"Live Skaters" vs. "TV Skaters"

Thought this phenomenon is somewhat interesting- I've noticed throughout the shows I've attended that some skaters seem to have that certain something that doesn't translate through a TV screen and that you have to witness live to experience. For this thread, I'll call these skaters "live skaters". However, at the same time, there are other skaters who seemed fine on TV, but their live performance ended up falling a little flat for me. I'll refer to these types as "TV skaters".

From my experience, just a short list: "live skaters" would include (but are not limited to):

Miki Ando (speed & presence doesn't come across on TV well)
Shizuka Arakawa
Michael Weiss
Ilia Kulik (the speed!)
Kimmie Meissner


TV skaters:

Alyssa Czisny (this was a bit of a surprise)
Sasha Cohen (she doesn't reach far out into the audience often times)
Emily Hughes
Joannie Rochette (still working on audience projection- saw an improvement at Caesars though!)
Mirai Nagasu

I realize depending on performances/preferences, YMMV...but want to hear your thoughts anyway.

Brian Joubert's power and charisma don't really come across on TV; you have to see him live to appreciate it (I'm biased, but have been told the same by friends who aren't huge fans).

I obviously knew that Yu-Na and V/M are really good, but seeing them in person made it clear just how strong they are - so fast and sharp, and Yu-Na's jumps are amazing. Aliona and Robin were as good as I'd expected.

I was meh on Alissa when I saw her live, too. She's very pretty, but not as memorable as I'd expected. I also felt a bit let down by Ryan B; no speed. Kozuka wasn't as quiet as I'd been led to believe, but he's lovely, so I didn't care.

I've only seen skating live once - a show. I was surprised that I wasn't as wowed by Sasha live as on tv; her positions were beautiful but I honestly did like her more on tv than that one live show.

I love Plushenko on tv - could not believe how fast he was live; and he was out of shape, but still super fast and huge jumps. Weir also surprised me - I didn't think he was 'that' fast from tv, and definitely didn't think of him as powerful (and in certain ways, I suppose, he isn't) - but, although live he wasn't as fast as Plushenko seemed to be, he flew by me and seemed way more powerful 'live' than on tv. It was an interesting experience.

I have to say, though, that I am simply way, way more interested in comps than the shows. It would be interesting to me to hear what people say about skaters live at comps vs tv OR live at shows vs tv specials.

Alisa in cor didn't impress me as well, neither teb!she is slow and introverted maybe that's why
From the ones i ve seen live

Tv skaters that live Lost me
Kira, Fernandez, Leonova, Verner( although when clean he is great but havent seen him clean ever)

Live skaters that won me over
Elena G, V. Helgerson, brezina, Akiko, Hanyu,Miki, Chan, Kozuka, Joubert, Pang/Tong

Skaters both on tv and live that work equally great
Mirai, kostner, Amodio, Mao, Cohen, Yuna, S/S, Pechelat/Bourzat, Del/Sho, Kerrs, Weir, Buttle

Tv, radio and live for me
Plushenko, Daisuke, Lambiel, Slutskaya

I have a couple that didn't work anywhere for me but I won't say

Interestingly enough I appreciated Sasha more after seeing her live than I did prior to Nationals 2005, not sure if it's because of a growth in maturity or seeing her live.

Lysacek is definitely someone I appreciate more when he's LIVE... Weir, too, for that matter.

And there are some skaters that are absolutely magic live on one skate, and two days later, (or earlier) not so much. Rachael Flatt is like that. Mostly, it doesn't come through the TV, so Rachael is a live skater, but doesn't hit "the zone" every time or even most of the time she skates. Apparently she was in the zone in her LP at Nationals this year, as she was last year in the SP at Nationals, and last year in the LP at Skate America. Last year's LP at Nationals was very meh, but the SP was the highlight of the night.

I would agree that Alissa is for me, a TV skater.

Michelle was a treat, seen live, but not as much on TV.

Sasha was better on TV than live, at least for me, when she was an amateur.

Emily was good live when she was on, but like Rachael, not always on.

Jason Brown is utterly phenomenal live

You can tell the skaters teams who are phenomenal live- the crowd isn't waiting to put their programs or snacks down to give a polite standing O-they are jumping on their feet either at the end of the program, or even before the program ends. If it's a sad subtle program, sometimes they are quiet, thinking, "There's more of this wonderful stuff...there has to be more..." and when they realize there isn't, suddenly exploding into a standing ovation.

The best "live" skaters I ever saw were Torvill and Dean, bar none.

Emily [Hughes] was good live when she was on, but like Rachael, not always on.

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The show I saw Hughes at was Iced Pink- while she wasn't bad, she didn't quite have that energy/infectiousness that I'm used to seeing from her on TV. Perhaps it was the performance, the song choice or whatnot but that's why I had her in the TV category. I have not seen Flatt live though.

Perhaps another "live skater" (for me at least) is Nicole Bobek. You can tell she's just happy to be back on the ice performing and it shows- it's infectious. Definitely more so live.

live skaters:
Flatt (when on)
Keegan
Jason Brown
Denney/Coughlin

TV skaters:
Mirai (big surprise because how slow she was and her spins weren't well-centered)
Czisny (suspected it would be the case, and it was. she wasn't as slow as I thought so that's a plus)
Rippon (bigger surprise because he was extremely slow, and it was painful to see his triple axels. It was like watching glacier moving)

So strange, this phenomenon. I thought the judges score would reflect the live part, not what appears to be on TV.

Live skaters:
Moore-Towers/Moscovitch (I normally don't like them at all but they know how to work it)
Weaver/Poje

TV skaters:
Alissa Czisny (tentative and quite slow)
Laura Lepisto (pretty but not much audience projection)
Jeremy Abbott (this was a big surprise for me as I LOVE Jeremy's skating normally, but maybe it wasn't a very good day for him in terms of performance)
Cynthia Phaneuf

Skaters who have impressed me live AND on TV:
Daisuke Takahashi
Savchenko/Szolkowy (their 3F especially is just as amazing live as it is on TV)
Virtue/Moir

seniorita said:

Tv, radio and live for me
Plushenko, Daisuke, Lambiel, Slutskaya

I have a couple that didn't work anywhere for me but I won't say

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Radio...I love it. And I know exactly what you mean. I haven't seen many skaters live, but I imagine that Daisuke and Lambiel would be that kind of skater for me too--wonderful even just standing on the ice and smiling. Wonderful even if you could just hear their blades on the ice, with no picture. I'm sure Kurt Browning is also like that, aren't you?

I was lucky enough to see Plushenko live once, and I agree. He was in a cheesefest competition, and he still did a quad and threw himself into every second of the skate. I understood why his fans would follow him forever.

I agree with everyone who was disappointed with Alyssa live.

I disagree with the people who don't think Mirai is a live skater- when she is on she definitely is. I got to see her 2010 nationals LP live and OMG, at least for me, it was one of the best live preformances I have EVER seen. Flattfan has seen her more rescntly than me but she was blazing fast back then, her jumps were HUGE and it was amazing.

General other list

LIVE
Moore-Towers/Moscovitch and Duhamel/Radford are both great live.
Virtue/Moir and Davis/White and Weaver/Poje and Shibutanis are all fantastic.
Leonova. She really projected into the crowd.

TV

Pechelat/Borzat
Cynthia Phaneuf
Tuktamensheva
Kostner for me though she had really great speed

I saw Plushy at DC Worlds and, as well as he may come across on TV, I'd classify him as live just because his command of the ice when you see him in person is just not to be believed.