Skating references in TV and film

[Buttercup]

Project Runway, in one of the earlier seasons, had a project to make a skating costume for Sasha Cohen.

The winning costume was horrifically ugly. I don't know what they were thinking, but Sasha certainly never wore it in competition or in any major exhibition that I can recall. Here's a recap of the episode and the winning design. BTW, Nick Verreos, who was a contestant in season 2 and featured in the episode, regularly posts about skaters' costumes on his blog.

Also in reality TV: John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana were on an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

In other countries, I think a bunch of Russian skaters were on some soap opera. Florent Amodio is starring in a movie called Programme Libre, and Brian Joubert was in a TV pilot but I don't think that worked out. Some of the French skaters do Fort Boyard on occasion - Brian Joubert, Isabelle Delobel, and P/B have been on it (here's a clip from 2008, with Joubert and P/B).

[Rachmaninoff]

And, a couple of years ago, I remember reading that president Obama used metaphor of "doing the Harding" when he was pushing for Obamacare or something else which I don't remember. And IIRC, Tonya actually responded to this and said in an interview something like "Leave me the hell alone."

That was great.

Oh, Ilia Kulik was in that ballet movie, Centre Stage.

[Olympia]

Which I never got to see, drat! And I never found it on DVD.

No fair to Ilia fans.


>later< I found parts of it on YT!


>still later< They have a bit with Ilia. Yippee! And they show a wonderful segment where the girls prepare their shoes. All sorts of amazing treatments: wetting them in the shower, ripping off a layer of fabric, singeing the toe area with a cigarette lighter. I once read that Gelsey Kirkland used to use a tinsmith's hammer to soften her shoes to her needs.

[Tonichelle]

The movie, Ice Princess, is all about figure skating. And there appear Sasha and Yuna pictures(I think the first four images on this webpage) in the movie Ice Castles but the movie was much less popular than Ice Princess.

I really loved The Cutting Edge when I was young that I kept insisting on starting figure skating(but my parents wouldn't let me:()

And if you're thinking of figure skating movies, you can't count out Blades of Glory where Scott Hamilton guest-starred as a commentator!

Yes i know but i was looking for more non skating shows and movies that reference the sport randomly

[Tonichelle]

Which I never got to see, drat! And I never found it on DVD.

No fair to Ilia fans.

>later< I found parts of it on YT!

>still later< They have a bit with Ilia. Yippee! And they show a wonderful segment where the girls prepare their shoes. All sorts of amazing treatments: wetting them in the shower, ripping off a layer of fabric, singeing the toe area with a cigarette lighter. I once read that Gelsey Kirkland used to use a tinsmith's hammer to soften her shoes to her needs.

Center Stage makes its rounds on the cable/satellite networks and you can get it on dvd.

Kulik is a very small part speaking wise, and did not do any of his dancing.

It's an okay movie.

[Ladskater]

This did not take place on ice but it's my favorite skating scene in a movie done by none other than the great Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on roller skates - skating on an outdoors rink. Just think if they had taken up figure skating!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ3fjQa5Hls



Andy Williams was a pretty fair skater also:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyU43P0h3r8


Of course there is the Charlie Brown and Peanuts Gang created by Charles Shultz, who was a fan of figure skating and even built a rink for figure skaters in his hometown. He always featured the Peanuts Gang on ice skates:

http://www.google.ca/search?q=charli...iw=994&bih=472


This is a clip from the show "Different Strokes" which featured Dorothy Hamill teaching Dana Plato to figure skate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr2roOaWk6E

[Olympia]

Tab Hunter started out as a competitive skater, under his real name of Arthur Gelien. I can't find out how far he got. But he did star (such clever casting) in a TV production of Hans Brinker. I imagine how convincing he must have been in this part. I wonder whether any version of the film survives.

Like Astaire and Rogers, Gene Kelly did a number on roller skates in one of his films; I don't remember which one, though I've seen that sequence. I think it might have been in included one of the That's Entertainment movies.

