TV

Strictly Come Dancing’s winning brand of chaos overshadows months of scandal

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

In the lead up to the first Strictly Come Dancing live show of the season, there was a huge question mark hanging over the dance competition. How would the show address the months of scandal that have threatened to tarnish Strictly’s primetime sparkle, with allegations of backstage bullying?

Would we see behind the scenes footage of chaperones sitting in on rehearsals (each couple now has a member of staff present during all practices)? Would Tess and Claudia solemnly refer to the new welfare measures, just as they assiduously reminded us about social distancing when the show aired during Covid? Would Shirley Ballas make a speech? In the end, none of that happened. Instead, Strictly returned to doing what it does best – giving us a dose of glitzy, escapist chaos that played out like a surrealist fever dream, but with mahogany fake tans. It was a (slightly unhinged) business as usual approach that paid off.

Host Claudia Winkleman seemed to be channeling Princess Leia as she sauntered onto the ballroom floor wearing a white dress with a high neck and flowing sleeves (although over on Instagram, she hinted that she’d actually been inspired by the Greek crooner and kaftan aficionado Demis Roussos). Her out-there sartorial choices seemed to set the tone for an episode that really leaned into Strictly’s camp, larger-than-life character.

Soon, DIY SOS’s Nick Knowles was prancing around dressed like an intergalactic Bob the Builder, wearing a glitzy hi-vis vest, before he had some cake thrown in his face by pro dancer Carlos Gu. Miranda star Sarah Hadland was trying to teach her dance partner Vito Coppola how to make a decent cup of tea. And Pete Wicks, he of almost every reality show you can name, came down from the ceiling on a rope to perform a stompy Paso Doble. If the producers were hoping to distract viewers from the previous bad PR by just throwing weirder and weirder spectacles in front of us, they succeeded. Do we really need hand wringing when we can have the Dave Arch band gamely trying to cover The Prodigy?

Most baffling of all? Paul Merson and Karen Hauer’s American Smooth routine, performed to, wait for it, “Vindaloo” by Fat Les, a song that doesn’t exactly lend itself to well, smooth moves. Merson, who has been called up to fill the requisite “woefully bad footballer” slot previously occupied by his former Arsenal teammate Tony Adams, stomped around the floor, kicked a massive football and kept jumping up while clutching the air, as if clinging on to an imaginary space hopper. Was it entertaining or just plain stupid? Who knows, but arguing the case either way was pretty fun.

Two left feet: Paul Merson and Karen Hauer plodded through an American Smooth (BBC/Guy Levy)

Even the judges seemed to be embracing the sense of chaos in the air. Head judge Shirley Ballas kept getting up to do miniature performances, showing exactly how each move could be perfected; at one point she kissed a bemused Motsi Mabuse on the lips. The newly bearded Craig Revel Horwood said one dancer looked more like they were strolling round a steelworks than performing (why a steelworks, Craig?) And Anton du Beke said what everyone was thinking when he pointed out that pro dancer Gorka Marquez (who is paired this year with Morning Live GP Dr Punam Krishan) never misses an opportunity to show off his abs. Going a bit off piste like this felt much truer to Strictly spirit than trying to rake over old scandals.

And then, to finish things off? Wynne Evans, aka that singing bloke from the “Go Compare” advert, burst out from under a silver dish wearing a chef’s hat and started singing along to a Tom Jones track (he’s Welsh, don’t you know?) before samba-ing around the floor with his partner, the ever-patient Katya Jones. The biggest surprise of all? For all of the strange buffet-themed props, he was actually quite good – perhaps there’s scope for him to do a Bill Bailey and go from wild card to potential winner.

History making: Chris McCausland is the show’s first blind contestant (BBC/Guy Levy)

There were also moments that remind us of just how powerful Strictly can be, too, like when comedian Chris McCausland, the show’s first ever blind contestant, took to the dance floor to perform a routine to “Twist and Shout” with partner Dianne Buswell. It was a truly impressive feat. And Amy Dowden’s return with new partner JB Gill, after taking a year off from the show to undergo treatment for cancer, received a worthy standing ovation.

Glimmers of emotion like these in amongst the panto-worthy pandemonium made tonight’s show classic Strictly. It was a big, mad sparkly riposte to all the naysayers who said that the show couldn’t go on (and yes, I was among them) – proof that there’s plenty of charm left in this format.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 28 September on BBC One

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Paul Merson dances to iconic football anthem on Strictly: ‘Special’ | Culture

Published

21 mins ago

September 22, 2024

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Paul Merson’s performance on week one of Strictly Come Dancing was described as “special and different” by the judges.

The former Arsenal star danced the American Smooth to Fat Les’s football anthem “Vindaloo” with partner Karen Hauer on Saturday night (21 September).

He scored 2, 4, 5 and 6 from the judges, totting up to 17 in total, but received some nice feedback from the judges.

“This was special, this was different,” Motsi Mabuse said.

Anton Du Beke, meanwhile, described Hauer as a “genius” for her choreography.

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tv – billie eilish (slowed n reverb)

Published

42 mins ago

September 22, 2024

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https://open.spotify.com/track/40CSn9yrSEoBcZT3QWjqzJ?si=3ad2c2e5cb034dd2

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Apples Never Fall review: Annette Bening drama lacks the crunch of a Pink Lady, but it’s twists and turns galore

Published

1 hour ago

September 22, 2024

NewsAdmin

Apples Never Fall review: Annette Bening drama lacks the crunch of a Pink Lady, but it’s twists and turns galore

There are but a few authors who have their own universes within the modern television landscape. Agatha Christie, of course, gets a new adaptation every Christmas. There’s also David Nicholls and Kate Atkinson, or any number of thriller writers, from Gillian Flynn to the indefatigable Harlan Coben. But none have made quite the impression, in recent years, of Australian author Liane Moriarty, whose books have spawned a number of blockbuster sagas, the latest of which, Apples Never Fall, turns up this week on BBC One.

