rumba

['Dancing With the Stars' - 'Acoustic Night']

It was Acoustic Week on 'Dancing With the Stars,' a concept that really should return in future seasons. It would make no sense for the show to waste money on a gimmick that showed up only once. I'll even accept the unnecessary circling camera that whizzed around attempting to look like 'America's Best Dance Crew.' To make it more interesting, it was also the return of Double Score Week. The judges rated the couples on technique and performance of the dance.

By splitting the technique and performance, anyone could see that there's a growing division between the contestants. The good (Audrina, Jennifer, Brandy and, to an extent, Kyle) are getting better, while the bad (Florence, The Situation, Bristol) are starting to plateau in what they can do.

Compared to last season's contestants in the Double Score showdown, Jennifer did better than Evan Lysacek (56 to 52) and The Situation was worse than Kate Gosselin (32 to 34). It's painful admitting that Kate Gosselin was a better dancer.

(S10E06) The format of 'Dancing with the Stars' continues to borrow from other reality shows by creating different themes each week. This week the contestants will be scored by both technique and performance. The scores are still out of a 30. For the rumba and the tango, the judges will be looking for three specific dance moves.

As the couples walk down the stairs, Maks tries to signal someone by tugging his ear and almost trips down the stairs. Kate continues to tell her children that she loves them via bad hand signs.

I had a problem with Brooke tonight. Not only did the crossing ribbons on her midsection make her look fat, was she pronouncing celebrity names incorrectly? Luckily, the filler this week were very interesting demos from professionals that didn't make the cut this season.

(S03E09) And we're back for week 5 of Voting With the Entertaining Stars. We've got 90 minutes of airtime to get out the numbers for voting, so why don't we kill the time by having our stars dance. Don't worry, the dancing doesn't have to factor into the voting at all. Really. Yes, I'm growing a little cynical with the scoring system for the show. I think it hurts what is otherwise a good show. And now the judges are just adding to that problem, but more on that later.

This week the stars are choosing between the samba and the rumba. With a couple notable exceptions, there has been some great improvement among the celebrities. It made for a pretty impressive show overall. My apologies for the lack of screencaps this week, my PVR ate the file. That said, on with the show.

Another extended results show, but you can't argue with results. Am I the only one that is wondering why the stars and dancers all wear the same outfits for the results show that they wore on performance night? Not a big deal, just one of those things that makes you go hmmmmm... (mystery dancer hint)

Joey and Edyta get the encore this week, and it's well deserved. Then the pros all come out to dance to Rebel Yell. I gotta say, if you have to fill 55 minutes of your hour, this is a good way to do it. They are very impressive when they get to do their thing.