Kirstie Alley For The Win After Dancing With The Stars Eliminates Ralph Macchio

It was no great surprise that Tuesday night's Dancing with the Stars elimination show eliminated Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff. They trailed well behind the other couples after Monday's dancing.

And then there was the 13 point boost Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas got from winning that Cha-Cha dance off, which made it unlikely they'd get the boot.

Reading the Interwebs this morning it appears that Kirstie Alley will have to mess up real bad and get real low scores to not give Maks his first glittering disco ball trophy.

On those same Interwebs it quickly becomes apparent that Mark Ballas annoys many viewers. And while Chelsea Kane is a likable girl, she just does not have a big fan base.

Unlike Kirstie Alley.

Like me, it seems a lot of people warmed to Hines Ward after learning his history, this week, on Monday's performance show. But, it appears a lot of people think the judges seriously overscore Hines.

Kirstie is paired with the professional dancer who may be the most popular with the fans. Maks Chmerkovskiy. We've been seeing these pro dancers for so many years now that they often are as much, or more, of a celebrity as those they are paired with.

For instance, in the case of Chelsea Kane, I had never heard of her before. But I knew who Mark Ballas was. And that I did not particularly care for him. Thus a negative for Chelsea.

In the case of Hines Ward, I knew nothing about him. But, I like his partner, Kym Johnson. But not enough that it caused me to watch the Hines/Kym dances til this past Monday night.

Now, with Kirstie Alley, I've known who she is for decades. And have always liked her very much. She is paired with my favorite of the pros.

Like I said, I think Kirstie will need to mess up real bad next Monday night to not win the coveted glittery disco ball trophy.

Dancing With The Stars Hines Ward Gets Perfect Scores But Chelsa Kane Gets More Points

Last night was the first time I watched Hines Ward dance on Dancing With The Stars. To shorten the two hour dance marathons I had been fast forwarding past dancers I had no interest in, or had no clue as to what made them a supposed star.

Like that Romeo kid who left last week.

This week on DWTS long bios introduced each dancer. The bio suddenly turned Hines Ward into someone very interesting.

Til last night I had no idea Hines Ward was born in Seoul, South Korea, to a black dad, Hines Ward Sr. and a Korean mom, Kim Young He. When Hines was 1 the family moved to Georgia, with his soldier dad soon sent to Germany on a tour of duty. A year later Hines mom and dad divorced, with his dad convincing a court that Hines' mom could not raise him because she did not speak English. So, Hines went to live with his dad's mom til he was seven.

We heard from Hines' mom on Monday's DWTS. She now speaks English.

Hines' mom seemed to think he really had no business dancing. But, on Monday's show, Hines and partner, Kym Johnson, scored all 10 on both dances, getting 60 points for a salsa and Argentine tango. I am sure someone has made perfect scores before, but I don't remember who.

The perfect scores were made even more impressive due to the fact that Kym injured her neck while practicing on Friday, while attempting a tricky lift which had Kym falling on her neck and Hines falling on top of her. Paramedics rushed in and took Kym to the hospital.

Carrie Ann Inaba is way too easily driven to tears, and was so driven on Monday by the Hines and Kym tango.

Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas came in first for the night, with 73 points, after winning the third dance of the night, something called the "Winner-Take-All Cha-Cha."

Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy came in 3rd with 54 points after doing some Viennese waltzing and  and paso dobling. Carrie Ann was not driven to tears, but did crown Kirstie as the "Queen" of the dramatic Latin dance.

Ralph Macchio and Playboy model, Karina Smirnoff were in last place with only 48 points. For the salsa Ralph wore something called a "booty pad" to make his butt bigger to supposedly improve his butt-shaking moves. I did not notice any increase in butt size. Or any consequent extra shaking. I probably was paying more attention to the Playboy model.

Next week is the DWTS's finale. I'd like to lose Chelsea and Mark tonight and have Ralph, Kirstie and Hines in the finale. I like the Chelsea kid, but Mark wears on my nerves.

Dancing With The Stars Eliminates Petra & Dmitri While Next Week American Idol's Pia Toscano Sings for Her Boyfriend Mark Ballas

Well, the theme this week for Dancing with the Stars was Patriotic Americana. Or something like that.

I think both Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin are former communists from the former Soviet Union.

So, I guess it makes sense that that they'd get the boot because neither is American.

No.

That really does not make sense.

Both Petra and Dmitry are very likable.

I thought their quick-step to the Elvis classic "Viva Las Vegas" was very American.

