(S09E15) Last night on Dancing with the Stars many of the dancers grew stronger than ever. With Mark & Anna T. on the bottom, it guaranteed that they were either going home or dancing for their lives. Instead of having one performer singing two different songs, we have three performances thanks to DWTS pimping the Ballas Hough Band.
Encore Performance - Team Tango - The second time around, the performance still had the sizzle and the strongest timing. Kelly had this dazed look this time, possibly because she was nervous for the dance-off. Joanna still was the strongest of the night, possibly because Derek's choreography that he gave her was the strongest.
(S09E14) It's week seven of Dancing with the Stars, and the pressure is on. Lacey Schwimmer was the victim of a cold; Anna Trebunskya has stepped in to help Mark Dacascos. The other victims tonight were the professionals who were forced to wear costumes designed by the celebrities. While it worked for Kelly, it backfired on Joanna.
You know that there will be longer commercials between performances when you get a professional opening sequence. Five professionals and one woman who wasn't named performed a tango and paso doble. The dance was supposed to be an example of teamwork, but the paso and tango was also not as synchronized as I expected.
(S09E13) Tonight on Dancing with the Stars there was some actual content tonight: the dance-off. Unfortunately, that meant that there was no encore performance. Instead we go right into Taylor Swift.
Musical Performance - Taylor Swift - "Jump then Fall" - Anyone notice that the stage Norah Jones had last week was just audience chairs? Taylor Swift is a horrible live singer (squeaking every time she sang the word "jump"), but luckily we had some professionals who reminded me of Ryan & Ashleigh from So You Think You Can Dance. Their lift near the end was the best part.
(S09E12) Dancing with the Stars had the Waltz or Jitterbug for individual dancing, but the big twist tonight was the Mambo group competition. All the couples will dance the mambo at the same time. The judges determine the elimination: as the couples dance, Len holds up a paddle and that team is eliminated. The first couple cut gets two points while the last team standing earns ten.
As the contestants walk down, both Louie Vito and Chelsie Hightower trip on the way down. It's a bad omen and never a good way to start the show.
(S09E11) Last night signaled the halfway point on Dancing with the Stars. In last night's recap, we got to see Joanna's stumble at a different angle, her heel got caught in Mak's pant leg. The trip followed.
Behind the scenes we found out that Kelly hurt her foot and her father was by her side supporting her. Ozzy is such a cool father. Her foot's sprained, but she should be fine.
After all the Norah Jones performances and a repetition of the words "jeopardy" and "Michael Jackson," a doozy of an elimination surprisingly eliminates a strong competitor. Find out who went home after the jump.
(S09E10) After reading news about Derek Hough getting sick, we start Dancing with the Starswith Joanna walking down the stairs with Maksim Chmerkovskiy in hand. Turns out that flu-like symptoms hit Mark, as well, but he recovered quickly enough.
It's a night of passion and hi-jinks with the Argentine Tango, Paso Doble, and the Hustle. I was disappointed with the order. The last five solos consisted of four Argentine Tangos and one Paso Doble.
I don't often like complaining about Samantha Harris but I really have to suggest that she goes back to classic straight hair and tasteful dress. She's no Cat Deeley.
(S09E09) I didn't notice until the first recap of many that the women outscored most of the men on Dancing with the Stars last night. Apparently, the four new dances provided a bigger challenge for all the people who had to lead the dance.
With the musical guest being Shakira, I was hoping that I could see a live performance of "She Wolf." Alas, she didn't perform the song, so I'm stuck hearing it for every commercial for Desperate Housewives. There was no Macy's Stars of Dance performance, so there was a lot more unnecessary filler than in previous weeks.
(S9E08) This week on Dancing with the Stars we welcome four new dances: Two-Step, Bolero, Charleston, and Lambada. Lifts are allowed, so Carrie Ann really has no reason to be here this week. Also, most of the professionals have no clue what they are doing this week.
With the opening credits being shown, I know it's going to be one of those nights where it's dance, commercial, dance, commercial, with a lot of Tom hyping up the results show. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of fast forwarding past Samantha Harris. I really dislike the use of the 60-second commercials; let me get the scores right after the judging.
(S09E07) With the return of Len Goodman, a thirteen-point difference separated all the contestants onDancing with the Stars. Even with two bum feet, Tom DeLay managed to beat Michael Irwin's score. As the credits roll, I think the opening sequence needs to take a hint from Survivor and make edited versions where eliminated contestants are removed from the opening every week.
The big drama tonight was whether or not there would be a single elimination or a double. We get a recap of last night: kissing, Paula Abdul, and dancing. The judges made a very interesting choice for an encore.
People Magazine has gotten the news that Tom DeLay will officially be dropping out of Dancing with the Stars tonight. His double stress fractures were finally too much to bear. I have sneaking suspicion that Tom got enough votes to survive into next week and was strongly advised to quit.
Quitting is the classiest thing for Tom DeLay to do at the moment. He probably wouldn't survive another week and Cheryl would have to tip-toe around choreography next week. This also gives yet another a second chance for Debi Mazar and Michael Irvin to prove themselves.
(S9E06) I welcomed the return of Len Goodman on Dancing with the Stars because he separated the scores of the dances, by giving good performances two points less than they actually deserved. This week was a full Latin night with the Samba and Rumba.
When Chuck walked down the stairs I couldn't help but laugh at his arm frill, but Cheryl and Tom DeLay walked down as the American flag. I was laughing so hard that I didn't even notice that Debi's outfit killed all of Aaron Carter's Muppets.
There has been some drama with Tom DeLay's feet. Find out after the jump what happened to him.
(S09E05) Monday was the first night that all fourteen contestants danced against each other on Dancing with the Stars. With the help of Baz Lurhmann, the scores were too close for week two.
We get the first opening sequence and I vomited seeing it. With too many contestants, the names and faces swooped by too fast in swirled high-def colors. Having Macy Gray and Ashley Hamilton back to back is ironic and laughable.
Samantha is apparently growing a nest for birds. I kept trying to look for myself in her mirror neck-piece. It's a shame because the dress is pretty, but the hair and accessories failed her.
(S09E04) We had three dances on Dancing with the Stars: Jive, Tango, and Quickstep. It's a good change from having two dances back to back to having three different styles. The dancers had about 57 seconds to impress the judges and America. If anyone counted, we had less than 14 minutes of dance for a two hour show (about 80 minutes without commercials).
To soften the harshness of week two, Baz Lurhmann replaced Len Goodman, giving Len time from traveling between this show and British counterpart Strictly Come Dancing. He mostly used the term "Uncle Len" and graded dancers with sevens. Still, he was better than Michael Flatley.
After one week of competition, it's easy to see which celebrities onDancing with the Stars have the potential to go all the way and which will barely squeak past week two. It wasn't a shock having either Macy Gray or Ashley Hamilton eliminated week one.
If this season's contestants follow the trend of celebrities before them, one can figure out how they will fare this year. There are some small wrenches like new dances (Bolero, Lambada, Charleston, and Two Step) and the return of the face-off. Combining previous contestants' performances with this year's first week, I've compiled where everyone stands.
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Podcast time again! In this episode, 
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(S9E08) This week on 
(S9E06) I welcomed the return of Len Goodman on 
(S09E05) Monday was the first night that all fourteen contestants danced against each other on 
(S09E04)
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