerful performer, but such a gentleman. If I had a son, I'd want him to grow up and be like Donald. William Levy was terrific and gifted, particularly in the sassy, sexy latin styles. Maria Menounos would have been a finalist in most any other season. The whole celeb crew was strong which included Erkle and some young kid from Disney. There were two 26s the first week! Katherine got two 10s in week 3 (I cursed Len for that 9). Maria got a perfect score and was sent home the next week. Derek with Maria came in 4th!!??? That was the last time Derek did not either win or have the runner up.

Season 16 with Zendaya, Jacoby Jones, Kellie Pickler and Aly Raisman

Seasons 16 and 18 were almost as special, the only thing lacking there was no Katherine type connection for me. I adored Kellie Pickler in season 16. She was such a wonderful student and naturally gifted. Totally fearless. Zendaya was just a notch below Kellie and such a mature young lady. Those two were neck and neck til the end. Awesome to sit back and watch. Season 18 had Meryl. What more can you say about that. The best dancer in DWTS history and the slayer of the beast called Maks. I would literally be on the edge of my seat with excitement waiting for her turn to dance. And it was worth the wait every freaking week. And then there was Amy, perhaps the most remarkable human being I have ever seen. When she came out in week one and did that cha cha, I knew we had just witnessed the world changing. She was so good, I stopped noticing that she had prosthetic legs. I wonder how we will rate season 19?

Janet: Wow, you know the show so very well!! I can't say when exactly I started watching DWTS, but it was a few years ago. I started watching the dances on YouTube and suddenly I was wolfing them down like bowls of popcorn, and laying waste to season after season. I couldn't get enough! For some seasons I would watch one competitor dance every dance week by week. For other seasons I would watch all of the dancers for each week and then go to the next week. It was horrible when I finally caught up to the current season because that meant I had to WAIT to find out who won! THE HORROR!! :D

Derek, you be nice to Kellie!

I really love what you wrote about season 16 and 18! I was crazy about Kellie Pickler!! A razzle-dazzle energizer bunny girl who filled the show with sunshine with her mere presence. I will never forget the package clip where she explains Derek's "Wasp Face." So funny I laugh every time I think about it!

You can see a demonstration of "Wasp Face" at 1:00! :D

And Zendaya. What a beauty. What a talent. I wanted her to win almost as much as Kellie! Loved to watch her dance so much, what a pro!

LOL, I know what you mean about Meryl's dances. I would try to watch her dances last because they were so wonderful I wanted to save them! But you know, it was a toss-up with Amy's dances because I loved her so much and I knew I might be crying my eyes out at some point during the clip!

Season 19...well, we'll just have to find out how we feel as the weeks progress! :D

Rick:  Loving the pics Janet!  Yeah, Kellie Pickler is such a sweetheart, and what a back story to. Mother abandoned her, father a deadbeat in prison, raised by her grandmother Faye, who from everything I've been able to find out is quite near sainthood. Her two grandfathers that stepped up and her indomitable spirit! How touching was seeing the two of them in the audience when she was crowned?! Her brother/sister relationship with Derek. And of course the freestyle. It's truly the benchmark for all freestyles to come in my opinion. I get furious with these people who comment that she dumb. If she is dumb, then I want the rest of the world to be dumb. Just to illustrate the type of person she is; the day after she won the MBT, she was at Walter Reed visiting wounded warriors with that wonderful husband of hers. I'd love to see her do a Broadway musical. I know she's country and proud of it, but that girl's skills resonate across musical boundaries.

Janet: Watching Kellie & Derek's Freestyle gave me chills, took my breath away, and put tears in my eyes all over again. An absolutely pinnacle performance. Mind-blowing. 

Janet: I agree, her story is very special, and makes it all the more amazing that she was able to attain such heights. I think that Kellie taught Derek a lot about taking a better approach to teaching. I remember a time when Derek would be very furious during practice when a dancer wasn't getting it, but it seems to me that he changed a lot when working with Kellie. I think she got through to him and he changed his tactics. I read an article where he talked about being bullied as a child and admits that he once went down that path too...

