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"Dancing with Stars" Season 7

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marigold:
Jimmy Kimmel with Susan Lucci

marigold:
An interesting article:

Backstage: Why Dancing with the Stars Made Susan Lucci Cry

Susan Lucci swears she didn't mind flying back and forth from New York to Los Angeles every week to compete on Dancing with the Stars. It was a grueling schedule that lasted seven long weeks — and often made her cry. "The airplanes were not the problem," she said on Wednesday night, moments after getting her walking papers. "We could lie down on the plane and sleep."

The real fly in the ointment, she says, was her day job. If Lucci could have changed anything about her Dancing experience, "I probably would have asked for a leave of absence from All My Children. Because I think to learn these dances in four days is challenging enough. But working on both coasts, we only had the evenings to practice. I don't mean to whine at all — I'm so thrilled with everything that happened — but to do this justice, I think you should simply focus on this, which is plenty."

Lucci, at 61, is not a whiner. If she wasn't her best in this week's Team Cha Cha, it might be because she lost critical practice time, coming down with an intestinal bug after working on AMC last Friday morning. The audience knew nothing about it. "I got hit with the bug big time," she says. "But the main thing was the dehydration, because that really puts you out of commission. So we missed a whole day."

All of which made the learning curve that much steeper. Monday night's pre-dance video package showed Lucci starting to cry in rehearsals out of frustration. She says it wasn't the first time. "It seems to be part of the process with me," she says. "Just before I'm there — before I get it — I think I can't do it and I feel completely overwhelmed. And then Tony [Dovolani, her pro partner] comes in and says, 'Get over it!'"

"We're teaching these guys dances that take years to learn in four days," says Dovolani. "So, yes, the tension was high."

Did he cry this season, too? Dovolani laughs. "I don't cry. I try to keep it together. One of us had to!"

Link: http://www.tvguide.com/Dancing-Stars/Backstage-DWTS-Lucci-35382.aspx

marigold:
An interview with Susan and Tony:

Dancing With the Stars “If you have to go — this is the time.”

Q: Was it hard waiting under that light all night to hear your name called?
Susan: Well, I do have some experience in waiting for my name to be called (laughs).

Q: Are you feeling okay about having to leave?
Susan: You know, I feel fine, I truly do. I had a feeling it might be me tonight and I couldn’t think of a better time to go. I have had a wonderful experience, a life experience as I have said, and Monday I got to dance a breathtaking paso doble with Tony Dovolani. The audience was on its feet and we danced Zorro and Esperanza. This is the best time to go. If you have to go — this is the time.

Q: Did you achieve what you wanted on the show?
Susan: I did and more! I wanted to dance and push the envelope for myself and get out of my comfort zone, which I do from time to time, and love to do. I think it’s so important to step out of that zone, take chances, and keep on growing. It’s good for you to grow as an artist, but also fun as a human being. I did all that. And I wanted to get past a certain shyness in me about performing in a way that I am not used to and in a new genre. I began to break through that and it makes me happy. I also entered this incredible world of ballroom dancing that I had no notion of until I met Tony.
Tony: I am so proud of Susan. The way she handled this entire experience while doing two jobs and flying back and forth … Also, her husband, Helmut Huber, is an incredible person and helped us through this.
Susan: I haven’t met Tony’s wife, but she is cut from the same mold as Helmut, because she made it possible for Tony to be at ease and travel while holding down the fort with two new babies and a 3-year-old.

Q: Was there a highlight that stands out?
Susan: Being lifted in the hustle — that was so much fun. Not even at Studio 54 did I ever get lifted. I remember hearing that one night Bianca Jagger rode in on a white horse and I was wishing that I could have been there, but my day job then had me up really early, so there were only certain days I could stay up late.

Q: Would you consider doing a Vegas show?
Susan: I hope so. I have a nightclub act and have done Broadway. I was the first to go in for Bernadette Peters in Annie Get Your Gun. Regis Philbin found out about that and asked me to do a nightclub act, only I didn’t have one, so he encouraged me to get one going. I have been traveling around the country in big venues with Regis ever since. I have never done Vegas though, so that would be wonderful. Actually, my conductor has been talking about introducing dance sometime, and now I know how to.

Q: Will Erica Kane dance on All My Children?
Susan: I want Tony to teach Erica Kane how to dance, I think the fans would love to see Erica learn to dance from the gorgeous Tony. And if the chance was there I’d be only too thrilled to have Tony be in Vegas.
Tony: I’d be thrilled to do any kind of dancing with Susan — it doesn’t matter where it is. We know each other really well now and it’s like we were separated at birth. We’re great friends.

Link: http://www.intouchweekly.com/2008/11/dancing_with_the_starsif_you_h.php

marigold:
An interesting article:

Wednesday’s Dancing: What You Didn’t See

Her Swan Song: Soap legend Susan Lucci was served her DWTS walking papers Wednesday night, but the actress took her ouster in stride just as her TV alter ego Erica Kane would have. “My eyes have been opened to so many things, the underground mambo clubs of New York, the way that I can still move my body.” Lucci said. And if anything, Lucci left on a Dancing high note after Monday’s performance of the paso doble, which drove judge Carrie Ann Inaba to instruct Lucci to utter, “I AM good!” “I had no idea where Carrie Ann was going with that, and it is so not my style to scream out, ‘I am good!’” Lucci said. “But I know how she meant it, and I took it as tremendous encouragement.”

