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Dancing With the Stars: Season 3


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The contestants for Season 3 will be announced on Good Morning America on August 15th. There will be 11 (!!!) contestants for Season 3.

No word yet on when Season 3 will premiere. Hopefully it won't be until Project Runway finishes so I won't have to watch/record three hours of reality TV on Wednesday nights.

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The contestants for Season 3 will be announced on Good Morning America on August 15th. There will be 11 (!!!) contestants for Season 3.

No word yet on when Season 3 will premiere. Hopefully it won't be until Project Runway finishes so I won't have to watch/record three hours of reality TV on Wednesday nights.

Thanks, miliosr. Scheduling, scheduling.... :blush:

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And the contestants for Season 3 are:

01 Tucker Carlson -- MSNBC news anchor

02 Monique Coleman -- teen idol (High School Musical)

03 Sara Evans -- Country & Western singer

04 Willa Ford -- pop singer

05 Vivica A. Fox -- actress

06 Harry Hamlin -- actor

07 Joe Lawrence -- actor/former teen idol (Gimme a Break)

08 Mario Lopez -- actor/former teen idol (Saved By the Bell)

09 Shanna Moakler -- beauty queen/reality tv star

10 Emmitt Smith -- former NFL player

11 Jerry Springer -- talk show host

Season 3 starts on September 12th. I am taking myself off to the spa for a month to get myself in shape for the miliosr reports! :blush:

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Just a reminder -- the 2-hour season season premiere is Tuesday night at 8/7c.

Here are the 11 teams:

Tucker Carlson (news pundit)/Elena Grinenko

Monique Coleman (actress-singer)/Louis Van Amstel

Sara Evans (country singer)/Tony Dovolani

Willa Ford (pop star)/Maksim Chmerkovsky

Vivica A. Fox (actress)/Nick Kosovich

Harry Hamlin (actor)/Ashly DelGrosso

Joey Lawrence (actor)/Edyta Sliwinska

Mario Lopez (actor)/Karina Smirnoff

Shanna Moakler (Playmate)/Jesse DeSoto

Emmitt Smith (NFL great)/Cheryl Burke

Jerry Springer (talk show host)/Kym Johnson

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The Miliosr Report - Week One

General Thoughts

Some things in life never change. The sun will always rise in the East, death will always be the end result of life and Dancing With the Stars will always feature bad singing, atrocious camera work and inane chit chat!

Week One was about what I expected dance-wise. A few good performances set off by a flood tide of mediocre-to-bad performances. Overall, I was more impressed with the men than the women this week. I thought the general ability of the men (with one or two exceptions) seemed more advanced at this stage in the competition and the guys displayed more personality than the women. With the exception of Vivica A. Fox, the women were curiously bland -- not a good sign for the women as the competition progresses.

I was shocked to see child star Joey Lawrence all grown up. This may sound cruel but I thought he looked like an ex-con with the shaved head and the bulging biceps!

So nice to see Tom Jones as the musical guest on the results show -- he looks great! I am of the punk/New Wave generation that thought Tom Jones was square and Muzaky but several years ago I came into possession of a tape of Janis Joplin concert and TV performances and I came to see him in a whole new light. One of the performances was from his TV show in 1969 where Jones joined musical guest Joplin and her band for a version of "Raise Your Hand". He definitely held his own against Joplin -- no mean feat! But I digress . . .

Scores from the Judges

The men did the cha cha this week while the women did the fox trot. Here's how the judges ranked the pairs:

01 26pts. Mario/Karina

02 24pts. Emmitt/Cheryl

03 22pts. Vivica/Nick

03 22pts. Willa/Maksim

05 21pts. Joey/Edyta

06 19pts. Monique/Louis

07 18pts. Shanna/Jesse

08 17pts. Harry/Ashly

09 16pts. Jerry/Kym

10 15pts. Sara/Tony

11 12pts. Tucker/Elena

Miliosr's Top Three

Until the herd gets culled some more, I'm going to concentrate on the Top Three/Bottom Three for the time being. Frankly, so many of the pairs were blah this week that I don't have much to say one way or the other about them!

