DWTS Finale: Well... Dammit

Just because you see something disappointing coming, doesn't make it any less of a let down when it does. I could tell coming into tonight's Results show that Donny's fans were more than likely going to beat out Mya, the by FAR best dancer of the season.

Also, sadly, there was some negative reactions from some voters to Mya, especially towards the end. This seemed to stem from her having the most dancing experience coming into the competition; some didn't think she connected enough with the audience or even her partner; and some even claimed she had a superior attitude and called her a bitch, which is just not true at all! If anything, I think these final two reasons were just invented so people could validate their own negative feelings for someone who had never done anything wrong other than be better than anyone else.

The judges and the show tried to make it look fair by giving Donny the final victory and thus tying him in points with Mya. This then left the show's winner purely in the hands of the voters, and made Mya and Donny look even, which they really aren't. So, I will call a slight "Shenanigans" on the show for setting it up that much, but really, they knew Donny would win either way, they just needed to make it look better than it actually is. On that note, lucky thing Dmitry didn't do a better job of the freestyle performance, then Mya would have been the by far highest scoring contestant, but probably still lose.

I will give a resounding "BOOOOOOOO" to the fans in the studio. Their "support" for Donny and Kelly was offensive when compared to the relative silence Maya received. She put just as much into this competition as they did people, and she deserves at least some of the support you didn't give her when voting!

ABC also deserves a "BOOOOOOO" because the show was preempted until after football in some places in the west, but they didn't keep the voting open later to accommodate this. And they never mentioned this on tonight's show. Thanks ABC, nice way of pretending like nothing's wrong when you really screwed up.

To be fair, Donny did do a very good job with his final dance, but the Argentine tango is so much easier for the man. All you need to focus on is good posture and keeping a straight face while a beautiful woman leaps into your arms and wraps her legs around you.

So... Donny won. The consummate performer and beloved entertainer won over even more fans and proved, again, that popularity trumps talent. I am both let down and strangely numb to this outcome, since I saw it coming, but still hoped Mya would pull it off. That just goes to show where hope gets you.

Final Thought: Whitney Houston's beautiful voice is GONE! Her tone was way too low, she was short of breath, her range has largely left her, and at points she lost the beat and seemed to speak more than sing. While I admit that it would be all but impossible for someone to keep the incredible operatic range she had when she started twenty years ago, I think we all know what added to her vocal demise. (Say "No" to drugs, kids. Now take your Ritalin and shut up.)

I found it somewhat painful to see the woman whose cover of "I Will Always Love You" is still stirring digress into this faded shadow of her former self with less than half of her once unbelievable talent. And yet the audience still gave her a standing ovation and acted as if she were still the moving pop singer that she had once been.

Thanks for crapping on my childhood memories there, Whitney. You made a night I only somewhat enjoyed even worse.