Dancing With The Stars | featured news

Urkel alert! Forget the rumors, forget the speculation and definitely forget all that Tim Tebow talk. The cast list for the 14th season is now known.

Former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann says she's not joining the new cast of "Dancing with the Stars."

Against mostly atypical competition, CBS’ regular Monday lineup dominated every half-hour in its return to originals last night after a week of repeats. ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, a huge draw among total viewers, sucks out (mostly older) audiences from the competition. As they didn’t face Dancing with originals for the first time this season, CBS’ comedies boosted their viewership. How I Met Your Mother (4.5/12 in adults 18-49, 11.7 million total viewers) was up a tenth in the demo vs. two weeks ago and drew its largest audience with a regularly scheduled episode in almost three years. (since January 12, 2009).

War veteran/soap opera actor J.R. Martinez’s stint on “Dancing With the Stars” started out strong, and it ended on a less impressive note with injuries and some sub-par performances — no matter. He was crowned the winner of season 13 on Tuesday night’s finale.

One day after Nancy Grace sacrificed a perfectly good news cycle full of hootin’ and hollerin’ about the Conrad Murray guilty verdict so she could practice for “Dancing With the Stars,” she was rewarded for her efforts by being officially eliminated from the competition, one week shy of the semi-finals.

Strange things happen on Halloween. All of a sudden there’s a spooky vibe in the air. Ghosts and goblins go looking for sweet treats. And somehow, even a “Dancing” dud can deliver a decent dance.

Having a big voting bloc certainly helps when a celebrity competes on “Dancing With the Stars,” but that will only get you so far if you lack dancing skill.

The competition lost more than its most vibrant contestant of the season on Tuesday night, it also lost its most entertaining. TV personality Carson Kressley became the season’s fifth casualty as viewers went back to voting off the lesser dancers after two straight weeks of unexpected cuts. His ouster wasn’t a total shocker. This was the former "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" star's second straight week at the bottom of the leaderboard, and the judges have for weeks complained about his lack of technique despite their love for his performances. As head grump judge Len Goodman had noted previously, it’s the worst dancers this season who are the most entertaining.

In the ballroom, all it takes is one off night to crush all hope of attaining the coveted mirror ball trophy. It was a lesson that Chynna Phillips learned the hard way after being eliminated on Tuesday night during week four of the competition. The singer from the popular '90s group Wilson Phillips had been riding high near the top of the leaderboard since season 13 kicked off, but after forgetting her routine on Monday’s performance show, it was lights out for her chances at ballroom glory.

The construct of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” has been turned on its head, with the dancing professionals often exuding more star power than their celebrity partners.