Behind Every Good Woman…: Is a loving husband. “I am so grateful to him,” Lucci said of her ever-present husband Helmut Huber, who sat front row week in and week out of the competition. “Helmut has been there every step of the way, he’s been fantastic.” Lucci’s partner Tony Dovolani couldn’t agree more: “He’s a special man. He deserves a trophy of his own. I don’t know how either one of us could have made it this far without his help.”

The Bold and the Barefoot: New pro Lacey Schwimmer continued stirring the DWTS pot during her taped segment in which she proclaimed, “I’ll go barefoot all over your face, Len!”, as a response to the head judge’s criticism to her and partner Lance Bass’s barefooted rumba. “I don’t even know what that means,” Schwimmer said of her comment Wednesday. “To be perfectly honest. It just came out, and a little bit of my inner self came out before I could censor myself.” But Schwimmer added, “It’s all in fun.”

Still the Dancing Queen: Sixth season contestant Marlee Matlin took a seat in the front row on Wednesday night, perhaps to brush up on some dancing? Matlin has been announced as a member of the upcoming DWTS tour, and the cheeky actress is looking forward to her stint back on the dancefloor. “It’s a dance fantasy,” Matlin told PEOPLE, adding she’s getting her very own tour bus. “It’s a good thing that I’m married and sober,” Matlin said through her interpreter. “I’d like to live like a rock star, and I used to think of myself as Marcia Brady from The Brady Brunch, but now I know, I’m Alice the Maid!”

In Place of Julianne: “I didn’t want to disappoint Cody or Julianne or their fans,” said Edyta Sliwinska, who is subbing for Hough as she recuperates from surgery. “I was praying, Please, God, not tonight! It would have been the worst night of my life.” Given a week to work with the easily distracted Linley, Sliwinska went straight to Hough for advice on how to train the 18-year-old. “The best advice that Julianne gave me was that I have to be more tough on Cody than I would on anyone else because he’s younger,” Sliwinska said. “I wish I could put horse blinders on him and maybe a leash so that he doesn’t wander around.”

More from Inside the Ballroom:

• Kim Kardashian played the role of supportive pal from the front row. “I’m so proud of everybody” she gushed. And though Kardashian would like to see frontrunner Brooke Burke take that trophy home, Kardashian has visions that boyfriend Reggie Bush may hit the parquet one day. “He says that he doesn’t think he would go for it, but he’s such a great dancer, so I think that he would do so well,” Kardashian said of her beau. “I think he totally could take the trophy.”

• Shannon Elizabeth hit the dancefloor at the end of the night to pay a visit to boyfriend Derek Hough. Hough explained why his former dance partner has been persona non grata in the ballroom. “She just got back from filming,” Hough said of Elizabeth, “and she had a meeting in Santa Monica, so she stopped by. She saw our foxtrot in rehearsal the other day, and she said, ‘You guys are going to get three tens!’”

Link: http://tvwatch.people.com/2008/11/06/wednesdays-dancing-what-you-didnt-see-2/

marigold:

ABC Television Network
PRESS RELEASE

OVERNIGHT ABC RATINGS (FOR 11/5)

Quick Take for Wednesday, November 5, 2008

ABC Grows for the 2nd Consecutive Week in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, Drawing its Largest Audience in Nearly 1 Year

 "Dancing with the Stars Results" Ranks No. 1 in the 8 o'clock Hour in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, Qualifying as Wednesday's Most-Watched Program 

"Private Practice" Draws its Largest Audience of the Season and Posts a Best-Since-Premiere Performance Among Adults 18-49

"Private Practice" Builds on its Lead-in and Stands as Wednesday's No. 1 Program Among Adults 18-34, Women 18-34 and Women 18-49
 
ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" Beats NBC's "Law & Order" Season Premiere in the 10pm Hour Among Adults 18-34 and Key Women
Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Growing week to week for the second week in a row, ABC was up over the previous week by 3.6 million viewers (10.5 million vs. 6.9 million) and by 17% in Adults 18-49 (2.8/6 vs. 2.4/6), logging the Net's largest audience on the night in nearly 1 year - since 11/28/07.  ABC ranked No. 1 on the night across each of the key women demos: Women 18-34 (3.1/9), Women 18-49 (4.1/10) and Women 25-54 (4.8/11-tie).   

"Dancing with the Stars Results" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
Standing as the night's most-watched program, a special Wednesday airing of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars Results" ranked No. 1 at 8:00 p.m. in Total Viewers (15.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.2/9-tied).  "DWTS Results" also led its time period among Women 18-49 (4.4/11) and Adults 25-54 (4.3/11).  Actress and entrepreneur Susan Lucci was the seventh dancer to leave the competition this season.

"Private Practice" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Retaining 100% of its young adult lead-in, ABC's "Private Practice" attracted its largest audience (9.5 million) of the season, while posting a best-since-premiere performance in Adults 18-49 (3.2/8).  The medical drama built on its lead-in and ranked as Wednesday's top program among Adults 18-34 (2.9/8), Women 18-34 (4.6/12) and Women 18-49 (4.9/11).  "Private Practice" has stood as Wednesday's No. 1 program among Women 18-34 in all 5 of its telecasts this season. 

"Dirty Sexy Money" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the final hour of the evening, ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" outperformed the season premiere of NBC's "Law & Order" among Adults 18-34 (1.6/5 vs. 1.4/4), Women 18-34 (2.3/7 vs. 1.5/7) and Women 18-49 (2.8/8 vs. 2.4/6). 

* "Dirty Sexy Money" was up from the prior week in Total Viewers (6.2 million vs. 6.1 million) and across all key women demos: W18-34/W18-49/W25-54.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 28% currently, from 20% at the same point in 2007. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.
 

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