DWTS vs. Heroes - Monday night update

It's tough flipping between ABC and NBC on Monday nights. Thankfully, Dancing with the Stars is down to an hour and a half vs. two hour format, so I can watch the second half of Heroes without interruption.

I did, however, miss Cheetah Girl Sabrina's jive last night. From the judges comments, I can assume it was her usual great performance. She got a 27 and was tied for the lead in judges scores with Mel B. and Jane Seymour. Personally, I thought Mel B's jive was technically good, but she doesn't do anything for me in the personality department. I doubt she'll make it to the finals. Jane Seymour's mother died last week and I'm sure there's a lot of sympathy for her in that regard. I felt her tango was elegant but cold, although the judges disagreed. Still, while Dr. Medicine Woman has a fairly strong fan base, I don't see her having the same passion and energy of Sabrina.

Cameron Mathison also danced the tango and scored a 23. I thought he looked good, but the choreography was a bit odd. He and Edyta danced to a cover of Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On" and I have to say, it just wasn't good tango music. In fact, the musical selections all night were lame--with the exception of Helio and Julianne's jive which was danced to "Kids in America." Helio was suffering from a sprained ankle and looked a bit restrained, but still the man can dance! The judges nicked him this time around and he limped away with a 24.

They gave higher marks to Jennie Garth who rebounded after a mishap last week scoring a 26 for her tango. Marie Osmond also did the tango and looked a bit matronly in my opinion--although the judges praised her. But she was far better than Wayne Newton's tango which was stiff and stodgy. He was wearing Britney Spears-type bad hair extensions going for an "Errol Flynn" look. Judge Len Goodman said he looked like the cat from Shrek. Meow! Cheryl Burke looked and danced great and the pair ended up with an 18.

Mark Cuban is improving, but I don't think he has the fan base to continue much further in this competition. His jive was a bit lacking in energy and he only netted a 20 from the judges. Floyd Mayweather gave one of his better performances--the jive suits his style--but he still looks like he's dancing around a boxing ring instead of a dance floor.

Results show is tonight--I'm thinking it will be Mark Cuban and Wayne Newton in the bottom two with Mark departing.

Meanwhile, over on NBC the Heroes plots move forward slooowly. My friend Peter and I agree that we're not digging the new Maya and Alejandro characters or the Hiro in 17th century Japan storyline. I almost cheered when Hiro was about to return to the present after getting Takezo Kensei on the right path and uniting him with his Japanese lady love. But Hiro also has feelings for samurai's love interest and decided to stay in 1671. He has managed to send notes on mini scrolls back to Ando in the present via his sword.

Peter is still missing his memory--which makes the appearance of his powers unsettling and using them a bit haphazard. He, too, is avoiding "rejoining the present"as, when presented with the box that holds the key to his identity, he decides not to open it. Micah and Niki are back--minus D.L. who got shot by Linderman at the end of last season. Someone explain to me why he didn't survive one gunshot wound, but Matt Parkman looks none the worse for wear after 3-4 bullets to the chest? D.L. had one of the coolest powers, too...Anyway, not too much going on with Niki and Micah, although at the end of the episode she'd turned herself into "The Company" asking to be "cured." If she's so down on having superpowers, why not bring Micah (who it appears was dropped off at his paternal grandmother's) to get cured as well?

The fly boy at Claire's new school lets her know that he's onto her. Claire runs away upset, afraid of being tagged as a "freak"--but the fly boy whisks her off to the beach revealing his own abilities. Meanwhile, Mr. Bennet has Mohinder rummage through Isaac's paintings looking for clues to the future. Mohinder transmits a disturbing image via his cameraphone to Bennet which shows him dead--and Claire and the fly boy kissing in the background.

The best part of the episode was the return of Sylar, who is recovering from being run through with a samurai sword by Hiro and watched over by the shapeshifter/illusionist who apparently survived being beat up by Niki last season--but is sporting a different look. Sylar's powers have disappeared, but the shapeshifter promises that he will recover them when he is fully healed. Sylar can't wait and kills her to eat her brain and take her power. But it doesn't work. So while Sylar survived, it appears he no longer is a threat. Unless he's now developed an appetite for brains...

Next week is supposed to explore the stories of the past heroes--Angela Petrelli, Hiro's dad, etc. That should be interesting...