In what turned out to be not so big a surprise at all, Emmitt Smith wins Dancing with the Stars.  From the very beginning of the show, Mario Lopez was the clear favorite, Emmitt one of the long shots.  They cast some sort of athlete every year -- Evander Hollyfield, Jerry Rice, and now Emmitt -- only Emmitt was clearly the best of them.  By judging both final dance competitions identically (both Mario and Emmitt received a 59 combined on three dances) the judges basically turned it into a popularity contest.  Mario was probably the better dancer.  But the audience liked Emmitt more.  He smiled more.  He had more fun. 

I think most importantly, though, is that the audience liked Cheryl better than they liked Karina.  Cheryl's the champ from last year.  People know her.  She also looked...well, nicer.  Sometimes Karina just looked mean, like she was too competitive and wasn't having a very good time. 

So, there you go.  One of the token athletes finally won it.  It turned out better than I expected, really, from what I originally saw the list.  Jerry Springer was actually great to watch.  Sure he was the comedy act, but in a good way.  The whole "waltz and my daughter's wedding" thing was nice, and when he got all choked up when it was finally time for him to leave, he showed some real class.

So why oh why do the producers have to keep fixing the final show?  During the first season everybody screamed fix when Kelly Monaco, nearly eliminated in the first week, came all the way back to get a perfect 30 score in the final week, even though she tripped a few times. They did it again this season.  It's like they gathered in a room and said, "Ok, how can we make the last show end up a high note?"  You could have called that 59 for both dancers in your sleep.  I mean, really -- Emmitt gets a 9 from Bruno for a shaky lift in the last dance, but Mario's "Ok, now I put Karina across here, pause, now I lift her up, pause, now she puts her hands down, pause..." lift was supposedly perfect, and the best dance of the season?  Nope, not buying it.  The excuses the judges found to take away points were too forced for me. Somebody told them "Ok, Len, you find some reason to take a point from Emmitt, and Bruno, you find some reason to take a point from Mario."  I suppose it makes for a better finale, but it's just so obvious it's a little insulting.  That being said I still really enjoyed the season.

Popularity Contest?

Last night, everybody on the show including Jerry Springer got a minimum score of 24 (all 8's). There are six contestants left (Mario, Joey, Sara, Willa, Emmit, Jerry) sharing 6 points at the top. I saw an interesting post over at TVSquad that basically said that judges have taken themselves out of the voting by effectively giving everybody the same score, thus leaving the eliminations up to the audience vote. Compare to last season with Master P, who no one wanted there, the judges kept giving him lower and lower scores every week until no amount of audience voting could save him.

So then. It's no longer about the dancing, it's about how much you appreciate the effort everybody puts into it. Otherwise Jerry Springer would not be one point away from Joey Lawrence.

Given that, who do you vote for? Who is the favorite?

I absolutely LOVE this quote - its posted on my computer - and my husbands too.  Enjoy ~

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

 - Andre Gide - French writer, humanist and moralist, 1947 nobel prize for literature, 1869-1951.

Three people are out on a hunting trip. Joe is at camp while Bob and Dan have gone off into the woods. Suddenly two shots ring out! After a few minutes, Dan enters the camp dragging an 8-point buck behind him.

"Great shot, Dan!" says Dot.

"Bad news!" says Dan, "I accidentally shot Bob."

"What? And you left him out there in the woods, bleeding, just so you could bring the buck back?"

"Well," says Dan, "It was a tough decision. But then I figured, nobody's gonna try to steal Bob."

Ok – the new TMX Elmo is out. I just know my niece will want one. There’s a video available to see him in action. Basically you keep tickling him until he does the robotic equivalent of peeing himself. Think I'm kidding? Watch the video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CO04rXDTcMo 

It's interesting from a robotics perspective, I guess. The hand slapping is stupid looking, but having him bend forward and then whip himself backward as a way of falling over is kinda cool. He doesn't look especially cuddly, but none of the robotic toys do.

So, do you think this be the next big thing? Will TMX Elmo be selling for $2000 on eBay come Christmas time? Is $40 now a good investment?

One of my favorite teams, Kellie and Jamie, were sadly Philiminated. The friendly cheerleaders found that they could rely on each other, but let's face it - they couldn't find their way out of a cardboard box. I'm not saying the girls are dumb, I'm just saying they failed miserably at the crucial task of self navigation.

