Dancing with the Stars

It's elimination night, so somebody is going home from Dancing with the Stars. After her horrifying collapse yesterday, many fans are actually hoping Marie Osmond will voluntarily pack it in. Nobody wants to see Osmond take a nose dive in the middle of a fast paced dance, and the plucky entertainer has already admitted that her blackout spells occur frequently. Of course, health conditions aside let's not forget that Marie, along with Mark Cuban and Kym Johnson, was legitimately in the bottom last night, meaning that she could be voted out naturally.

Melanie Brown is another star who came into the evening on edge. Despite the fact that she was number one last night, Mel's tenure in the bottom two is fresh on everyone's minds, and anyone who watches Dancing with the Stars knows that the judge's scoring could be inconsequential.

The entertainment portion of the evening is passé at best. Jennifer Lopez performs an energetic set, but it is her older material that is most enjoyable. Lopez continues to be a model of professionalism, though. This isn't a Britney Spears moment. Still, for Lopez to attempt to reenergize last year through American Idol, and this year through Dancing with the Stars is a bit tragic.

The fact that everytime someone is saved we are told that they will either be “saved or put in the bottom two” is a total farce. The format has always been that the saved whittle down to the bottom two. The threat that someone may be told they are in the bottom two seems like an effort to keep people tuned in, since most of us are wise enough to know that if we turn the show on at 9:55 we'll get the bottom two and the elimination.

The bottom two is counter intuitive to the scoring. Mark Cuban and Jane Seymour. Cuban is expected, but Seymour is not. The judges are asked for their opinions, as always, and Len says both represent different qualities, for Cuban it is fun and showmanship, and Seymour it is elegance. Len prefers that elegance stick around, and he gets his wish.

Cuban is a gracious eliminee, thanking the audience and saluting his surviving competitors, referring to the experience as ‘family.' Seeing Seymour in the bottom two is still too much of a shock to gauge feelings about Cuban's departure. I've been surprised by how likable Cuban is, but his dancing has been kind of horrible from the beginning, but not for lack of effort. It is difficult to say the elimination was apt knowing the whole hearted effort the billionaire put into his pursuit of Dancing with the Star's mirror ball, but it was the right thing.


- Jon Lachonis, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of ABC)