Strictly Dancing

[Alisso]

Originally Posted by Abundance

The green one is the Irish pride coming out of him *sniff* starts singing "when Irish eyes are smiling".

lol...not that shade of green, trust me...not shamrock green, Sandy's lime splice fuckwit suit green!

[Abundance]

Yeah same one.

[Alisso]

Then that's not Irish pride, unless...oh yeah *larfs* he is colourblind *g*

[Abundance]

It's almost the same shade as the Irish flag I think.

[Munchkin]

The Weekend Australian 14/02/2004
Come in spinner
By Kerrie Murphy

But Paul McDermott's not in a whirl, writes Kerrie Murphy

AFEW years ago, Paul McDermott was everywhere on television, appearing in multiple versions of Good News Week and in various comedy debates. So ubiquitous was the former Doug Anthony Allstar that chances were if you called someone to fix your television set McDermott would turn up with a toolbox and a pair of natty overalls.
So the obvious question to ask is why has it taken McDermott so long to be back on television regularly?
"They offered me the gig,'' says McDermott. "I was just sitting around waiting for someone to offer me something. No one's offered me anything for 2 1/2 to three years. It's nice to be offered things.''
Not that he has been idle, most notably performing in comedy troupe GUD. View is talking with him on the eve of a trip to Berlin, where the short film he wrote, directed and starred in, The Scree, has been invited to compete in the 54th International Berlin Film Festival.
Last night viewers witnessed the debut of his latest TV gig, Strictly Dancing, a 16-week competition, with McDermott hosting and Lex Marinos doing dance commentary.
"I'm just the warm fluid to keep everything moving,'' says McDermott of his role. "I don't think there will be much of me in the show at all, in the end, because we want to focus primarily on the dancers. I'm just there to say `Hi', `Welcome everybody', `Keep it movin'' -- that sort of thing.''
Which is not to rule out the possibility that we'll see McDermott cutting the odd rug.
"I had a lovely dance the other night with a woman called Terri, who was 85 and whoo, she was a goer. Certainly taught me a thing or two about dancing on medication, I can tell you,'' he says, adding that his dance style is a little too Flock of Seagulls for a regular airing.
It's been a while since we've seen a dance competition on TV, so why is the time ripe for it?
"I'm as baffled as you are, but people seem to be very eager for it. I've noticed there's been an incredible rise in people doing Latin American dancing and samba dancing and you know, lambada and all that stuff ... I suppose everyone's had enough of the savagely free expression of techno ... and the fact you can show off.''
There are a couple of differences between Strictly Dancing and previous dance shows. One is that it allows same-sex couples to compete, with two female couples participating, and the other is that it incorporates all styles of dancing, from ballroom to salsa to hip-hop.
Which must make finding someone who can both salsa and head-spin a tad tricky.
"We haven't seen any head-spins so far, I'm a bit upset that there hasn't been as many head-spins as I was told there would be,'' he says. "Yes, it is hard to find someone [who does both] but that's the person we're looking for.''
But given that hip-hop is included in the competition, isn't it a missed opportunity to get the words "electric boogaloo'' in the title?
"I gotta be honest with you, I'm not happy with the title,'' he says. "It has echoes of you know, a wonderful Australian film and I just thought it should stand alone in the great dance hall of dance shows, and Electric Boogaloo would have been quite good I think, I would love to do that.''
Strictly Dancing
Friday, 8pm on ABC

[Abundance]

I thought Paul did a good job and the show was watchable and commentary was OK (nothing worse than crap commentary). Paul as stated above in the article is more of a facilitator (and sadly there are no Paul closeups so my obsession gets to take a back seat). There is an air of Good News Weeks about it as Paul comfortably commands the autocue and narration. It's all done with a sense of humour and it's only half an hour so I'll probably keep watching.

[Amey]

Is it on every friday at 8?

[stack]

Yep

[unfrufru]

i found the show to be quite boring, the guests arrogant and mcdermott came across as the dirty old uncle at your cousins wedding, sleazing on the young girls and dancing by himself in the corner.

[Goldilocks]

Originally Posted by unfrufru

i found the show to be quite boring, the guests arrogant and McDermott came across as the dirty old uncle at your cousins wedding, sleazing on the young girls and dancing by himself in the corner.

Re quote above: He, He...the poor boy.

On a different note, don't know why but it annoys the hell out of me when he puts on a pose.

[Cherryish]

I completely forgot... I was just happy I remembered The Glass House was on in time to tape it. I doubt I'll ever get to watch it though, Friday nights I'm always working, and no one in my house seems to know how the vcr works... How many people actually watched it?

[Goldilocks]

Puts hand up. Switched onto it only by accident cause I was channel surfing.

I was a little surprised that Paul was hosting as I read an article in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday that the show was looking for a host for the debut as Paul wasn't in Australia but in Berlin (for his Scree entry in the film festival over there). But that he was coming back on Friday and doing a double episode?? Go figure...maybe I'd dreamt reading it or did read something but totally misunderstood.

[Munchkin]

Originally Posted by Cherryish

How many people actually watched it?

1.5 million apparently, although that is the ratings system guestimate

Originally Posted by Goldilocks

I was a little surprised that Paul was hosting as I read an article in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday that the show was looking for a host for the debut as Paul wasn't in Australia but in Berlin (for his Scree entry in the film festival over there). But that he was coming back on Friday and doing a double episode?? Go figure...maybe I'd dreamt reading it or did read something but totally misunderstood.

The debut episode was filmed a few weeks ago. Paul was in Berlin most of the week, arrived in Australia Friday night to do double GUD in Brisbane then double Strictly Dancing tonight (episodes 5 &6).

The filmings are a lot of fun actually, although there are long lulls for costume changes.[/quote]

[Laney]

i only turned on at the very start. i found it rather boring, i did have guests over at the time, so i was only half watching. i'll give it a second go next week, but it really didn't seem to be very watchable for me.

[Munchkin]

The website is up
http://www.abc.net.au/strictlydancing/