[l'etoile]

In Modern Family's s01e07, it appears that Mitchell and Clair used to be ice dancers as kids. They were apparently great, especially Mitchell, but then, Clair backed out and that hurt him a lot. In the final scene of this episode, they sort of reveal their personal regrets about it and do this final dance lift in a parking lot of the mall as their sign of closure. And Cam's line goes "Wow, you did it. You made figure skating sound even gay-er."

[l'etoile]

AND in Friends, Chandler confesses that he tried for figure skating team in high school but was not accepted. The situation was that it was Pheobe and Mike's wedding day, and Rachel had to pick her groomsmen to walk on the aisle with between Ross and Chandler.

Chandler says something like "If you don't choose me as a groomsmen, I'll feel left again like when I was a kid, being picked last in the gym, never getting picked in the baseball team, etc." to Rachel. Then naturally, Ross and Chandler get into a fight about whom to be chosen. When Ross counter-strikes what Chandler said to him by saying "Is that what they say in figure skating team?" and Chandler bursts into tears saying that "I wouldn't know, I didn't make it." And they hug it out.

[Olympia]

The winning costume was horrifically ugly. I don't know what they were thinking, but Sasha certainly never wore it in competition or in any major exhibition that I can recall. Here's a recap of the episode and the winning design. BTW, Nick Verreos, who was a contestant in season 2 and featured in the episode, regularly posts about skaters' costumes on his blog.

It was an ugly costume and badly made, and it used nude illusion fabric all the way down the middle--very unflattering. On the other hand, Chloe Dao's costume was a beautiful aqua color and made of overlapping scallops, which would have moved beautifully and caught light and shade as Sasha skated. I've never understood that choice at all. But then, I rarely liked Sasha's color choices for her costumes. I mean, yellow?

[Tonichelle]

AND in Friends, Chandler confesses that he tried for figure skating team in high school but was not accepted. The situation was that it was Pheobe and Mike's wedding day, and Rachel had to pick her groomsmen to walk on the aisle with between Ross and Chandler.

Chandler says something like "If you don't choose me as a groomsmen, I'll feel left again like when I was a kid, being picked last in the gym, never getting picked in the baseball team, etc." to Rachel. Then naturally, Ross and Chandler get into a fight about whom to be chosen. When Ross counter-strikes what Chandler said to him by saying "Is that what they say in figure skating team?" and Chandler bursts into tears saying that "I wouldn't know, I didn't make it." And they hug it out.

oh yeah I forgot about that one!

[Skater Boy]

Wasn't there a South Park episode about Brian Boitano and a catchy song something to the effect "That's what Brian Boitano would do". I think it was how Brian B would handle different situations. Of course there was a movie about Oksana Baiul's life and in Blades of Glory there were several skaters acting as commentators and Sasha Cohen catching some figure skaters jock strap I think - real high brow acting. I think Michelle Kwan may have been commentating.

[Tonichelle]

Wasn't there a South Park episode about Brian Boitano and a catchy song something to the effect "That's what Brian Boitano would do". I think it was how Brian B would handle different situations. Of course there was a movie about Oksana Baiul's life and in Blades of Glory there were several skaters acting as commentators and Sasha Cohen catching some figure skaters jock strap I think - real high brow acting. I think Michelle Kwan may have been commentating.

Kwan and Boitano commentated in Ice Princess
Scott Hamilton was one of the commentators (iirc) for Blades of Glory.

[dorispulaski]

And it was the South Park movie that had What Would Brian Boitano Do?

One of the amusing moments in ice skating fandom was definitely watching Brian Boitano perform to What Would Brian Boitano Do?

[WeakAnkles]

It goes back farther than the South Park musical. In the unaired (at least at the time--they may have aired it since) pilot episode, Jesus and Santa Claus argue vehemently over who better represents the spirit of Christmas and Brian Boitano is brought in to mediate. Youtube has the entire animated short, but be warned -- this is South Park at its raunchiest, with language that could make a sailor blush.