Suggested letter to ABC

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Mindy L	Suggested letter to ABC		Lead	[-]
Posts: 1601 05/25/09 6:12 Administrator	Tags : None If anyone is truly serious about complaining and writing a professional letter to ABC, please post your thoughts on each of the three topics below, ONLY. I know some people feel it is a waste of time, if you do, then just ignore this thread. Thanks! I think we should express the following and direct it to the right people at ABC: 1. what we believe was not handled right and why; 2. our recommendation; 3. request ABC for a plan of correction. "I respect the art of karaoke way too much to subject anyone to my singing voice" - Cheryl Burke
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Sheri23		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 4861 05/25/09 7:57	I think the voting is what was not handled right. Thousands upon thousands of people could not get their votes in due to the busy lines. Some were told they had already voted when they tried to call in, others were told the voting was closed even while the show was still on. And still others lost their votes to someone else when they were trying to vote for a different couple. We ended up losing this competition by less than 1% and had it not been for the faulty voting system I believe we might've won. They should do a recount. Give everyone a chance to vote and if we come out on top, give them the title and the trophy they earned. They don't even have to take anything from Shawn. But give us what we earned, give Cheryl and Gilles what they earned. Another thing to add about the voting: Shawn had corporate sponsors backing her, asking people to vote for her and donating money to charity for votes received. While I am not against donating money to charity I just think it's unfair for someone like Gilles (who was clearly the better dancer) to have to compete against that and to possibly lose the competition over it, just to keep Shawn in. It seems like it's more about making money and not who dances the best. Another thing I would say is I was not pleased with the scripting of the final performances. It was obvious in the paso that Shawn and Melissa were both overscored (mistakes were pointed out and they got 10s) and had it been any other week on the show they would've received lower scores. I hate how the judges/producers fix the scores to come out close in the finale to ultimately let the viewers decide who should win. It should be a combination of dancing and viewers' decision. Gilles should have had the highest total, not been tied with Shawn. And had the judges scored correctly, we would've won. The recommendation from me is a recount. We can't go back and change the scores to what they should've been but the votes can be counted again. I don't know that a dance-off would be the best way to go, though, because it might make Cheryl and Gilles look bad, like they can't accept that they didn't win. And that's not the case. I would find this easier to accept had it been done fairly, and it wasn't. Even if they don't do anything this time, maybe they will take this into consideration for future seasons. Get a new voting system that actually works, stop corporate deals, score fairly in the finals, etc. It's the right thing to do and IMO would keep their viewers happier, especially if it prevents the kind of catastrophe that happened last week from happening again. "I fell in love with dancing because of Cheryl." --Gilles
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curlytop		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 55 05/25/09 9:11	Have you considered asking Cheryl & Gilles if they want you to pursue this? I'm just as sad as the rest of their fans at the outcome but I don't want to do something that might cause them more stress and possibly even embarrass them as some people might look at this as them being sore losers (and they weren't losers - they were 2nd place winners). I don't think a dance off would be the right thing to do - it wouldn't make them look good. I think when they did the dance off after the first season results it only made the man who challenged the winner look petty and when the first season is talked about even now Kelly & Alec are the ones that are called the winners of that season. They are friends with Shawn and I don't think they would do that to her anyways. Is there a problem with the voting?, maybe so if so many people had trouble. I personally didn't have any problem calling in or getting all my voting online thru - it seemed it all went to the right couple. I do feel some concern about the possiblitily of the sponsership voting - are you sure without any doubt that that is true? That seems like cheating to me and I would hope that Shawn and Mark had nothing to do with it. If it were up to me I would rather see the public not be able to vote at all and it really be a dance contest with only the judges scores counting or at least counting more than the public voting. As long as the public gets to vote, whether they fix the problems of getting thru or not, it's going to be a popularity contest. And remember on the ABC website when you go to vote it says "vote for your favorite couple"; it doesn't say vote for the best dancers. ABC wants it to be a drama - they were probably over the top with glee over what happened this season because it brought in more viewers. I really don't think anything you say to them will change anything but before you send a letter - you might want to see what Cheryl & Gilles thinks. I would hate it if we fans did something that caused them any unhappiness.
