VIII. Mrs. P, I take your point about people not looking inside, but I don’t like Apple either. This is a very specific case where (a) what these talented skaters are doing isn’t in my wheelhouse and (b) ergo, their technical improvements don’t mean a whole lot to me because the whole isn’t more than the sum of its parts.
Well, dang. Didn't think I had to deal with Apple haters on this board, but you know. J/K.
Seriously, I definitely — obviously – see it differently. I believe these technical elements will be key to making it a great program by the end of the season. Going back to the iPhone 4S again. People at first glance were like "No, there's nothing new. Blah blah blah!" But now that people are playing with it (the phone was released it) it's more like "OH my gosh I love this phone." Again, functionality ultimately wins people over. Likewise with the Shibs, I can see why people don't think highly of this program when it's new and fully polished, but somehow, I think they're going to refine it over the course of the year, mastering those elements will allow them to be more free to express their FD later.
And let's mention one more point — 40's Big Band is a good way to bring casual fans in. My husband, who is not a skating fan at all (in fact jokes that he loses his wife for several months during the season) LOVES the Shibutanis. He loves their polish. He loves their personality. When he looked at this FD from Finlandia after I told him about all the criticism they've been getting he said: "I don't get it. Why do people dislike this again?"