Dancing With the Stars 8: Steve-O Heads Home
April 14, 2009 by Lynn
[Photos: newscom.com]
 [Photo: newscom.com] |
The number of dancers with injuries this season on Dancing With the Stars is at an all-time high. And Steve-O, in spite of his previous career being filled with him trying to injure himself in strange and exotic ways, has been no exception. He hurt his back and was unable to even perform live one week. Yet his many fans kept him in the competition in spite of it all.
But, we all knew it was time for his run on the show to come to an end. It just had to happen.
I am personally very happy to see that he made it through rehab and has managed to stay sober for months now. I hope he continues to stay sober and to take care of himself. He’s spent many self-destructive years so far and it was time to grow up. Good for him!
I do have to admit that I have been completely surprised by how well he actually did do on the show. When he was announced as one of the dancers, I was expecting him to maybe last a week. He evidently has a very large fan base and he really did put his heart into his dance performances, even if they didn’t make it to professional level.
I wish him well in his future and can say that I’m glad that he was on this season of the show. Even though he’s no dancer, he does seem to be getting his life on the right track and that deserves our respect.
So long, Steve-O. It was great having you on this season of DWTS.
So who do you think will be the next to go home? Who do you think is going to win this season? Let us know!
Dancing With the Stars 8: Tonight’s Performance Show
April 13, 2009 by Lynn
[Photos: newscom.com]
Tonight marked the halfway point in this season of Dancing With the Stars. It’s becoming very clear who will probably make it to the final three and who will not. After tonight’s performances, I think it’s a slam dunk that Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke, as well as Lil Kim & Derek Hough will be in the final three. My big indecision is between Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani and Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas. Those two teams are both very close in their skills and it will be interesting to see who does better as the season progresses.
As for this week, sadly, I think the bottom two will follow the judges’ scores. It seems clear to me that the two who deserve this week’s dance-off are Steve-O & Lacey Schwimmer and Ty Murray & Chelsea Hightower. I just don’t think they will be here much longer. Overall, it’s a good season with lots of interesting dancers. Here are my comments on tonight’s performances:
|
Judges’ Scores
|
|||||
| Style | Review | Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | Total |
| Jive | Ty Murray & Chelsie Hightower - Started off very tense, but loosened up about midway. He did lose the steps once, but he was a lot looser than last week. I think he might be in the bottom two this week. |
6
|
6
|
6
|
18
|
|
|
|||||
| Rumba | Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas - Very nice!! She was extremely smooth and graceful and the dance was romantic. I loved it! |
8
|
9
|
9
|
26
|
|
|
|||||
| Jive | Lawrence Taylor & Edyta Slawinska - This week’s dance was a huge improvement over last week’s. Lawrence actually moved his hips and was lighter on his feet. It looked like he had a great time doing it too. |
7
|
7
|
8
|
22
|
|
|
|||||
| Rumba | Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani - Fantastic! Great dance! She was definitely back on her game this week!! Very graceful and clean. |
9
|
9
|
9
|
27
|
|
|
|||||
| Jive | Lil Kim & Derek Hough - WOW! What a great dance routine! She was wonderful. It was flawless! Len Goodman was soooo wrong about it! It was a great jive! |
10
|
8
|
10
|
28
|
|
|
|||||
| Rumba | Steve-O & Lacey Schwimmer - Bless his heart, he’s just not a dancer. The word “clunky” comes to mind. He was robotic and awkward. He’ll be in the bottom two, I think. |
7
|
4
|
5
|
16
|
|
|
|||||
| Jive | Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke - Now that’s how it’s done!! Nearly perfection! He’s an amazing dancer and I think he’ll definitely be in the final three this season. |
9
|
8
|
9
|
26
|
|
|
|||||
| Rumba | Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough - That was definitely a steamy dance and they looked amazing together. Chuck really did a great job this week! Very romantic. Not perfect, but very good. |
8
|
7
|
8
|
23
|
|
|
|||||
Who did you like the best tonight? Who do you think will go home?
Dancing With the Stars 8: A “Bionic Booty” and a “Demented Worm”
March 23, 2009 by Lynn
[Photos: newscom.com]
What a night of performances this was! Tonight’s Dancing With the Stars gave us three couples tied for first place and perhaps a new lowest score ever…I’m not sure about that, but it’s got to be close. The injuries are continuing to haunt the Steves. Steve-O not only had a tough time with a painful back, but he also twisted his ankle at the end of the routine. Steve Wozniak still has the fractured foot, but now also has a pulled groin muscle to go with it.
