"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" opened up to a record-busting weekend, bringing in over $140 million over the weekend (making it the third-largest film opening of all time, behind "Spider-Man 3" and "The Dark Knight"). Certainly the business generated by the second film in the series was due to the buzz created by stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart last week. The promotional push doesn't slow down this week on the TV talk shows, many of which are dark or running limited schedules because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Tonight, Ashley Greene will try to follow Pattinson's appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman," while co-star Taylor Lautner will be Conan O'Brien's guest on "The Tonight Show."
Letterman also has some top-shelf musical talent this week, as he welcomes Rihanna on Tuesday night (November 24) and Adam Lambert on Wednesday (November 25). Conan, meanwhile, has Timbaland on tonight and Weezer on Tuesday. Need more Weezer? Check them out on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" tonight. Kimmel will also have Wolfmother and the winner of "Dancing with the Stars" (almost certainly Mya) on Tuesday.
Perhaps the strangest encounter this week will happen on "The Jay Leno Show," which tonight not only has California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger but also Lady Gaga, who is coming off a triumphant performance at last night's American Music Awards. Hardcore hip-hop heads can look forward to Jimmy Fallon's show every night (because you always get killer stuff from the Roots), but Wednesday night's episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" will feature a performance from Mos Def and Talib Kweli, who collaborated on the legendarily great album Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star and will no doubt throw down something fierce with the house band. But the story is still "New Moon" and probably will be for some time.
It's been a long, winding season of "Dancing with the Stars," but at last we've arrived at the finals. This week's semi-final series of episodes ended with Joanna Krupa getting sent home in something of a semi-upset. Krupa certainly moved better than Donny Osmond or Kelly Osbourne, but she's far less famous than either of those two and was thus shown the door. She seemed completely unsurprised by the decision and did her exit dance without much fuss.
In fact, her dismissal was something of a metaphor for the back half of this season, as now that the drama-makers have been tossed off and the underdogs have all put their shoes away, we're down to actually naming a winner. And has anybody doubted — even for a nanosecond — that Mya was going to win this season? The public do love Osmond, but the goodwill of the over 60 set won't be enough to give him the crown. It's sort of a cheat, really, as Mya is about as close to a professional dancer as you can get without actually putting it on your tax return. (It's always been sort of unfair to have figure skaters on this show, too.) If the show was a sham, Osbourne would totally be named the winner next week, as she has provided a great story. Remember how borderline hostile she was in the opening episodes? And now she's totally great! In the brief history of "Dancing with the Stars," nobody has ever improved so much so fast.
This week's performance episode was great, as it was four couples doing impressive dancing (the choreography on this show is sometimes spotty, but everything was on point). The nearly drama-free results episode was one of the more insane hours of television in recent memory: Alicia Keys dropped in to perform "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart" (the best song Price never recorded), Leona Lewis belted out "Happy" (from her excellent just-released new album Echo) and then Robin and Barry Gibb tapped into their falsettos for a run through "You Should be Dancing." Can you guess which on was the most surreal?
There won't be much tension during next week's finale, as Mya should already have printed up business cards announcing her as the season's victor. Just to make it interesting, the producers of "Dancing with the Stars" should give Mya some sort of stomach virus, just like Carol Hannah on "Project Runway." But unless there's projectile vomiting involved, the former "Lady Marmalade" contributor will dance away with the trophy.
''You're an inspiration to all young people that anything is possible. If you were my son I would be so proud of you.'' That's what "Dancing with the Stars" judge Len Goodman said to Aaron Carter at the end of last night's episode, ending the pop star's run on this season's championship. While Carter always seemed to be working slightly beneath his potential, he tended to play the role of whipping boy and the judges seemed to be extra hard on him. On balance, he was always a little underrated.