Petra and Dmitri seemed to take getting the boot very well.

At the end of the DWTS's results show Tom Bergeron announced, "Thanks to our friends at FOX and American Idol, it's the network return of the sensational Pia Toscano. She'll be singing and it features what promises to be an amazing dance by her close friend, Mark Ballas."

How did Mark Ballas and Pia become such close friends, one can not help but wonder? Are American Idol and Dancing With The Stars filmed on the same studio lot?

12th Season of Dancing with the Stars Premieres with Ralph Macchio & Kirstie Alley On Top

I did not realize the 12th season of Dancing with the Stars premiered Monday night til I saw in on my list of DVR recordings.

So, I started watching with well over an hour already recorded. Which makes for a much better viewing experience with the fast forward ability.

Of this batch of  "stars" the only ones I knew of were Kirstie Alley, Ralph Macchio, Kendra Wilkinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Wendy Williams.

Speaking of Kendra Wilkinson.

Her ex-boy friend, Hugh Hefner was in the audience. Hugh Hefner is starting to look like an old man. The audience seemed to be dominated by former Dancing with the Stars "stars."

And other "stars."

The set for Dancing with the Stars seems to be amped up, with a lot more light and sound action.

There is no Derek Hough on this 12th season of Dancing with the Stars. Depending on ones opinion of Derek Hough this is either a good thing or a bad thing.

Derek Hough's best friend, Mark Ballas, is paired with one of them of whom I know nothing, Chelsa Kane. She seemed to be a nice girl.

The highest score of the night was earned by Karate Kid Ralph Macchio, now 49 years old. He is partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy's ex-fiance, Karina Smirnoff.

Speaking of Maks. Does anyone know if he found himself a wife on the Ukrainian version of The Bachelor?

Speaking again of Maks. He got the 2nd highest score of the night with his surprisingly good partner, Kirstie Alley.

Kirstie Alley and Ralph Macchio got the biggest audience reactions of the night, with, I think, Kirstie being shown the loudest appreciation.

Kirstie and Maks are very amusing together.

I was a bit surprised when Maks mentioned that Kirstie looks pretty good for a 60 year old broad. She's that told, I thought? Then I remembered Cheers ended almost 20 years ago.

One of the "stars" is a guy named Mike Catherwood. He is paired with Lacey Schwimmer. He is a radio personality I'd never heard of. He got the lowest scores of the night.

I did not think Mike Catherwood was as bad as Wendy Williams. Wendy looks to be in way over her head. She sort of plodded over the stage like a big ship being guided by a tugboat in the form of Tony Dovolani.

This year's dancing jocks are wrestler Chris Jericho, paired with Cheryl Burke, footballer Hines Ward, paired with Kym Johnson and boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, paired with Anna Trebunsakaya.

Of the jocks, Sugar Ray was the worst. Chris Jericho is very energetic, while Hines Ward appears to be yet one more NFL star who easily adapts to being light on his feet.

I have no idea who Romeo is. He was paired with Chelsea Hightower. He did not dance well.

Supermodel Petra Memcova is paired with Dimitry Chaplin. Petra was injured in the 2004 Indonesian Earthquake Tsunami. She had a bit of a breakdown whilst practicing upon learning of the tragedy in Japan.

I guess I am in for now with this latest iteration of Dancing with the Stars. If not for Kirstie Alley it'd be debatable if I'd be viewing.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy In The Ukraine On The Bachelor Wondering If Mark Ballas & Derek Hough Will Be On The American The Bachelor

You are looking at picture of Dancing with the Stars Maksim Chmerkovskiy soon after his arrival in the Ukraine, on November 26.

Has Maks defected back to his homeland?

No.

Maks is back in his old homeland to try and find a wife by being on a Ukrainian TV network's Ukrainian version of ABC's The Bachelor.

I learned of this on Maks' blog where he defended himself regarding rumors that he'd refused to be on the American version of The Bachelor because he can't stand American women.

Maks has had some lovelife woes in his search for a wife. He claims to be real shy, with his time taken up by his dance career. For awhile Maks was engaged to fellow dancer Karina Smirnoff. He seemed real happy about it. But then they split. And now Karina is engaged again. While Maks hunts for Ukrainian love.

I think Maks would be very amusing on the American The Bachelor.

The Bachelor/Bachelorette has had a one way relationship with Dancing with the Stars, with Bachelorettes Trista Rehn Sutter and Melissa Rycroft dancing, along with everyone's most despised Bachelor, Jake Pavelka.