There were also a couple of fantastic quotes this week too. Len told Lil Kim that she has a “Bionic Booty” and Steve Woznick did what was referred to as a “Demented Worm”.
There were some really high higs and some very low lows in the performances. Each week, it’s becoming more apparent who is going to make it to the end this season. Unless something horrible and unforeseen happens, it’s going to be one heck of a season toward the end…
Here are my reviews of the dance performances this week:
|
Judges’ Scores
|
|||||
| Style | Review | Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | Total |
| Samba | Denise Richards & Maksim Chmerkovskiy - Sadly, her performance was flat and uninspiring. She lost her footing and got out of step a couple of times. Hopefully, she’ll improve next week. |
5
|
6
|
5
|
16
|
|
|
|||||
| Foxtrot | Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough - What an improvement! He was so much better this week than last week. I don’t understand the fall on the floor at the end of the routine, it seemed out of place, but that’s the choreography’s fault, not Chuck’s. Good job, Chuck! |
8
|
7
|
8
|
23
|
|
|
|||||
| Samba | Holly Madison & Dmitry Chaplain - I don’t want to be mean, but I just don’t think she has a future in the dancing world. She isn’t improving at all and seems unaware of the beat of the music. She just walks from place to place, with no musicality whatsoever. Sorry, Holly. I know you have a large fan base, but I don’t expect you to be around long… |
5
|
6
|
6
|
17
|
|
|
|||||
| Foxtrot | Steve-O & Lacey Schwimmer - I was pleasantly surprised to see Steve-O do a serious foxtrot, instead of all the expected clowning around. Poor guy, he’s working through the pain and I know from experience that back pain makes dancing incredibly hard to do. But worse than that, he forgot the routine several times. If he can mend his injured back and get over the nervousness, he may improve for next week. |
5
|
5
|
5
|
15
|
|
|
|||||
| Samba | Lawrence Taylor & Edyta Slawinska - I liked his dance this week. He really worked on it, and it showed. He’s not at the top of the pack yet, but he has the determination and the coordination to keep improving. And best of all, he’s very enjoyable to watch because he seems to be enjoying himself. I expect him to become better each week. |
7
|
6
|
7
|
20
|
|
|
|||||
| Foxtrot | Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas - She was beautiful and graceful and did a wonderful job this week. No surprise. She’s going to be in the final three…mark my words. She’s terrific! |
9
|
9
|
9
|
27
|
|
|
|||||
| Samba | Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke - All I can say is, WOW! He just gets better and better! And what a hot dance! This guy can sure shake it when he needs to shake it. Great dance!! My favorite of the season so far! |
9
|
9
|
9
|
27
|
|
|
|||||
| Foxtrot | David Alan Grier & Kym Johnson - What an improvement! He was much better this week than last week. He was graceful and he managed to do all the more difficult choreography without a problem. Great dance for him!! |
8
|
8
|
8
|
24
|
|
|
|||||
| Samba | Steve Wozniak & Karina Smirnoff - Bless his heart, he has so very much fun dancing. He makes me smile to watch. Even though he even included the “worm†he’s just not ready for the big time. He won’t be in the final three, but he is very fun to watch. |
4
|
3
|
3
|
10
|
|
|
|||||
| Foxtrot | Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani - She’s so good, it hardly seems fair to the others. She’s had the least amount of time to work with her partner than any other dancer this season, but she’s definitely one of the top three. |
9
|
9
|
9
|
27
|
|
|
|||||
| Samba | Lil Kim & Derek Hough - She really brought the moves for this dance. It was fun, lively and a great dance! She made one mistake in the routine, but it was a really good performance other than that. |
8
|
8
|
9
|
25
|
|
|
|||||
| Foxtrot | Ty Murray & Chelsea Hightower - Can this possibly be the same man that danced the first week? He is sooooooo much better than he was then. Chelsea slipped once, and he got her back on track right away. He’s amazing! I am terrifically impressed with him this week! |
8
|
8
|
7
|
23
|
|
|
|||||
Dancing With the Stars 8: Tonight’s Performance Show
[Photos: newscom.com]
Tonight on Dancing With the Stars, we found out that yet another one of the celebs has injured himself. Steve-O had to go to the hospital, so poor Lacey Schwimmer had to walk down the big stairs alone. That means five injuries so far this season and this was only the second episode! We found out over the weekend that Steve Wozniak injured his foot, and Gille Marini dislocated his shoulder. I’ll write a bit about injuries and difficulty in ballroom dancing later this week, but right now I just want to emphasize how dancing is much more dangerous and difficult than it looks.
