Dancing and Donnellys 3/19/07

I'm really digging the alliteration in the title of my post.

Anyway, let's talk about Dancing with the Stars, first. This is the only reality show I watch, because I'm fascinated by dancing.

I think this may be the first season that any of the celebrities may be able to go all the way to the finals. Most of them looked good on the dance floor, even with shorter time to train than in previous seasons.

I was especially impressed by John Ratzenberger. He did very well for having only half the time to train as all the other competitors.

The only celeb that I wasn't entirely impressed with was Billy Ray Cyrus. I think he just didn't pick the right music to dance to. Plus, he didn't seem to have rhythm while he was dancing. Although, I do have to give him some props for the shameless self-promotion by using a song of his.

I thought Heather Mills did a fabulous job, especially with her disability. It didn't look like she had a fake leg at all. I'm just hoping that one of her legs doesn't fly off when she dancing a different dance. (Was that too off-color? I'm not sure if I crossed the line there or not.)

I also have to say that Apolo Anton Ohno's hip action made my heart flutter a little bit. (Yeah, I'm shallow. Shut up.)

On the professional dancers side, I was really happy to see Jonathan Roberts back. I was always impressed by his dancing, and it's kind of sucked lately that he hasn't been able to move forward in the competition farther.

Cheryl Burke is the luckiest dancer of all of them. She always gets lucky with the partner they give to her. Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, and now Ian Ziering. I hope if she returns next season, they give her more of a challenge.

Brian Fortuna seems like a cocky little guy, but he is a good dancer, so I won't berate him too much. He also got pretty lucky with his assigned partner.

Overall, I think this will be a very entertaining season. I'm looking forward to next week to see what the celebs will bring.

Next up is The Black Donnellys. First, let me say that I was especially happy to see Kate Mulgrew have more of a role in this episode. I like how she's a no-holds-barred kind of mother. She's really good at playing that type of character.

I was also happy to see Sean as an actual character instead of just a prop lying in a bed. That's essentially what's he's been through the run of the series so far, so it's nice to see him fleshed out a bit.

Tommy just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into the mob scene. I still find myself amazed that how seamlessly he's entered the whole scene. Yet, I can tell that he doesn't exactly like what he's doing. He's a very interesting character, and I've been enjoying his interactions with everyone.

I loved the scene with Jenny and the priest in the church. "I know a sin when I see won," is such a classic line. I like that she feels guilty for what she's done, not only to her husband, but also to Tommy. That didn't come out right. It is totally in character for her to feel the way she does.

I also liked the scene between Tommy and Jenny at the end. He was right to brush her off like that after she basically treated him the same way in the last episode. I definitely see potential for them to get together by the end of the series, whenever that may be.

Kevin had a lot of nice sarcastic remarks during the episode. I enjoy a dry humor, because that's what I tend to use as well.

The scene at the very end, with Kate's son telling Tommy that he knows what Tommy did, was a really good way to end the episode. I didn't see that twist coming, and if this show can keep surprising me like that, it'll keep me tuning in.

I'm kind of thinking that Kate may not be as oblivious to what Tommy is doing as she seems. I could be wrong, but I'd like to think she's got a keen eye. The only reason I think this is the phone call she made to Tommy. It sounded slightly more accusatory than frightened. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

This episode was pretty good. I thought it lacked a bit of action, but the plot moved forward, and it was pretty character-driven, which is what I really look for in a drama. With the twist at the end, it's got me as a viewer for at least another week.