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klm1		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2526 05/25/09 9:36 FIERCE Fan	If this is sent, I suggest not using the forums name. Even though we are not associated with her, it would still reflect on her. Instead, send it as concerned fans of the show. And hell yeah I'm pissed about the voting. Too many times people encountered problems listed by Sheri above. However, these are the same problems that occur every season. I'm sure they already know and either don't care or pass it off as "technical difficulties." But what really gets me is the corporations that arranged voting drives for Shawn. None of it is illegal, but the unfairness is mind boggling. I doubt Shawn knew or even encouraged it. Still, no one has a chance against something like that. Just today someone on TwoP pointed to an interview of Shawn wearing a Coca Cola t-shirt in front of the Coca Cola sponsored car at the Indy 500. Can you imagine Coca Cola behind you? But what is the show to do? Prohibit anyone with outside endorsements from competing? If you want to voice outrage over some of these things, I'm in, as long as Cheryl's name stays out of it. If you're expecting change, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.
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ge4chrlto	Suggested letter to ABC	#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2 05/25/09 9:53	The format of the suggested letter makes sense. IMO all fans attempting to use the 800 numbers in order to cast their votes and not able to do so ,either because the lines were overloaded or ABC could not handle the number coming in were DEPRIVED of the right to vote. If the audience can not participate as advertised to the public by ABC "vote by phone ,text.,online" the results are not based truly on a total count ...and ABC has failed their customers. Furthermore as Sheri 23 mentioned, votes for Cheryl were recorded for another couple, this not new , keeps happening since the very first seasons. ABC by revealing the less 1% difference for the winning couple makes us question even more the fairness of the result. If this % was in a for a public office between competing candidates,the matter would have been in the hands of lawyers challenging the results. At this point the best we can ask is a recount preferably by independent party, OR ask the fans to vote again -worldwide voting-for a number of days after informing through the media ,so everyone can find the means to cast their votes.. I feel in order for ABC to respond OUR letter must be accompanied by a large number of fans willing to sign. IMO 100 or 200 won't do the trick . I have already sent letter to ABC, I do not expect a reply...if we act as a group they might start paying attention.. This not about taking the trophy away from Shawn, is about the failure of ABC failing to allow ALL voters to cast their votes..ending... Congratulations to cheryburkefans administration for their efforts in fighting for the unjust done to G&C. They are the true Champions of S8 , they were Robbed in front of millions of viewers . George Toronto,Canada
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klm1		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2526 05/25/09 10:50 FIERCE Fan	The idea of a recount is appealing but what would it do? It still wouldn't include the votes that couldn't get in. It would be a good pr move but I'm a cynic. I just don't think they care.
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belski74		#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2538 05/25/09 11:27	klm1 wrote: The idea of a recount is appealing but what would it do? It still wouldn't include the votes that couldn't get in. It would be a good pr move but I'm a cynic. I just don't think they care. Yeah i agree...I'm really skeptical in all of the suggestions made.We all know that it takes money too somehow to do any of the suggested ideas above..Unless they can milk the cowcash (let's say a dance off ), i do think that no amount of protests, petition,or outcry from anyone can alter.But no harm to try..
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Sheri23		#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 4861 05/26/09 12:11	belski74 wrote: klm1 wrote: The idea of a recount is appealing but what would it do? It still wouldn't include the votes that couldn't get in. It would be a good pr move but I'm a cynic. I just don't think they care. Yeah i agree...I'm really skeptical in all of the suggestions made.We all know that it takes money too somehow to do any of the suggested ideas above..Unless they can milk the cowcash (let's say a dance off ), i do think that no amount of protests, petition,or outcry from anyone can alter.But no harm to try.. I still think a recount would be the best way to go, or just give time for everyone to vote again, that way the people who didn't get their votes in would have a chance and we'd have an accurate count. Problem is, I don't think they would do that-- unless they had a dance-off. And to be honest, I don't want a dance-off. That wouldn't prove anything, we already know they were the best and that they were robbed. I'm afraid all that would do is make them (and us) look like sore losers and that we can't accept the fact they came in 2nd. That's not true. What I can't accept is that we came in 2nd and that there was so much unfairness behind it. But a dance-off wouldn't fix