TSL should have hosted the ISU awards.

TSL should have its own awards at the end of the season

Lighting candles for Marin Honda to become an ice dancer 🕯🕯🕯

ISU awards: Campy and embarrassing. These skaters work hard and deserve more dignity than that show allowed them.

I think I am an average sports viewer and I watched every Olympics until 2014, and occasionally after. My main concern and disappointment is - IOC doesn’t try to solve problems and scandals and really punish the country. IOC usually tries to sweep it under the rug, do some window dressing… If they are allowed, I have 0 trust that athletes from Russia will be really neutral or clean. They didn’t fix anything the previous times. IOC becomes a joke :(

I agree with what Jonathan said. If I was growing up now & seeing skating for the first time, this would not be a sport I would fall in love with.

Regarding the ISU award that most fans didn't bother to watch, who the heck choose the winner. The way they left off Asian skaters from Japan, Korea, China, etc. where they basically sustain the interest that we have left in FS lmao. Ari Zakarian should basically retire himself from organizing these events. The way his conflict of interest smells from miles away. Again ISU cater to big feds, do we all need to act surprised?

I live in Zurich so technically I could easily go and see the show but, man, it is EXPENSIVE and for that kind of money I want to see competition level skating and not a variety cabaret.

With the current boom in ice shows, I kind of hope that a professional circuit of some sort comes back. At this rate, ice shows may become more popular than the ISU competitions

My moment of the week was Olivia Smart and Mark Hanretty skating a duet on Dancing on Ice choreographed by Christopher Dean. Beautiful ❤💙👏🌟

Last week you talked about Adam replacing Johnny, and maybe Adam should’ve hosted the ISU awards, I feel like we as audience are so much over Johnny, although I don’t think it would’ve made bigger difference on the overall quality of the show it would’ve definitely made it easier to sit through the event

19:24 Worlds last year was odd without the Russians but it was so nice to see Kaori win. She had a Katelyn Osmond moment by winning the World title after getting the bronze at the Olympics. What was different was Zagitova bombed her free program and Zhenya did not compete in 2018 Worlds.

Very interesting conversation this week. You always give me so much to think about. Thanks guys.

Had Russia been appropriately banned from the Olympics for systematic doping and failure to remediate it, their actions in Ukraine wouldn’t be mucking up the conversation to begin with.

I don't follow skating anymore, I follow The Skating Lesson. Much more exciting! :)

0:00 Intro 0:33 Russian and belarussian athletes competing 7:00 Figure Skating in trouble 10:10 ISU awards 23:00 Four continents 31:25 Johnny Weir

Yay! A new This & That!!!!!!

Taking melatonin and then watching a lovely program is something I do often. Last night I watched Lucinda Ruh's 2000 World Pro technical program. Also it makes me sad that the ISU killed off professional competitions. Not only did it hurt the sport long term imo but think of all the skaters we didn't get to see go head to head as pros. Imagine a post-amateur Lambiel, Jeffery Buttle, Patrick Chan, Daisuke Takahasi, etc. competing against one another. Or Carolina, Mao, Yuna, Satoko, etc. You guys mentioned Lambiel in the video and I think his skating was the best when he was doing those art on ice shows. Having the professional skating as an option after a skater was done competing was good not only for the skaters themselves but for fans too. It is interesting to see how many skaters improved their presentation and we could see that maturity and experience shine through. There's often a settle quality to it..Kinda like the security I felt watching Jason skate with at nationals last week (who would kill at a professional competition!!). But anyway, these are strange and dark times for this sport. Both internal factors (decisions the ISU makes, the way it's ran, the direction skating has gone) that have been snowballing for many years and external factors with war and politics have put figure skating at a real crossroads. I don't think there's gonna be a quick fix that'll happen over night. But I hope things will eventually change for the better. My hopes aren't super high but at least there are still some bright spots. There are still skaters out there that bring me joy with what they can do despite all the madness and remind me why I love and am so invested in this sport to begin with.

