The Pussycat Dolls Present / YMMV

Anvilicious: For being a show about sexy dancers who kind of sing sometimes, the show loves to get on a bit of a high horse about confidence, focal expression, persona and other important "life lessons."
Base-Breaking Character: Tiffanie, Charlye, Natalie, Melissa Smith, Sisely.
- Contestants aside, most of the judges and instructors qualified, save for perhaps the vocal coaches.
- Mikey Minden was either seen as a hilarious Camp Gay comic relief who was simply a no-nonsense choreographer, or unprofessional, judgmental and unwilling to actually work with less experienced dancers like Chelsea and Carrie.
- Is Robin Antin a feminist's worse nightmare, exploitative and someone looking to make a quick buck off of young, naive women's sexuality? Or, is she a brilliant entrepreneur who lampshaded the truth about the entertainment industry — that it really is all about your looks?
- Was Ron Fair the only respectable judge who was there to tell it like it is? Or was he an unnecessarily cruel Simon Cowell wannabe who was more of a businessman than skilled musician?
- Li'l Kim's presence on the show either attracted a lot of hate for her overly laid-back judging style and obvious favouritism, or was seen as a tension-breaking, entertaining source of fun.
Creator's Pet: Natalie and (especially) Chrystina of season two, Asia in season one — none were the most talented girls to make it to the finale, and Chrystina had accumulated numerous appearances in the bottom two, but all three not only made it to the end, they won their respective seasons.
Elimination Houdini: Melissa Smith and Chrystina Sayers.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Season one had Chelsea and Melissa Reyes.
- Season two had Charlye, Ilisa and Jamie.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: After placing third in the first season, Chelsea Korka went on to join Robin Antin's Paradiso Girls. The group didn't see the same at-home success as PCD, but did manage to attract a following in Europe.
Harsher in Hindsight: Natalie may have been a bit of a Karma Houdini during her season not only for her mediocre stage performances and bitchy personality, but seeing her get busted for cocaine possession a couple years later definitely makes viewing her season a little less funny.
Hollywood Pudgy: Jenna was given a lot of grief for her size, despite only being a few dress sizes larger than the other girls her cycle.
Informed Ability: Chelsea's plotline revolved around her being a singer and not a dancer because she had absolutely no dance experience. But what never got mentioned on the show was that she also had no formal vocal training – and it showed, to people with experience. Her tone was frequently stuck in her jaw and she often sang through her teeth and needed training to open up her voice. Much of the praise was focused on her very strong high register, but in her mid-range, her technical faults were plentiful. It would have been more accurate to say she was a very talented singer who needed work to maximize her talent and a not-so-talented dancer (though talented enough that she improved greatly over the course of the season).
Jerkass Woobie:
- Anastasia was pretty bitchy to the other girls and focused on her own performance above anything else (to the point of not wanting any sick girls around her, comparing being stuck with Chelsea to being in prison and complaining about the lack of training of other girls in her group), but she obviously had some major insecurity issues regarding her weight.
Kick the Dog:
- Charlye had been having an increasingly difficult time managing her emotions throughout the competition despite high praise and strong work ethic, so it felt really insulting when the finale, originally intended to select three girls, was expanded to four girls – and with five finalists, that essentially made the finale the "let's eliminate Charlye" episode.
- Ilisa had a rough go in the house and was frequently excluded and laughed at, and was eliminated in a shocking double elimination for no reason other than not fitting in with the group – in fact, she performed perfectly fine. It was just a reminder that how well you perform didn't really matter.
Les Yay: Natalie and Chrystina's tub party.
Narm Charm: The melodrama and cheesiness of the show — as well as the girls' arguably marginal talent both seasons — was definitely part of its charm.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Asia was practically The Scrappy of her cycle, but her willingness to help Chelsea in her dance challenges scored her some points. She also was pretty right to defend herself when Melissa Reyes crossed the line and made a remark about Asia's parenting skills.
That One Level: Because a lot of the girls don't have formal vocal training, anything that involved super high notes was built up as a difficult song, such as "Heart of Glass" or "What About Love".
The Woobie
- Charlye. She was still fairly torn up over the recent loss of her father, and despite her close allegiance with drama queen Tiffanie, she was one of the less bitchy girls in the house. Nevertheless, she was targeted frequently by Natalie and Chrystina, and ended up losing at the eleventh hour for no real reason. She was also the only girl in the finale who lost, since they ended up going with four winners instead of three.
- Ilisa. Never said a bad word to one person, had overcome a fairly tragic backstory, was constantly targeted simply for being too much of a tomboy and was eliminated not for her talent, but for not being sexy enough.
- Carrie. She was arguably the most talented vocalist in the house but was shamed for being "old" (at 25), had her appearance insulted by Mikey, and after riding on high praise the entire competition, was eliminated for "not fitting in" with the young, perky group.
- Chelsea. Mikey's criticism of her was often more catty than constructive, and she also had to deal with Melissa Smith talking blatant smack about her both behind her back and to her face. Considering she was a decidedly Nice Girl, her status definitely made her the woobie of the season.

YMMV / The Pussycat Dolls Present

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