When will Johnny be in Stars on Ice?

ITD (disagree). I've never seen a skate by Johnny that would cause a monocle laugh to drop in this jaded age.

For once I think Sandra Bezic got it right when she said that despite the supposedly shocking things he says off-ice (and again, I think the "shocking" nature of his words is greatly exaggerated by the media, for self-interested reasons), he is a purist on ice.

I did see him at one of those shows, was it the last year of COI? and he was mesmerizingly beautiful. And not in an epater-les-bourgeois kind of way.

That said, I do wonder if he could put up with all the kiddy-jokes without barfing. I guess the paycheck would help.

While I enjoy Michael Weiss and Todd Eldredge, I wish they would be replaced with some newer skaters. Let us see somebody different. They've been on that tour for how long now? I would go to any show that was within a few hours driving distance from my house to see Johnny.

If they hired Johnny they might actually be able to fill more seats in the arena! Right now they are only going to 40 cities....it used to be 60. Johnny is popular with non-skating fans too, especially if you read comments on his news stories. So if SOI had him, more people might show up.

Soi

I'd love to see Johnny in SOI. Doubt it will happen though.

It is about time they got some new blood. Really- who wants to see Todd Eldridge do the same boring thing AGAIN? Besides , they now have the new, improved Todd 2.0= Evan L...and he's at least taller.

I think you might be on to something with the "hard to handle" aspect of Johnny. Does he have a reputation for running with scissors or not playing well with others? That SOI tour looks like a lot of time on tour with the same group of people in close quarters. A lot of them are the Detroit area skaters...it's almost like DOI (Detroit on Ice) instead of SOI. Connections seem to also play a role in who gets picked. Abbott's probably in because of Sato's willingness to keep his behavior under control.

Still, I'm thinking about going this year...but only if the show near me has D&W, Mirai and Abbott skating. Otherwise it's not worth the cost. Just wish Johnny was there, too.

Did anyone see Skate for the Heart this year? I thought Johnny, Caroline, Mirai, and Jeremy looked quite nice skating together in the finale. They were nicely matched. I'd like to see more of that.

Spun Silver said:

ITD (disagree). I've never seen a skate by Johnny that would cause a monocle laugh to drop in this jaded age.

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You severely underestimate the ability of Johnny's performances to shock the mainstream. For a while now, I've been using an animated gif of Johnny dancing from his Poker Face exhibition as my avatar on a music forum. Here are some of the comments I got on it:

"that makes me a bit uncomfortable..." "I wouldn't like to be trapped in an elevator with him." "Sigh..." "gtfo" "terrifying." "creepy" "Fouls me greatly" "very scary" "CONFUSED..... hmmm" "blargh... That's just... I feel... fkaldanflajksnfklasnlf'" "No." "It's kinda creepy..." "ew?" "i hate that freaking gif."

And these are people who are at least used to seeing a bit of gender-bendery with David Bowie and Alice Cooper. The soccer moms and the ladies who lunch would faint and/or stomp out the second Weir does a butt roll.

DesertRoad said:

The soccer moms and the ladies who lunch would faint and/or stomp out the second Weir does a butt roll.

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Well, Johnny's been doing his Gaga thing for over a year to immense acclaim. He can't even retire it because people still want to see it. I was at a live performance last spring or summer in a rinkfull of kiddies and moms and it was a big hit.

DesertRoad said:

You severely underestimate the ability of Johnny's performances to shock the mainstream.

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I don't know if shock is really the word. More like displease or annoy.

Pixie Cut said:

I don't know if shock is really the word. More like displease or annoy.

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Very true. All the death threats I've gotten over my avatar bears that out.

Some of us would gladly see his angelic LP instead. I think I would probably cry.

Good thread!

Forgive me for this because I know this is exclusively a fabulous Johnny thread but I saw some very good points about IMG skaters so I have to bring this up. The only time I have seen SOI live (well, CSOI in this reagard but same thing) was in 2009 and only because my favorite skater Shawn Sawyer was in it for the very first time. Sawyer's performances were very good and many other attendees felt the same judging by the reviews. Just to note that in 2009, I wrote in my review that CSOI and SOI would have been THAT much better with Johnny and his Poker Face.