I think skating needs to take a hard look at the fact that sports are entertainment. No one wants to pay all the money to go to events and watch a majority of unappealing programs full of falls. There has to be a balance between pushing the sport technically, yet skaters being healthy enough to have longer more sustainable careers to create interest and rivalries. Whether the Russians compete or not, skating is driving itself into the ground with its limited, short-term outlook. Events are full of uninspiring programs filled with mistakes and/or content from 30 years ago. Why would anyone pay to see that?

So excited to watch!

There were so many times in this video where I wanted to stand up applauding and screaming like that gif of Meryl Streep and JLo and that oscars. 😊

Noone deserved the award more than Arutyunyan, in my opinion. I was really disappointed! Rafael Vladimirovich, your achievements are out of this world. ♥

Stanford from Sex and the City? so accurate. 🤣literally just spit out my drink.

Once again, thank you guys. So my thoughts (for what they’re worth) 1. Why have the ISU Awards 2/3rds of the way through the season and not at the end of the season. 2. The reasons why professional ice shows haven’t been popular is: a) lack of artistry and personalities - take away the jumps and there’s not a lot left b) the pro circuit flourished in the 80s and early 90s because people ‘turned pro’ like Torvill and Dean, Robin Cousins, Scott Hamilton. They were still ‘at the top of their game and needed to make money. The Pro circuit started dying in the 90s once they allows pros back into ‘amateur’ competitions. Sure, they lasted a little longer into the mid/late 90s but the death knell was then. c) Allowing lyrics in competitions means that choreographing something to ‘pop’ music is now in competition Yes, I know all this makes me sound like a dinosaur. 3. Four Continents - is anyone who is doing multiple quads and triples going to risk injury just before World’s - if I was doing multiple quads I would think twice about doing 4 continents

The apples to apples comparison is out there for ISU (and USAG) to just notice and take note. Jordan Chiles. Her Olympic floor routine is amazing in terms of technical content. Her current NCAA floor routine... The technical content is not quite as high. There's less tumbling passes (NCAA rules). But I am genuinely excited to watch it. She's on fire! I'm glad I will get many opportunities to watch it and will stop to watch it when it pops up in my FB feed or on my YT home page recommendations. I barely miss those extra tumbling passes. On a bigger scale, if given the choice between watching some elite gymnastics or some NCAA gymnastics, it's NCAA for me and I know there are many it there who feel similarly.

The title of this video should've been, "We watched the ISU awards so you didn't have to"! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'll only go to an ISU show, like the old Campbell's, Tom Collins ones. Even Canada's Stars on Ice has SOME non-Canadian skaters! Yes, I know they train there, but we're just across the border, how hard can it be? 🤷‍♀️

Dave I think you nailed it with the fact that there's only one avenue to get the same points - that's exactly what I've been thinking recently as well. That's exactly why all the programs (even down to the individual elements like the spins and footwork) look the same.

I lowkey enjoyed the ISU awards, Johnny was pretty funny walking around backstage. I died when Gui walked past the camera and Johnny said "Just another handsome olympic medalist". I loved seeing the skaters like this. It did have a chaotic energy tho, certain things could have been done better like Isabeu's video could have just been edited in and not shown from johnny's phone jfc lmao I would also cut it a bit and maybe prepare the skaters with the interview questions some of them just answered nonsense (looking at you Ilia). The award names are dumb too. "Most valuable" wtf does that mean. I agree with Johnathan about the subjectivity of the sport, the focus of quads and point records in the introductions is off putting, the awards should try to focus on the fan favorites (which sometimes are athletes that don't often get to medal) instead of "best" just say "favorite" as rated by fans. ISU is too dumb to get fixed. /end rant

Watched an interview with Kim Yuna from Cosmo Korea channel. Most kpop and kdrama celebs had views around 10K to 100K. Yuna? 544K views. How are the ISU and IOC so off the mark on marketing the sport?

