Country crooner Sara Evans, who excused herself from Dancing with the Stars in October so as to deal with her divorce (and accompanying accusations of infidelity and such) from husband Craig Schelske, will join the reality contest's road tour, it was announced on Thursday. While others on board for the tour — Jerry Springer, Harry Hamlin, Drew Lachey and Joey Lawrence included — will hit multiple cities, Evans is only slated to hoof it to Nashville, on Jan. 21.
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So NBC is going to abandon the first hour of prime time, according to non-visionary chief Jeff Zucker. No more pricey comedies and dramas to fill the 8 pm/ET hour in the future. I guess the handful of shows, mostly comedies, now airing in that hour will migrate elsewhere at some point, whichever ones actually survive. Sounds like surrender to me. Not to mention fewer scheduling options for a lesser range of programming. Be on the lookout for more cheesy game shows and cheaper reality retreads. And what would happen should NBC be lucky enough to stumble across a perfect 8 pm/ET premise like ABC's family-friendly Ugly Betty? This is such a short-sighted blanket philosophy it's as staggering as it is depressing. Was it just two years ago that Friends signed off as one of the highest-rated shows ever, holding down that first half-hour of prime Thursday real estate? How times have changed, and how quickly. And how sad is it for TV's future to see a network simply giving up rather than tr...
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Sara Evans, who last week announced not just the end of her marriage but her exit from Dancing with the Stars, will explain why she is leaving ABC's dance show in a taped interview to be played during Tuesday night's telecast, her attorney tells the Washington Post. In divorce papers filed Thursday, Evans claimed that her husband, Craig Schelske, cheated on her, verbally abused her, drank excessively and watched porn in their home. A spokesperson for Evans' hubby tells the Post that Schelske "was completely caught off guard" by the legal action, and "does not want to play this out in the media." In response, the American media said in a statement, "Pfft. It's hot copy."
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Country crooner Sara Evans announced on Thursday that she is quitting ABC's Dancing with the Stars, as she seeks a divorce from Craig Schelske, her husband of 13 years, with whom she has three children. "Recent events that shed light on the status of her marriage prompted Ms. Evans to make the filing," the singer's rep says in a statement to the AP. "[She is leaving DWTS] to give her family her full attention at this difficult time."
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Looks like we're in for another fun season of Dancing with the Stars, the kind of show that defines reality TV as a guilty pleasure. It's hard not to watch this gaudy bauble of harmless fluff without a goofy grin on your face, at times because of the train-wreck spectacle of the terminally rhythm-less (Tucker Carlson, who didn't even dance half of his dance, content to make faces and laugh it all off) and at times because of the sheer joy of performance, whether it's Emmitt Smith's crowd-pleasing playfulness, Mario Lopez's boyish exuberance or Willa Ford's unexpected elegance. (She could be this season's Stacy Keibler.)Handicapping these so-called stars is almost as silly a pastime as watching them, but really, who can resist asking questions like who is this season's Drew Lachey, Lopez or the startlingly buff Joey Lawrence, who looks like Mr. Clean on steroids. My money's on Lopez. Or as judge Bruno Tonioli might call him, the Energizer Bunny, as in: "Do you have extra batteries in...
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