He went on to share that he, too, saw himself as a bully at one point. "When you're in an environment and you're a perfectionist and you’re training somebody, you want to get the best out of them, but sometimes the line becomes blurred. I almost didn't recognize myself," he explained. "It was when I felt scared and insecure." -- Derek Hough Opens Up About Bullying Past: They Had "A Gun to My Head"

Regarding people who believe Kellie isn't smart as a whip, it merely points to their ignorance and prejudice towards anyone who doesn't speak in what they feel is a proper accent. I got an education there as well, but this happened much earlier in my life. I used to equate "ghetto-speech" with a person who is stupid. I lumped rappers and so forth into that group. But I found myself completely dumbfounded when I'd read or watch an interview with a person I thought must be a barely functioning moron, and would learn they were a college graduate with a degree in chemistry, engineering, math or whatever. I realized that my ignorance made ME the stupid one, not them. So now I will notice accents and certain speech habits, but I don't make the assumption on intelligence.

Oh, and wow, wouldn't she be AMAZING as a broadway performer?! I'd love to see that!

Rick: I agree that Kellie taught Derek a lot of things that season. They were truly a brother/sister pairing but I think she was not representative of what Derek generally has to work with in regards to his frustration level. She was an incredible student of dancing, the flexibility of her body, mind boggling natural talent and a work ethic rarely seen is just not there with 99% of contestants. I believe had she received any prior dance training at all, we might be arguing who was better, Kellie or Meryl. There should not have been any angst on Derek's part with Kellie. She was a once in a lifetime student for him and they clicked without romanticism. She's a one man girl and she's found her prince charming. She said in an interview once that Kyle showed her what unconditional love is. Wow, it's usually the woman who does that. She may have overcome a rough start, but her end is going to be remarkable. So agree with you regarding how people speak and jumping to conclusions about their intelligence. Frankly, intelligence is overrated. As Ms Purdy says, it's not what you have, it's what you give and that certainly applies to Kellie.  

This journey the celebs go on for this show really helps in getting to know who they really are, I think. And more often than not I come out the other end with even more respect than I had before. Sorry, but this does not apply to your boy Waltrip.

Janet: Ok, I will totally give you that. Kellie is a natural dancer, and Derek and Kellie were a perfect match to turn her into a prima ballerina. I wonder who he'd say was the most frustrating person to work with?! And you know, it's fun to think about: if Kellie had the training beforehand, what kind of dancer would she be and head to head with Meryl...now THAT would be something to see!! I agree with you, she's a very remarkable lady. I wonder where her path will lead her! Finally, you're right: intelligence really can go only so far. There's a lot more that goes into becoming an amazing human being than just a person's I.Q.

MK LaRue: To answer your WAY earlier question, Janet, I can't say I have a favorite season. This is the first season I have taken an interest in in a very long time. I watched the show in its earlier seasons but then when it started getting so sexual, I stopped watching it. Don't get me wrong...I have nothing against sensuality in dancing but when it becomes such a huge part of the show that the dance itself is pushed to the background. I mean, the show is called Dancing With The Stars. I loved the earlier seasons and watching everyone learn the dances or just excel at them because they were naturals. Then it just got raunchy and I couldn't watch it anymore. I would come back to it again every once in a while but just could never get into it again. This season has been the first one where I felt it coming back around to the "stars" actually learning the dancing and it being more focused there (still not totally) without throwing around so much raunchy trash stuff.

Janet: I hear you loud and clear. I think that DWTS started trying too hard to get viewers. They were fabricating relationships and yeah, some of the dances were a bit out there. I agree with you though: the show should be about learning to dance and overcoming the obstacles along the way, not "who can be hotter this week?" I do think it's a shame that networks feel the need to over-sex everything just to get ratings. It gets in the way of the dance form and I prefer more focus on an awesome routine that doesn't depend on being sexy to be successful.