I think the extreme pro-childabusereteri judging at women's skating, despite a known doping scandal, after Kim Adelina scandal, seemed like a potential nail in the coffin

On the topic of Yuri on Ice, there was supposed to be a 2nd season and a prequel movie. Due to some behind-the-scenes disputes the 2nd season is almost certainly not happening and the mostly finished movie’s release is uncertain. There is potential for a live action version of the show but if that does happen it won’t be for a couple years.

Dave looks great today. Absolutely glowing.

Dave, just heard on Ходорковский Live news about Kostomarov, citing TASS: both feet amputated 😬 I suppose you would include that in the next edition of As the blade turns?

Stephane Lambiel was greatly overlooked ,but :all nominees were so strong !Next season I hope 💪👌🙏

Dave telling the truth about the quality of Ilia's skating.

Johnny’s schtick is eye rolling now.

Stéphane Lambiel has not been skating at Art on Ice since 2019. During the last show in Basel in February 2019 he announced that after many years he will no longer be a part of the show.

This may seem an odd comparison, but I kind of think of the strategy for the IJS system as the _Supermarket Sweep_ method. All the contestants know what the highest value ticket items are, and they have the strategy of going after those. If the item drops to the ground, well maybe they can get credit for it if they push it past the finish line with their foot.

You guys didn’t wait for the US Nationals exhibition gala haha. I’m watching it now on NBC not sure if it aired anywhere else already. Obviously this was recorded last week though.

ISU shamelessly awarded all 8 Awards to North American or European skaters as if Asians didn't even exist. If it's done to promote skating in NA and Europe then Zakarian will be disappointed because it won't make skating any more popular in those places. In fact amateur skating is dying and it seems like no one wants to save it, it's rather the opposite.

Dave, I need skin care tips. You are GLOWING

Well, I've done the research and I looked for Mishina and Galliamov's side by side triple Lutz. I must say I was very impressed at the begining just to realize they were unquestionably taking off from a deep outside edge (which is rare these days)... However, they're not just having this HUGE half pre-rotation (when the maximum allowed should be a quarter, watch KIM Yu-Na's Lutz, for exemple) but they're also having an almost full blade assistance and not a toe pick one. It was cool to see their attempt to this incredibly difficult jump, though! Usually what we see are Toe Loops and Salchows.

Just an excellent show this time with delicious, perceptive analysis. I was amazed that you didn’t mention Yuzuru Hanyu’s two upcoming ice shows in Japan, one this month at the Tokyo Dome (seating 55,000) plus numerous cinemas, and a second in March to commemorate the Great Japanese Earthquake. He’s already had smaller successful shows. He’s skating by himself at the Dome, and has invited other skaters (Jason Brown, Satako Miyahara among them) to the show in March. The shows have been filled by lottery and people from many other countries are urging Disney to provide a paid stream. Don’t tell me that ISU isn’t perfectly aware of what’s happening and how this will impact attendance at World’s in Saitama and their own ice shows later in the summer. People are voting . . . with their feet and their pocketbooks. I’m nowhere near a fanyu; I support Team Japan and especially Shoma Uno, but this has to be factored into figure skating’s future support. Nobody is writing ISU to beg them to reduce their focus on jumping or clean up their judging; they are simply choosing a more exciting artistic alternative right now.

This comment is for Jonathan 😊 Looks like we share ❤for Vasilisa Kaganovskaia/ Valeriy Angelopol. The Free Dance music: Vangelis: Roxane’s Dance Eastern Path.

I haven’t watched the awards but I don’t understand why the ISU is sinking $ into a divisive awards ceremony that inevitably pisses off some fans rather than trying to grow the fan base? If you’re not a fan, why would you tune into these sham awards? And agree it should be attached to a SPORTING competition (hello worlds or WTT) not an artistic endeavour. Why on earth would they cannibalise 4CC by running this in the same week? I don’t have the answers but the problems seem obvious and there are clever people who could solve this. As a starting point the ISU could download the TSL transcripts.

