Dancing With the Stars: Blame It on the Moon

Time to chime in on Dancing with the Stars once again. (After last night, how could I even begin to resist?) Seriously! It comes as no surprise that the old harvest moon was round and full, because the wolves were definitely on the howl. Or maybe I should say prowl? Either way, you can bet that Monday night's "harvest" at DWTS was a pretty unusual one. My theory? Luna-cy. That's right folks, plain old moon-induced craziness. You don't believe in such things? Then you are left with my second explanation: Something strange and possibly dangerous was in the water yesterday at the ABC studios, because it was definitely an evening to remember! And not necessarily with fondness...though certainly without an ounce of boredom.

Latin dancing was the theme of the evening, so Mark Dacascos and Lacey kicked things off with a rumba that I couldn't help but like. Of course, I'm a self-confessed Lacey fan anyway, and while Mark hasn't quite hit his stride yet, I think he's got some real talent going on there.

Joanna Krupa and Derek followed up with a samba that looked pretty great if you're not too picky about footwork. That guy has to be the best dancer and choreographer on the show, hands down, but I can't quite get into the lovely Joanna. Something about her sets my teeth on edge.

Mya, on the other hand, is pretty delightful, and so was her rumba with Dmitry. Whatever charm Joanna lacks, Mya has in spades.

Melissa Joan Hart and Mark improved considerably over last week, and she looked darling, but their samba could have used a bit more pizzazz. If she could just relax a little, I think she'd surprise us.

Two of my particular favorites are Louie Vito ("Vito Suave") and Chelsie. What a cute pair they make! And what a romantic rumba they performed!! Their routine was pure entertainment, and his smile is an absolute knockout. His dancing is coming along, too. (heehee)

There was nothing terribly wrong with Debi Mazar and Maksim's samba, but her vibe is a bit too weird for me. In fact, she falls just short of creeping me out.

Donny Osmond and Kym danced the rumba well enough, but when Bruno called his arm movements "airy fairy," Donny suddenly leaped across the room to kiss him on the cheek. Then, when Bruno wouldn't let go of his arm, Donny forgot that discretion is the better part of valor and overplayed his hand...or rather, his airy fairy schtick...and practically made out with Bruno on stage. Of course, it was all tongue in cheek. (Did I really go there? Blech.) But waaaay over the top, for me. And rendered even worse, somehow, when he grabbed the mike to quip that they weren't going to let him back in Utah. *sigh* (Not too cool, Donny.) Ah well, moving on.

The rumba by Natalie Coughlin and Alec was delightful, and she showed a lot more personality after a few tips from Edyta, Alec's beautiful (and very generous in teaching her husband's partner how to do a better job flirting with him) wife. Edyta's right. It IS all about the eye contact.

I'm afraid Michael Irvin would need a more seasoned choreographer than Anna D. to get him through many more rounds. My feeling is that Cheryl might have done better with him, and I hope DWTS doesn't live to regret their choice of Anna as the newest dance coach on their team. (Methinks they should have gone with Afton DelGrosso.)

The likable Chuck Lidell did a'ight, but even Anna T.'s best efforts won't make him a contender in this arena.

Aaron doesn't do it for me either, despite having a talented partner in Karina. And what was with the pearlescent baby blue smoking jacket, anyway? Sheesh! He already tries too hard to be sexy, and dressing like Liberace wasn't exactly helping him out.

Cheryl, on the other hand, looked both gorgeous and sexy performing a samba with Tom DeLay, but it was painful to watch him prancing around gingerly on two broken feet. Do us a favor, Tom. Put us...and yourself...out of your misery!

And finally, Kelly is slowly regaining her confidence after last week's relative fiasco of a tango. She had Louis did a pretty decent job, and she was so excited to have gotten through it all that she surrendered to the general luna-cy and planted a big kiss on her surprised partner's mouth.

What can I say? Last night was a whole new slant on "some enchanted evening." In a crazy, quasi-scary (Paula Abdul's comments), carnival fun house kind of way.

It was good to have Len back, but his scoring was harsher than ever before, while Bruno was more "out there" (all connotations included) than ever before, with Carrie much as usual. Tom Bergeron proved to be clever and quick on his feet, as is his custom; and Samantha Harris actually said something funny for once, but since it was relatively vulgar, I won't repeat it here. True, she was less of a cipher than she normally is, but it didn't quite pay off for her. No subtlety at all.

Well, that about wraps it up for this go-round, folks! I predict that Debi and Maksim will go home, and I hope Tom does the smart thing and takes himself out of the running. (If not, the home audience may do that job for him.) Others at risk are Michael Irvin and Chuck Lidell, but I have a feeling their personalities will carry them through a while longer.

=)