This week's episodes were wildly entertaining and saw Mya shake her way to the season's first perfect score. Carter always seemed like he could play spoiler, but now that he's gone, this competition is hers to lose. In fact, there isn't even really a viable challenger, as while Donny Osmond, Joanna Krupa and Kelly Osbourne are all excellent, they're totally the B team. In fact, this week's scores reflected as such: With her perfect score, Mya finished with a total of 59, and Krupa stood in a distant second place with 52.
Susan Boyle made an appearance on last night's results show to belt out "I Dreamed a Dream," the song that made her famous and the title track to her forthcoming album. She was in excellent voice and sounded strong, though the interpretive dance that accompanied it was just sort of odd. It must be extremely difficult to come up with so much choreography every week, but considering what a big name Boyle is, that accompaniment seemed a little phoned in.
The show rolls on next week, though they might as well just give the prize to Mya and make the show about who is the best of the other three competitors. Osmond continues to be overrated, but the real surge has come from Osbourne, who seems to have a real competitive fire in her. When the show started two months ago, it seemed like she was destined for an early exit. But she managed to survive the doubts of the public, the opinions of the judges and injuries to become the season's best story.
Sometimes it seems like the producers of "Dancing with the Stars" are daring the audience not to drift into a boredom-induced coma during the results shows. In fact, the very concept of "results shows" should really be stricken from the television lexicon. A creation of the reality show revolution, they stretch 30 seconds of content into an interminable Möbius strip of recaps, guest appearances and pre-commercial teases that can only lull the viewing audience into a deep sleep or drive them completely homicidal. (It's mostly the former, probably.) Last night's episode of "Dancing with the Stars" was the worst kind of offender, as it delayed a foregone conclusion (the elimination of both Michael Irvin and Mark Dacascos) with padding care of Rod Stewart, Colbie Caillat and the premiere of the almost-boy-band featuring Mark Ballas and Derek Hough.
This week's performance show wasn't much better, though it did set some drama in motion for the final episodes of the show. The final four all had extra-solid performances this week, especially Aaron Carter, who has swung from frontrunner to loathed bottom-feeder to underdog and now seems primed to make a run at Mya for the top spot. Donny Osmond also remains in the mix, and though it seems like he's still kept around to keep the 60-something ladies in heat, he did have one of his best dances this week. Joanna Krupa and Kelly Osbourne round out the top five, with the latter easily showing the greatest improvement between the beginning of the season and now. (Between Kelly's dancing and Ozzy and Sharon's killer bits on WWE's "Raw," Monday night was a big one for the Osbourne clan.)
In the end, Irvin was shown the door, but not before he gave an enthusiastic exit speech that mentioned something about the economy (was his dancing supposed to inspire job growth?). He was followed by Dacascos. Both were in over their heads and probably should have been kicked out weeks ago. But all's well that ends well, as the final five represent four contestants who have consistently performed well (Mya, Carter, Osmond and Krupa) along with the one constantly-improving underdog (Osbourne). The next few weeks should provide some great drama, but maybe ABC could just text us the results next week?
After the flash of last week's Michael Jackson tribute, this week's episodes of "Dancing with the Stars" couldn't help but be a bit of a letdown. Everyone seemed strangely subdued this week (perhaps they were all exhausted from Kelly Osbourne's birthday party?), and even the best performers seemed a little bit off. Two dancers got sent home this week: Snowboarder Louie Vito (who probably should have been sent away weeks ago) and actress Melissa Joan Hart (who had improved dramatically over the course of the past few episodes but stumbled this week). Somehow, Michael Irvin will live to dance another day, but he's been on the brink for nearly a month at this point. There must be oodles of Dallas Cowboys fans flooding the fan voting every week, because though Irvin's dancing isn't completely disastrous, he probably should have shuffled off already.