It seems only fair that one or two of the Dancing with the Stars stars should be on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette.

If Karina Smirnoff most recent engagement goes awry, she'd make a good Bachelorette.

Wouldn't Derek Hough or Mark Ballas be amusing Bachelors? Those boys in the Fantasy Suites? Now that would be some entertaining TV viewing.

I wonder if the Ukrainian version of The Bachelor will have Maks in 3 different Fantasy Suites? He's such a shy guy, I'm sure this would make him very nervous.

In the video below you'll see Maks upon his arrival in the Ukraine and hear him speaking Russian. Or is it Ukrainian............?

Dancing with the Stars: Will a Bristol Win Cause Rioting in the Streets?

In a couple hours the nation will find out if a scandal of Watergate/Teapot Dome proportions has erupted upon the land due to Bristol Palin winning the coveted Dancing with the Stars mirror ball trophy.

Last night, as is the norm, for most of the season, Bristol got the lowest point total from the judges.

Will the vast Right Wing Conspiracy save Bristol again tonight?

I have no idea.

I really do not have any understanding of how the judges' votes are combined with the public's votes and the additional judges' votes from tonight's additional 2 dances, to determine who wins this silly thing.

Personally, I hope Bristol wins. That would provide me the most entertainment. I'm likely projecting what I think on to others, but I think Jennifer Grey has worn out her welcome with the viewers.

And Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough sort of make an unseemly couple. A cougar with her boy toy. While Bristol and Mark make such a cute couple, with only a 4 year age difference.

And was it not nice of Bristol and Mark to take a break from the bedroom, I mean ballroom, and put on some of their clothes to pose for this lovely photo for us?

Dancing With The Stars: Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas In The Final 3 with Brandy & Maks Out

Well. The Palin Family Television dominance continues. Tonight, even though Bristol Palin had the lowest scores from the Dancing with the Stars judges, the viewers voted for her in numbers sufficient to put Bristol Palin into next week's DWTS finale.

The screen cap is from the moment when Maks realizes that once more he is not going to win the coveted mirror ball trophy.

In defeat Maks was quite eloquent, waxing poetic about the American way of the people getting to have their say, via voting, being one of the reasons his family came to America.

Brandy seemed to be taking it worse than Maks, saying, in effect, she'd need time to process the stunning defeat.

Now, Bristol has 2 dances to learn next week, including the Freestyle. This should be interesting.

And Bruno asked Brandy and Maks to come back, next Tuesday, and do their Freestyle? I did not realize Bruno ran the show.

Dancing With The Stars With a Lot of Sarah Palin & Todd

We saw more of Sarah Palin tonight on Dancing with the Stars than in all her previous appearances, or so it seemed to me. And husband Todd spoke. I do not recollect hearing husband Todd speak before.

Sarah and Todd were in the audience tonight to watch the live romance, I mean dance, between daughter Bristol and Mark Ballas.

Bristol seemed, to me, to have greatly improved this week, with both dances. And she got her highest scores ever. Still at the bottom, though.

Jennifer Grey was a bit less annoying tonight. She got six 10s. Making her the top score getter.  Both Kyle Massey and Brandy got perfect scores on one dance. I don't know who ended up with the most points between Kyle and Brandy, because I offed the TV before I was given that information.

Before the second dance, for each dancer, there were little bio packets telling the dancer's story. I actually watched all of them. I found each to be interesting.

Kyle's family took a big gamble to get him from Atlanta to Hollywood, but they were almost ready to give up and go back to Atlanta when they got a call. You really can not help but like this kid.

Jennifer Grey has had even more bad stuff happen than we've already been told about. A car wreck with then boyfriend Matthew Broderick over in Ireland. That is where the neck problem came from. The most interesting thing I learned, from Jennifer's bio package, was that that guy who sits next to Jamie Lee Curtis is Jennifer's husband.

Brandy's family and friend's painted her as one tough cookie who has had some struggles, including a fatal car accident. I have grown to like Brandy.

And then there is Bristol. The most interesting thing in the Bristol bio package was Bristol saying she got the call from Dancing with the Stars, instantly agreed to do it, then took off in her pickup and drove 5 days to get to Los Angeles. Now, I have driven from Washington to California. Easily doable in 2 days. Wasilla, Alaska to LA in 5 days? Driving solo? This is one spunky single mom. With good tires.