Regarding the award show, I think they were trying to make it interesting and entertaining, to me Johnny wasn't bad but there was a lot of banter about him and it seemed they relied on him as a caricature to make things interesting. Generally, I think they could make it more formal and talk a lot more about skating in an educational way. For example, having an award for the best step sequence or the best spin combination, and the explaining what makes a good step sequence but with video (of Takahashi and Chan lol) Figure skating in the hands of old fuddies who have no idea how lucrative this sport could be. I doubt they'd understand how the utilise social media to help it.

Before Dance Moms, there was Skate Moms. Tiffany Chin’s mother was peak figure skating drama for me.

Hello! Thanks for a video ❤ Where one can watch Kaori’s skates at the winter festival?

It will be interesting to see how full the stands will be at 4CC. Apparently tickets only went on sale in December and there was minimal promotion.

I wish Zingas/ Kolesnik were going to four continents. I thought they were robbed at nationals.

Maybe I am wrong, but Johnny really carried the load! But the show itself looked like a Russian countryside end of the year highschool concert. 🙈

I just miss folding laundry on my couch every Sunday afternoon in the 90’s watching CBS or FOX premiering an Ice Wars or some odd Jon Tesh figure skating exhibition. I miss Roslyn and Caryn and Katarina and the Brians and Liz Manley doing a professional show on mainstream tv. I miss it so much!

Didn't they talk about how Chock designed the dress on that Montreal ice dance documentary?

I actually disagree that FS has become 'less exciting'. For the first time in so long the podiums are NOT fixed, we see different nationalities, different program styles, skating techniques, packaging etc! It's so non homogeneous and because skaters realise they actually have a chance at medalling, they're actually fighting for it! It's SO refreshing to not see the atrocious cheated quads, the really, really bad skating skills and seeing girls that look abused and starved. And let alone the really bad choreo. For me, it's the first time I watch the whole competitions now, as opposed to the recaps

Where can I watch a replay of the awards if at all even possible?????

I know pairs is unfortunate at the moment, but I think we're still seeing the effects of covid shutdowns in certain countries and it'll take at least another season to see what we're really working with. Not saying they'll rival the Russian teams, but I do believe the doubles phenomenon is temporary.

The ISU Awards needs to give a Lifetime Achievement to Nancy Kerrigan not for her skating achievements but we need her to bring the realness..

I love this show. Y’all really do a great job at keeping an objective perspective. If you ask me, I think it’s sad that Russia gets to compete in next two Olympics after doping in so many Olympics. That’s entirely separate from the war and the state sponsored doping should be reason enough to get suspended for 10 years. Shacarri Richardson couldn’t compete for THC and wasn’t in a state sponsored program and they banned her. After all nobody banned us from 2002 2006 or 2010 when we waged war against the Middle East after 9/11. But we also weren’t having state sponsored doping programs for our athletes to compete dirty…. Make it make sense.

I disagree with thinking Jason Brown should have won US Nationals. Ilia’s 4A attempt followed by three quads and then an outstanding 3Lz 3A 3T combo is what excited me the most. He has the technical arsenal which excites me to combat the current Japanese skaters. His skating skills do need work. But, I think Jason’s technical content is more behind compared to Ilia’s skating skills. Jason is outstanding artistically. But, there are probably 30 guys out there currently competing with quads and he is rewarded handsomely for skating skills already. Also, I’m more excited for 4CC this year, than Europeans. I think it is higher level. I’m excited to watch and see how the Japanese B team in terms of singles skaters does. I like the variety of skaters.

The ISU has reduced the artistic sport of figure skating to repetitive, boring jump-based programs and numbers on a page.

The zombie apocalypse could be happening and Tamara is like: practice at 7 AM! 😂

I wonder what do you think about Eremenko being a new Anabelle partner. David Narijny was pretty good for her in so many aspects, but I am not sure about Igor Eremenko

I was actually crying at Stars on Ice in 2016 because it was just appalling. I'd been to 1998 and 2003

I tried to ignore the occasional flat and pitchy singing 😂, but the programmes definately seemed like improv skating with 2 double axels. It seemed as if not much time and effort was put into the programmes and rehearsals.

