Sarah the TV host | Golden Skate

Sarah the TV host

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Did you guys see Sarah hosting the SOI show on A and E just now? Wow, I thought she did a super job. She was very natural on camera, cute but professional, even did a little acting. I was very impressed.

Her skating was thoroughly charming, too. :love:

Mathman
 

mpal2

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I thought she spoke too fast a few times, but she did a decent job for what it was.

Nothing against Sarah, but I don't like these kind of hosting spots in general and I wish they would stay away from them. They usually come across as rehearsed and unnatural. There are very few skaters who could jump into this kind of role naturally.

BTW, did the show Todd's little flea routine? I kept falling asleep and I'll have to watch it again tomorrow when I have more time.
 

Kwanford Wife

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
mpal2 said:
I thought she spoke too fast a few times, but she did a decent job for what it was.

Nothing against Sarah, but I don't like these kind of hosting spots in general and I wish they would stay away from them. They usually come across as rehearsed and unnatural. There are very few skaters who could jump into this kind of role naturally.

BTW, did the show Todd's little flea routine? I kept falling asleep and I'll have to watch it again tomorrow when I have more time.

:rofl: It is definately worlds time...

KW
 

Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
I thought it was a very bad idea to hear Sarah's chatter after every segment. I would have preferred to watch more skating.

A&E's selections were terrible. As usual, they chacked B&S's beautiful 'If I could' and showed the silly dance mix which does not do anything for me on TV. Last year they showed only Kalinka which is just 2 minutes long, and skipped their more beautiful and difficult 'Let me fall'.

The only skaters to get the honor of 2 programs were S&P, Yagudin, and Sarah, who looked even more out of shape on TV. She looked overweight when I saw her in the show, but not quite as unbearable to watch as she was on A&E.

Perhaps the only programs that did not try my patience were Yuka's number - the cute one (they chacked Amazing Grace which was a beautiful program), and Yagudin's 'Passion'. It looked as good on TV as it did live. Rest of the tape is not even worth saving. I will probably tape over it.

Vash
 

Kurt's Girl

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Overall this was so disapointing to me. Seeing this show live in January is what MADE me a skating fan in the first place...and they butchered it :frown: Not to mention they cut out Kurt's programs..which I kinda expected but still :mad: . At least I got little sightings in the opening and closing numbers though.

So as not to end on a negative note though. the more I see of Todd E., the more he impresses me. Seeing him skate tonight has really cememnted me as a huge fan of his. "Let Me Entertain You" was wonderful. :) As were Jamie and David--both programs so well done, and so different from each other!

Sarah did an ok job hosting. These spots are so difficult, and like someone already mentioned its almost impossible not to come off looking stiff. Still, overall I think she did well.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I quite enjoyed the show. It was nice to see the variety of choreography and ideas for the skaters to showcase. I enjoyed the numbers the guys did. We don't often get a chance to see male skaters performing in groups.

Wow is Yags trying out for Cirque du Soleil? That was awesome!
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
I wish they had shown the show in sequence! :cry:

Too bad they chacked Elena & Anton's "If I Could." Shades of last year, when they didn't show "Let Me Fall." :cry: I was hoping they would show Todd's second program, "Il Mirto e La Rosa," but I was very happy to see "Let Me Entertain You" :party: (thank goodness we have "Il Mirto" on tape from "Ice Wars" & the World Team Challenge).

Count me in as another one who wanted to see the transitions, especially the whole "flea" thing & the "she loves me, she loves me not ..." one. :cry:

On the bright side, I was glad they showed all the ensemble pieces. :clap:

My favorite recent A&E broadcast of SOI was two years ago, when we got to see a lot of the "behind the scenes" things going on.

If only they would cut out some of those annoying, repetitive ads, then maybe we would get too see more skating. ;)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 30, 2004
First I'll say I'm a totally biased and true SOI fan. I just can't find a lot to complain about on any of the shows I've seen live in the past 10 years, 11 shows total. The only one that isn't on the top of my list is the "Gold" year.
I thought Sarah did well with the hosting....she seemed very unrehearsed and natural to me and I found the bit she did in the dressing room talking about an OGM going to your head to be the best "bit".
Stars On Ice can only fit so much into 2 hours (I wish they'd do a 3 hour broadcast and show the entire show with extra pieces), so someone is always going to be disappointed in what they choose to show.
But, SOI is for ENTERTAINMENT and the show NEVER fails to excite and entertain me. I sometimes feel that people are being too critical of the show.
Sarah skated with joy and grace, so what she's a little overweight and didn't do triple jumps.(I've read so much criticism of that it's starting to get to me!)
I enjoy the "Dance Mix" type numbers more than the "Let Me Fall" type numbers, so obviously I was pleased with what A&E showed. That's not to say I don't also appreciate the "quieter/classier" type programs.
I guess it's hard to take the criticism when you're such a die-hard fan the way I am. I go to the show/watch it on tv to be entertained and excited, to get some smiles and laughs and SOI has always delivered for me.
 

