To finish line

Helio Castroneves races to a gutsy, smiley victory to polish off a celebrity dancing season of high drama.

By ERIC DEGGANS, Times TV/Media Critic
Published November 28, 2007

It's easy to dismiss a show like Dancing With the Stars as a motley collection of B- and C-list celebrities chasing an extra burst of fame amid twirling sequins and cheesy production numbers.

But Tuesday's coronation of Brazilian race car driver Helio Castroneves as the show's champion reaffirmed everything this quirky series has come to stand for - spotlighting a gutsy, capable competitor who morphed from a nondancing athlete into a pint-size Fred Astaire before America's eyes.

Unfortunately, his victory also meant the show's best dancer, Spice Girl Melanie Brown, lost. But as one-fifth of a gyrating pop girl group, Brown already had a professional advantage; America seemed more interested in Castroneves' broad smile, game attitude and too-cute dancing partner.

Like too many reality competition finales, Tuesday's Dancing conclusion struggled to fill its two-hour span, bringing back all the lackluster dancers eliminated earlier for a last dance to prove why they were ousted in the first place (did soap stud Cameron Mathison actually perform to the theme from Superman?).

Two former competitors didn't even shake a leg. Wayne Newton, sidelined by a heart virus, promised to join the touring version of the show later this year, while boxer Floyd Mayweather blamed the grueling training schedule for a coming fight (it must be grueling; he said the word twice in a 30-second appearance).

Frankly, I found the two overdone production numbers featuring Celine Dion more grueling than anything. But I digress.

Early in the finale, fans learned one of the show's better dancers would actually win the contest, when spunky competitor Marie Osmond was eliminated in the show's first half hour.

Covering her competitive nature with a wide smile and hambone wit, Osmond emerged as this show's Sanjaya - leapfrogging ahead of better dancers by sheer will and a devoted fan base.

But she was also one of the more grating celebrities; her constant you-go-girl references to her fortysomething single-mother status seemed particularly overdone. And if you can't win when your famous brother is touting you every week as a "special correspondent" on Entertainment Tonight, you just aren't trying hard enough.

At times, the backstage drama seemed to overwhelm the on-screen action. One moment, Osmond was fainting on camera and announcing the death of her father; the next, Jane Seymour missed a show due to the death of her mother and was carried from another broadcast on a stretcher stricken by food poisoning.

One might think the show was cursed, if each new controversy didn't heighten the show's already impressive fan base. Instead, Dancing blends glamour and drama with a celebrity redemption story; no wonder this is TV's most-watched series.

[Last modified November 28, 2007, 00:31:04]