Here is my Top Three:

01 Mario/Karina

They were the clear winners on the night. While there is much speculation on the various discussion boards about just how much dance training Mario has had, it was clear that he was completely at ease on the dancefloor. His movements were fully articulated, he was the most "turned out" looking and Karina didn't look like she was dancing down to him.

At this point in the competition, Mario is the obvious frontrunner. However, as John O'Hurley found out in Season 1 and Stacy Keebler found out in Season 2, being the frontrunner from the outset does not always result in holding the disco ball trophy in your hands at the end of the competition.

02 Vivica/Nick

03 Emmitt/Cheryl

Originally, I had ranked these two teams in reverse order but on rewatching all of the performances I switched my rankings. While I thought Emmitt moved very well for a big man and he displayed a breezy charm on the dancefloor, I came to think that maybe he was a tad too breezy on the night.

In comparison, Nick and Vivica were more dynamic and, to my mind, more appropriately intense on the night. Nick did a good job with Vivica because, while she has a killer body, it's not necessarily a born dancer's body. (I did have to laugh, though, when Nick asked Vivica if she had ever danced before and she said that she had played a stripper in Independence Day. I don't think that was the kind of dancing he had in mind!)

I'm liking this team so far and I'm glad Nick got a better partner for Season 3. (I was impressed with the footage showing Vivica falling in rehearsal and how she didn't display the typical reality TV tears and hysteria but instead got up and got back to work.)

Miliosr's Bottom Three

There were many candidates for this but I would go with Tucker/Elena, Sara/Tony and Jerry/Kym. Jerry is clearly the 'George' of this season and while he's fairly hopeless as a dancer he should go far in the competition based on his self-deprecating flair.

I really hated the Sara/Tony performance. It was so painfully sloooooow and lifeless. And someone needs to explain to Tony that posing Sara's legs won't work for her the way it did for Stacy. Sara doesn't have the killer body that Stacy had (and has) and, besides, one of the big criticisms of Stacy and Tony from Season 2 was that they did too much posing. Sara's country fan base may keep her around for a while but, really, this was very bad.

All that being said, Tucker and Elena were terrible. When the celebrity amateur spends 1/3 of the dance in a chair, you know there's a major problem. Tucker displayed a good attitude about the whole thing but he and Elena were a very deserving boot.

Predictions

I think Willa is in real trouble going forward. She finished tied for third with the judges but wound up in the bottom three on the results show. This tells me she has no fan base to speak of and her dancing wasn't strong enough or charismatic enough to attract a new fan base in short order. She could well go home next week as a result.

See you after Week 2!

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Dancing with the Stars was the top-rated program in the US last week with 20.2 million viewers. The Tuesday night premiere was also the third highest-rated episode in the show's history. Only the Season 1 and Season 2 finales have drawn more viewers.

The Wednesday night results show finished fourth for the week with 16.3 million viewers.

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The Miliosr Report - Week Two

General Thoughts

Week Two has come and gone and I must confess that I'm not "feeling" this season yet. Is it lingering hangover from the high gear second season? I don't know if it was brilliant casting or just plain dumb luck on ABC's part but the Season Two cast (with the exception of Master P) was a joy to watch. There was a great camaraderie among the dancers and that camaraderie made for a very enjoyable viewing experience.

In contrast, something about Season Three seems off to me. Is it the casting? For some reason, the celebrity amateurs don't seem like they're having as much fun this season. There's a certain tension emanating from some of the dancers and, as a result, the show as a whole seems riddled with tension.

In other news, I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard the music to Harry and Ashly's dance -- "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop! The fact that an Iggy Pop song is now deemed acceptable enough to be used on a mainstream entertainment show like Dancing with the Stars just confirms my belief that American popular culture can absorb just about anything, including someone whose career stood in marked opposition to that very same popular culture!

Scores from the Judges

01 29pts. Joey/Edyta

02 26pts. Monique/Louis

03 24pts. Vivica/Nick

03 24pts. Emmitt/Cheryl

05 23pts. Willa/Maksim

06 22pts. Shanna/Jesse

07 21pts. Harry/Ashly

07 21pts. Mario/Karina

07 21pts. Sara/Tony

10 19pts. Jerry/Kym

Miliosr's Top Three ( . . . er . . . Top Two)

It's definitely saying something when I can only come up with two dances for a Top Three!

