yeah, whenever I force someone to watch a performance they are absolutely clueless about things like rotations - I could sell an underrotated double with a completely wrong edge as something special to them
they love fast spins and will look at the costumes and the music and the (fake) smiles - they will only care about the jump difficulty because of the score box
I have a different experience. Sometimes my boyfriend (representing the general audience) accompanies me to FS competitions and he isn't able to distingiush a quad from a double and doesn't care to. However, he remembers different programs, and often brings up his favourite performances to me years later, asking what became of this or that skater.
Definitely my experience as well, not only with "non-skating" fans, but with myself. I find well executed jumps to be exciting, they are definitely not the most exciting part of a program for me, and the day I write that I am easily counting rotations, you will know I am kidnapped.
I do have one small cavill: there is no such thing, in a good program, as a "fake" smile. A skater with true performance chops can communicate the emotion of the music. And not necessarily just by the gentle lift of the eyebrow, the extension of the arms, the sound of the blades on ice, but also by gasp, physical expression.
That doesn't make the less "sophisticated" expression fake. Or those of us who like those expressions uncultured or unknowledgeable.