Laila Ali by Sean Smith/ WireImage.com
Laila Ali has a new lightweight boxer on her hands… or is that tiny dancer?The boxing champion and her husband, former NFL star Curtis Conway, are the proud new parents of a baby boy. Curtis Muhammad was born Aug. 26, weighing in at 6.8 pounds and measuring 19 inches long, Ali announced on her official Web site."He's a healthy baby boy," the statement read. "Mama and baby are resting!"Baby Curtis, who draws his first name from his father and middle name from his grandfather, Muhammad Ali, is the first child for Conway and the one-time Dancing with the Stars contestant. Conway has three children, 12-year-old twins Cameron and Kelton, and 8-year-old Leilani, from a previous marriage.The couple tied the knot in July 2007. — Joyce EngVisit our Online Video Guide to see interviews with Ali.
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Mad Men courtesy AMC
The premiere of the most excellent Mad Men (I've watched the "It's Toasted" scene at least four times) improved upon AMC's typical Thursday ratings by 75 percent, and was the cabler's most-watched series telecast ever.... Dancing with the Stars finalist Laila Ali wed retired NFL star Curtis Conway on Sunday. Also per People, Jodie Sweetin tied the knot with Cody Herpin on Saturday in Vegas. It's the Full House alum's second marriage.... DVD releases have been set for The Hills: Season 2 (Aug. 7) and The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 1 and Dynasty: Season 2 (both on Aug. 14).
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Apolo Anton Ohno with Julianne Hough, Dancing with the Stars
There's something delicious about a show where nerves are on end and no one is a sure thing. "I have no idea who's going to win this," says dance pro Jonathan Roberts, who stopped by to chat just moments before this Monday night's competition began. He was seated in the audience with his former celebrity partner, Heather Mills. All 11 competing couples will return tomorrow night to dance in the grand finale. But for now, they were just there to watch the toughest, most important dances of the season alongside a number of famous former contestants: Harry Hamlin, Jerry Springer, and Mario Lopez, seated with his girlfriend and f
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Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke, Dancing with the Stars
We started with 11 couples. Now there are three. And the head judge is jazzed about the finals. "It's going to be magic," Len Goodman said immediately after Tuesday night's results show, which sent Ian Ziering packing. Ziering gave the competition everything he had and wanted to stay in the worst way. But, says Ziering, "It really wasn't so unexpected. There are better dancers out there."
Goodman agrees. It may have been a tight, four-way race to the finish, but Goodman thinks the right three couples made it into the finals. "As much as I loved Ian's performances last night, I think it was justified that he was the one sent home as the weakest dancer. If he had been in Season 1, 2 or 3, he would've been in the finals. But he's come up against three incredible couples."
Goodman has presided over four seasons of
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Apolo Anton Ohno, Dancing with the Stars
It was a jaw-dropping semifinal, the best in the four-season history of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Apolo Anton Ohno, Laila Ali, Joey Fatone and Ian Ziering on Monday night each pulled off grand finale-quality dances — and earned multiple "10s" from the judges — like it was no big deal to polish two entirely different routines. Plus, the routines themselves were longer: a minute and 15 seconds last week, one minute and 30 seconds this week.
The dances' length is not a question of keeping head judge
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Emotions ran high on and off the dance floor last night, running the gamut from sentimental dedications to insults taken too personally. Let’s start with the good before we proceed to the bad and ugly. The guest we’ve been waiting for all season was finally in the audience: Muhammad Ali, on hand to support his daughter. Laila dedicated her performances to her mom and dad, and she had an extra sparkle in her eye all night. She began and ended her lovely waltz like Sleeping Beauty, and at one point blew a kiss to her dad. I was reminded of Jerry Springer’s emotional waltz last season — the waltz is fast becoming the father-daughter dance of this show. Carrie Ann commented that she always looks for emotion in dancing, and she felt Laila truly delivered that with this performance. Next up was Laila’s jive, which was fun and lively (Laila confessed she was happy she didn’t have to deliver any extra-sexy performances with daddy in the audience). I did notice ...
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Dancing with the Stars' Laila Ali put her best foot forward, as her father watched.
You knew someone important was coming on Monday night. There was a special black armchair, padded and more comfortable than Dancing with the Stars' standard stiff ballroom chairs. At the top of the show, it was occupied by a seat filler. And then, just before the fourth dance, when Laila Ali and her pro partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, took the stage, the seat filler was ushered away. While cohost Samantha Harris was backstage interviewing Billy Ray Cyrus about the fox trot that judge Bruno Tonioli had just called "crap," a familiar figu
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Remember that episode of 90210 where Steve entered a dance competition and Brandon, Kelly and Donna cheered him on? No? OK, it never happened, but it sort of felt like such an episode last night when founding members of what Tom dubbed the “90210 Alumni Association” were in the audience supporting Ian. I don’t know if it was their cheers or Billy Ray’s tutoring, but whatever it was, it worked. Ian finally came alive on the dance floor! His first dance was good and showed marked improvement from last week; his second dance was even better. For weeks now, Ian’s had the moves down but has been unable to sell his performances. Last night that all changed and the judges took notice, telling him he finally had fun out there and was authentic and “enjoyable to watch.” Most importantly, they pointed out that he and Cheryl had some real chemistry for the first time.Perhaps this means Joey will no longer be able to say, “If you become too serious, you b...
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Let’s jump right to the highlight of the night: the group swing was 100 percent fun, perhaps the best group dance that involved the celebrities in the past four seasons of Dancing with the Stars. Everyone was so into the performance that the energy was contagious. Even more impressive was how well they gelled as a group (even Heather and Jonathan, who missed the group practice). The couples all played to their strengths (e.g., Ian and Cheryl did back-to-back lifts, while Laila tossed Max aside and carried Apolo), and no one upstaged the others. Plus they all got into character and pulled off the cute little theatrical moments, such as Joey and Ian’s mock fight and the ladies all fawning over Billy Ray.Theatrics wound up playing a big part in many of the dances last night, a night in which the judges really emphasized the importance of performance. No one learned this lesson harder than Ian, who said that he was going to try to focus more on performance than technique this ...
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Billy Ray Cyrus steps up his game on Dancing with the Stars.
Now we've got ourselves a real horse race. In the beginning of the season, the Dancing with the Stars studio audience was strongly skewed toward former 'N Sync heartthrob Joey Fatone. But as we enter Week 6, not only have two new favorites emerged — Apolo Anton Ohno and Laila Ali — but there is one very dark horse by the name of Billy Ray Cyrus who will not be denied. Cyrus has been making a habit of coming into the audience after the show and shaking hands, giving hugs. The women simply melt. "He's got the biggest heart," says his pro partner, the fiery
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