As for the upsides this week, Mya obviously stayed dominant, which is almost getting a little boring. She managed to get a strong challenge this week from Joanna Krupa, who was this week's high scorer and provided an interesting curveball to this batch of shows. This week also saw a nice little resurgence from Aaron Carter, who overcame a few rounds of doldrums to really lay down a great performance on Monday night's show. It still seems like the finals will come down to Mya and Carter, though now Krupa has established herself as a major player. (Meanwhile, the 90-and-over crowd keeps Donny Osmond trucking, even though the judges have totally overrated him.)
Last night's musical guest was Taylor Swift, who performed two songs and has been on so many shows lately that it has become pretty obvious that she can bi-locate. Next week's show will feature some sort of costume element, and the fight for survival will be between Irvin and Osbourne, who danced well this week but is running out of inferior people to finish in front of.
Every day a multitude of stars wanders through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.
Kelly Osbourne has been keeping herself pretty busy lately: She got engaged to fashion model Luke Worrall and has been pushing herself on the current season of "Dancing with the Stars." In fact, she's been pushing herself so hard that she managed to hurt herself during rehearsals for last week's show. But she managed to right herself on last night's show, where she danced with confidence and scored a 25 out of 40, which should keep her around for at least another week or two. That's good news for Osbourne, because it'd be a real bummer to get eliminated on her birthday (which is today). She celebrated turning 25 last night with Worrall and her "Dancing with the Stars" castmates.
She wasn't the only one partying last night, as Lindsay Lohan stepped out to Vibiana in Los Angeles for a festive evening and the Madden brothers from Good Charlotte celebrated at a BlackBerry event in Sydney, Australia. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted!" archive, which features nearly 400 candid shots of Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers and Adam Lambert!
After last week's tepid episodes and the disappointing departure of UFC fighter Chuck Liddell, "Dancing with the Stars" bounced back this week with a tremendous one-two punch. Monday (October 19) night's run through the dances was action-packed (and featured Kelly Osbourne's injury; she is expected to bounce back next week), while last night's episode featured an impressive tribute to Michael Jackson. The dance world certainly owes a lot to Jackson's influence, and the three-song salute ("I Want You Back," "Man in the Mirror" and "Thriller") introduced by sister La Toya not only let the professional dancers throw themselves deeply into some of Jackson's signature moves, but also showed just how much the King of Pop changed the dance world forever.
After that wildly entertaining sequence, it was more than a little bit of a comedown when Norah Jones showed up to coo a bit while two seemingly comatose dancers swayed in the foreground. If you've got a show that is going to feature a tribute to one of the most beloved pop stars and dance innovators in the history of music, why would you also book Jones? Though her performance only took a quarter of the time that the MJ tribute did, that portion of the show seemed to stretch on for an actual infinity. Even when "Dancing with the Stars" books something well, they still can't get over the idea that the results show is supposed to be boring.
But that's nitpicking, because the dances this week were pretty thrilling. Mya killed it again, Melissa Joan Hart continues to improve and Aaron Carter was also impressive (though not impressive enough to keep him out of the bottom two). He got a stay of execution, however, because Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin got the boot this week. While the departure of Liddell was disappointing because he was so entertaining, Couglin's exit is a genuine miscarriage of justice, as she was way, way better overall than many of the people left over. Clearly, the fan voting is weighted way too much (which is why the somewhat unpopular Carter keeps dancing well but continues to sit near the bottom every week). Also, the judges continue to overrate Donny Osmond. Sure, he can move, but he certainly wasn't as good as a 29 this week.
Just about anybody can still win this thing (except Michael Irvin), so the next few weeks should be pretty cutthroat. Dance on!
During his career in the UFC, Chuck Liddell rarely lost. Sure, he got knocked out by Rashad Evans and was on the short end of a decision against Keith Jardine, but Liddell spent most of his time dominating. But if he was jarred or put off by his elimination from "Dancing with the Stars" last night, he certainly didn't show it. For a guy who got famous by being violent, Liddell has spent the last few weeks on "Dancing with the Stars" smiling and charming his way into the hearts of viewers across the country (though obviously Michael Irvin has managed to woo quite a few more).
