No surprise on ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Almost everyone who remains in competition is actually trying

Carol Kaelson / ABC

Clyde Drexler may have glided on the basketball court, but not so much on the dance floor. He was sent home on April 17.

COMMENTARY

By Linda Holmes

MSNBC contributor

updated 9:41 p.m. ET April 19, 2007

This week’s “Dancing With the Stars” performances inspired very different responses from last week’s performances. Specifically, the judges disliked almost everything last week and complained about the work ethic, but this week, they highly praised several dances and started giving out 10s in a manner not quite so stingy.

This didn’t apply to everyone, though, meaning that somebody would go. Probably someone tall. Very tall. Maybe an athlete. Any ideas? How about NBA Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler!

Of course, it didn’t take a genius to know that the encore dance would be Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough’s samba, considering that it got a perfect score — the first perfect score of the season. As is often the case, the dance on second viewing was even more fun than it had been the first time, because it seemed so relaxed and comfortable without scoring to worry about.

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Apolo and Julianne are well positioned to win the competition, as proved by the anticipatory screaming of the audience before judge Len Goodman could even get Apolo’s name out. His brand of self-deprecating, not-too-perfect male dancer is one of the most successful “types” in this competition, and Apolo is playing his part perfectly. Of course, their repeat of their samba was also good news in that it further ensured that none of us will ever get “I like to move it, move it” out of our heads any time in the next, say, three weeks.

The first exhibition dance of the evening was from the collection of pros who went on this year’s “Dancing” tour, doing a swing dance to “Zoot Suit Riot.” With all the musical crimes that have been committed on a show that thinks the “Star Wars” theme is a tango, it’s sometimes perfectly delightful to see people commit to a straight-up, totally conventional performance executed very well. Here, the pros put tremendous energy into the swing, with Cheryl Burke and Louis Van Amstel looking particularly marvelous in their fervor. As filler goes, this was of high quality, full of tricks and fun.

During a backstage chat with co-host Samantha Harris, Heather Mills explained that the reason she fell on Monday night was that she was supposed to raise her artificial leg and stand on her real leg, and instead, she tried to stand on the artificial leg. As we’ve learned in the past, she can’t balance on the artificial leg, so that’s how she wound up tumbling down.

Carol Brady stops by
This week’s audience response segment heavily featured Florence Henderson, who had apparently just dropped by on Monday night between nightclub shows. She called Apolo a “hot little number” and said that she almost cried when Heather fell down. (There are those classic Brady Mom instincts.)

Lance Bass, meanwhile, dismissed any suggestion that the judges were too hard on Joey Fatone by suggesting that he was “feminine,” and Lance insisted that sometimes, Joey just needs a “kick in the pants.” (But they’re always, always men’s pants, Joey promises.)

The first couple ushered to safety was Laila Ali and Maks Chmerkovskiy, which surprised no one. The second couple ushered to safety was John Ratzenberger and Edyta Sliwinska, which surprised everyone. John sat in the bottom two last week, and he didn’t dance all that much better this week, so it was clear that someone else was going to take a serious dive from previous scores.