01 Joey/Edyta

Joey and Edyta were tops with the judges and they were tops with me as well. I thought they were just splendid -- good holds, great posture, quick footwork, exciting chemistry and speed, speed, SPEED! Joey's leprechaun costume was unfortunate but his tap dance interlude was a fun embellishment that made up for it.

02 Emmitt/Cheryl

How great did Emmitt look in his tux?

I would have preferred a little more speed to this routine but I thought the footwork was very good, especially for such a big man. His posture was also better than I thought it would be given how he himself had pointed out that his entire professional athletic career was spent with his shoulders down and forward.

The Big Blah Middle

I would put Willa/Maksim, Harry/Ashly, Monique/Louis, Shanna/Jesse and Vivica/Nick in this category. Probably Monique and Louis were the best of a boring lot but, really, there was nothing in their routine that you couldn't see in any Beyonce video.

Miliosr's Bottom Three

My Bottom Three consisted of Mario/Karina, Jerry/Kym and Sara/Tony (with Jerry and Kym going.)

The judges were right to rip Mario and Karina for their routine. Basically, they did a freestyle routine with only some elements of the quickstep incorporated into the mix. Unfortunately, only Len backed up his rhetoric by giving Mario and Karina a "6".

I really disliked Sara and Tony's routine last week and this week only amped up my dislike. First of all, I hated, hated, HATED Sara's ridiculous Valley of the Dolls hair. As to the dancing, it was as slow as molasses and about as exciting. They can't go soon enough for me but, alas, I think her country music fan base will keep them in the competition for the time being.

And then there was Jerry. Anyone who reads these reports on a regular basis knows that I'm not a fan of the novelty contestants and that's what Jerry is -- a novelty contestant. He really is terrible. Last week, I compared Jerry to George Hamilton from Season Two. In retrospect, I think the comparison was unfair to George. Although George was limited by age and injury, you could see the remnants of ability. Jerry has no ability and, to my mind, should have been booted on Wednesday night.

The Actual Bottom Two

As it happened, the Bottom Two consisted of Shanna/Jesse and Willa/Maksim with Shanna and Jesse going. I can't shed too many tears about their exit as Shanna didn't show much promise and she would have gone sooner rather than later anyway.

Predictions

Willa and Maksim managed to avoid elimination this week but -- again -- I think they are in real trouble going forward.

Despite being popular with the judges, Willa and Maksim can't seem to gain any traction with the audience. This suggests to me that casting Willa was a mistake. At best, she is a minor former pop star who is unknown to most of the viewing audience.

On a show like Dancing with the Stars, you don't have the luxury of waiting for the audience to warm to you. You have to come in with an existing fan base and then build on that base with charismatic and memorable dancing. Since Willa has no fan base and her dancing isn't particularly charismatic or memorable, she is in severe danger of going home next.

See you after Week Three!

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Week Two has come and gone and I must confess that I'm not "feeling" this season yet. Is it lingering hangover from the high gear second season?
I missed the first show, but I have the same impression. I think it's two things: the quality of the season-enders in Season Two was much higher than the quality of the season-enders in Season One, In figure skating terms, it was like watching the final six at the Olympics, and then, five months later, watching US Regional qualifiers, or as you put is, "The Big Blah Middle." There's some terrific talent there, but there are also a number of participants who are doing what they were taught, and haven't really differentiated themselves. Last year, even in the beginning and among the middle contestants, I would think "this one has great turns" or "that one has great posture," or "he's more of a Latin than Standard kind of guy," but this year, I mostly think, "which one was that?" and "didn't they already dance?"

The second is that there aren't many stories, at least yet, and not very many characters. The first crew went in not knowing what to expect or what the backstage footage would look like or how it would be edited into the show. By now, I think the participants are a lot more seriously competitive and focused as well as self-protecting and lacking surprise, leading to more tension (you hit it on the head). One of the fun things last year was seeing the competition between Lisa Rinna and Louis van Amstel to see who could wear the most outrageous outfit to practice.