anything, and I don't think they would give us 1st place recognition even if we won that. Shawn would still be recognized as champion. What I would like is a recount or a chance for everyone to vote again, so that we can have our fair shot at the win. Nobody has to take anything away from Shawn, I just want ABC to ADMIT that there is a flaw in their system and (if we were to come out on top in a recount) that we were the winners. They can let Shawn keep her trophy, nobody has to take anything away. This is not about taking something from her, it's about letting ABC know how we feel and we have a right to tell them. I know, it's unlikely they'll do anything but we can try for this. They will hear us regardless and that is better than us not doing anything, IMO. And even if they don't fix this they may consider it for future seasons. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but you never know. Part of me thinks they might care about this just a little, at least I would think they'd want to keep their viewers happy. We are not the only ones upset with the way things turned out. And I whole-heartedly agree, DO NOT include Cheryl in any of this. Klm is right, she is not really associated with us and what we do as a group but what we do does reflect on her. So when we contact ABC we need to do so in the nicest way possible and use the same class and sophistication that she displays. We are all upset but it won't do to get angry with them and we don't want to make Cheryl look bad in any way. "I fell in love with dancing because of Cheryl." --Gilles
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sistahp		#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 179 05/26/09 10:56	I think that it is absolutely necessary to send some type of letter. I complained to ABC twice during this finale, on Monday and again on Tuesday. On Monday, I started calling about 5 minutes into the show as I normally do and the line was busy. The line was actually busy for the next 20 minutes or so. So, at about 25 minutes into the show, I sent an email to the ABC contact to complain that the line was being jammed and they needed to do something about it. I said in that complaint that cheating was not acceptable. If the lines were not jammed, then C&G's votes had to have spiked during that finale voting. If their votes were not significantly higher, the system was being manipulated. I complained again at the end of the show when they announced the winners. I asked them whether or not C&G's votes were significantly higher, and of course received no response. I don't know if it is the voting that is the problem with the show's results. Those types of problems are a part of a voting system where you have to call in. It appears to me that if the voting is based on percentage of votes received, then the two couples should have been tied, if the show considered the usual problems encountered in a phone-in system. In a tied situation, the win should have gone to the highest scoring couple of the season. Shawn should not have been able to win based on that small of a percentage when her scores for the season were no where near Gilles' and because the producers had to know that there were voting problems. I think the producers of the show made a real blunder in giving Shawn the win. IMO, the problem with the outcome of the show is the producers. I don't believe in coincidences and it cannot be possible that for the last five years, only the Houghs and Ballas' have won this show. I honestly think that the producers decided weeks ago that Shawn was going to be given the win, regardless of the voting. Shawn's scores just started in the last couple of weeks to be comparable to Gilles' or Melissa's. The producers would have us believe that this girl somehow managed to jump from 8/9 to 10s in a matter of a couple of weeks. I did not see a marked difference in Shawn's dancing although the judges kept pushing that down our throats. Shawn's programs were still long and boring and we agree that although she had the techniques down from the beginning, she was continuing to drop her head. I did not see the marked difference in her performances that the judges would have you believe were present. Not only did she surpass Gilles, she also surpassed Melissa and what should have been a final with Melissa and Gilles was turned into a final with Shawn and Gilles. I think it was engineered by the producers, using the judges. If the judges want to remain out of the outcome, i.e., so that fans select the winners, then the judging needs to be as honest at the end of the season in their critiques as in the beginning. The comments should be comparable to the performances and not be used to influence fans and to make the already decided winner look feasible.
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okkyoung1	Voting System	#9	[url]	[-]
Posts: 17 05/26/09 4:29	I belive this show was rigged. My son tried to calls & texts for Gilles, and Cheryl. None went through(they just wouldn't accept). Thank goodness I had different sources, like logins. This is the first season that I watched & vote- only to have a huge disappointment. Mirror ball didn't go to the right couple. In my opinion, the best way to crown the winner is; Combine the judge's scores from week 1 through weeks 11 + audiance votes from the finals. Then, Gilles & Cheryl would have won, THE BEST DANCER of the season 8. Last Edited By: okkyoung1 05/26/09 7:47. Edited 1 time.