Dave, who is the skater in the picture hanging on your wall?

I want you two to start commenting on NBC!

I also don't really see the point of the ISU awards. What is an ISU award really adding to the life or career of an athlete who already has a freaking Olympic gold medal?

I enjoy seeing some of the skaters in shows but agree that a lot of the programs are half baked. I know you guys made fun of Thank You Canada and Rock the Rink, but those were better than Stars on Ice. Better choreo, better rehearsed, less cheesy.

omg that thumbnail ☠☠

For figure skating, I think USA is not interested because we only care about women's skating and we don't have a top lady in the last few olympics. I also think if Russia is allowed back, doping alone the level of disgust may be too strong, let alone the war.

I've been a fan since 1992 Olympic games, attended 1998 Worlds in Minnesota. I too have a collection of VHS tapes, but I didn't pay much attention after the birth of my first child (2004). This was the exact time IJS was introduced, so my 1st exposure to IJS was 2006 games. I was "What the $@&/× is this?" My husband and I joked about how all the women touched their free foot to get the points. I was not motivated to watch skating again until 2013 to hopefully understand the sport prior to te 2014 games (as my kids were longer little). There are pro's and con's to both IJS and 6.0 system, but IJS is NOT good for the audience. I don't care for the music a lot of skaters use currently (bath tub music, totally). I really miss the skating from the 6.0 era (especially the 90s when skating was on all the time, even those cheesy pro competitions that you knew was going to win before the show started)

When you talk about bringing back the Russian skaters to save the sport I think it is a double edge sword because yes momentarily depth would come back especially in pairs that is really struggling but a super dominant country with a litteral strength hold on a discipline like Russia had in pairs or women, especially if this strength hold is artificial and unjust because of blatant doping and score cheating, actually empoverishes the field long term. If North America and Asia, even Europe with the resurgence of Italian pairs see that there is long term opportunity in pairs where they can win and keep winning more people will go to that discipline. If Russia comes back and trumples everyone why even bother. Same in ladies, honestly the Japanese women that have kept being relatively competitive with the Russian girls for years are heroic in a way but fewer and fewer girls will pick up skating if there is no way of winning whatsoever. And I feel for the Russian skaters some of whom I like a lot, I don't even think it's their fault since they are forced into a system that gives them no choice basically. But allowing them back AGAIN after so many years of doping evidence would endorse that system and would imo long term hurt the sport even more.

When it became a jump fest and zero artistry sport I tuned out. Same with gymnastics. I believe both sports are trying to bring back artistry, hope it’s not too late. And your point about streaming service to view does add to less views.

The judges really cheated for Ilia in PCS at nationals. 84 in PCS for that free skate?!? Even his sp PCS was a few points too high despite the much better performance.

Interesting thing about boycott - in political science boycott is when candidates and parties refuse to participate in elections as a protest. When people just refuse to vote it's called electoral absenteeism, and it never does any good. Since you mentioned the pressure for gay athletes to boycott Sochi, i sure hope no one did! It's nothing but erasing yourself voluntarily

oh my gosh, is that Johnny Wier in the thumbnail of the video? I thought it was Elon Musk at first glance.

Production of the awards was awful. It was tacked on to Art on Ice without good timing and it felt like it was up to the presenters to find a way to fill awkward presentation timing. I mean literally shoved into a hallway that needs passing by backstage people

Madison supposedly worked on the dress design.

Beyer looks particularly hot today.

Not giving Hanyu aka literally the most popular skater any award is saying ISU really rather the sport makes no money as long as they’re in control… Seriously hoping for pro skating to come back at this point and end amateur skating.

To be honest all the exhibitions I’ve seen recently feels very “cheated”. In “Bol on Ice” literally everyone did their short program and same for “Music on Ice”. For a casual viewer is fine but for fans is just a waste of money. Also, these exhibitions are repeated at the GP shows so you have already seen them 20 times.