The worst part is that the celebrity dancers are starting to look alike. I, personally, think the god-awful music arrangements and selections are an underlying cause. When Nick Kosovich starts lookling like Maksim Chmerkovsky starts looking like Tony Dovolani, it's trouble.

The fact that an Iggy Pop song is now deemed acceptable enough to be used on a mainstream entertainment show like Dancing with the Stars just confirms my belief that American popular culture can absorb just about anything, including someone whose career stood in marked opposition to that very same popular culture!
It's Muzak Syndrome.
Miliosr's Top Three ( . . . er . . . Top Two)

It's definitely saying something when I can only come up with two dances for a Top Three!

I have to agree.

How great did Emmitt look in his tux?
Enough to make the top two if his posture and hold hadn't improved (at least comparing him from last week's clips).
Miliosr's Bottom Three
I couldn't even come up with a bottom three. I agree that Jerry Springer is at the bottom, but at least he has a good attitude. He looks like the guy who would be good-natured about dancing with his wife at a wedding, even knowing he can't really dance. And while he doesn't have a hundredth of the talent of John O'Hurley, at least he's not mugging his way through the routines.

I know that Master P did everything possible to be a stumbling block last season, but I also thought that Ashly DelGrosso was whiny and unprofessional in the way she dealt with him. I think that match-up was a mistake: she doesn't have the established reputation or the personality to take on anyone that difficult, at least under pressure, and she's not a natural teacher or leader, juding from the backstage clips. (I would have paired him with Jerry Rice's partner, Ms. "Your coach give you cookies?" Master P would have lasted five minutes with his attitude.) I supposed a matchup with Hamlin was the producers' way of apologizing, but I wouldn't have cast her again. In my opinion, she is by far the weakest dancer among the professionals.

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Helene makes an excellent point about how "seriously competitive" the contestants have gotten.

The contestants from Seasons One and Two had (like Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh) a "Look at me -- I'm dancing!" mentality that was fun to watch. In contrast, many of the Season Three contestants don't seem like they're much enjoying the experience. Is it that expectations have risen for contestants and they're feeling the pressure? Or have they seen what the show did for people like Kelly Monaco (made herself known to a non-daytime TV audience), Drew Lachey (moved out of his more famous brother's shadow) or Lisa Rinna (all over television at the moment) and are determined to reap the same rewards?

One of the reasons I'm liking Emmitt so much is that he has nothing to gain career-wise from doing the show and his dancing reflects this. In the world of professional athletics, he is about as A-list as it is possible to get. I think that's why he seems so relaxed on the show -- he's doing it for the fun of doing it and because he's a competitive guy. The result is that his dancing is breezy and pleasing to the eye.

I'll conclude by saying that Helene is absolutely right about Ashly. She is the weakest instructor of the professionals.

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The Miliosr Report - Week Three

General Thoughts

Week Three has come and gone and the weird anti-chemistry persists. I don't know what else to say other than that this season appears to be badly miscast.

In other developments, I didn't think it was possible for the show to get any camper than it already is but, boy, did the show prove me wrong on Wednesday night. Between the camper-than-camp Scissor Sisters and the big production number (which was a bizarre cross between opera, one of Martha Graham's "heavier" numbers and a Black Mass), this show tilted the camp meter into the red zone!

Scores from the Judges

01 27pts. Vivica/Nick

01 27pts. Monique/Louis

03 25pts. Sara/Tony

04 22pts. Harry/Ashly

04 22pts. Joey/Edyta

04 22pts. Mario/Karina

04 22pts. Willa/Maksim

08 21pts. Jerry/Kym

09 19pts. Emmitt/Cheryl

Miliosr's Top Three ( . . . er . . . Top Two)

Once again, I really couldn't put together a Top Three. The only two performances that I thought were of a reasonably high standard were those by Vivica/Nick and Monique/Louis:

Vivica/Nick

To my eye, Vivica and Nick did the best pure tango on the night. Unfortunately, I thought the music killed the effect and made the dancing seem less significant than it really was.

