Whats Hot On TV

For the past several weeks on Dancing With the Stars when it has come down to eliminations, the problem is that everyone left is so damn likable. There isn’t anyone I want to lose this week that I don’t want to see in the finals. However, when it comes down to who needs to be there and has a chance to win, it has to come down to Cody Linley leaving. He’s adorable and a great kid with admirable energy and honest emotions, but Brooke Burke’s technique, Warren Sapp’s entertainment value, and Lance Bass’ performance each have an honest shot at winning.

For the first round of dances, everyone will be dancing the one style they haven’t tackled yet, then they’ll do one of the new styles that were added this season that they haven’t tackled yet. Len Goodman will be offering some tips for those dances as well, and I hope he offers them personally to the dancers, as it’s always fun when he does that.

Brooke and Derek Hough will be tackling the jive and the salsa tonight, and it’s not her that’s getting frustrated, but him. He and sis Julianne tackled the jive last week, and Brooke wants him to show her how to do it, knowing she has to tackle the entertainment value of the three guys, as she wants to show she doesn’t just have technique. They dance their jive to The House Is A Rockin’, and they play it off like she’s some ogling fan of his. To try and match the entertainment value, I feel like she lacks a little in technique. At the beginning her footwork was missing just slightly. She doesn’t seem like she can get her feet going all that fast.

Len tells Brooke that just when she wants to come out and dance fantastic for the semi-finals, she comes out and dances bad in a performance riddled with mistakes. He counted at least three or four big mistakes. Bruno Tonioli tells her she went for the wow, but the problem is how. The technique was down the toilet, where usually her technique is so placed and produced, and her legs were bent. He’s shocked. Carrie Ann Inaba says what bothers her is not that she just had a bad dance, but that she went for blatant illegal lifts in the semifinals, as she is by far their most naturally gifted dancer. Her scores reflect their marks with three 7s, which is probably the lowest she has ever gotten. I suspect they’ll fix the mistakes with their salsa.

Julianne Hough is back dancing with Cody and wants to take the dances off the charts tonight after him being on the bottom of the leaderboard without her for two weeks. To show her support, he even surprised her at the CMA Awards. He’s worried about having his stiffness reappear in his paso doble and salsa, but even Julianne is noticing he’s more determined than ever. Oddly, they do a 40s USO thing for their paso doble tonight, dancing to Shiny Toy Guns. It’s highly imaginative and something only these younger two could pull off, I think.

Bruno calls it different with the “AWOL Android and the Queen of Mean doing the paso doble.” He loves different things, but says there has to be a sense of style of the dance. The timing was poor, and he can’t let it go. Carrie Ann thinks it’s hard, saying for determination she’d give Cody a 10, and she knows it was difficult. She didn’t see as much bad with it as Bruno. Len tells him he won’t get good marks with this, as while he was determined, it was also stiff and wooden. Julianne looks confused. I wonder if they were wearing black and red and had a cape with Spanish music in the background if the judges would have seen it differently. Regardless, their scores are still slightly better than Brooke, with a 8, 7, and 7.

Warren and Kym Johnson get extra work in as she follows him to Philadelphia for his filming of Inside the NFL so they can work on their mambo and jitterbug. The normally unflappable guy is showing some frustrations trying to get these dances right. They start form the audience tonight with their mambo, dancing to Tequila. He’s missing some steps early on., but has that entertainment value in it, just like always. It’s definitely not his dance, and it’s easy to see why he was getting so frustrated. I think they’ll beat all the scores so far, though.

Carrie Ann tells Warren he knows how to bring the house down, but they are in the semi-finals, and she thinks he needs to up the game a little bit and go for moves that are a little more difficult. Len tells Warren he recognizes great technique isn’t his thing and that he comes out to perform, always coming out with great personality. Bruno mentions that Warren is such a super-size sense of fun that he gets away with murder. He was flat-footed, yet very engaging. His and Kym’s scores of three 8s are the best of the night so far.

Lance and Lacey Schwimmer are taking on the mambo and jitterbug, which she calls crazy hard dances. With the jitterbug, it makes him think of his grandfather, so he invites his dad and grandfather to come out from Mississippi to see him dance. He looks so much like his dad. Lance knows the mambo has to be the best yet, as he’s come so far. He and Lacey definitely put their in your face style to the dance tonight, and have the technique and performance the other couples have been missing so far tonight. I could watch them all night, and the judges look pleased too! Maybe a 10 or two or three?

Len admits to being tough on Lance for a few weeks, but says this isn’t where they start, but where they finish, and this is the best dance so far. Lance’s grandpa looks very proud in the audience. Bruno tells them this is semifinal material, as it was full of confidence, yet they still worked in their little details to make it special. Carrie calls it very powerful and something else that I can’t determine, as my U-verse went dead for a minute. Regardless, I think she liked it. They get their first 10 of the season with 10 from her, as well as two 9s from the other two judges.