Johnny must have learned German back when he invented Eurovision

I 100% think that Johnny and Tara are told what perspective they have to take, and I hate it. For example, I remember back in 2018 at the beginning of the season, Tara pointed out that Alina Zagitova should get lower marks for the "balanced program" part of PCS since all her jumps were in the second half. One competition later she'd completely changed her tune. To me, there's no way it wasn't because she was told "we have to get behind this two-horse race and push them both hard". Same thing with how much they gushed about Valieva (before the doping was revealed). I mean, she is a beautiful skater, but it was so over the top. (Not saying the direction they're given is limited to Russian skaters; those are just the two that come to mind first.)

That was strange that the US team were given Empty Award boxes for the team event, why bother when no medal given yet?

I want to say IJS needs to really need to rework scoring. The scoring is so out of date.

Regarding pro career there are maybe 3 skaters in recent years that could carry ice shows alone imo. They are Yuzuru Hanyu, Yuna Kim, and Mao Asada. Besides having great skating skills, they have the IT factor and charisma to carry legion of fans (like Patrick Chan has great SS but no IT factor). You'd hard pressed to ask fans to watch most of current skaters who have bad skating skills and no charisma in ice shows. With current trends of ISU rewarding jumps even more, those skaters who jump to victory won't have those jumps anymore when they retire from competitive. Then you'll be left off with no skating and no performance. ISU bring this to themselves. If they score competitions more fairly then fans will reciprocate back. The way they treated Yuzuru in his last competitive career post 2018 is basically the last straws.

The movie for Yuri on ice is in the works still, it is a trailer fairly recently

I feel like Ilia Malinin should get together with Jade Carey and talk about how people just don't appreciate their particular kind of artistry... ... ...at Trusova's beach house ...For Kristin Maloney's birthday party

As far as Meghan's remarks, these statements have been mentioned before and are nothing new.

There's no drama about Sherbakova in Russia , it was just huge PR that her father created about her and that award))) in reality no one care about Sherbakova and most of the Russian people thought that she did not deserve any award.

41:45 agree with Ilia's skating. I zoned out during his step sequence or whenever he was not jumping. But when Ilia's skating is criticized on social media, it is called BS and a sign of hatred for America (not that Americans are so lovable)

Have you guys seen M3gan? Its pretty good.

To be honest, I found the whole thing cringeworthy.

Dave, I know the real reason you want the Russians back is because you love drama and the Russians provide drama in spades. But it wouldn’t be ethically or morally right to let them return until their state-sponsored doping is resolved, which is tied up in their ultranationalism problem that has led to the invasion of Ukraine. It’s all connected via ultranationalism. And the doping and ultranationalism will continue to be a problem as long as Putin is in power, and maybe even after if somebody just as bad or worse is his successor.

LOL, ISU Awards! Jonathan is right, it's nothing but a cheap knock-off of the Oscars. Now, if it were Dick Button running it, I'd watch. Too bad ISU doesn't care about figure skating.

Russia shouldn't be allowed to go to the Olympics in 2024 and 2026. I hope that Jason will skate competitively for a bit longer. Do you think that the USFS wlll give Jason Brown incentives to stay competing to and through the 2026 Olympics?

How do we think Mishina and Galliamov got those triple lutzes? Virtuous living?

Let Russia back. They just have to have Ukraine administer drug tests, say hair samples & ban Kamilla & her coaches for 4 yrs!

Let's make solo dance an Olympic figure skating discipline for the Jason Browns. All the problems will be solved.

I really don’t want Russia back in competition until they really face consequences for the doping & have to do something like the bio passport to prove they’re clean. Honestly, the only discipline that is really affected by their absence is pairs, where side by side doubles & double throw have suddenly become acceptable at top competitions… it would be a good opportunity for other countries to step it up. I do not miss the drama they brought to the women’s event (which culminated in a triple trauma response at the Olympics). Their level of skating was greatly overscored & it has been smothering the development of skaters in other countries. Why try if no matter what the judges are going to make sure the doped up athletes from the same country win all the time?