Dancing show result kicks off Web rumba

Performers in the hit ABC television series "Dancing with the Stars" had hardly stopped tapping on the dance floor in Wednesday night's finale when outraged viewers started tapping away at their keyboards.

"The Internet chatter was deafening," said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University "This was a vintage example of how the Internet can become this enormous community for discussion."

Credit: ABC

Kelly Monaco and partner Alec Mazo

At issue: The surprise win by Kelly Monaco, an actress on the ABC soap "General Hospital." Monaco and her partner Alec Mazo faced off on Wednesday against "Seinfeld" actor John O'Hurley and his partner Charlotte Jorgensen. Many predicted that the latter pair, who earned consistently high marks from the judges all season, would nab the title.

When they didn't, a flood of critical posts hit the Web. "I think it's totally unfair to John and Charlotte, who did a much better routine from beginning to end," read one post on ABC's official "Dancing with the Stars" message board. "They're the winners as far as I'm concerned."

"Dancing with the Stars" waltzed its way up to No. 1 ratings this summer, with some 22.4 million television viewers watching the finale of the six-week series.

"That's huge," said Nielsen Media Research spokesman Matt Tatham, describing Wednesday's viewership, particularly at this time of year. That's almost as much as the first "American Idol" finale, which took place in September, he said.

As of Friday afternoon, more than 43,000 posts had been made to the Dancing with the Stars message board. Many on that board and elsewhere around the Web said they felt O'Hurley and his partner were the clear winners and questioned the legitimacy of the judges' perfect 10 scores for Monaco in her final dance, despite the mistakes she made. Someone even posted an online petition to ABC executives, signed by many others, criticizing the program and the outcome, among other things.

Winner still has plenty of fans
"Can't believe I spent so much time getting involved with it, and rooting for the other dancers. Then the worst ones win," the letter read.

Not all the chatter was negative. Many felt that the spunky Monaco, who now has at least one new fan Web site, deserved to win because of her determination in coming from behind. "She busted her butt with real work and it paid off," one viewer wrote in a post.

ABC, which had no official comment Friday on the online petition or the viewer accusations, isn't allowing any more posts to its message board after 5 p.m. Friday. The board will remain up in a read-only mode until the next installation of the show.

"Stars" had a solid six-week growth pattern for ABC, giving the network a 70 percent increase over its performance in the summer of 2004 in adults ages 18 to 49. The show's success was a surprise to industry watchers such as Thompson, who, after seeing "cheesy" promos for the show, was convinced the networks were "bankrupt" of any new ideas.

But the show's smooth execution, refreshing sincerity and 1950s flavor ended up appealing to viewers ages 3 to 90, he said. "People have such an appetite for shows the whole family can watch."

The Internet only fueled the fervor, and the surprise ending didn't hurt either, he added.

"What's amazing is that the day of a major terrorist act in a major Western city you had tens of thousands of people writing about how in the world John O'Hurley lost 'Dancing with the Stars,'" Thompson said, noting that that doesn't mean people thought the show was more important than the bombings. "It's OK to let yourself get into something. It's entertainment."

Even judge Bruno Tonioli participated online with his own blog on the series. The show, modeled after the international series "Strictly Come Dancing," paired six stars with professional dancers to compete in a wide range of ballroom dances, from the waltz to the samba. One couple was eliminated each week through a scoring process that equally weighed viewers' and judges' votes. What made the scoring somewhat confusing, however, was that the viewers vote was a week old by the time it was added to the judges' scoring.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Dancing with Stars

As a ballroom dancing student for four years I was appalled by the judges choice. It was our understanding that this was a ballroom dancing competition and our definition of ballroom dancing includes the words dignity and grace, neither of which were displayed in the so-called "winners" exhibition. A poll of other dancing students we know (about 50% of whom are in the producers 18-49 target age bracket) revealed overwhelming disgust. If an award was to be given to the most determined dancer, the best sport, or the most popular, that would be a different matter. If this was truly a contest for the best dancers there could be no doubt which couple consistently performed with recognizable ballroom dance steps. There is no doubt in any of our minds that a couple who not only made mistakes and received consistently low scores from the judges before suddenly received the maximum score from ALL THREE JUDGES who had never seen fit to award one maximum score before, smacks of a fix!

THE FIX IS TOTAL ON!

Sorry but that is the truth,anybody that watched the show know's that. This is total a case to where they wanted a young better looking couple to promote the shows first winners . i was terribly upset to watch all that time and have the so called real judges throw the whole event
with a perfect score for a barely practiced final dance . I WILL NEVER WATCH AGAIN ! I have lost
all faith that this show will be judged fairly .

[montgomeryburns]

Dance your brain away

Oh you mean the tripe on television isn't 100% true to reality?!
What?!?!?! I demand a refund on my cable bill!

Dancing

I was so excited about this show! Mainly, because of the
different personalities that were competing. My disappointment!
John and Charlotta did not win!!! What an embarrassment!!! They
both did such a swell job with each week a different routine.
They were few mistakes and most of all they presented
themselves in such a professional way. The couple that won
appeared to be more on a sexual type of dance. The strap
falling was only a ploy. She seemed the type who was very
munipulative type of individual. She appeared many many times
to be such a phony and I know the audience could see that.
However, your judges were impressed by the way she exhibited
her body. I believe they are bored with 'professional' routines
and she showed them something that brought a different side of
dancing. I know this is futile to even waste time writing this as I
am sure comments are worthless when it is over. In my mind, as
well as the majority of people who watched we clearly were
upset. I really doubt whether I will watch a show like this again
considering I know this is not fair. The judges you had were
really not qualified to do what they did. Like everything else in
this country they must have come cheap. I fault them the most
and hope I never see them again and I sure won't forget. You
had a good idea but it was a joke in the end. What a waste of
time when something is phony and hypocritcal as this was. You
really screwed up. Give John my congratulations as I consider
him the winner and the best. You might as well quit your job
before they find out what a phony you are.

Dancing

I was so excited about this show! Mainly, because of the
different personalities that were competing. My disappointment!
John and Charlotta did not win!!! What an embarrassment!!! They
both did such a swell job with each week a different routine.
There were few mistakes and most of all they presented
themselves in such a professional way. The couple that won
appeared to be more on a sexual type of dance. The strap
falling was only a ploy. She seemed the type who was very
munipulative type of individual. She appeared many many times
to be such a phony and I know the audience could see that.
However, your judges were impressed by the way she exhibited
her body. I believe they are bored with 'professional' routines
and she showed them something that brought a different view of
dancing. It wasn't dancing at all,but more like some kind of
cheap strip club. As I said not professional the way it should
have been I know this is futile to even waste time writing this as

I am sure these comments are worthless when the contest if over
but I feel the judge you had must have come cheap. I fault them
the most and hope I never see them again and I sure won't
forget. You had a good idea but it was a joke in the end. What a
waste of time when something is phony and hypocritcal as this
was. You really screwed up. Give John my congratulations as I
consider him the winner and the best. You can be sure I won't
watch this program again due to the fact that it will be
disappointment. Who else would you consider a better dancer
than Patrick Swaze? I bet he still is in shock.