I like this couple and I would like to seem them go deep in the competition but I question how much they are actually registering with the audience. I'm concerned that Vivica's ultra-serious demeanor may work against them as the field narrows. It's all well and good having that intense look about you when you're duking it out with Uma Thurman in Kill Bill but I'm skeptical that that same look will be a big seller with the audience for this show. It will be interesting to see how they fare if they should have an off week with the judges -- I suspect the judges are keeping them alive at this point.

All that being said, I enjoyed the footage of Vivica and Nick in ballet class. I could watch Nick at the barre forever! :dry:

Monique/Louis

At times, their performance reminded me of something you would have seen the Ikettes do in the old Ike & Tina Turner Revue. (At one point, I half-expected Ike, Tina and the rest of the Ikettes to come charging out from backstage.) Still, this was by far the best of the jive performances.

Monique has great enthusiasm and, of all the celebrity amateurs, she appears to be the one who would best fit in with the much beloved cast from Season Two. My one criticism of her dancing is that she doesn't always appear to be in control of what she's doing. Still, she is showing progress -- which is more than I can say for some of her competitors.

The Big Blah Middle

I would put Emmitt/Cheryl, Willa/Maks, Sara/Tony and Joey/Edyta in this group.

Emmitt/Cheryl and Joey/Edyta had off weeks -- they were neither disastrous nor spectacular.

While I question whether what Sara and Tony performed was a jive or some mutant hybrid between a jive and country line dancing, her energy picked up this week so I guess that's a sign of improvement.

I don't like how Maks is choreographing for Willa. I feel that his choreography exposes her weaknesses rather than hiding them. The choreography also makes her look like she's dancing at a different speed than he is. For those of you who remember vinyl records, it's as if one of them is dancing at 33 1/3 rpms and the other is dancing at 45 rpms.

Miliosr's Bottom Three

My bottom three for this week would be Mario/Karina, Harry/Ashly and Jerry/Kym.

Mario is clearly a good dancer. So why are they screwing around and not doing the dances the way they should be done? He's too good to be eliminated at this stage in the competition but his "I'll do it my way" attitude is REALLY rubbing me the wrong way.

Harry and Ashly's tango was very bad -- too basic, too slow, too static, etc. And they also made the cardinal sin of being unmemorable. If you're going to be bad in this competition, it's better to be memorably bad than forgettably bad. George Hamilton and Jerry Springer will certainly attest to that!

As for Jerry and Kym, I don't even know what to say at this point. They're only getting by on Jerry's enthusiasm and even that isn't all that great.

The Actual Bottom Two

Harry/Ashly and Jerry/Kym were the actual bottom two and I didn't disagree with either selection. While I thought Jerry and Kym should have gone, I can't say that Harry and Ashly being booted was an unfair boot. This team had too many weaknesses to make it far in the competition. Specifically, Harry was too stiff and Ashly was the least able of the professional choreographers. An "A" for effort for Harry but "Team Rinna" has had its day and that day was Season Two.

Predictions

Probably the only person more surprised than me that Willa wasn't booted was Willa herself. Based on that shriek she let out when she found out she was safe, she thought she and Maks were going this week. They've obviously gained more traction with the audience than I thought they had but I'm not sure how much.

In an otherwise disappointing season, one interesting development so far is that there is no clear front runner. Maybe this week will give us a clearer indication of who is going to make it over the long haul.

See you after Week Four!

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Harry and Ashly's tango was very bad -- too basic, too slow, too static, etc. And they also made the cardinal sin of being unmemorable. If you're going to be bad in this competition, it's better to be memorably bad than forgettably bad.

He was a stiff, poor thing, and he seemed to know it.

Between the camper-than-camp Scissor Sisters and the big production number (which was a bizarre cross between opera, one of Martha Graham's "heavier" numbers and a Black Mass), this show tilted the camp meter into the red zone!

Yes, wasn't it great? What will the children think of next?

It's all well and good having that intense look about you when you're duking it out with Uma Thurman in Kill Bill but I'm skeptical that that same look will be a big seller with the audience for this show.

I think she's loosening up a bit, but I agree, she has that grim Fox Force Five game face on much of the time.

Jerry and Kym will be to next to go.