Here is my review of the dances on tonight’s show:
|
Judges’ Scores
|
|||||
| Style | Review | Inaba | Goodman | Tonioli | Total |
| Quickstep | Holly Madison & Dmitry Chaplain - She’s a fair dancer, but seemed about a half of a beat behind Dmitry most of the time. She did have less time to prepare than most of the others, and she still hasn’t caught up. |
6
|
6
|
6
|
18
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
18
|
||||
| Salsa | David Alan Grier & Kym Johnson - He’s a lot of fun to watch, but he still needs to work on moving his hips. A Latin dance needs hip movements. But he’s still in need of improvement. I hope he stays for a while longer, though. I like him. |
6
|
5
|
6
|
17
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
19
|
||||
| Quickstep | Denise Richards & Maksim Chmerkovskiy - I think she improved quite a bit since last week. This was a pretty good quickstep. It’s clear that she has been working hard. |
7
|
7
|
7
|
21
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
18
|
||||
| Salsa | Belinda Carlisle & Jonathan Roberts - It was a very fun dance, but didn’t seem all that salsa-ish to me. I really like Belinda a lot and want there to stay around, but her hip action and musicality needs to improve just a bit. She’s better this week and will most likely keep improving. |
6
|
6
|
6
|
18
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
17
|
||||
| Quickstep | Ty Murray & Chelsea Hightower - Tonight’s dance was a ton better than last week’s for Ty. Thank goodness, he didn’t have the case of the nerves he had last week. And the Quickstep is a much more difficult dance. Good for him! I actually think he may have potential as a dancer. |
7
|
6
|
7
|
20
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
14
|
||||
| Salsa | Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas - She’s a wonderful dancer. And for someone who has never been a booty-shaker, she’s really improving! I think she will be around for a long time. Great job! |
8
|
8
|
8
|
24
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
23
|
||||
| Quickstep | Steve Wozniak & Karina Smirnoff - He looks like he has so much fun that he’s fun to watch! And I love it that Kathy Griffin was there to cheer him on. I saw him favor his foot a couple of times and then he lost the beat a few times, but he sure does make it look like fun. I like The Woz and hope he makes it through somehow so I can watch him again next week. Sadly, he may not make it much longer, though. |
6
|
5
|
6
|
17
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
13
|
||||
| Salsa | Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough - Chuck really did learn to move his hips, but he was a bit stiff in a few places and there weren’t a lot of steps for him. I think he could do better if the choreography was better. |
6
|
7
|
7
|
20
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
20
|
||||
| Quickstep | Lawrence Taylor & Edyta Slawinska - I think he did terrifically! He was relaxed and light on his feet. We have another big guy that can dance! Much better than last week. |
7
|
6
|
7
|
20
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
16
|
||||
| Salsa | Steve-O & Lacey Schwimmer - Since Steve-O injured his back and had to go to the hospital after the dress rehearsal, we were shown that performance and told that his scores would be based on that. Sadly, it was clear that he was in pain and not moving fluidly because of the back. It really didn’t resemble a salsa at all, but I know he and Lacey must be heartbroken. I hope he recovers and can be back next week. |
5
|
4
|
5
|
14
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
17
|
||||
| Quickstep | Lil Kim & Derek Hough - Fabulous!! She was great! I think we are gong to see her go all the way to the end. She has the style and the musicality and even though it was a very difficult dance, I think she was the best of the night so far. |
8
|
7
|
8
|
23
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
21
|
||||
| Salsa | Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani - She’s a really wonderful dancer! She learns so fast and is my favorite so far!. She needs a little more practice with the movements, but for a person with less than two weeks practice in partner dancing, she’s amazing! I think she’ll be here all season too. |
9
|
8
|
9
|
26
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
23
|
||||
| Quickstep | Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke - Cheryl was telling him not to be sexy, but girls, you know what I mean…there’s no way he isn’t sexy. But as far as the dance is concerned, he is a really good dancer. His dance was terrific! |
9
|
9
|
9
|
27
|
|
Last week’s score:
|
24
|
||||
They saved the best three dances for last and the way it looks right now, they are the three that we may see go all the way. The others had better step it up. And tomorrow night on the elimination show, we’ll get to see the bottom two pairs do a dance-off. It’s a brand-new feature this season and it should be interesting to see how it affects the results.
