Dancing W/Stars - Elimination Night - Recount Time

Well I waited and waited to do this review until my blood stopped boiling. I am sure by now most of you know who went home. The question is why. I think for Sabrina to be voted off is a digrace to the process of finding the best dancer. This show, as is American Idol, nothing more than a popularity contest. I know it, you know it, we all know it. But ABC, if they wan't to retain any credibility, should do something about changing their scoring process so to prevent the better dancers from going home before ones that should go home. I know, ABC wants the media attention they get when something like this happens. But come on, Sabrina deserved to be in the final 4, final 3 and even in the finals...period. Sure she had dancing experience....so does Marie, so does Mel, so does Jane. And she may even have some ballroom dancing (she did do a tango in her last movie), but the show does not say they only get people with absolutely no dance experience. It's a show to find the best dancer, not a show to find a dancer within a non-dancer. I am really outraged by Sabrina's ouster, but who do we blame. The voting public? ABC? The judges? I personally think first and foremost, with the scoring process the way it is, you blame hte voting public. If they wanted her to stay in, she would have gotten the votes. But ultimately you blame ABC. They let the voting public have too much say and therefore sometimes the better dancer goes home. If the judges scores counted for more than half, I guarantee you Jane or Marie would have gone home. I was pleased to see Sabrina go out with class and grace, even though you could clearly see she was shocked and devasted. She never thought she would go home this early....neither did I.

Now on to the recap of the show.......

Tom tells us that Jane Seymore will not be in attendance tonight due to a case of food poisoning. This poor woman has so much bad luck right now, it's a wonder she can concentrate on dancing.

The encore dance is the group number. Again a good dance, unfortunately Tony had to dance alone since Jane was not there. He made the most of it and the dance was again enjoyable.

Barry Manilow is up next, but first Tom gives a much deserved shoutout to two of the LA County Firefighters who are in attendance. We get a fantastic treat when Barry sings, Louis and Cheryl!!!! They dance so perfectly together, I so wish we could see more of them.

Our first round of "who's safe" reveals that Mela nd Maks are safe as is Jane and Tony?!?! Hun??? WOW....first shocker of the night because I clearly had Jane pegged to be in the bottom two. You know some disturbing reports have come out that Jane is dissing the other contestants. This is something I would never expect from her, being the classy elegant lady she is. But I guess competition brings out the worst in everyone. Unfortunately because Jane was not in the bottom two I don't think she will get the good dose of humility she needs.

One of this weeks fluff pieces, if you can call it that, is a preview of the new show coming Bruno and Carrie Ann are in. It's called "Bruno and Carrie Ann...Dance Wars'. This is basically a merge of American Idol and So You think You Can Dance. The contestants have to be able to sing and dance and apparently they will be coached by Bruno and Carrie Ann and they two teams face off. Tonight we get a sample of the dancing that will take place on the show.

Barry Manilow is back singing a classic...."Mandy". I love this song. It reminds me of roller skating when I was much younger. Thankfully Barry is much more gracious than some of our previous guest stars (calling J.Lo) and does not mind sharing the stage with the professional dancers. For this dance we get Tony and Anna and they dance what appears to be a waltz. A beautiful waltz. Tony and Anna are incredible to watch!

Our next filler piece is a Q & A. This time the stars get to question the judges. Not really any out of the ordinary questions, but again Jane brings up the lift issue to Carrie Ann. Come on Jane get over it already. Whether you did a lift or not, it's time to move on.
Another filler piece showing the frienships backstage between all the stars. This did not show me anything new. I will have to say it was hard to believe anything Jane said considering her remarks about her co-stars to the media.

The last five couples learn their fate:

Helio and Julianne-safe
Cameron and Edyta-bottom 2
Jennie and Derek-safe
Marie and Jonathan-safe
Sabrina and Mark-bottom 2

????????????????????????? What the hell happened here. I might could believe Cameron in the bottom two, but not Sabrina. Everyone is stunned....the audience, the other dancers, the judges. Bruno and Len both say there is no way Sabrina should be in the bottom two and Carrie Ann is in tears. Tom said it best when he said he had Sabrina pegged for the finals. So the final reveal is made and Sabrina is going home. I don't think anyone in that room expected that. Cameron was clearly shocked as was Sabrina. Kudos to Sabrina for leaving gracefully but you could see in her final dance with Mark how clearly upset she was.

until next week when hopefully America will get it right............