Cloris Leachman has been freed from Dancing With the Stars

The long national nightmare is over. Cloris Leachman has been kicked off Dancing With the Stars.

Her departure Tuesday couldn't have come soon enough. The 80-something attention sponge was quickly becoming the Sanjaya Malakar of ABC's unscripted dance competition, mugging her way through dance routines she could barely negotiate physically -- like that crazy aunt you try to keep away from small children at family gatherings.

Producers groused anonymously to the gossip sheets that she was ruining their ratings cash cow (you'd think bringing in Lord of the Schmaltzy Dances Michael Flatley as a guest judge this week would have accomplished that anyway).

And it was hard to decide whether watching Leachman lurch around in low-cut costumes, ignoring the show's hosts to cut up with the judges, was endearing or just sad evidence how badly this eight-time Emmy winner had fallen.

The only plus from Leachman's performances was the way she kept confusing co-host Samantha Harris, a refugee from the E! channel who seemed to react like a dog smacked across the face with a rolled-up newspaper every time Leachman would barrel past to crack a joke or curse a low score from the judges.

But toward the end, Leachman began to look like that 4-year-old singer audiences refused to kick off America's Got Talent; after awhile, keeping somebody around who can't keep pace is just cruel.

So the show's audience finally released Leachman -- and us -- from the pain of pretending that her antics were still entertaining. 

And with her gone, just one question remains: Will the show get so predictable we won't even care whether Warren Sapp takes it all or not? *

Comments

As the show goes on the producers see who is more popular and who causes the most trouble to make sure they stay on.

[Bob H]

Eric,

"Unscripted"? Really? Just like Survivor and all the rest?

I have a hard time believing any of these so-called reality shows are truly unscripted or that they have, at the very least, pre-determined outcomes.

[Lin Young]

Hmm, I wonder why it's always a "crazy aunt" and never a crazy uncle. I wonder if Dancing With the Stars had been around when Bob Hope was in his 80s and he had appeared and danced as badly as Cloris Leachman has, but entertained as skillfully as Leachman has, if Hope would have been panned or praised. White people often say there is less racism in the world than black people think there is. The traditional feeling is that the person who feels discriminated against is a more accurate barometer of discrimination. So, as a woman, I say that this critique of Cloris Leachman offends me. As a woman I also wonder what would have happened if I had spent as much energy taking action against sexism, since I was a child in the 60s until this day, as I have spent all these years taking action against racism. It's impossible of course to know. But at this time in my life, I'm choosing to be more outspoken about what I, as a woman, perceive as sexism. From where I stand, in my female body, describing what Cloris Leachman was doing on the show as "antics" when the woman was known for her great comedic timing in her long-running role on the Mary Tyler Moore show is derogatory. When the show cast Cloris to dance, they weren't expecting an 80-something human being to dance with the skill of younger dancers, she was on the show because of her entertainment skills as a great comedian and Acadamy-Award and Oscar-winning actress. Women lose value in this society about the time they lose fertility. That has been unacceptable for a long time.

[Jimmy Delach]

While Cloris Leachman may have been a talented actress/comedienne back in her days, she clearly was not made for "Dancing With The Stars" at her age and she showed with her moves. I noticed that the anti-American Idol web site votefortheworst.com had been backing Cloris Leachman throughout the competition which likely explained how she got this far to begin with. I'm sad that Toni Braxton couldn't outlast her (wholeheartedly agreed with Carrie Ann Inaba on Monday's show). Warren Sapp all the way!!!

[Jen]

While Cloris was not the best dancer (and really should not have been in a competition)....it was great to see an 82 year old woman out there on the dance floor having fun.

[Mary]

I wish the whole show would be the next to go...

[Nancy]

The reason Cloris clowned around so much is because she knew she could not make the grade and leaned on her comedy skills to get through what must have been a painful rehearsal and routine.

The "nightmare" as you call it will be when this show ends. This show - just like American Idol - is just about popularity. It has nothing to do with talent. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

[ted]

Cloris got it right by making a fool out of this stupid show.

[Unclorky]

I am *so* glad Cloris is gone! I never found her antics funny (and I am old enough to remember her on MTM) and I am really tired of watching her pretend to dance. My 83-year-old mother with a recent hip replacement moves better! Carrie Ann was right on target with her comments this week. I would love to see Corky Ballas paired with another dancer; I am sure he has much more to show us than mugging to make Cloris look better. After all he is responsible for much of what we see in his son Mark and Julianne and Derek Hough.

[Serenity]

If the producers and judges do not want us to vote for someone, they should not have them on the show. Of course an 80 year old cannot do the same moves as people 1/4th her age. But she did well and was always entertaining. I thought at least 2 others should have gone before her--Susan Lucci and that runner who can't keep the beat if his life depended on it.

If the producers insist on having people who cannot reasonably hope to compete with who they obvioulsy want to win, then they should be given a handicap to make the judging more fair.

And there is never an excuse for the rudeness they exhibited Monday.

As for the hip hop....that was just a hot mess.

I voted for Cloris. She is the only reason I watched the show which seems to get worse every year. Last year I stopped watching half way thru the season and now, with Cloris gone I have a few extra hours to read. I certainly won't bother watching the rest of the show.

[david]

Cloris was the only reason I even tuned into this show. Granted, she is not a great dancer, but at least she was fun! So if the judges were worried about the ratings for their "cash cow" before, they should really be in a panic now. I won't watch again, and I am sure there are others who feel the same.

[Dan]

No one in their right mind really thought Leachman could pull off a hip hop number. She was better served in the background while the others made fools of themselves. At least she knew that she didn't perform well after most of her dances. That's why she hammed it up.

Lucci, on the other hand, has a look on her face that says "I'm doing good, I'm doing good" while she dances by the numbers. (Uh...no you're not, girlfriend.) Then she seems kind of stunned when the judges criticize her. Lucci's Hustle was so SLOW, it actually looked better in fast forward.

[Eric Deggans]

Lucci is the next one to go, I figure.

But Leachan couldn't even participate in the hip hop group number, besides mugging. And in all seriousness, they had to be worried she would injure herself at a time when so many of their other dancers have hurt themselves...

[Dan]

Oh please! I just lost nearly a third of my 401K in the last couple of weeks but Cloris Leachman is a "national nightmare"? You've got to be kidding. Cloris is a legend and was at least entertaining for a lot of viewers. I don't understand why people don't get that this is more than a dance contest. If you don't like it - or the show's judges and producers don't like the results - then change the rules.

Of course Cloris wasn't the best dancer but she was infinitely more watchable than Toni Braxton, who looked bored and/or uncomfortable most of the time. Really, I thought Cloris should leave not because of her lack of technique...but because I worried about her having an accident. Many people I know in their 80s are using walkers or living in nursing homes. So kudos to Cloris for attempting what she did!

And by the way, did you see Susan Lucci this week? I had to rewind the group dance because I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm from New York too but that doesn't mean I go around boasting that I can do the Hustle just because I went to Studio 54 or a Hip Hop dance. She was truly dreadful.

[William]

Check her out on Jimmy Kimmel last night. Believe it or not, her "performance" got worse.