In a surprising twist, Aaron Carter (who was once anointed by this Web site as the sure winner) found himself in the bottom three for the second consecutive week. What's up with him? Is he actually distracted by the rumored relationship with dance partner Karina Smirnoff? He has really cleared the way for Mya, who has been so consistently good in the past two weeks that she might as well be on a different show entirely.
The best stories week-to-week are always the comebacks, which is why the most entertainment came from inspiring performances from Kelly Osbourne and especially Melissa Joan Hart, who managed to display a sexy energy that she was previously unable to harness. For at least two minutes on Monday night, she looked like a potential champion.
It's always a little bit distracting when other stars drop in on "Dancing with the Stars," though any visit from Shakira is always welcome. Her album She Wolf is still a few weeks away from release, but she's already on her second single. "Did It Again" is a fun Neptunes-kissed track, but it's no "She Wolf." Still, Shakira always lends a little bit of surreality to any show, so her visit was a welcome distraction from Tuesday night's results show (which is consistently an insufferably dull block of television).
As for next week, Irvin remains on the ropes. Louie Vito has also got to go (his country two-step was much, much worse that Liddell's, making this week another "Dancing with the Stars" miscarriage of justice), though his partner Chelsie Hightower will be missed profoundly when he finally does disappear.
The chill in the air is enough to convince us that fall is actually here. So rather than hitting the backyard barbecue, it's time for leaf peeping, pumpkin carving and watching college football. But before you wrap up the last of your work for the week and hit the nearest hay ride, be sure to check out everything you might have missed this week on the MTV Newsroom blog, from the deep dirt on Lady Gaga to some pre-emptively rejected Kris Allen album titles.
» Before Lady Gaga was a fashion-forward hit machine, she was just a New York University student desperately trying to eat a salad without hurting anybody.
» Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell forced the group to bow out of a bunch of promotional dates because he caught swine flu, but that didn't stop us from celbrating the release of the group's new album This Is Us.
» On "Dancing with the Stars," Debi Mazar and Tom DeLay both did the loser shuffle. Meanwhile, Chuck Liddell is gaining some serious skills, but the competition is still Mya's to lose.
» Kris Allen's debut album doesn't have a title yet, and MTV News' Jim Cantiello wants him to know what not to do.
» In other correspondent news, James Montgomery wrote some lovely things about Pink — so lovely, in fact, that she tweeted her gratitude.
Read more...
In the life of just about every competition-based reality show, the first few weeks are sort of a slog because there are always a handful of contestants who clearly can't win. Thus, the drama is sort of weak because those people have to be tossed off before the folks with real talent and skill can really start going after each other (this is true of every season of "Project Runway" and "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge"). In the case of "Dancing with the Stars," this week represented the last for the truly hopeless, as actress Debi Mazar was sent packing and former Congressman Tom DeLay withdrew from the competition (citing a foot injury that he re-aggravated). Both Mazar and DeLay were basically dead on arrival, as neither could really get a handle on their dancing or provide much flair, and it's doubtful anybody will really miss them.
The 11 remaining contestants can now get down to business, and this week provided plenty of drama. The previously indestructible Aaron Carter found himself in danger of being eliminated while the constantly-improving Chuck Liddell was drafted for this week's encore dance (though he did sort of mess it up the second time around). Louie Vito also staged a nice comeback with some fine moves, but the competition remains Mya's to lose (though she got a nice challenge this week from Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin).
Last night's episode also featured a guest appearance from Queen Latifah, who performed two songs that showed off both sides of her personality: The hip-hop song "Fast Car" (from her latest and totally underrated album Persona) and "Ease on Down the Road" from the Broadway musical "The Wiz." The Queen livened up what was an otherwise static elimination show.
As for next week, it seems like Michael Irvin is next in line to get cut (meaning former teammate and "Dancing with the Stars" champion Emmitt Smith will be able to hold that over him), but it's now anybody's race.
