Whats Hot On TV

I’m all hopped up, ready for tonight’s Dancing With the Stars to start. And the reason? Cloris Leachman, of course. She just makes it tons more interesting, no matter what she’s doing or saying. We all know the old gal isn’t going to win, but she makes it so much more fun. Instead of just critiquing the dance style, she brings out the laughs.

Cloris is sure to bring a lot more tonight with the featured dance styles being the rumba and paso doble. Len Goodman thought the group having to learn two dances for last week was tough, but now to have a short week, having only four days to learn a new dance, he thinks that’s the toughest yet.

The first dancers up to show what they could do in this short time are Toni Braxton and Alec Mazo. She was glad to make it through last week, as Alec promised her that that they would reverse roles and he would sing for her if they made it through. As he sings her signature hit, Unbreak My Heart, it’s painful to say the least. She mentions that he sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger. As they work on the rumba, Toni’s big worries are on beating Cloris. They dance tonight to I Can’t Make You Love Me and do really well. It’s not terribly exciting, but they do well, nonetheless.

After Tom Bergeron gives Alec a 2 for his singing, Len Goodman tells him he was surprised at how good the dancing actually was, yet it lacked a little fluidity. Bruno Tonioli tells Alec and Toni that they capture the sensuality and vulnerability of the mistress. She gives it not too much and pitched it right. Carrie Ann Inaba tells Toni she moves like she sings, with so much passion and so much groundness, but there were two lifts where her feet left the ground. Alec tells Samantha Harris he’s forming a band with William Hung, then he and Toni get the scores of 7, 8, and 8.

Brooke Burke and Derek Hough worked on the paso doble this week, and he worked on finding the aggression inside her. They’ve been light anf fun up until now, so to get her a little tougher, he takes her to a karate class. I have to agree my martial arts classes always do a great job of taking care of my aggression. They’re just as great with this as they were the two dances last week. They really seem to carry out the passion of this really well.

Carrie Ann tells Brooke and Derek she was truly mesmerized, not being able to take her eyes off them, yet she was a hair off balance. Len notes the two dances tonight are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, and he thinks they came out and controlled the aggression really well, although there was too much messing about in the start and finish. Bruno tells Brooke she was born to dance and that it would even take a professional dancer weeks to keep up with the pacing of their dance. They get three 8s for a score.

Rocco DeSpirito learned the rumba from Karina Smirnoff this week, and he says he’s an Italian chef full of emotion, yet he’s having a tough time channeling it. He takes her to the ktichen to show her how he gets emotional and shows it with his food, comparing the risotto to the rumba, needing a long time to develop. He plays a chef in their dance tonight, and she’s obviously the beautiful woman he’s cooking for. They dance to a very slower version of You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine. This rumba seemed to have a lot more going for it than the first one tonight, as I really could see his emotions coming out.

Bruno doesn’t agree with me, as he feels he was standing there like this thing, and he seemed to be “walking on the wild side.” Carrie Ann is sad because when Rocco gets out there, there is something very natural about him on the dance floor, but what is lacking is his vitality. Len doesn’t know what Rocco is thinking by looking at his smile, and Tom figures he’s probablky thinking that he has sharp knilves in the car. Karina gave Rocco the best ingredients, but coming out it just wasn’t tasty. Do we need to put up with a whole season’s  worth of cooking jokes? It’s back to the low scores for Rocco as he gets 5, 6, and 5. I know I don’t have a trained eye, but I honestly didn’t see this dance the same as the judges at all.

Lance Bass knows his and Lacey Schwimmer’s style isn’t very traditional, and they know it could hurt them, but they’re willing to take the chance. They know Len will be looking for traditional, so they’re trying to keep it as traditional as possible while not losing who they are as performers. They are definitely losing the cape and the bull horns. They dance to I Kissed a Girl, which is … an odd song fo the two of them to dance to. There’s no red and black, but pink, black, and white, like Good ‘n Plenty. I think they manage to pull out the passion of the paso doble without the traditional stuff. They even get in a kiss at the end.