Edyta Sliwinska & Alec Mazo Grab the Swag
Here’s a great photo of Dancing With the Stars pro dancers Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo walking away with a haul of swag. They were leaving Sunstyle Tanning where they picked up swag for the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards. I think a lot of the rest of us wish we could just go pick up all that great stuff for some of those events…
[Photo: Bauer-Griffin]
Edyta Sliwinska to Guest Star on CSI: NY
December 26, 2008 by Lynn
Fans of Dancing With the Stars pro dancer Edyta Sliwinska have a real treat in store. She’s going to be a guest star on crime drama CSI: NY.
The CSI: NY episode, entitled Rush To Judgement will air on CBS on January 21 at 10/9c. I suppose it was a fortunate thing for her last season to be voted off DWTS so early in the season. It left her open of film the show.
I’m looking forward to seeing her in CSI, since I don’t remember seeing her in a drama before. [I hope she's not the victim!!] I just hope she doesn’t decide to stay acting and not return to Dancing With the Stars. She’s one of the things that makes the show so great.
Don’t forget to set your TiVo to catch her on the show!
[Photo: Bauer-Griffin]
Toni Braxton Celebrated Her Birthday
December 24, 2008 by Lynn
During the season of Dancing With the Stars 7, Toni Braxton celebrated her 42nd birthday. She chose to spend it with her dance partner Alec Mazo, his pro dancer wife Edyta Sliwinska, and her husband Keri Lewis. She stopped to sign some autographs and hopefully they had a great evening together.
[Photo: Bauer-Griffin]
Dancing With the Stars 7: Maurice is Sent Home
I hate it that Maurice Greene was eliminated this week. As likable as Cody Linley is, he really was the one that deserved to go.
And another thing, I thought it was very rude of some audience members (mostly young female audience members) to cheer when it was announced that Maurice would be leaving the competition. Yes, I know that they are Cody fans, but they should consider how the cheers must have felt to Maurice!
My favorites are still Warren Sapp & Lance Bass. I can’t help it, Brooke Burke is just too perfect…and lacks personality.
I think both of them should be in the finals with Brooke and since they have so much more personality than she does, I hope one of them wins.
But wasn’t this week’s results show amazing? We got to see fantastic dance routines by both Derek & Julianne Hough and Lacey Schwimmer and her brother Benji Schwimmer. All I can say is WOW! to both!!
How do you feel about Maurice going home? Who do you hope will be in the final three?
Dancing With the Stars 7: Susan Lucci & Tony Dovolani Reflect on Their Elimination
Here’s a cool exit interview with last week’s eliminated team on Dancing With the Stars, Susan Lucci & Tony Dovolani. They were very gracious and it’s nice to see that they were in good spirits as they left the show.
Dancing With the Stars 7: Susan Lucci Goes Home
November 5, 2008 by Lynn
This week was an unusual one for Dancing With the Stars. First, the final six couples had to team up into two teams and do group performances for scores. Even though Lance & Lacey were far better than the rest of their teammates, they had to take the low score too. It was not too fair, really.
Poor Cody was dealing with a brand new dance partner with Julianne recovering from surgery. And Susan Lucci just didn’t seem to know the group dance at all.
Then, on the results show, choreographer Dave Scott, who does a lot of work for So You Think You Can Dance performed an amazing dance number. The entire number was spectacular!!
I was not very surprised that Susan Lucci was eliminated. It was just her time to go. The competition is getting tougher each week and it was the right decision.
My prediction is that Warren Sapp & Kym Johnson, Lance Bass & Lacey Schwimmer and Cody Linley and Brook urke & Derek Hough will make it to the final three. At least that’s what I hope. In my opinion, they are the three teams that deserve it.
What do you think of Susan’s elimination? Who do you expect to go next? Let us know!