DWTS/Heroes Update

Last night's Dancing with the Stars featured a "group dance" in the ongoing effort to pad out the show to one and a half hours now that there are only seven couples. With tonight's elimination bringing the total to six, next week each couple will have TWO dances so that ABC can have enough programming to justify dragging the show out to one and a half hours (each dance is 1 minute and 20 seconds times six couples--you do the math!) and maximize advertising revenue.

Up first last night was my favorite in the competition, Cheetah Girl Sabrina who danced an awesome Foxtrot in my opinion. Unfortunately, only Carrie Ann agreed with me. She scored only a 25. She was followed by Jennie Garth, whose Mambo was mediocre I thought. Again, the judges didn't agree and awarded her a 27. Why is it that they pointed out where Sabrina had messed up her steps in one small part of the the dance, but Jennie who made mistakes throughout her performance was given a free pass?

Jane Seymour did a Jive that judge Len Goodman termed "ballerina" and for once I agree. It was not her best performance and she got the lowest score of the evening--a 22. That coupled with her stay under the glare of the red light last week almost ensures she will be in the bottom two tonight. Cameron Mathison's Samba was called "primal and passionate" by Carrie Ann although Bruno and Len didn't like it too much. Still, he earned a 25 tying Sabrina for fourth place.

I didn't like Mel B's Rhumba all that much, but again the judges thought it was fab and gave it a perfect score. In my opinion, both Sabrina and Helio gave better performances last night. It doesn't matter, however, because I don't think Ms. Scary Spice has the fan base to keep her around much longer. I wouldn't be surprised to see her joining her fellow Brit Jane in the bottom two tonight.

Poor Marie. They replayed her fainting AGAIN! You knew they would, ratings hungry vampires...Her Paso Doble seemed too safe and cautious for the judges and she only scored a 23. Still, I think she has the fan base to get her through to next week. Helio rebounded from last week's low score with a funky Cha-Cha that earned him a 28, putting him in second place for the night. I think both Helio and Cameron will be sticking around for a while as they are the only men left in the competition now. Helio is talented enough to make it to the finals, and Cameron wisecracked that if HE makes it, he'll go beyond taking his shirt off and dance in a thong. That I'd like to see..

Heroes sluggishly plodded along again last night. The episode opened with Peter and Caitlin who decide to go to Montreal to find the blonde (Kristin Bell) who killed Caitlin's brother while searching for Peter. Then we didn't see them again for the entire episode. Air travel is a bitch these days, huh?

Claire tried out for the cheerleading squad. She needs to get on it so that she'll have an excuse to hang out with West without the overprotective Mr. Bennet getting wise to her dating. Unfortunately, the head cheerleader has it in for her and won't allow her on the squad. So West and Claire cook up a scheme to get even--a masked West flies in and grabs Claire and drops her to the ground while the head cheerleader looks on in horror. Then he flies for her as she runs screaming. The police are called but they just chalk up her story to too much alcohol. Especially when Claire shows up unscathed acting all innocent. The head cheerleader gets booted off the squad for alcohol consumption and Claire now has an alibi for when she hangs out with West.

Meanwhile, Claire's Daddy Dearest is in the Ukraine with the Haitian to get information from his former manager Ivan. Ivan resists, but the two blackmail him by threatening to take away his cherished family memories. Ivan relents and tells them the location of Isaac Mendez's paintings. Then Mr. Bennet shoots him. When they get to the warehouse with the paintings, Mr. Bennet sees for himself the one of him dead with Claire kissing a boy in the background.

Ando continues to have Hiro's scrolls translated. Apparently Hiro rescued the swordsmith's daughter from danger with his teleportation ability, she realizes it was his heroism all along and that it's HIM that she loves. She kisses him and Kensei witnesses it--and this causes a fracture in the time/space continuum. Is this starting to feel like a bad Star Trek episode or what?

Even more tedious is the Maya and Alejandro thread. They have finally crossed the border--although Maya was forced to unleash her plague power on the border patrol. The only saving grace in that story is Sylar, who tells the Alejandro--who doesn't like or trust him, but doesn't speak or understand English--that he's going to kill Alejandro and Maya and take their powers. Why is it that Maya can speak English, but her brother cannot? This is one case where I'm actually rooting for Sylar. Although I wonder if Hiro's sword took his powers, or The Company injected him with the vaccine?

Speaking of which, Bob tells Mohinder he has to inject Monica with the vaccine to see if it will eliminate her abilities. Mohinder eventually refused--and smashes a glass cabinet destroying the rest of the vaccine. Bob apologizes to him, saying that he shouldn't have asked him to do that and that Mohinder is important to The Company not just for his scientific knowledge, but to keep them honest. He also tell Mohinder that there's a bigger threat than Sylar. Adam Monroe--whose name Mohinder saw on a file. Bob sets Mohinder up with a new partner--Nikki. But Mohinder didn't seem like he trusted or believed her. Is it really Nikki--or another shapeshifter?

The episode ends with Peter and Caitlin arriving at the address in Montreal that Peter painted in a prophetic frenzy last episode. When they enter, they see a note for Peter--it's from "Adam." Adam Monroe? Who is this person? Is this who is offing individuals from The Company? How did Peter meet him? Was it during the four month time period between when he exploded midair last season and when he lost his memory and was locked in a crate this season? Anyway, Peter freaks out at the note which says, "The World is in danger." The new "Save the cheerleader, save the world" mantra no doubt...As Peter embraces Caitlin, he wishes he knew what was going to happen and unconsciously unleashes his teleportation power--transporting the two of them into an apocalyptic 2008.

No Nathan or Matt or Matt's evil dad or Micah last night at all--and very little Nikki or Peter. And Molly's still in her coma. It looks like next week's episode will be a glimpse into that possible future--which is far more interesting than the present day stories currently unfolding. Last night's episode was dedicated in memory of Tim Susco, who was a location manager for the show and who died at age 25 on August 15, 2007. Sad.