Thoughts on DWTS: Season 11

Dancing with the Stars is the only show I'm watching on primetime these days. As a regular viewer, I've noticed that this is the first season the show has felt below par. The cast doesn't lack for entertainment. In fact, the cast - B-list and all - is my favorite element. This doesn't change the fact that show night feels a bit lackluster. The weird, negative energy from last week made it clear that a lot of the charm and sparkle of past seasons that I love most about DWTS has dimmed. It certainly didn't seem like a great time to bring out the brand spanking new round stage and unplug the band.

I understand the reasons for it - the judges/producers wanted to focus more on the actual dancing. But I love the special effects and general over-the-topness - the glitter, the lights, the big stage that in no way limits the choreography of these creative professionals. Even with the audience packed so closely around the stage Monday, the energy still lagged. (And was the only one who detected ushers spaced throughout the audience to amp up the spectators? It also seemed like a weird night for Sarah and Todd Palin to be among the voyeurs...I mean, spectators...with people raunching it up with the rumba and Argentine tango. Her presence made things in the ballroom almost as awkward as Florence and Corky's rumba.)

I will say that some of the charm and magic that drew me to the show to begin with glimmered for the first time since the Season 11 premiere. Len's shirtless on DanceCenter. The hilarious appropriate/inappropriate signs. Maks and Bruno both seemed to be in a far better spirits. The producers cut most of the training videos to come off as entertaining, not mood killing like Maks and Brandy's last week. The scoring is improving marginally. No more room for elimination night fake-outs. And the Tom Bergeron Butt Pinching Brigade is back on track. I'm still rooting for Team Grey - Jenougher - and right now there's a poll going on over at ABC.com where fans can choose their Top Ten Dances. I'm campaigning for Gilles and Cheryl's Foxtrot. Choose your favorites here!

Here's hoping DWTS recaptures a little more of the magic from seasons past. Like this....

Derek Hough's Emmy-nominated Paso Doble with Chelsea Hightower


Sabrina Bryan and Mark Ballas's Macy's Stars of Dance Performance...which ties nicely into what I'll be doing on the plains Saturday ;)



Care to share some of your favorite DWTS moments, Cozies?

(A reminder: I'll be presenting an online workshop with Laura Breck and Lisa Lipkind Leibow all week long on Grogging at The Muse Online Writing Conference, as a reminder for those who are interested. And don't forget to check back in Saturday for contemporary, romantic suspense and paranormal recommended reads!)

Heroines of Today

Everyone knows I love ABC. Though Jason Mesnick gave me pause about my Bachlelor obsession, I'm still watching The Bachelorette this spring. I've ended my feud with Dancing with the Stars. Team Melissa! Every day there isn't a new Brothers & Sisters episode in my ABC Episode Player, I mope. Not to mention the new kid on the block, Castle. Don't cancel, ABC. I BEG YOU!

You may not know that I also follow The View. I love the ladies' "Hot Topics" more than their celebrity guests. No joke! I watch The View not only because it's the biggest news from an all-women perspective. Instead of the biases you get by watching any big news networks, there's someone for every political view on The View. Joy, the Liberal, Elizabeth, the Conservative and the others hold their own in between. The range is wonderful.

Later this week I was fortunate enough to tune in in time to hear Whoopi discuss something that set everyone at the View table off their rocker. A survey done by Oxygen TV states that 25% of women between the ages of 18 and 34 would rather win America's Next Top Model than the Nobel Prize. Even worse, 22% of 18 to 24 year old women who consider themselves attractive would rather lose their ability to read than their figure. All I can really think to say about this is "Holy crap on toast!" I thought women were beyond this, especially after this last election year. It appalls me, and a lot of other women I'm sure, that after how far we've come in the last several years and the current state of our world that 22-25% of us are still this shallow.

Of course, as with so many other things, these numbers made me think of the romance genre. Not only of the incredible women I've met through RWA and Gulf Coast Romance Writers but of our heroines. Women have not only advanced through politics and the work force, but romance heroines have taken several leaps from the days of the "bodice ripper." From inspirational to paranormal, no more will you see legions of Too-Stupid-To-Live's. Judging by sales, I'd say readers approve. In every romance I've picked up since that first Nora nearly a decade ago, I've encountered realistic, intelligent women who would scoff at this survey, too. I will admit, though physical flaws are now more widely accepted in the genre than decades prior, heroines are still more likely to look like the Daphne's as opposed to the Velma's. Yet I daresay none of them would kick their brains to the curve even if it meant fitting into those size 2 jeans.

Ladies, sound off! What do you think of these new numbers. Do they relate at all to romantic fiction?