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The Miliosr Report - Week Four

General Thoughts

I noticed something telling this week -- the absence of standing ovations this season. Last season, the audience jumped to their feet at the slightest sign of excellence. This season, the audience remains firmly rooted in their seats. You tell me . . .

It was nice to see reigning champion Drew Lachey in the audience this week. Where have you gone Drew Lachey? Dancing with the Stars nation turns its lonely eyes to you!

Scores from the Judges

01 29 pts. Mario/Karina (paso doble)

02 28 pts. Willa/Maksim (waltz)

03 27 pts. Joey/Edyta (waltz)

04 24 pts. Emmitt/Cheryl (paso doble)

04 24 pts. Monique/Louis (waltz)

04 24 pts. Vivica/Nick (paso doble)

07 22 pts. Jerry/Kym (waltz)

08 20 pts. Sara/Tony (paso doble)

Miliosr's Top Three (. . . er . . . Top Two . . . er . . . Top One)

This week was a first for me -- there was only one performance that I liked and that was the performance by Willa and Maks. I thought there was much to commend in this performance -- their rise and fall was very good, they made use of the entire dancefloor, they told a nice story and there was a lovely "glow" to the whole thing.

Willa and Maks appear to be making some headway with the audience but it's unclear to be how much headway they are actually making. The true test for them will come if they have an off week with the judges and they have to rely on the audience to see them through . . . or not.

Until then, though, hopefully we'll get more shots of Maks walking around with no shirt on!

The Big Blah Middle

I would put Emmitt/Cheryl, Joey/Edyta and Mario/Karina in this group.

Emmitt/Cheryl and Joey/Edyta were adequate technically but lacked magic.

I thought the judges overscored Mario and Karina. To me, the performance was frenetic in a bad way. Karina's choreography was too fast for Mario so he often looked like he was "behind" the steps and the music. Also, I thought his posture was erratic -- his upper body was altogether too forward for this dance.

The Bottom Three (. . . er . . . Bottom Four)

I would put Monique/Louis, Sara/Tony, Jerry/Kym and Vivica/Nick in this group.

Monique and Louis would have been OK but for the unnecessary addition of four separate splits in their routine. The splits totally killed the effect of the dance and made their waltz seem like something other than a waltz.

Vivica and Nick's dance didn't seem very fluid to me -- there was too much stomping around (and not in a good way.) Also, Vivica's demeanor, while suitable for this dance, is the same expression she utilized in every other dance so it was hard to distinguish this dance from what came before it.

Jerry and Kym were very sweet in their waltz. That being said, the actual dancing was flawed in the extreme. Jerry didn't really rise and fall and he basically walked his way through the dance. I like Jerry as much as the next person but I can't say it enough -- he can't dance!!!

Sara and Tony were just terrible. Sara looked very stiff and uncomfortable and, like Vivica and Nick, this pair did too much stomping around. Let me say it again -- terrible!!!

The Actual Bottom Two

Monique/Louis and Vivica/Nick were the bottom two for this week (with Vivica/Nick leaving.) I don't think this was the right boot as I would have put Jerry/Kym and Sara/Tony in the bottom two (with Sara/Tony leaving.)

All that being said, I wasn't surprised to see Vivica and Nick go. As I surmised last week, Vivica had no fan base at the start and she and Nick didn't attract a new fan base as the competition progressed. I thought they were one of the better pairs in the competition but I think Vivica's diva demeanor killed them. This should be a lesson to the producers for future seasons -- that "fierce diva" type just does not work on a show like this one where the audience wants pairs that they can fall in love with.

Predictions

What happened to Monique and Louis this week? The audience was awfully quiet when it was announced that they were in the bottom two. Do they even have a core voting audience?

I'm curious as to how Joey and Edyta will progress in this competition. Can the show sustain two former teen idols (Joey and Mario) over the long haul? I think not -- and Joey and Edyta may pay the price for that.

See you after Week Five!

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ABC has announced its Fall schedule and Dancing With the Stars will return on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8:00 Eastern/7:00 Central.

Elsewhere today Helene writes, "Ballet Talk is a site to discuss issues, history, music, and performances of classical ballet. " Why is the subject being discussed?

In England we have a similar example of this 'dumbing down' type programme on our TV with a live

audience.

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