After the Dance

Celebrities with varying degrees of fame have appeared on Dancing With the Stars through the years. Some of them see it as an opportunity to reach a new audience, while others use it as a vehicle to prolong their 15 minutes of fame. Whatever the case, the show is starting to lose its appeal with gimmicks like adding filler segments -- along with more contestants.
Change may be good, but bigger isn't always better. For every smart move, like having a junior dancers' competition on the results show, there are too many dumb ideas, like interviewing "experts" about motivation tactics. Another source of bafflement is the continued presence of Samantha Harris as co-host. She's probably a nice person, but she comes across as a piece of eye candy whose sole purpose is to take up space. This sentiment can also be applied to the executives' decision to expand the roster to 13 celebrities. (Jeffrey Ross is good for laughs, but not for dancing!)
Maurice Greene and Susan Lucci are pretenders to the ballroom throne. He's too inconsistent to advance to the finals, and she's stiffer than cardboard. It's ironic to see them possess such qualities, for one's a former Olympian and the other is legendary for her screen presence. But, if nothing else, they took the contest seriously -- which is more than I can say for Cloris Leachman. (She made history as the show's oldest contestant and entertained the audience with her bawdy sense of humor, but I wasn't sorry to see her exit the stage on October 28.)
Brooke Burke is the breakout star of this season, with the former model mastering routines like the quickstep and the samba. Her dancing talent can't be denied, and most television critics have already declared her this season's winner ... but I don't want a repeat of season six, when Kristi Yamaguchi won the mirror ball trophy in dominating fashion.
The remaining contestants are Lance Bass, Cody Linley, and Warren Sapp. Bass has injected a modern twist into classic dances like the tango, which hasn't always sat well with the judges. Speaking of the judges, they may be overlooking Linley because of his youth. But the biggest threat -- no pun intended -- in the game is Sapp, for he's turned in steady performances each week. (His take on the paso doble was amazing!) It's not farfetched to imagine any of these men competing in the finals ... but, with athletes winning it all for the past four seasons, I predict the retired NFL star will be hoisting the title on November 25.

Sarah, Just Plain Awful

Since stepping onto the national stage on August 29 as John McCain's running mate in the presidential election, Sarah Palin has described herself as "a pit bull with lipstick." After her performance against Joseph Biden on October 2 during the vice presidential debate, she should be put to sleep.
The problem with Palin isn't that she's a Republican, a working mother, or even a woman -- it's that she's not qualified for the office she seeks to occupy. She comes across as a deer in headlights in interviews, whether she's taking questions from Charles Gibson or Katie Couric. Listening to her incoherent views on national security and foreign policy were cringe-inducing, and watching her give variations of the same answer to different questions posed by Gwen Ifill was unintentional comedy at its finest.
Given that Republicans control the executive and judicial branches of government, and wield influence in the legislative branch, their complaints about how business is done in Washington, D.C., reek of hypocrisy -- especially since McCain and Palin have flip-flopped on issues of importance to their constituents (and the United States as a whole). McCain was a longtime advocate for deregulation until the economy found itself in a tailspin; now he's a proponent of monitoring Wall Street. As for Palin, she initially favored building the "Bridge to Nowhere" before proclaiming opposition to it.
I believe America is ready for a female president, but I also feel that Palin doesn't belong in such close proximity to a powerful position. The future Madame President should be her own woman, not a puppet for someone else's agenda. She should also have a plan for helping the country get back on its feet, not just recite talking points. But, perhaps most important, she should be open to learning new things ... and not be so blinded by ambition until she can't see her own shortcomings. (This character trait was Hillary Rodham Clinton's downfall during her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.)
McCain thought he was helping Palin by shielding her from the media ... but that strategy backfired, for it exposed her as a pit bull that's all bark and no bite. If man's best friend is a dog, McCain is a pitiful excuse for an owner because choosing Palin as his running mate was nothing short of "animal cruelty."