Random thoughts:

• Both the Detour and Roadblock were cool. Gotta love goofy animal hi-jinxs, but more importantly all of the tasks had something to do with Mongolian culture, whether it was using the hainags to help gather water, dismantling a tent or, coolest of all, shooting a flaming arrow and igniting a target. Fire is cool! 
• Mary can be a complete you-know-what to her husband, but I'm impressed at how excited she is to be doing all of these crazy things and meeting all kinds of folk .
• Last week I criticized Tom & Terry for being closed minded about forming friendships with the other teams. Well, now that they're on the race they realize that it's a race and they aren't voting anyone off. They can make friends. 
• Of course, it's a race, so you can't stop for your new friends when they have car trouble. I'm sure it's hard and it's probably agonizing for the team having problems, but no one complained about not getting help from their competitors tonight. That's good, because, you know, it's a race.
• I want one of the Mongolian helments for the cold Wisconsin winters!
• WHY do they purposely provide the contestants with crappy cars? A flat tire, A broken jack and at least 2 of those old Russian military jeeps wouldn’t start without being "hand cranked." C’Mon!

One of my FAV reality shows is back, baby!!!!!  In an Amazing Race first, two teams were Philiminated in the premiere episode!! First, Muslim buddies Bilal & Sa'eed bit the dust and then the adorable married couple Vipul & Arti lost their way in the streets of Beijing and came into the Pit Stop in last place.

I'm glad Bilal & Sa'eed are gone because I'm rather tired of reality TV show contestants thinking that God or Allah or whatever deity gives a darn about game show outcomes. He doesn't. On the other hand, I'm bummed about Vipul & Arti. It's refreshing to see a non-bickering couple on this show.

Rather than recapping the various detours and roadblocks. Here's my take on the ten remaining teams.

David & Mary: I’m not sure about Team Kentucky. Mary can be annoying. She obviously hasn't traveled very much (never outside of Tennessee or Kentucky before), yet here she is in a cab in China hassling the driver, in Chinese, to go faster. She's a quick study.

Duke & Lauren: Team Weepy. Duke literally started crying in the pre-show interview because he's so disappointed that Lauren is gay. Lauren started crying while her totally fit Dad climbed up a wall. Lauren seems okay, but I don't know about Duke. You just don't tell a national TV audience how disappointed you are with your daughter.

Dustin & Kandace: Team Pageant. These two blondies could be okay. They got lost but they didn't really play the "oh poor us, some men please save us" card. I respect that.

Erwin & Godwin: Team Overachievers. These two brothers were so sure that they were so smart and so athletic that the Race would just be a breeze. It was kind of ironic to see the two Asian-American brothers shouting for English speakers on the streets of Beijing. I think they got a slice of humble pie. I think they'll be okay.

Kellie & Jamie: Team Rah Rah. I think these South Carolina cheerleaders are my favorite team so far. Really. They were good natured and enthusiastic. Plus, I really would like to see an all-girl team do well and I'm not holding out much hope for Team Pageant.

Lyn & Karlyn: Team Single Moms. The moms showed a lot of grit and determination throughout the leg. They rarely got things right immediately, but they didn't panic. They didn't complain (that much). Instead, they just corrected their mistakes, redoubled their efforts and finished the job. Good for them.

Peter & Sarah: Team Ironman. So Sarah has one leg and she's all about proving that she can do anything able-bodied people can. At the same time, she and Peter are all about using her disability to get advantages like pre-boarding airplanes and finding sympathetic cabbies. You can't have it both ways. Well, I guess you can, but it's going to make me root against you.

Rob & Kimberly: Team Bicker. Here's this year's token bickering couple. Ugh. I've had enough of these. The only way I find them entertaining is if I imagine that every time Rob calls Kimberly "Babe" he's really saying "Harpy" and everytime Kimberly calls Rob "Babe" she really means "Jackass". Try it. It makes watching them much more fun. 

Tom & Terry: Team Boyfriends. What an annoying team. Their pre-race interview was all about how they weren't going to make friends with other teams. Now, I agree that that's not the point, but why not open yourselves up to the possibility of some friendships? I think it's weird that they're setting out to distance themselves from other people. Embrace the possibilities guys!

Tyler & James: Team Addiction. Okay, who else cracked up when these guys were introduced as "Recovering Drug Addicts/Models". That's the best team description since Millie & Chucks "Dating 10 Years/Virgins". So yeah, these guys are young and athletic. They'll probably win. They seem a little humorless, however. I know lots of people hated The Hippies and the Frats from last year, but all of those guys had at least a little spark of humor. More of that, please.