Razmataz Chaz

Dancing with the Stars played for 4 hours this week! Are you kidding me? I couldn't stand the chatty stuff in the last 2 horus so I had to fast forward to the Chaz parts.

People on the show who I know

• Chaz
• Chynna Phillips – thank you for being another celebrity I know. Although I did not like you in Wilson Phillips, I’m suspending my dislike of your snappy hair tosses and your crossed-legged poses on grassy fields while singing insipid tunes just because I’m feeling old and know barely half of this cast. Incidentally, Chynna is a good dancer.
• David Arquette—I'm rooting for this recovering alkie.
• Ricki Lake—I love her and always think she’ll go far in her endeavors.
• Carson Kressley—From Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, he's one of my fantasy gay brothers. But my least favorite for some unknown reason. There's something kind of off about him. Is it his lips? His snarky quips that sound artificially flaming? I can’t place it. John read his book on style and not showing chest hair over tshirts. John is rooting for Carson.

People on this show I don’t know

• Nancy Grace—She's a TV legal analyst (is she like Greta van Susteren during the OJ trial?)
• J.R. Martinez—an Iraq vet and motivational celebrity—this dude is a happy inspiration—we’re both rooting for him.
• Rob Kardashian—don’t know him but I feel for him.
• Ron Artest—The NBA star and the first to get booted this week. I can only think this was because he danced first or maybe because he changed his name to something silly. He was certainly cute and charismatic enough to stay.
• Hope Solo—She's the professional soccer gal. I don’t know her but I LOVE HER for being the tough sports chick on the show. She’s my favorite female competitor.
• Elisabetta Canalis—model and former beard to George Clooney. Just kidding. Her days are numbered though.
• Kristin Cavallari—I barely know her from a cameo she did on The Family Guy. She doesn’t suck.

Chaz made a great showing. The host called him Razmataz Chaz. I was honestly worried for him in the beginning behind-the-scenes when he started making grimaces and excuses (being too old). But by showtime, he came through. He was cuddly and cute just as described. I was expecting clumsy but we got some flare.

I'm not sure yet about the facial hair thing. He must be experiencing facial hair euphoria and I hope Carson Kressley can step in and put and end to that.

John remarked that he seems so much happier. Others remarked that he exuded joy and cuteness. The shows hosts went to great lengths to be positive about his appearance and they kept asking him how he was dealing with the controversy. Chaz continually avoided the negative and thanked his supporters. Judges were positive but he ended up with a score of 6, 5 and 6 which put him at 17, squarely in the middle ranks of all the contestants.

Since episode one, social conservatives have been slamming his appearance during the family viewing hour. Some good articles on the drama:

• LGBT Weekly talks about the boycotts and calls for Pro Bono Viewing Parties
• Boston.com does a good in-depth piece on the issue of transgendering and letting your kids watch the show
• Time.com says Bono shines in their headline and voted Chaz the most entertaining dancer:
  The only child of Sonny and Cher had some big shoes to fill. As the show's first transgender contestant (and probably only, unless Isis from America's Next Top Model steps up) he had a lot more pressure on his shoulders than, say, Chynna Phillips. Despite being forty-something and out of shape, Chaz and partner Lacey Schwimmer cha cha cha'd their way into the judges' (and possibly) America's hearts.