Ox Notes: October 8, 2007

Tonight could be rough for several of the contestants on Dancing with the Stars. Mark Cuban is concerned because he's physically not up to performing the Jive as a result of his hip replacement, and most of his fans are going to be watching the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.

Even two-time champ Cheryl Burke sounds a little nervous after her first trip to the Bottom Two with Wayne Newton: "We are trying our best, taking baby steps, and then we'll be ready to go for the giant leaps with our Tango on Monday night."

Kudos to Sabrina Bryan for helping one of her fellow contestants: "We were set to do the tango, but when things happened with Jane Seymour and her mom passing away, we were asked if we would switch and do the jive, and let Jane do the tango. I'm sure with the amount of time she's going to have, trying to do some fast, upbeat routine was not going be in her ozone layer, you know? Anything to help her make it through this week and come back – we were actually really happy to help out."

For an extra dose of Dancing this week, check out I Wanna Be a Soap Star on Tuesday night, hosted by Cameron Mathison. Karina Smirnoff drops by the show to teach contestants some ballroom moves with a little help from Carrie Ann Inaba's boyfriend, So You Think You Can Dance's Artem Chigvintsev.

Danny Bonaduce won't be charged for tossing Jonny Fairplay and breaking his chiclets because district attorneys felt Fairplay was asking for it.

In other legal news, a lawyer for A&E says that reality shows aren't legally obligated to try and stop a crime as it's in progress. At least not when it makes for good TV.

And fears of a Hollywood writer's strike rose as talks between the studios and writers broke down over the weekend. A similar strike in 1988 lasted for 22 weeks and cost the TV industry $500 million. If I was still watching Lost, I'd be starting to panic.