The good, bad and cheesy: ‘Dancing’ hits 100

Tuesday night, the typical "Dancing With the Stars" results show gets a temporary makeover as the program celebrates its 100th episode. Famous faces from seasons past are set to take the floor in the two-hour extravaganza, including season four winner Apolo Anton Ohno and round five's almost-victors, Mel B and pro partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Also-rans such as Jerry Springer and Wayne Newton will grace the floor, too, but here's hoping it's in a strictly non-dancing capacity.

Before the show's self-congratulatory festivities begin, the time's ripe for a closer look at its fixed format. "Dancing" waltzes a fine line between serious competition and cringe-worthy production, and, as host Tom Bergeron so often reminds fans, it does it all "live!" Can the ballroom blitz maintain long enough to hit its 200th episode? The test of time comes down to a delicate balance.

The good
Surely the first priority for viewers is the fine-tuned sport of dance. Surely not. It isn't that fans lack an appreciation for form and grace, but how many couch potatoes actually count themselves as ballroom buffs? Before "Dancing With the Stars" launched in 2005, flowing, celebrity-free cha-cha challenges were the stuff of PBS and generally regarded as snooze-fests.

No, what "Dancing" brings to the TV table is personalities. Loads of them. America loves rooting for an underdog, and each season, about a dozen of them are rounded up for the competition. Has-beens, little-knowns and just-happy-to-have-the-works join together to do something most of them aren't very good at. Then the real fun starts when they fight it out in finery all for a trophy and a shot at renewed name recognition. What's not to love?

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Then there's the resident staple of perma-personalities, like the aforementioned mighty Bergeron or the staple of judicial types. They're so reliably set in stone, there's no surprises from them, and that's oddly reassuring. If a celeb busts out some hip-hop moves, expect head judge Len Goodman to wax cranky. When she isn't nitpicking a leg lift, Carrie Ann Inaba can be counted on to swoon at every handsome star who gives her a wink. As for Bruno, he's the hero of hyperbole with an arsenal of alliteration, as he might say.

The bad
One might think all that predictability would get tiresome, but instead it plays as charming. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of all the "Dancing" standards. There's even some cut-able dead weight in the personality parade. Nothing proved how unnecessary frequently fumbling co-host Samantha Harris is like her temporary absence last season. Season two winner Drew Lachey took over her duties for a few weeks, and rather than suffer, the backstage chatter soared to new heights of near interest. But as bad as Sam is, she's hardly the worst part of the production.

Topping the list of so-bad-it's-just-plain-bad is a tendency toward made-for-TV drama. Why can't real scenes of rehearsal-room struggles and playful pro interaction be enough without fauxmances, inspirational visits to network-affiliated theme parks and pep talks from Henry Winkler? Because the producers say it can't. Like it or not, the scripted schmaltz is part of the package.

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Another love-it-or-lump-it feature is the filler. Granted you can't say “reality TV” and “filler-free” in the same breath, but the ballroom's weekly results show is a regular exercise in turning 20 minutes of content into an hour that feels even longer. Every now and again it works, as in the comedy-rich ESPN rip "Dance Center" or the littlest ballroom competitors, but those are the exceptions to the usual Def Leppard and Lord of the Dance distractions.

The cheesy
Sometimes, ever so sublimely, bad takes on a new meaning, and "Dancing With the Stars" specializes in that brand of appreciable horror. For instance, in real life people aren't a shiny shade of spray-on orange (Lindsay Lohan excepted). And they rarely cover themselves in body glitter and sequins. Yet it's all part of the weekly expectations for the celebrity soft shoes. The more out of character, the better. There's nothing like seeing a 6-foot-6 defensive end decked out in silky mauve from head to toe.

Where the costumes of the stars leave off, the barely-there numbers on their pro partners take over. Edyta Sliwinska regularly challenges the logistics of concealment with her slightly-more-than-pasties ensembles, and it's a boring night in the ballroom when a gent fails to rip open his shirt to show his paso doble passion.

Bringing it full circle, the dancers battle each other, avoiding the red spotlight of doom, all for a shot at a glistening, disco-ball trophy. Now that's taking things to their logical conclusion.

If fans haven't grown tired of the even more filler-packed and far less charming reality offering on the tube (yeah, "American Idol," that would be you), "Dancing" and its limitless supply of D-listers should still have a lot of life left in them. It's a formula that works.

Sans any major shakeups, and a hypothetical elimination night for Samantha not withstanding, there's no reason the dance hall days can't continue for another 100 episodes.

Ree Hines is a regular contributor to msnbc.com.

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