Joy Delaney (Annette Bening) has gone missing. She has recently retired from the tennis academy she ran with her volatile husband Stan (Sam Neill), and her disappearance sparks the concern of her children: anxious Amy (Alison Brie), macho Troy (Jake Lacy), disenchanted Logan (Conor Merrigan Turner), and unreliable Brooke (Essie Randles). Has somebody murdered their mother? And is that “somebody” their father, given that Joy may have been seeking a divorce? Or is Joy’s vanishing somehow linked to the sudden appearance, many months earlier, of a mysterious young woman, Savannah (Georgia Flood), who becomes a cuckoo in the Delaney nest?

If you know Moriarty’s work, you’ll know where this is going. Twists and turns, misdirection and obfuscation, not to mention lashings of family drama. This is the third big-budget adaptation of Moriarty’s work, beginning with 2017’s Big Little Lies, and followed up by Amazon’s Nine Perfect Strangers as the meat in this hammy sandwich. Though they are unified by A-list talent and high production values, the creative ambitions have been progressively stifled. Where Big Little Lies was shot with a vaguely artistic eye, Apples Never Fall is your run-of-the-mill sepia-infused thriller. Even the title is clunky, and the dialogue is often similarly stilted. “Everyone says they want a doctor in the family,” the sibylline Savannah observes. “But I think having someone in the geosciences around is way more interesting.”

All the same, how bad can a show with Annette Bening, Sam Neill and Alison Brie really be? And that is the key to Apples Never Fall. Each episode follows a different Delaney as they navigate both the family dynamics and the muckraking presence who will resurface long-buried secrets. They all glow in the south-Florida light (a relocation from the novel’s Australian setting, though the series is still filmed there), looking preternaturally beautiful. But that’s something that unifies the Moriartiverse: glamorous people, in glamorous settings, behaving slightly repulsively towards one another. And while no one is departing much from their established archetypes – Lacy is now the go-to Hollywood bro, while Brie has played every bug-eyed neurotic going – it all fits together neatly, like a puzzle.

“It kind of felt easy being a martyr,” Joy confesses, in flashback. “Maybe I let myself down.” And for all that Apples Never Fall delivers reliable tropes – the missing woman, the mysterious stranger, the rival from the past who’s back on the scene – its core concern is how a dysfunctional marriage begets a dysfunctional family. The script, from showrunner Melanie Marnich, is frequently heavy-handed, but there’s enough in the material to keep viewers’ interest for seven episodes. And while it doesn’t stick the landing in the same way as Big Little Lies, the rug-pull in the seventh chapter manages, in tennis terms, to be a comfortable put-away, even if it’s not quite a smash.

Apples Never Fall exists in the middle of a Venn diagram between full-blown murder mystery thrillerdom, and an almost soap operatic depiction of crumbling dynasties. It is an emerging portmanteau genre, designed to unite men and women, young and old, in something mildly exciting, mildly titillating and mildly relatable. The result is a show that lacks the crunch of a Pink Lady, but still has the mellow tones and summer flavourings of a Golden Delicious.

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Brawl Star Battle TV MAN & CAMERAMAN | Which Team Will Win ? #shorts

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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#gartenofbanban #skibidi #gameplay
Brawl Star Battle TV MAN & CAMERAMAN | Which Team Will Win ? #shorts
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Strictly Come Dancing: Chris McCausland reveals Dianne Buswell kicked him during rehearsal

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2024

NewsAdmin

Strictly Come Dancing: Chris McCausland reveals Dianne Buswell kicked him during rehearsal

Chris McCausland has detailed a mishap he and Strictly Come Dancing’s Dianne Buswell suffered ahead of the series’ first live show.

The comedian, 47, who is the show’s first blind contestant, performed a cha cha with his professional partner to “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles on Saturday night (21 September).

Strictly’s judges, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke, were in awe of what McCausland had achieved and scored the performance 23 out of 40 points.

But McCausland, who lost his sight aged 22 due to a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa, later revealed to the Strictly presenter Claudia Winkleman that training had not been without its difficulties.

“[Dianne] kicked me in the head one day,” he admitted. “I did not avoid or anticipate it. I stood there and took a foot right to the face.”

Detailing how she has been teaching McCausland their Strictly routines, Buswell explained ahead of their performance: “I can’t show [Chris] what something needs to look like.

“But I’ve found that Chris places his hand on my body or he feels what my arms are doing and then he instantly gets an idea of what he should be doing.”

Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell training on ‘Strictly Come Dancing' — Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell training on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (BBC)

McCausland added: “Working with Diane, her energy never wavers. She’s really really patient and she’s definitely bringing the best out of me.”

He continued: “It’s a good partnership and I couldn’t be happier.”

The comedian told The Independent ahead of his first Strictly performance that he and Buswell are “winging it” when it comes to their training technique.

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“We’re just gonna have to figure it out as we go along,” he said.

“The production team are just being really flexible. My dance partner is figuring out how to teach me. And we are winging it. That’s the best way I think.”

McCausland on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (BBC)

McCausland received a standing ovation from Strictly’s studio audience for his first performance on the show on Saturday night.

“It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” judge Anton Du Beke praised. “Just brilliant.”

Meanwhile, Shirley Ballas added: “I didn’t know what to expect… you had great skills listening to your partner.

“I’m quite shocked and very emotional.”

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Cussly Learns To Save Water + Many More ChuChu TV Good Habits Bedtime Stories For Kids

Published

3 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Cussly Learns To Save Water + Many More ChuChu TV Good Habits Bedtime Stories For Kids

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