I was surprised at how open the Palin's and Bristol were about her getting knocked up by Levi Johnston. The term "knocked up" was used by Bristol. Sarah used the term "baby hump."

I am guessing that, even though she had the fewest judges' points, that Bristol will not be sent home tomorrow night. Mark Ballas said he's been hearing people say that the reason Bristol keeps surviving is because of her mom's popularity and the Tea Party People. Mark insisted it was, instead, people connecting to Bristol's  ordinary person story. Methinks it may be a combo of the two. Then again, tonight I read that Sarah Palin's negative numbers have never been higher. As in, she is starting to back up on more and more people.

All My Children's Susan Lucci was in the audience tonight. Is Erica Kane considering being on Dancing with the Star? That might be amusing if she brought her Erica Kane personality.

Carrie Ann Inaba's Fit Pitching With Maks On Dancing With The Stars

You are looking at Carrie Ann Inaba. She is one of Dancing with the Stars judges.

Looking at the picture you would think the woman is smiling. What that seemingly benign expression really was, was her passive-aggressive last word in an argument with Maks, he being the professional partner of Brandy.

Brandy and Maks had just finished their "Instant Dance" with the "Instant Dance" being this week's DWTS gimmick.

Earlier  in the week the pairs or couples or teams or whatever you call them on DWTS were told what dance they were to dance for the "Instant Dance." The instant part came last night, when, after completing the first dance of the night, the as annoying as Samantha Harris, co-host, Brooke Burke, instructs the celebrity to pick cd out of a bowl.

On that cd was the music the couples were to dance to, with only 20 minutes to get used to the song.

Now, I must say, I've long thought Carrie Ann Inaba is a bit on the dim side. Last night she really showed off her dimness. After Maks and Brandy finished their "Instant Dance," Carrie Ann Inaba was just all upset because Maks and Brandy did not hit the ground dancing on the first beat. Instead they cutely slid into it a couple beats into the music.

Maks instantly bristled at Carrie's stridency. I like Maks. He is funny. But, I don't think that boy has had a lot of practice retorting to irrational banshee types. So, at first all he could think to say to Carrie Ann Inaba was to advise her "Don't worry about it." Or some words to that effect.

Which further aggravated the totally upset Carrie Ann Inaba. Because she was very very worried about it.

As Carrie Ann Inaba worked herself up into ever higher levels of high dungeon, Maks started arguing back, sort of laughing at her ridiculousness.

I really think the producers of DWTS need to instruct Carrie Ann Inaba to dial it back a bit. She makes WAY too big a deal over little stuff.

As for the rest of the night.

Well, Mark Ballas and his girl friend, Bristol Palin, went to Alaska again to see Mark's future in-laws, Sarah and Todd Palin. And his future adopted son, Tick or Trick or Tork, or something like that.

I've actually grown to like Bristol. She seems like a nice girl. But, I can't help but wonder, if Mark and Bristol can't keep their hands and lips off each other when it is live TV, what goes on when the camera goes dim?

And then there is Jennifer Grey. I have never seen Dirty Dancing. Jennifer Grey means nothing to me. I grow tired of her weekly woe, that she miraculously rises above, to astound the judges with her dancing.

I don't mind the Disney kid, Kyle Massey. Never heard of him before he was on DWTS. Likable, funny kid. But I find myself fast forwarding him, along with the football player, Kurt Warner.

So, for me it is Maks and Brandy for the win. Or Bristol and Mark. After the win they can elope to Las Vegas and have themselves a fine honeymoon. I mean that for both Bristol and Mark and Maks and Brandy.

Dancing With The Stars: Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas Dirty Dancing With Jennifer Grey In More Pain

The Hollywood rumormongers are mongering rumors about the possibility that Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas have become an item off the dance floor.

On the left, that is a picture of the couple leaving, I think, Bristol's apartment.

I'm sure these rumors are somewhat fueled by the unseemly fondling and kissing Mark Ballas is seen lavishing on Bristol after they are done dancing on the live show.

This week on Dancing With The Stars, with the dancing taking place in the round, in what looked like more people watching than usual, and with Sarah Palin and husband Todd in attendance, daughter Bristol danced the Rumba with Mark Ballas.

I am pretty certain it was the Rumba. I get the dance names mixed up. Whatever the name, it's the dance that is described as the vertical version of the horizontal version of whoopee making.

