Shawn Johnson vaults to ‘Dancing’ title

This season of “Dancing With The Stars” has been, in some ways, its most satisfying. All three of the finalists — Gilles Marini, Melissa Rycroft, and Shawn Johnson — were entirely deserving, were very good dancers, and were handled well by their partners (Cheryl Burke, Tony Dovolani, and Mark Ballas, respectively). The season even had a great bonus story in fourth-place Ty Murray’s shockingly steep learning curve.

The narrative would end Tuesday night in one of three ways, depending on who won. A Gilles victory would be a win by the steady favorite, a Melissa win would be a triumph for the contestant who stepped in at the last minute with only a couple of days’ notice, and to see Shawn pull off the upset after seeming to be in the shadow of the other two would be a genuine shock.

We got the shock.

Of course, there was a lot of ground to cover before viewers could actually learn who won. The two-hour finale included, naturally, lots and lots (and lots) of reminiscing. In fact, it started with a recap of Monday night’s performances — a little redundant, perhaps, since ABC had repeated that performance show in the hour before the finale began (though many were probably tuned in to “American Idol” at that point).

We then got to see everyone who’s been eliminated dance again. And as Belinda Carlisle, Denise Richards, Holly Madison, Steve Wozniak, and others graced the floor, it was hard not to pause as a nation and pat ourselves on the back, thinking, “We did a good job eliminating the right people this year.” There were no sad early exits to mourn and no indefensible lingering, really — just a lot of nice people who lasted as long as they reasonably could have.

Woz even did his version of the worm, which looked … even less like the worm than the first time he did it.

A new pro, and an uncomfortable roast
Hey, remember the whole thing where we were going to pick a new pro? At least the time was here to announce the winner of something. When we last saw them, Anna and Mayo had done their final performances with Maks and Kym, and the judges had predicted that Anna would take the spot (in fact, Len Goodman said he would “show [his] bum in the supermarket” if she didn’t win). And indeed, London and Los Angeles grocery shoppers are safe — the winner was Anna.

Comic Jeffrey Ross made an appearance to roast everyone, but most of his jokes were pretty lame. One at the expense of Holly Madison, interestingly, made Denise Richards flinch in visible discomfort. There were, in fact, several moments where it appeared that Ross was wearing out his welcome by ignoring the point on a corny show like this where good-natured teasing would spill over into nastiness (Tony looked unhappy about a dig at Melissa’s broken “Bachelor” engagement), and it was probably just as well he hustled himself offstage. Genuine insult comics really don’t match the gentle tone of this particular show, and by no fault of Ross’s, he was probably doomed to hit a bit of a sour note.

Slideshow Fringe benefits: Memorable ‘Dancing’ outfits Half the fun of 'Dancing With the Stars' is checking out the usually scanty, sometimes bizarre outfits the couples wear in the ballroom.

At last, it was time for some dancing! With stars! The three finalists would dance one more time, repeating one of their dances from the season. Going on, Shawn and Gilles were tied in judges’ scoring with Melissa only two points behind; could anyone make a dent in the last round?

In a word, no.

Shawn Johnson’s final dance was her “P.Y.T.” cha-cha, and while the first time, she seemed a tiny bit tight and uncomfortable, her confidence has grown so much that she seemed entirely at home this time. As was the case in last night’s freestyle, it was hard not to notice how blissfully relaxed she suddenly looked, as if the comfort of having reached the final had put some humor and some air behind her always precise technique. Shawn and Mark landed three perfect 10s, meaning she would be in no worse position than a tie with Gilles for first place in judges’ scoring, so it was hard not to think she had done absolutely everything for herself that she possibly could.

Melissa and Tony repeated their well-received samba. It was a good choice, because it played into Melissa’s relentlessly upbeat energy and giant grin. (They also managed to get through it without Melissa’s top slipping partway off, so they had that going for them.) Hey, they also received three 10s! So that would keep Melissa within two points of Shawn and (it was safe to assume) Gilles, who you would also expect to receive three 10s. What were the odds he wouldn’t?

Not very good. Gilles and Cheryl, of course, repeated their steamy Argentine tango. Gilles was smoky then and he’s smoky now, brooding and graceful, and so forth. He’s had a less interesting arc than either of the other two, what with Shawn’s awkwardness and Melissa’s injuries, but you can’t fault the guy for starting out good and remaining good. Guess what — three 10s! A perfect score!

So Gilles and Shawn were tied, and Melissa was only two points back, before the counting of the viewer votes. That essentially meant the viewers would decide.

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