The Madness on the Night the Torture Continued

Alright, have to say this: GIANTS win the NLDS.

On to the Dancing portion of my Madness/Torture evening. And apparently, its in the round tonight with a different stage.

Leading off tonight is Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskya doing a rumba. Well, it took four weeks, but he threw in the Christian stuff.  As for his wife, she has come along way from that first Super Bowl appearance. To which I say, thank you for losing the blue thingies. Back to the dancing. Well, Drops of Jupiter is the song. Kurt is trying, but he is not getting much if any hip movement, even on the early cucarachas. He is also not getting the footwork as nicely as he has on other dances, its almost like he is stomping. Good if this was Paso, but not good for the rumba. He gets through the dance. But its not done well. Frankly, his last two dances were better, partly because he remembered to keep his steps small and not his movements. This is weird, Len saw hip action. The scores were 15 (technical) and 19 (performance). Both a little on the generous side of things. Should have been 13 and 17.

Maksim and Brandy. Need I say their last names? Another rumba. And another chance for Maksim to show off his chest. Lucky us. Brandy is raiding the Edyta closet, though she is using the bedsheet rather than the pillow case that Edyta would have used. On the up side, it manages to hide her hips. Her foot work is very good and she is really into the performance. The dip was really well done. Much better than Kurt's. Technical score of 22 and performance score of 26. Those seem right.

A note to Brooke Burke: you are not an NFL color analyst. This slow mow thing you are doing is not working.

Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke did the first Argentine Tango of the night. I like how he is so decisive in his early steps. Then he starts to soften a little too much. His posture is a little bit off. Nice twirly lift. The second lift was a little less impressive. Not sure if that last lift worked the way they wanted it too. This is a shame. Fox came out strong and then got.. soft. And he didn't look controlling, he looked a little lost. Good grief, it must have been bad because Carrie Ann is pointing it out too. Len noticed it too. I'm a little surprised Len gave him a 7. The technical was 19. The performance was 20.

Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer. Someone needs to get their roots done. Among other maintenance things that Lacey needs to do. Yes, I'm mean. I don't like her. Anyways, she is trying to turn Disney into a romantic dude. Kyle better be up for it. They're dancing the rumba. Mrs. Angrybell wants to know what on earth Lacey is wearing, calling it "one fo the worst things I've ever seen. I'm without words. Did she raid Bjork's closet?" To Kyle's credit, he's got some hip movement going there. The problem is his outfit makes him look like a tubby kid trying to pull in Bjork at the Academy Awards. Little too much smiling there. This is supposed to be romance, not scoring a touchdown or dunking a basketball. Technically well done. Performance, could have been better. They weren't, selling it as well as they could have. Len and I are not in sync this week. Len, c'mon. Usually you and I are together on this. Technical : 18. Little harsh there. Performance: 22.

Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino and Karina Smirnoff. Doing the Argentine tango. I'm afeared. She survived the roll lift. NIce, These Dreams is the song. He is trying to look intent and in control, but it comes across as stomping. His posture is good. And I think that Karina is trying to mask his footwork by keeping him stationary for as much as she can. The kicks were ok, not as precise. He made a mistake there just before the third lift.  Nice little death spiral. This will be interesting to see how Len looks at this. Who replaced Bruno this season? He is being brutal to Sorrentino. Len, "It was bad throughout." Technical: 12. Performance: 16.

Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas drew the rumba. With that appropriate/not appropriate biut, she just dethroned Cloris Leachman as jokster queen of the ballroom. The problem early on is that its precise but at the expense of flow. The lack of flow is a real problem. Carrie Ann was funny, but if she thought that was raunchy... I'm concerned. Bruno and I were closer in our evaluations of the dance. Technical score: 17. Performance score: 18.

Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough came out to give us an Argentine tango. Ms. Grey could have whined in her montage. But she didn't. I like that. They got a good tango song. But then they are mucking about with the piano. Camera work is awful. Nice entry to the dance floor though. Oh wow. That was a great routine. So good. Then just the little ...something... at the end. Barely noticeable if it weren't for the fact that it disrupted the flow. But damn, she is starting to remind me of Brooke Burke dancing. The judges are right, this was a great dance. Could it be a perfect score? Mrs. Angrybell says "10" and that she made it look easy. Technical score: 27. Performance score: 29.

Bristol Palin and Mark Balls rumbaed on the floor. As Mark says "The rumba and Bristol have nothing in common." Her kid si cute. Not liking this version of Umbrella. For someone who is not a performer, she may be turning in one of the better rumba performances of the night. Note to Maksim, Mark is the direction you want your body to head towards if you are going to show off your chest. Mrs. Angrybell is against the nudity. Sarah Palin looks a little worried by how close her daughter is getting to Bristol. The footwork is good. I think Bruno and Carrie Ann were a bit hard. Each week, her performance is getting better and better. Technical score: 18. Performance score: 14. Wow, I think the scoring was off.

Tony Dovolani and Audrina Partridge batted clean-up tonight doing the Argentine tango. Nice dip. Don't you want someone to love by Jefferson Airplane. Her footwork is going in the right  places, but the difference between Audrina and Jennifer 's performance is the definition of the steps, the commitment to each step. She does create beautiful lines. Its a god performance, but the technical is off a bit. They should score well. Whats up today? This is the second time that Carrie Ann and I have had the same reaction (she just expressed it better dammit.). Technical score: 24. Performance: 22.

Who should go home? Well both The Situation and Bristol had bad weeks. I'd love to keep both of them around, if for no other reason than Mrs. Angrybell gets to look on in horror. The Maksim-Brandy train still looks like it is on a way to crash. We can only hope its next week.

However, of the people I think should go home, it might be time for Florence Henderson to go home. She's funny. She's fun. But her dancing scores are a bit... well inflated. If she doesn't go home this week, I have a feeling she is not long for the ballroom.