Len tells them he knows their game and their brain. He knows they thought if they put in a few things to keep the old boy happy, they could then throw in a load of stuff that has no relationship to the paso doble, but it just didn’t work. Carrie Ann thought it was very clever, but the end threw her off. She loves that they go for it, and she’s never seen anything like it. Bruno calls them always thrilling to watch, but says in the paso doble you have to keep the style going, but instead they went hip hop. Their scores relflect the judges’ remakrs with 7, 6, and 7.

Kim Kardashian feels there’s nowhere to go but up from here as she gets ready to rumba with Mark Ballas. She can’t stop laughing as they work on the sexual chemistry. He asks her to do what she did when she worked with the Pussycat Dolls, so they go and meet with the creator of the Pussycat Dolls for some tips. They dance to You Give Me Someting, and she looks like she’s basically being pulled along the dance floor by Mark. he’s barely moving her feet, and it’s basically a lot of arm movements and leaning on him. She just isn’t a good dancer. This should have been much more flowing.

Bruno calls it Pussycat Dead, as it’s colder and more distant than Siberia. He understands she’s not a dancer, but she needs to grab the character and sell it. Leno is disappointed, as he thinks she has a lot of potential, but she comes out and it’s too cold with no chemistry. She has all the “gear in the rear,” but nothing but curves. Carrie Ann does think she’s giving her best, but also feels like she’s seen the same dance three times. She wants her to figure out a way to bring a little bit more to the dance floor. The scores reflect this somewhat, as they get 6, 6, and 5. Kim vows to work hard and get her rear in gear. All of it.

Misty May-Treanor talks about when Brunmo was mentioning her natural instinct to attaack, and she says she doesn’t know anything but how to attack. Her professional dancing partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, talks to her volleyball coach to see how it’s best to work with her. Why are they doing all these visiting behind the scenes things on just episode 3? Usually they throw them out throughout the year. She looks all dominatrix tonight as they do a paso doble to Take Me Out. And how does that get rid of her natural instinct to attack? She’s still way too stiff.

Carrie Ann says compared to the last song, this is the energy and determination she loves to see. Maks gave her one of the more ambitious routines she’s ever seen him give somebody. Bruno calls her MIghty Xena: Warrior Princess. He loves her energy too, but wants her to work on the finesse. Len thought it was a good attempt with great choreography, but he notes that she loses her focus when she dances like she’s in the House of the Bewildered. They get three 7s for a score, and they don’t seem too thrilled with the score.

Maurice Greene feels he and the rumba are a perfect match, beause its the dance of love, and he’s the ultimate lover. His partner, Cheryl Burke, says he’s embraced the character of the rumba, but now he needs to get his hips right. She takes him to watch belly dancing to learn how to move those hips. See? Another trip out! They dance to Mercy Mercy Me, and he just seems very smooth. His hips still don’t have that total movement, but they’re working on it.

Len says Maurice talks the talk, but doesn’t dance the dance It’s alreight what he does, but it lacks finesse. He’s ready to send Maurice back to the belly dancers. Carrie Ann says when she watches him, she feels like there’s an explosion, He has so much energy, but the choreography held him back. She wants to get that energy outward. Bruno is surprised, as he should be smooth, but he’s rough and clanky. It was almost robotic. Apparently I have no idea what I’m talking about.  The judges give them the scores of 7, 6, and 6. This has to be really hard for Cheryl, the two-time champion, to take.

Cloris Leachman talks about getting carried away last week about the fun of it all and vows this week to work hard and be serious and focused. Do we believe this? Corky talks to her about it as they start working on the paso doble. She would really like to stay on the show as long as possible. They dance to Ravel’s Bolero, and they seem much more serious, and the techniques are correct, but seem to be lacking. Then again, we have to realize she’s 82. She’s afraid to get her scores, saying not to even tell her, as she already knows.