Sawyer was a full time cast member last year and as mentioned, did well. I believe he is represented by David Baden of IMG. Although Sawyer didn't make the Olympic team this year, he did win the Silver medal at Skate America this season. Yes, he was a bit lucky but he still won it. He also had a great long program at 4CC in which he was fourth in the free skate, a great way to end the season. The cast list for this year doesn't include Sawyer AT ALL but does include Cynthia Phaneuf, who was a guest star last year, as full time this year. Now I like Cynthia Phaneuf and completely appreciate her skating and how she came back from adversity and her Olympics appearance. However, in the show I saw last year, while her performances were good and the rest of the skaters weren't perfect that night, she fell on nearly every jump. Reviews from other attendees that I read about her performances were mixed at best. Now I don't mean to compare both skaters or pit one against the other, as Cynthia in general is a great skater. But it was clear at least last year that Sawyer fit in perfectly with the group numbers and with his solo performances. I really strongly feel that they made the wrong decision by leaving Sawyer out. But of course, I don't run the show.

SOI and CSOI is really doing their show a great disservice by leaving out Johnny Weir, a true figure skater and fan favorite that could sell so many more tickets. I think it's an IMG issue but also a lot more than that, a lot of what many other posters have said, unfortunately.

DesertRoad said:

Very true. All the death threats I've gotten over my avatar bears that out.

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I think Johnny should do Dancing with the Stars!!!!!!!

Ginask8s said:

I think Johnny should do Dancing with the Stars!!!!!!!

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Evan will be doing it first......and DWTS has already declared Evan the hardest working celebrity they have ever had on the show....and he is not even there yet



Why doesn't Johnny put together his own show? Maybe combine skating with fashion or whatever.......

I might go if he had a couple of skaters I liked......(Shizuka )

Mafke said:

I would say the management question is one reason he'll probably never skate with SOI. Another is his .... style. The two contribute to each other and aren't mutually exclusive.

Plainly put, he doesn't fit the image of male skaters as straight sex maniacs that SOI so carefully cultivates. A few years ago the show might have been described as SSSSOI (Stars simulate straight sex on ice)

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Sex maniacs??? I guess you must be referring to the men only #'s that they've had the last few seasons. As someone else pointed out, SOI has featured male skaters who have acknowledged their sexuality. Doesn't seem to make a difference to the ladies in the audience.

If you want to stereotype, then Johnny would be the 'eye candy' for the gay males who attend the show. However, gay guys admire the straight guys as much as straight ladies might crush on a gay male skater and all the other combinations.

I really don't think Johnny's not being in SOI is a result of his sexuality - he's just not with IMG and there are so many IMG skaters who need the work.

I, too, think that Johnny Weir, certainly a fan favorite and wonderful skater, should be part of the Stars On Ice cast. There could be a few reasons (besides homophobia and machoism) why Johnny has not been pegged by SOI.

1. A case of economics. Johnny is a star skater and has won three U.S. titles, a World bronze medalist, and is a 2-time Olympian. I figure that he (and/or his agent) would request a big salary, and SOI is unwilling to pay that since they have several headliners who are drawing hefty paychecks, among other expenses. That is why skaters such as Jeremy Abbott, Mirai Nagusu, and Alissa Czissny, though talented, are not as well known as Johnny and therefore SOI could pay them about half as much as Johnny or a big name skater.

2. Johnny is loved by skating fans throughout the world, and perhaps he already has offers to skate in Europe and Japan. These skating shows in different countries may be paying Johnny better money than what he would get here in the U.S. He may get more respect in the overseas countries also.

3. If he is really serious about the fashion business, he may want to pursue that and focus less of his time on skating.

I will say that if Johnny Weir wins the World title and SOI does not pick him up, that is a stupid move on SOI's part.

Other male skaters that I would love to see in SOI are Ryan Bradley and Dai T.

Hamilton's antipathy toward Weir is generally acknowledged. Well, it's the show's loss, both financially and in terms of entertainment value.

Well, during Johnny's Poker Face performance at nationals, Scott Hamilton says "and this is why he's so popular around the world". When an American specifies "the world", s/he usually means "the rest of the world besides America". I take that to be Scott's meaning in this case, or else why not just leave it off at "he's so popular". I think Scott thinks Weir isn't very popular in the US, and may drive away more ticket-buyers than he'd bring in. And Hamilton, overexcited midget though he be, could be right. Let Todd Eldredge and Michael Weiss and Evan Lysacek have their middling, Middle America tour. Weir can start his own, or do tours in "the world".

Maybe Scott meant what he said: Johnny is popular around world. Not just in the US.

stage said:

Other male skaters that I would love to see in SOI are Ryan Bradley and Dai T.

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Is Dai doing SOI? I didn't read anything about this.