Piel

On Edge
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Great review NJSk8Fan. Since SOI or COI only come here once every 10 years or so I am happy for whaterver TV coverage I get. ITA that Sarah was a charming hostesss. SOI must be OK with her weight to let her skate in the show. My only complaint is NOT ENOUGH JOHNNY Z :love: :love: :love: !!!
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
My favorite was Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze's dance routine. It is amazing how much energy these skaters bring to their performances. Performances like that continue to remind me of what incredible shape these athletes keep themselves in.

I don't see how anyone can criticize Sarah's work with the microphone. That is not as easy as it looks. She was better than lots of people who have years of training and experience.

About her skating, I liked it and I think the audience did, too. To me, this shows how much affection the skating public in general has for Sarah. Think of how the Internet would howl if it were Michelle or Sasha out there doing double jumps!

Mathman
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Sarah was just OK as a narrator. She could use some speech classes, because she tends to 'clutter' just a bit.

That said, her narrating was better than her skating. The introduction made much of the fact that there were many "reigning Olympic champions" in the cast. But the problem is that all of the others skated like Olympic champions, except Sarah, and she was by far the youngest and the most out of shape cast member.

My husband was always a huge Sarah fan, and he was dismayed to see her skate so laboriously, compared to the others. She could manage only a single axel and a double, and on those she barely cleared the ice. He said he didn't even want to watch her skate because it was so hard to believe she was the same skate who won the OGM.
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
euterpe said:
He said he didn't even want to watch her skate because it was so hard to believe she was the same skate who won the OGM.
And a Reignning one!
 

mpal2

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Kwanford Wife said:
:rofl: It is definately worlds time...

KW

So I'm supposed to be a troll now because I would prefer seeing skating instead of skaters talking? :scratch: :sheesh:

I would feel the same if it were Michelle, Sasha, Kurt, Yuka or anyone. I love Michelle's skating but I didn't like the costumes and makeup fluff pieces for Marshall's comps. I would rather see skating than fluff.

They could have shown more of the magic tricks for transitions than using anyone to "host". I don't care about hosts. I don't care about what they do off the ice. I don't care about who is sleeping with who. Show me the skating! :biggrin:
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Mathman said:
My favorite was Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze's dance routine. It is amazing how much energy these skaters bring to their performances. Performances like that continue to remind me of what incredible shape these athletes keep themselves in.

I dunno... I wasn't really into their program... granted I didn't see the beginning of it... but I thought it was very hokey for THEM... the program would have worked for someone else, but I dunno... LOL


This whole show I was in a funk... it's just sooooo hard to watch this show anymore and not miss the original core cast... *Sigh* :cry:
 
Joined
Jan 30, 2004
All I can say is, seeing it live, it was a high-energy show, the skaters were having the time of their life and so were my husband and I from our on-ice seats. The show got the best reception this past year in Philly than the past few years' shows got.
Color me biased as I said in my original post.......I know everybody has different tastes and SOI can't please everybody all the time. But I am always pleased, even in the years SOI has an "off" year, there is always something good about the show. This years was better than good.
 

dlkksk8fan

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I thought the SOI coverage was good. Seeing the show live then watching it on TV is different and somewhat disappointing, but at least they showed it! They really didn't need to show all 3 skates of Sarah one would have been enough. I was hoping they would have shown Yuka Sato's "Amazing Grace" and or Elena & Anton's "If I Could", oh and at least Kurt Browning. It seemed funny seeing him in the group numbers but not showing him skate. Anyway I was glad that they showed Steven Cousins "Come Back To Bed" Overall a good show and I think that Sarah was a charming host.
 

LegalGirl82

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 29, 2004
You know, I was in and out of the room while this was on (was taping it for later anyway), so I thought I missed Kurt's solo number! I know they're not going to televise the whole show (of course, they want to whet people's appetites so that they pay and go see the whole thing, LOL), but I wish they would even it out more and at least run one solo routine for each pair or single.

From what I saw, I thought Sarah did a good job. It can't be easy to make some of these bits look natural. But again, unless they're going to lengthen the time to accommodate stuff like that, just let the skating talk.
 

Linny

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Kurt?

Is Kurt even with SOI this season? He wasn't at Reading, PA... but neither was Yuka. Kulik was our guest star.
Linny
 
Joined
Jan 30, 2004
Kurt and Yuka are "sharing" the tour with Michael Weiss and Katia Gordeeva as "guests".....Kurt was in some of the group numbers in the show A&E aired, as was Yuka. In Philly, we had Weiss and Gordeeva as our guest stars.....I actually don't recall seeing Weiss in any of the group numbers, but Katia was.
 
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