Len comes out and dances a minute or two with a few of the pros, then it dissolves into a dream as he’s woken by the phone and called in to Len’s Master Class. He stops to see Lance and Lacey first, and he’s barefoot. He talks to Lance about his concerns for his feet, giving him some pointers, then it’s off to see Cody and Julianne to work on Cody’s hips. He shows him how to roll his hips. It’s on to Brooke and Derek after this, as he works on straightening her legs. Lastly it’s on to see Warren and Kym to work on his feet make him as us Americans say, “Awesome.” He even geet a tip from Warren on one of his patented moves, and watching Len work in a little of that was even more entertaining than watching Warren do it.

Because we have too much time left before Samantha Who starts, we have some experts show us how a proper salsa should look. It’s nice, but that’s not what I want to see. On with the celebrities!

Brooke and Derek come out to try their luck with the salsa, and she’s wearing pants so we can’t see if her legs are straight or not. This is much better than their first effort, but you can tell she’s a little rocked from earlier. I do think she manages to do technique and entertainment here, however. They also get in an awesome spin at the end.

Bruno declares that Brooke is back and thanks whoever is listening. He knew she could work it and shake it to a fever pitch. Carrie Ann knows the lifts are allowed here, but there were a lot of lifts and they were all really high and very difficult. She likes the way Brooke was able to come back like a champion. Len’s advice to Brooke is to work towards her strengths and not worry about what the others are doing. They get scores of 9, 10, and 9. I think the 10 was really stretching it a bit, but I know they want her back on top of the leader-board.

Cody and Julianne take on the salsa next starting from opposite sides of the stage. The kid’s doing very well and and even works in some cute little humorous bits between his great spins. He’s got the confidence right now that I never thought he’d have, able to put away the goofiness for awhile.

Carrie Ann calls this a lot of fun, but says where it was just a hair lacking was with his musicality, as he was just a little ahead of the beat, yet she always enjoys watching him, as he’s so effervescent. Len thought he had good musicality coming out with great rhythm. They had fun throughout, and he never realized Cody was such a strong lad. Bruno tells him he looked like a little cheeky devil, although he was worried at one point that Cody was going to strangle Julianne. Their scores are better than the first round with three 8s.

To waste a little more time, we have some professionals out here to show us how the jitterbug should look. It’s a lot of fun, but I’d rather see Warren and Lance doing it. Let’s get on with it already.

Finally, we have Warren and Kym showing us the jitterbug, with a bit that’s supposed to make them seem like a Las Vegas dealer and waitress as they dance to Old Black Magic. This definitely works to both their strengths. He’s performing flat feet and all, but it’s highly entertaining, and they manage to work in some real jitterbug elements as well.

Len tells them he can tell by the audience that they love to watch Warren perform, as he came out 100% and sells it. Bruno mentions something about Starship Troopers that’s hard to make out through his accent, then points out with the footwork, Len’s Masters Class obviously didn’t work. Len replies he’s dancer not a miracle worker. Carrie Ann loved it, thinking Warren brought his A game, yet she was worried about some of the lifts, thinking Kym was going to go over. They get 9, 8, and 8 or scores, so the leader-board becomes even more muddled.

Last but not least, Lance and Lacey are here to take on the jitterbug, wearing sailor costumes to dance to Jim Dandy. She ought to be able to put her West Coast Swing moves to good use with this. Lance loses his shoe at one point, and they just kick it out of the way and keep going. You would never know he just lost it. Amazingly, she picks him up in a lift. To me, this is the dance of the night. I see entertainment and technique … and a lost shoe. Tom Bergeron points out not since season one with Kelly Monaco’s strap breaking with her going on has he seen anything as amazing as that.

Len cracks he keeps telling him shoes on! It doesn’t matter to Bruno, as “Shoes on or shoes off, it was brilliant.” He thinks there was an element of On the Town with Gene Kelly and Ann Miller, so well referenced and just a real joy. Carrie Ann agrees, calling it magic on the dance floor, not missing one dance step. She knows Lance’s grandfather is proud in the audience. Len salutes Lance and Lacey, saying they came out tonight and danced two fabulous dances. Lance calls his grandpa his good luck charm, as he sits sin the audience in tears. He says it was definitely all for him from the heart. Their scores reflect this with 10, 9, and 10, as Lance calls this the best night ever.

Lance and Lacey have to be locks at this point for the finals, unless they have absolute no fans at all, as they top the leaderboard with 57 points, followed by a second place tie between Brooke/Derek and Warren/Kym with 49 points, with Cody and Julianne bringing up rear with 46. Those bottom three are all so close with their numbers, it will really come down to the fans this week. It all depends on who has more fans, and Code and Julianne, they have just that much less of a chance being at the very bottom. I really think he’ll go home tonight, saddening everyone, but I just don’t think the other three couples can be denied.

Photos courtesy of abc.om

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