Bristol took Mark back to her apartment. We saw that during one of the fillers needed to fill the bloated 2 hours of live air time. Bristol's baby, Trip, was in the apartment. Trip's Baby Daddy, Levi Johnston, was not in the apartment. Near as I could tell.

Bristol and Mark practiced some of their Rumba moves in front of the baby. It did not seem too unseemly.

I like Bristol. I'm amazed at how well she does these dances, with no prior experience. But those mean judges seem unduly critical of her.

And, with that extra time needing to be filled, an extremely silly post dance analysis thing was added in which a clip was shown showing something the judges judged was done badly, with the even worse than Samantha Harris, Brooke Burke, asking,, well, for instance, asking Bristol what she was thinking, when that particular expression we are seeing in the clip, was on her face. Bristol had no idea what to say, so Mark helped out by saying she was thinking what a hot hunk she was dancing with. I forgot to mention at the start of the Rumba Bristol ripped off Mark's shirt.

Mark has what appeared to be a garish tattoo on his back. I could not make out what the tattoo was. Between his buzz cut, scraggly weird beard, strange earrings and now this tattoo, Mark is starting to appear a bit odd to me.

And then there is Mark's dad. Corky Ballas. Corky is paired with that ancient lady, on loan from  Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum, Florence Henderson. Not wanting to go totally into an X-Rated Rumba, Corky and Florence had Mark and Florence's daughter come in and judge if their moves were appropriate or not.

Corky and Florence's Rumba did not seem as raunchy as Mark and Bristol's, what with Corky keeping his shirt on and not fondling Florence. Too much. But still. It seemed a tad unseemly.

And then there is Jennifer Grey, playing Mrs. Robinson to the young Derek Hough. Derek does not do too much kissing and fondling of Jennifer Grey. This relationship seems more wholesome, to me, than the Mark and Bristol coupling.

With Jennifer Grey, what is bugging me is the theme seems to be that each week we  learn of some new ailment that is wreaking havoc with her ability to dance. And then, miraculously, she comes out and WOWS everyone, with this week getting the first 10s, two of them, of the season. I think I should find Derek Hough annoying, but for some reason he amuses me.

Not as much as Maks though. He is one funny Ukrainian. And that Brandy girl he is dancing with grows on me. Their  filler, where Maks took Brandy out for a romantic dinner, so she'd be more in the mood to make love to him on the dance floor, was amusing, with Brandy finding fault with Maks' game.

I forgot about Mike Sorrentino. Known, for some reason, as "The Situation." I had no clue who he is or was. Now I know he is on an MTV show, something called Jersey Shore. And he is expected to make around $5 million this year. That is a little more than I am expected to make this year. I find him amusing and his seemingly sincere efforts to learn those silly dances is sort of charming. Those mean judges were way way too harsh with him. But he handled it well.

I don't care who is asked to leave the Ballroom tonight. One of the jocks would be good to go.

I am just a bit concerned that we are heading towards our first Dancing with the Stars baby.  History is known to repeat itself. And Mark Ballas has been quoted as saying he is a fan of Sarah Palin's. Levi Johnston was never a Sarah Palin fan, as far as I know. And I should know. Levi and I are quite close, us being mutual Twitter followers.

Dancing With The Stars' Mark Ballas Kicked In Groin

I'm in Fort Worth, Texas. Up til the end of November, I subscribed to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I finally could not take its small town badness anymore, cancelled and subscribed to the Dallas Morning News. One of the ways the Fort Worth Star-Telegram annoyed me was anytime there was any sort of Texas or Fort Worth connection, no matter how remote--visited Fort Worth when 2 years old, cousin married to a Fort Worth native--that connection would be part of the story.

I say the above to explain why it amuses me to write that Houston born Dancing with the Stars professional dancer, 22 year old, 5' 7'', Mark Ballas, was literally kicked in the groin while dancing with his season 6 partner in winning, Kristi Yamaguchi.

A Dancing with the Stars troupe, led by Maxsim Chmerkovskiy, is touring the country.

Mark Ballas and Kristi were dancing on Saturday in Los Angeles when the groin injury struck. Ballas grimmaced in pain as he apologized to the audience for his diminished capacity.

Even though he was in extreme pain Ballas managed to dance quite wildly with the former Olympic Ice Queen and to also get quite rambunctious doing a hip-hop routine with pros Lacey Schwimmer and his best friend, this year's pro winner, Derek Hough.

Mark Ballas is expected to be out of commission for a few weeks. He should be back in top twinkle toe form when it comes time for me to go see all that dancing in Dallas.