TV Hot Spot: News

Marlee Matlin Hangs Up Her 'Dancing With the Stars' Shoes!

Post by: Sal


Source: Zap2It


LOS ANGELES -- The good news: this "Dancing with the Stars" results show had less taped filler segments. The bad news: it seemed to have more Samantha Harris interviews. Mute button, thou art my friend.

During the recap of last night, Shannon was in tears after being called out for her lack of hip action and Derek went off on the fact that other couples are hitting "horrific, demented lines" and getting 9s and 1's. The audience "oooo"ed at that because thems fighting words. Speaking of fighting, the group Country number gets the encore.

Back from the commercial break, we get a number from musical guest Ashlee Simpson performing her new single with two pairs of professional dancers. If any of you are wondering, I'm fairly certain she's singing live this time. Strangely enough, I kind of like her. I saw a YouTube clip of Ashlee playing Roxie Heart in Chicago in London and she did well plus I found that jig she did on Saturday Night Live oddly endearing.

Anyway, after that we get the Leaderboard reminder complete with more Upset Shannon who took umbrage to Carrie Ann telling her that she can't dance but is trying really hard, which isn't exactly what she said but okay. Well, after all that bawling she gets rewarded by being saved first. Marlee & Fabian, however, are not as lucky - they're in the Bottom Two.

We get our first painful reaction interview after the commercial break. Derek has big old lipstick marks on his cheeks and forehead. Uh-huh. Anyway, Shannon (mostly) & Derek apologized for being so "heated" in their post dance interview. Uh-huh. That's what the kids call "good PR." I really do like Marlee and would like to see her get another chance but I think the point deficit may be too much to overcome.

The Stars of Dance segment is back this week and featuring Riverdance, sans Michael Flatley. It was enjoyable. There's not much else I can say about it as it is what it is.

After yet another commercial break, Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris introduce the DWTS Kids segment, only Samantha's mic isn't on initially. Somehow I doubt that was a mistake. Brandon & Brittany are 13 and have been dancing together for 3.5 years. They're dancing the Cha Cha to "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf. They're very good, they both have great lines and Brittany deftly recovered from getting her skirt caught on her heel. Brittany is deaf in one ear so naturally Tom made a brief Marlee connection to that. It was mentioned in the taped segment and they explained that he mouths counts or gives hand cues to make sure they're on the same page.

The other couple is Austin & Liza and they're both 12. Austin chose ballroom dancing to be a rebel since everyone else at the school is a jock, but he says he gets more girls. Austin is barely 5-feet tall and Liza is about 5'2. They're dancing a Samba and when they do this double-sit maneuver at the end, they both fall over thanks to the height difference but they were very good too. This one will be hard to decide.

Ugh! After yet another uncomfortable Samantha interview, we find out the Brandon & Brittany move on in a split decision. A random aside: I think I've figured out one of the major things wrong with the house band. It's that the singers try to sound like the artists they're covering instead of just singing the song as their own but using the same structure (runs and such). Example: the standards come out great...except when they're trying to sound like Frank Sinatra.

We're now treated with a filler piece about how hard it is to judge/critique the couples. Carrie Ann says it's like they're married - she has two husbands and they're both crazy. Also, they all say there are times they feel they've over or under score someone after the show.

The next couples that are safe are Marissa & Tony and Cristian & Cheryl. I'm not surprised about either. I figure they're saving the Kristi & Mark reveal to try and breed tension. Unfortunately, instead of getting on with the results, we get another painful interview with Samantha in which she tries to get Marissa to say who she thinks is going home. Boo! She also tries to toss it back to Tom but actually, it's back to the commercials.

With 3 minutes left, let's see if we get reveals in a timely enough fashion for the booted celeb to give a proper goodbye. Kristi & Mark are safe as are Jason & Edyta. Mario & Karina are in the Bottom Two.

As I feared, Marlee & Fabian are out. Since Shannon was the closest to her points-wise and wasn't in the bottom, it was mathematically inevitable. She gave a lovely interpreter-assisted farewell and Fabian thanked her for making his first season so memorable and probably the best season he'll ever have. Tom took a moment and stepped out of his host bubble to tell her, as a friend, that he was very proud of her as a majority of the remaining contestants were teary-eyed.

And they're dancing their goodbye to "Dust in the Wind." What the hell? Awful, just awful.


Take care,

Sal