'Dancing With the Stars': Oh yes, it's ladies' night

You'd think from the past several months of television lineups that we are a country with no concerns about war, terrorism, the housing market or anything else.  Because what we really like to do is dance, dance, dance!

Fans of televised dance competitions must be exhausted after watching the wrap-up of the fourth season of "Dancing With the Stars" at the start of summer, followed by Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," only to be countered with the fifth season of "DWTS."  But now ABC is taking no prisoners.  How else to explain not one, not two but THREE nights of the show?  It's draining, but the show must go on, and on and on.  In this spirit, season two champion Drew Lachey stood in as co-host for Samantha Harris, who just gave birth to a baby girl.  Despite many digs by host Tom Bergeron, Drew did a more than passable job: You'd better watch your back, Samantha!

Last night, the ladies of the fifth season strutted their stuff, and since one of them will be eliminated on Wednesday night's show, it's only fair to give each of them their due.

First up was Jennie Garth of "Beverly Hills: 90210" fame, who looked adorable on the floor but lacked a little confidence.  It also became clear how last season's champion pro Julianne Hough claimed to have a sibling-esque relationship with her partner Apolo Anton Ohno: her brother, Garth's partner Derek, pretty much is a dead ringer for Ohno but with blond hair. 

After Jennie, it was interesting to see how many of the female contestants seemed to fill the designated roles of the show based on previous seasons.  Model Josie Maran danced next, and in the vein of last season's Paulina Porizkova, attempted to prove that models can be funny and uncoordinated -- but possibly also doomed to early elimination.

Then came Sabrina Bryan from a group called the Cheetah Girls, which appears to be a Disneyfied version of the Pussycat Dolls.  She and her partner, Mark Ballas, seem to enjoy the benefit of great chemistry, just as Spice Girl Mel B does with the hunky, scenery-chewing Maksim Chmerkovskiy.  Both of the ladies fit in the Joey Fatone model from last season, in that they appear to have an edge with their experience in performing on stage.  Both probably will go far. 

And then there are Marie Osmond and Jane Seymour, the requisite cheetahs of the show out to prove that women of a certain age can do the darn thing.  But both look like they have no desire to emulate Leeza Gibbons from last season: They're all class, baby, so don't expect to see any "Slut" tattoos on their cleavage.

The show, as always, was flufftastic and inflated and maybe a little too full of sugary good fun, but we'll have to see over the next few weeks (starting with the gents' turn tonight, with contestants such as millionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Las Vegas impresario Wayne Newton, who appears to have fewer wrinkles than anybody on the show) whether we're ready for more dancing or if the country would rather sit this one out.

-- Claire Zulkey

(Photo courtesy ABC)

Comments

[Chris]

The show was entertaining and several of the ladies are starting at a very high level... I was surprised, based on my initial thoughts when I saw who the contestants were. Josie is very attractive but should be the first woman to fall. I had only vaguely heard of the Cheetah Girls, but Sabrina Bryan will obviously be the woman to beat, filling the "can already dance really well, just needs to learn ballroom steps" slot. I think the guys will have their work cut out for them, but who knows? Only tonight will tell...