Bruno tells Cloris she started as someone I can’t understand through his accent going to Spain, and ended up like Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. She asks what he wants for nothing, and he explains Ava Gardner. Len tells her it was a traditional dance with traiditonal music. He thought her spins were excellent. Carrie Ann hopes that when she’s 82 she’s half the woman she is. She stops there, though, as she wants to keep it happy. She continues on anyway, saying the drama was there, but she likes crazy Cloris, and one of her assets is her wit, which couldn’t be seen in this dance. She gets three 5s for the score, scoring low even when trying to be serious. She vows to be back next week even if she’s voted off.

Susan Lucci and Tony Dovolani work on the rumba on the set of All My Children, even with rollers in her hair. She ges some inspiraition from her costar who was on Dancing With the Stars last season, Cameron Mathison. He tells her for advice on the rumba, to get it from Tony, not him. They dnce to Waiting On the World to Change, and she seems a little reserved again like she did last Monday. She struggles with the slower dances for some reason. Aside from that, she doesn’t really move much.

Carrie Ann tells Susan she thought it was really nice, because she transported them to someplace else. Her gift is she’s able to take it someplace else, and she compliments Tony on his chest after Susan had ripped his shirt open. Bruno calls it a very good rumba,  but she still dances a little bit like the virgin queen. He wants her to throw herself into it. Len didn’t like when Tony exposed himself, but the rumba is an acting dance, and that’s what she did, came out and acted the dance. Susan doesn’t want to be called out when talking to Samantha backage for her travel back and forth to New York, saying eveyrone has something else going on in their lives they need to schedule around. She gets a score of three 7s and is happy with that.

Warren Sapp works on the paso doble with Kym Johnson, and she tells him to go back to that football aggression, and notes his biggest challenge is not smiling nad keeping that intense look. She wants him to think of her as Coach Kym. He knows his back is against the wall and he needs to get it quickly. It’s very entertaining, to say they least, as they wear matching black rain slicker like costumes. They seem to really take it back to what the dance is about., although his dance skills are definitely lacking, espeiclaly as he nearly falls on her at the end when he’s supposed to jump near her, “simulating” jumping on top of her.

Len tells Warren he looked good and Kym didn’t look bad either. Len loved the start of this very intense and and excellent paso doble. Carrie Ann calls him a paso doble killer, as he had the dynamic with the mystery and power that Bruno was looking for earlier. Bruno himself calls it like the Matrix, saying it was like a Lamborghini on the freeway. For a guy his size, to move his feet the way he does, Bruno feels is fabulous. Samantha notes all the football players do well with the paso doble, and Warren explians it’s because it’s “all man.” Their scores reflect this with three 8s.

Cody Linley talks about the rumba being about sexy, sensual, and passionate, something he doesn’t have all that much life experience with. He does one arm pushps, kind of, goofing off more than working. Julianne Hough asks him to just focus, as he admits romance isn’t one of his strongest points. I think this is my favoite rumba of the night as they dance to Bleeding Love. It takes the young guy to show ‘em how it’s done. I think the tween and teen set all over are getting their dialing fingers ready.

Bruno calls refers to Cody a kid in a candy shop, and tells him everything is there, one step at a time, and he should be focused on that way as he really has talent. Len tells him it lacked a little bitl of polish and finesse , but breaks his comments once Cody starts strutting a little, telling Carrie Ann to avert her eyes as this boy is on fire. Carrie Ann thought it was an age appropriate rumba, as it was innocent, and she foud that attractive. They get three 7s, but I thought it was a little better than that. Cody messes around a lot backstage, joking about being sexy.

There’s definitely some people in danger tonight, and unexpectedly, I think even Cloris might be. We don’t want to see her serious, depsite the fact she had serious music and a series style of dance. We want nutty Cloris.With the low scores she has, she needs us voting for her to help her out, but people might not after not getting as entertained as last week. Other than that, we have Kim Kardashian and Rocco with lower scores. I think one of them is going home, but it could always ben Clrois in a shocker  as well.

Photos courtesy of abc.com

For more on Dancing With the Stars, see SirLinksalot: Dancing With the Stars.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS