This was one of the most disappointing Dancing with the Stars Semifinals ever. But it wasn’t because of the dancing…

With only four couples left, producers struggled to fill two hours of show time. The evening started with a pro performance.

Apart from that one performance, the first half-hour of the show featured nothing but the couples talking about their previous dances. It was boring and demonstrated how little faith ABC has in any of the other shows in its lineup. Otherwise, why else would they expand an hour’s worth of material into two hours?

Ballroom Round

Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke — 30

Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas — 30

Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani — 28

Ty Murray & Chelsie Hightower — 25

Before the Latin Round, there was more filler about the stars’ families and hometowns. This kind of material is fine for the finale, but it was like an anchor on the (already bloated) show this week.

Latin Round

Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke — 30

Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani — 27

Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas — 26

Ty Murray & Chelsie Hightower — 23

Leaderboard (out of 60)

Gilles & Cheryl — 60

Shawn & Mark — 56

Melissa & Tony — 55

Ty & Chelsie — 48

My frustration with the excessive amount of filler rubbed off on how I felt about the performances, and I was underwhelmed by the dances. I’ve enjoyed this season until now, but this gratuitous episode reminded me why I sometimes think about abandoning the show altogether.

That said, the judges’ scores made it clear which couples they would like to see in the finale. But will Ty’s low scores spur his fans into a voting frenzy? Are Melissa and Shawn safe?

Julianne may not be the only Hough absent from Dancing with the Stars 9. Derek Hough and Mark Ballas may skip next season to promote their band. There’s also a chance that Derek may land a role in the upcoming Footloose remake.

ET has a video of DwtS pros Jonathan Roberts, Anna Trebunskaya, Dmitry Chaplin, Karina Smirnoff, Louis van Amstel and Elena Grinenko rehearsing for an upcoming charity performance.

Bravo’s Project Runway substitute, The Fashion Show, debuts tonight. The Chicago Tribune’s reviewer says the show has a few problems.

Tonight’s episode of Bones features a cameo by cartoon character Stewie Griffin.

Ahead of tonight’s new episode of Survivor: Tocantins, here are links to interviews with ousted castaway Sierra by People and TV Guide.

People and TV Guide also interviewed Jen & Kisha of The Amazing Race.

ET posted a gallery of the men competing to win the heart of The Bachelorette this summer.

A computer glitch has delayed the publication of Nielsen’s TV audience numbers for several days. Networks are understandably upset, as they need the data to determine which shows to bring back next season.

Ox Notes will return on Tuesday, May 12. Until then, enjoy this video of Lil’ Kim & Derek Hough performing on this morning’s episode of Regis & Kelly:

After last night’s shocking elimination of Lil’ Kim & Derek, the cast of Dancing with the Stars 8 chatted with Access Hollywood, The Insider, ET, E!, OK! and People.

In next week’s semifinal round, Melissa & Tony will dance the Quickstep and Cha Cha, Gilles & Cheryl will dance the Waltz and Salsa, Shawn & Mark will dance the Argentine Tango and Jive, and Ty & Chelsie will dance the Viennese Waltz and Samba.

Carrie Ann Inaba blogged her thoughts on this week’s performances for EW, and People filed a What You Didn’t See report from the set of Tuesday’s Results Show.

If last night’s edition of Dance Center left you pining for Kenny Mayne, check out his ESPN.com page.

In other DwtS news, Karina Smirnoff is already freaking out over preparations for her wedding to Maksim Chmerkovskiy, even though it’s more than a year away.

The Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan interviewed Jim Beavers, one of the stars of Supernatural and my beloved Harper’s Island.

While Wipeout is ABC’s most talked about summer game show (deservedly so), here’s a reason to watch the new season of its sister program, I Survived a Japanese Game Show: it just won an international award for best reality show.

EW’s Michael Ausiello has fall TV cheat sheet with the probable and official fates of network shows.

Fellow geeks, rejoice with me! HBO has hired Tom McCarthy to direct the pilot of A Game of Thrones (based on the George R. R. Martin book) and Peter Dinklage to play Tyrion Lannister. Huzzah!

Finally, here’s video Lil’ Kim & Derek’s appearance on last night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live:

Tom Bergeron promised a shocking elimination on Dancing with the Stars 8 last week. He waited until tonight to deliver.

Melissa & Tony kicked off the night with an encore of their perfect Samba. But the highlight of the night was undoubtedly this season’s edition of Dance Center, starring Kenny Mayne, Jerry Rice and Len Goodman.

Other special guests included singer Jamie Cullen and a crew of Macy’s Stars of Dance dancers who performed on a giant star.

The pro dancer continued with Afton DelGrosso dancing with Cody Linley…

…Mayo Alanen dancing with Lisa Rinna…

…and Anna Demidova dancing with Maurice Greene.

Gilles & Cheryl were the first couple to be told they were safe, followed by Melissa & Tony and Shawn & Mark. With Ty & Chelsie’s scores so far below the other couples, they seemed all but certain to be sent home.

Instead, Lil’ Kim & Derek were told they’d danced their last. Upon hearing their names called, the two looked surprised, and Ty looked almost guilty for having outlasted them.

So how does this change next week’s competition? Is there a chance that Ty can actually make it into the finale?

After Monday’s DwtS Performance Show, ET special correspondent Maksim Chmerkovskiy asked Jewel about her controversial blog comments regarding Melissa Rycroft. Jewel wrote a second post last week claiming that her original comments had been "mangled" by gossip sites, even though her words were quoted directly in most cases. Is that egg on your face, Jewel?

Other media outlets backstage included The Insider, Access Hollywood, OK! and People. In this week’s Yahoo! Buzz Session, Joey Lawrence made a Nell Carter joke (for those of us old enough to remember Joey on Gimme a Break).

Catching up on some older DwtS 8 news, TV Guide recently interviewed Shawn Johnson and Steve-O. Last week, Denise Richards sang a tone-deaf version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.

Yesterday, Phil Keoghan blogged about the latest episode of The Amazing Race for EW. Who knew the redheads had it in ’em? CBS posted a new Elimination Station video featuring the ousted teams arriving in the final destination city.

The guy who plays The Haitian on Heroes is trying to raise money for kids in Haiti.

The CW is canceling all of its Sunday night programming, which means that local affiliates will have to find new sources of ad revenue in a field that’s already running low on money.

NBC announced some of the shows its picking up for fall, including Joel McHale’s new comedy Community. Based on this preview, which also stars Chevy Chase and John Oliver, I’m really looking forward to it:

The judges made it clear which couples they thought deserved to move on to the DwtS 8 semifinals, and which couple they thought should hit the trail.

With two hours of airtime to fill, the show started with some of the show’s pro dancers demonstrating a trio of standard ballroom styles. The performance featured Jonathan Roberts, Anna Trebunskaya, Dmitry Chaplin, Kym Johnson, Louis van Amstel and Lacey Schwimmer.

Ballroom Round

Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke — 29

Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas — 27

Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani — 27

Ty Murray & Chelsie Hightower — 25

Lil’ Kim & Derek Hough — 25

While the competitors changed costumes, the three dancers competing to be a DwtS 9 pro were introduced alongside their temporary celebrity partners. On Tuesday, DwtS 2‘s Lisa Rinna will dance with Mayo Alanen, DwtS 7‘s Cody Linley with Afton DelGrosso, and DwtS 7‘s Maurice Greene with Anna Demidova. My money’s on Lisa & Mayo.

Before the Latin Round commenced, the DwtS pros returned to dance a second time. The mix of songs for this Latin demo was bizarre.

Latin Round

Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani — 30

Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas — 29

Lil’ Kim & Derek Hough — 27

Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke — 27

Ty Murray & Chelsie Hightower– 21

Leaderboard (out of 60 points)

Melissa & Tony — 57

Shawn & Mark — 56

Gilles & Cheryl — 56

Lil’ Kim & Derek — 52

Ty & Chelsie — 46

Using both their comments and their paddles, the judges made it clear that they don’t believe Ty is dancing at the same level as the other contestants. Will the low scores have the opposite of their intended effect, spurring fans to save the charming cowboy? Should Lil’ Kim be nervous?

Last night’s episode of Survivor: Tocantins didn’t go down exactly how I expected it to, but it was still great. Host Jeff Probst blogged about the episode for EW. Check out the latest Ponderosa videos to see a great impression of Coach.

Dancing with the Stars 8 spouse Jewel is stirring up trouble with a post she made on husband Ty Murray’s MySpace blog. Jewel said she didn’t like that Melissa Rycroft was judged on her rehearsal footage on Monday night’s show because: "If you’re too hurt to compete then you can’t compete." She added that she might feel differently about the rule if she was competing on the show. I’m guessing she’d be all for it if it saved Ty.

DwtS pro Julianne Hough will definitely skip Season 9.

ABC and Disney shows will soon be available on Hulu.

A recent study confirmed that people find comfort in TV shows. They’d feel even more comfortable under this Star Trek blanket.

The Futon Critic has a massive Fall 2009 Schedule Grid, including all the shows that have gotten official pickups as well as those still on the bubble.

Reality Blurred has a list of dates for upcoming reality show season finales. The list starts tonight with the finales of Supernanny and Wife Swap on ABC.

Ox Notes will return on Tuesday, May 5. Have a great weekend!

I have been looking forward to tonight all week. That’s because tonight is when Coach will likely rain down his disappointment upon J.T. for blindsiding Tyson on last week’s episode of Survivor: Tocantins. I’m expecting an epic, Coachified version of a parental "I’m not mad about what you did; I’m mad that you lied to me" speech.

As if you couldn’t have guessed, some of Coach’s stories aren’t completely true.

Tyson did interviews with People, Reality Blurred and TV Guide. And since I didn’t link to them before, here are videos of Tyson at Ponderosa, as well as Jeff Probst’s latest EW blog post.

Dancing with the Stars fans should head to carollaradio.com and download today’s free episode of The Adam Carolla Podcast. Adam’s guest is none other than Tom Bergeron, and they spend the first 30 minutes of the episode talking about DwtS. Be forewarned, the language isn’t safe for work.

This week’s Results Show was watched by 14.3 million viewers. DwtS judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who’ll appear on tonight’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, blogged about this week’s dances for EW. TV Guide interviewed ousted duo Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough.

Those short ads featuring the tagline "What did you see?" that ran during last night’s episode of Lost were promos for the series Flash Forward, set to debut on ABC in the fall. (Greg thought the book the show is based on was pretty good, though it seemed more appropriate for a movie or miniseries with a definite end, rather than an ongoing series.)

TNT announced its schedule of original shows airing on the cable network this summer.

NBC announced that The Celebrity Apprentice will return for a third season in spring 2010. Between DwtS 9, Superstars and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, won’t we have run out of available celebrities by then?

After last night’s Dancing with the Stars Results Show, cameras from Access Hollywood and ET recorded cast members’ reactions to Chuck Wicks & Julianne Hough’s elimination. The cast also talked to OK!, Us and People.

In other DwtS news, host Tom Bergeron will appear on tonight’s episode of E!’s Chelsea Lately. And, in an interview with OK!, Steve-O denied that he’s dating Lacey Schwimmer "in a way that only Steve-O could."

Moonlight star Alex O’Loughlin plays a serial killer on tonight’s episode of Criminal Minds. His interviews with TV Guide and EW are pretty funny, even if you weren’t a fan of his CBS vampire drama.

NBC is developing a primetime reality show about poker in which an amateur contestant plays one-on-one against a poker pro. Didn’t the TV poker craze die a few years ago?

Last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live featured the obligatory exit interview with Chuck & Julianne. But the show also had exclusive footage of Melissa Rycroft meeting with her doctor, whose office looks suspiciously like the set of The Bachelor: After the Final Rose:

At the top of tonight’s Dancing with the Stars Results Show, Tom Bergeron promised a shocking elimination. That could only mean one thing: Melissa & Tony were safe.

The show began with an encore by Team Tango. After a recap of Monday night’s performances, Melissa Rycroft told Samantha Harris that the treatment she received for her broken rib was working, and that she would be able to continue competing on the show — should she survive elimination.

Then musical guest Robin Thicke sang his first of two songs. He was accompanied by DwtS pros Kym Johnson, Edyta Sliwinska, Cheryl Burke, Tony Dovolani, Dmitry Chaplin and Alec Mazo.

The countdown to the shocking elimination began with Lil’ Kim & Derek and Ty & Chelsie learning that they’d be around for another week.

Robin Thicke returned, this time accompanied by So You Think You Can Dance favorites Pasha Kovalev & Anya Garnis.

Gilles & Cheryl were the next duo to learn that they were safe.

Next, the pros competing for a spot on DwtS 9 were up. Genya Mazo danced with Afton Delgrosso …

…and Mayo Alanen danced with Anna Demidova.

Next week, the top three vote-getters in the pro competition will dance with DwtS stars of seasons past to test how well they train amateurs.

With only three couples remaining, Shawn & Mark were told that they could relax. Despite Melissa & Tony’s low judges’ scores, Chuck & Julianne were shown the door. Chuck said he was eager to reconnect with his country music fans, and I’m happy to let him.