Rick Fox, Dancing With The Stars
Rick Fox is shooting for a three — for Cheryl Burke. The former Los Angeles Laker has three National Basketball Association championships, and a Dancing with the Stars victory this season would give his pro partner a record third Mirrorball trophy. "I'm putting the pressure on myself to get that for her," he tells TVGuide.com. "I know Derek [Hough] and Mark [Ballas] could get three too. I have to make sure I'm attentive, coachable and I'm putting in the effort that is required. She shapes our partnership into championship level." So coachable is Fox that he gamely went with Burke's last-minute costume change to have him shirtless in their samba. What prompted the change? Find out below. Plus: See when Fox will return to The Game...
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On this week's Celebrity Apprentice, the two teams compete to make the best ad commercial for Right Guard deodorant. First off, the ladies find out they're down not one, but two players for this challenge because Sharon is out sick and Cyndi has to travel to Washington D.C. for the day. This gives Holly the perfect opportunity to step up as project manager, and Curtis volunteers to be the project manager for the guys' team.
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Sanjaya Malakar by Frank Micelotta/Fox
One of the weirdest TV weeks ever continued Wednesday as reality TV continued to get it right, with American Idol finally kicking the ridiculously out-of-his-depth Sanjaya Malakar to the curb. But does this leave Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell something — anything — to talk or argue about?Meanwhile, in the actual real world, the horrific saga of the Virginia Tech shootings took yet another surreal turn when NBC revealed and analyzed on air the existence of a disturbing package of video, text and photos sent by the shooter on the day of the killings. Unimaginably, he went to the post office between sprees to mail his deranged manifesto to the media in a final bid for media immortality. (I have decided not to name the shooter here, in a personal bid to deny him, at least in this space, that publicity.) This package of angry rants and deadly poses, resembling a nightmare vision out of Taxi Driver, is without question legitimate news, and its contents will be devoured on air...
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In a normal week, I would probably find myself writing something on the order of thanking America for coming to its senses and finally sending the classy but inert Clyde Drexler packing from Dancing with the Stars. And then I’d tack on some snarky thought about how maybe America could be similarly inspired tonight to send the “utterly horrendous” (Simon’s words) Sanjaya Malakar and his bandanna home from American Idol after Tuesday’s feeble attempt at Bonnie Raitt insouciance.But this is hardly a normal week. Between Monday’s instantly infamous tragedy at Virginia Tech, and the natural disaster of the floods in the Northeast following last weekend’s torrential storm, my TV has been a bearer of bad news for the last couple of terrible days. Reality TV has been thoroughly overshadowed by reality on TV.In times like these, especially as the nation tries to come to grips with the senseless horror of the Virginia Tech shootings, TV serves an essential p...
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You know those T-shirts and hats that read “I’d rather be golfing”? I bet Clyde Drexler owns at least one of those. As the weeks went by, the former NBA star brought less and less of his A-game to this competition, and his laid-back approach to dancing wasn’t working out too well. Basically, his heart wasn’t in it anymore, and it showed on the ballroom floor. Yet he always brought his gentle smile and positive attitude to each performance, and those are the things I’ll miss about him the most. Heather Mills, accompanying Clyde in the bottom two, was rather sweet when she took his hand as they waited for the results. And when Clyde learned that he was the one who would not be returning next week, he appeared to be relieved rather than disappointed. Moments earlier, when Billy Ray learned that he would be returning, he looked mad. But I interpreted that reaction as Billy Ray misunderstanding what was said and thinking that he was told he was out (honestly...
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Dancing with the Stars' Clyde Drexler and Elena Grinenko
Clyde Drexler thinks he's toast. "I'm out," says the NBA Hall of Famer, looking into his crystal ball and seeing his own elimination on Tuesday night's Dancing with the Stars results show. "I'm off the show. And if this isn't it, I'm gonna break a leg or something."
One week after head judge Len Goodman read the celebrities the riot act about not practicing long enough and hard enough, the DWTS judges seemed in a lighter, more forgiving mood. But Drexler still managed to take significant body blows. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba called him flat out, "the worst dancer in the competition." As a group, the judges seem dismayed that he's not improving and not more like a couple of supe
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Dancing with the Stars judge Len Goodman
If you thought head judge Len Goodman's tongue-lashing of the celebrity dancers tonight was scripted, think again. When he told them that they weren't rehearsing long or hard enough, it was his own opinion, something that had been building up in his mind since the performances last week. And it came from a place of genuine disappointment and frustration. "I just had a bad feeling," said Goodman right after the show. "So I looked at the DVD of last season, the fourth week. And then I looked at the DVD of this group three weeks in. And there was no comparison. There was no Emmitt Smith. There was no Joey Lawrence. No Mario Lopez. And I couldn't [figure] out why — because these people all hav
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I can’t go so far as to say it was an all-out theme night, but about half of last night’s celebrities got inspiration for their dances from movies. First Edyta took John Ratzenberger to a Valentino movie to get inspired for the tango. This seemed to work in terms of him getting into character for the dance. I was impressed with his facial expressions and intensity, but I think that was the strongest part of his dance. The judges pointed out that he needs to make some technical improvements, and it did seem like Edyta was working extra hard making big movements around him. He deservedly got one of the lowest scores of the evening.Movie inspiration proved far more successful for one of the top scorers of the night (there was a four-way tie), Joey Fatone. While I wasn’t crazy about the Stars Wars theme music (I found it and the lights a bit distracting), I have to acknowledge that it was a really good tango. The fact that Joey is so into Star Wars gave his performance ex...
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Last night our stars had a sort of second chance to make a first impression. Initially, I was against not having an elimination last week, but the judges commented that they were grateful for the chance to see everyone do both Latin and ballroom dances, and that is a good point — some people are simply better at one style than the other. OK, so they won me over with this new wait-a-week system.So who benefited from this extra week? First and foremost, Billy Ray Cyrus. Wow, did he step it up. The judges crowned him “most improved” performer and it was a well deserved title. I enjoyed watching his performance; he was actually doing the quick step, and moving at a fast pace. Taking into account this turnaround and adding in his huge Hannah fanbase, I don’t think this cowboy will be exiting the dance floor just yet.In addition to Billy Ray, Heather Mills also gained a lot from this part-two performance. Love her or hate her (she seems to inspire impassioned responses...
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And they’re off! The 11 latest celebrities to put on their dancing shoes hit the ballroom live last night. It was step one of their quest for that fabulous, sparkling Dancing with the Stars trophy. Throughout the show, the hosts pointed out that this is “the most remarkable cast ever” and that we were watching “history-making” television. It’s good to know that they’re keeping this fun, lighthearted dance show in perspective.OK, while they may have overstated things a bit, there were some firsts last night that did indeed set it apart from past seasons: their tallest contestant ever, NBA star Clyde Drexler, standing at 6-foot-7; their first contestant with an artificial limb, Heather Mills; and their youngest competitor, professional dancer Julianne Hough, who is all of 18.Another big difference from last season was that, overall, most of the celebrities participating this year are pretty well known. There’s much less of the “Who’s t...
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