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Lucia		#10	[url]	[-]
Posts: 31 05/26/09 8:04	ge4chrlto wrote: The format of the suggested letter makes sense. IMO all fans attempting to use the 800 numbers in order to cast their votes and not able to do so ,either because the lines were overloaded or ABC could not handle the number coming in were DEPRIVED of the right to vote. If the audience can not participate as advertised to the public by ABC "vote by phone ,text.,online" the results are not based truly on a total count ...and ABC has failed their customers. Furthermore as Sheri 23 mentioned, votes for Cheryl were recorded for another couple, this not new , keeps happening since the very first seasons. ABC by revealing the less 1% difference for the winning couple makes us question even more the fairness of the result. If this % was in a for a public office between competing candidates,the matter would have been in the hands of lawyers challenging the results. At this point the best we can ask is a recount preferably by independent party, OR ask the fans to vote again -worldwide voting-for a number of days after informing through the media ,so everyone can find the means to cast their votes.. I feel in order for ABC to respond OUR letter must be accompanied by a large number of fans willing to sign. IMO 100 or 200 won't do the trick . I have already sent letter to ABC, I do not expect a reply...if we act as a group they might start paying attention.. This not about taking the trophy away from Shawn, is about the failure of ABC failing to allow ALL voters to cast their votes..ending... Congratulations to cheryburkefans administration for their efforts in fighting for the unjust done to G&C. They are the true Champions of S8 , they were Robbed in front of millions of viewers . George Toronto,Canada Hi George, I am also from Toronto. Have you had any success voting even once from Toronto? I don't know if we are allowed to vote or if is for US viewers only. I never had any success at all.
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Lucia		#11	[url]	[-]
Posts: 31 05/26/09 8:11	Sheri23 wrote: belski74 wrote: klm1 wrote: The idea of a recount is appealing but what would it do? It still wouldn't include the votes that couldn't get in. It would be a good pr move but I'm a cynic. I just don't think they care. Yeah i agree...I'm really skeptical in all of the suggestions made.We all know that it takes money too somehow to do any of the suggested ideas above..Unless they can milk the cowcash (let's say a dance off ), i do think that no amount of protests, petition,or outcry from anyone can alter.But no harm to try.. I still think a recount would be the best way to go, or just give time for everyone to vote again, that way the people who didn't get their votes in would have a chance and we'd have an accurate count. Problem is, I don't think they would do that-- unless they had a dance-off. And to be honest, I don't want a dance-off. That wouldn't prove anything, we already know they were the best and that they were robbed. I'm afraid all that would do is make them (and us) look like sore losers and that we can't accept the fact they came in 2nd. That's not true. What I can't accept is that we came in 2nd and that there was so much unfairness behind it. But a dance-off wouldn't fix anything, and I don't think they would give us 1st place recognition even if we won that. Shawn would still be recognized as champion. What I would like is a recount or a chance for everyone to vote again, so that we can have our fair shot at the win. Nobody has to take anything away from Shawn, I just want ABC to ADMIT that there is a flaw in their system and (if we were to come out on top in a recount) that we were the winners. They can let Shawn keep her trophy, nobody has to take anything away. This is not about taking something from her, it's about letting ABC know how we feel and we have a right to tell them. I know, it's unlikely they'll do anything but we can try for this. They will hear us regardless and that is better than us not doing anything, IMO. And even if they don't fix this they may consider it for future seasons. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but you never know. Part of me thinks they might care about this just a little, at least I would think they'd want to keep their viewers happy. We are not the only ones upset with the way things turned out. And I whole-heartedly agree, DO NOT include Cheryl in any of this. Klm is right, she is not really associated with us and what we do as a group but what we do does reflect on her. So when we contact ABC we need to do so in the nicest way possible and use the same class and sophistication that she displays. We are all upset but it won't do to get angry with them and we don't want to make Cheryl look bad in any way. My take on this is. What is the point of a recount if we cannot have access to the actual figures. Will ABC show the figures to the public? When they announce Shawn won by 1%. 1% of what. How many voted?
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bubblemuffin		#12	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1 05/26/09 8:24	I voted online each week from Saskatchewan. I didn't even try to text or call. How do you guys know that the votes weren't counted or went to another couple? P.S. I was directed here from CherylBurkeFans on Facebook. I already had a Yuku account. It may be worth getting the Facebook group to have similar discussions on Facebook, just sayin'.
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Sheri23		#13	[url]	[-]
Posts: 4861 05/26/09 9:33	Lucia wrote: Sheri23 wrote: belski74 wrote: klm1 wrote: The idea of a recount is appealing but what would it do? It still wouldn't include the votes that couldn't get in. It would be a good pr move but I'm a cynic. I just don't think they care. Yeah i agree...I'm really skeptical in all of the suggestions made.We all know that it takes money too somehow to do any of the suggested ideas above..Unless they can milk the cowcash (let's say a dance off ), i do think that no amount of protests, petition,or outcry from anyone can alter.But no harm to try.. I still think a recount would be the best way to go, or just give time for everyone to vote again, that way the people who didn't get their votes in would have a chance and we'd have an accurate count. Problem is, I don't think they would do that-- unless they had a dance-off. And to be honest, I don't want a dance-off. That wouldn't prove anything, we already know they were the best and that they were robbed. I'm afraid all that would do is make them (and us) look like sore losers and that we can't accept the fact they came in 2nd. That's not true. What I can't accept is that we came in 2nd and that there was so much unfairness behind it. But a dance-off wouldn't fix anything, and I don't think they would give us 1st place recognition even if we won that. Shawn would still be recognized as champion. What I would like is a recount or a chance for everyone to vote again, so that we can have our fair shot at the win. Nobody has to take anything away from Shawn, I just want ABC to ADMIT that there is a flaw in their system and (if we were to come out on top in a recount) that we were the winners. They can let Shawn keep her trophy, nobody has to take anything away. This is not about taking something from her, it's about letting ABC know how we feel and we have a right to tell them. I know, it's unlikely they'll do anything but we can try for this. They will hear us regardless and that is better than us not doing anything, IMO. And even if they don't fix this they may consider it for future seasons. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but you never know. Part of me thinks they might care about this just a little, at least I would think they'd want to keep their viewers happy. We are not the only ones upset with the way things turned out. And I whole-heartedly agree, DO NOT include Cheryl in any of this. Klm is right, she is not really associated with us and what we do as a group but what we do does reflect on her. So when we contact ABC we need to do so in the nicest way possible and use the same class and sophistication that she displays. We are all upset but it won't do to get angry with them and we don't want to make Cheryl look bad in any way. My take on this is. What is the point of a recount if we cannot have access to the actual figures. Will ABC show the figures to the public? When they announce Shawn won by 1%. 1% of what. How many voted? We don't know how many voted or how many votes were cast and it's unlikely they would release the information. All we know is that we lost by less than 1%. According to one source (not for sure if this is true) Gilles was told they lost by only a few hundred votes. And there were thousands of votes that were not even cast. Had those been cast, there's a chance we would've won. "I fell in love with dancing because of Cheryl." --Gilles
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salsaqueen		#14	[url]	[-]
Posts: 22 05/26/09 9:33	I don't think we should have any recount or dance off or anything. All of the couples had problems one way or another on the phone/text votes. If we plan on doing anything, we should speak on behalf of all of the viewers as a whole to improve the voting system. My problem is not about Gilles losing or Shawn winning. It is about the voting system. We should speak on behalf of everybody. The show is over and we shouldn't be dwelling in the past. We should look at the future by making ABC improve the phone voting system so that in the future, if Cheryl gets another good partner, we can vote. A recount isn't going to help Cheryl or Gilles in anyway. It would only make us satisfied. We should try to do something that speaks for all Americans, not just Cheryl/Gilles fans
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Sheri23		#15	[url]	[-]
Posts: 4861 05/26/09 9:35	bubblemuffin wrote: I voted online each week from Saskatchewan. I didn't even try to text or call. How do you guys know that the votes weren't counted or went to another couple? P.S. I was directed here from CherylBurkeFans on Facebook. I already had a Yuku account. It may be worth getting the Facebook group to have similar discussions on Facebook, just sayin'. We know all the votes weren't counted because of the alarming number of people who could not get through on the phone lines. A lot of us here on this site could not get through at all, and it was never like that before. There were some that got through but were only allowed to use one or two votes. Still there were others who couldn't get through, they were told the voting was closed, and that was while the show was IN PROGRESS. And finally I heard there were some who voted for Gilles but their votes were given to Shawn or Melissa. These accounts were posted on numberous boards, these are not accounts of just Cheryl fans. "I fell in love with dancing because of Cheryl." --Gilles
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salsaqueen		#16	[url]	[-]
Posts: 22 05/26/09 10:03	I think that many of the other couples are getting the same problems, though we may not be aware of it. There was a big fuss at the ABC boards about Shawn/Gilles votes going to Melissa awhile back. I think that most people totally abandon phone voting and went with online. That's what I did.
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Sheri23		#17	[url]	[-]
Posts: 4861 05/26/09 10:09	salsaqueen wrote: I think that many of the other couples are getting the same problems, though we may not be aware of it. There was a big fuss at the ABC boards about Shawn/Gilles votes going to Melissa awhile back. I think that most people totally abandon phone voting and went with online. That's what I did. Sometimes I wonder about the online votes too. If the phone votes get this messed up, I wouldn't be surprised if our on-line votes do too. I guess there's no way of knowing that one. I just wish they would explain and do something to fix this problem. "I fell in love with dancing because of Cheryl." --Gilles
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