The finale of "Dancing With the Stars" starts with a Christmas motif, including the three celebrity finalists in onesies. I'm impressed they found one to fit Calvin Johnson. Oh, wait, this must mean the wardrobe department made it. Those people are marvels.
They're doing the thing again this year where part of the show is outdoors at The Grove and part is in the regular studio, which is conveniently next door.
Quickly they show highlights from each dance last night done by the three finalists. Nothing much new to report.
James Hinchcliffe and Sharna Burgess reprise their quickstep from Cirque du Soleil Night. Aw, man. This wasn't my favorite of his. I mean, that's good and all, but I loved their jitterbug from Week 7 (Eras Night).
Then we get a recap of Week 1 and a performance from Andy Grammer. After the commercial break, Erin Andrews is surrounded by dancing shirtless Santas. Nice work if you can get it?
Calvin and Lindsay Arnold redo their Argentine tango from Latin night. This was the one with the crazy cartwheel lifts, wasn't it? I'm looking forward to seeing that again. It's not as smooth getting into it as it was the first time they did it, but it's still impressive.
Maureen McCormick and Artem Chigvintsev are back to do an encore of her Week 1 Viennese waltz, with some backup assistance at the very end from Ryan Lochte and Babyface.
Dress rehearsal behind-the-scenes montage: It's fun to find out that they use fake judges during dress rehearsal. Other than that, not a whole lot of good highlights this year.
Maks Chmerkovskiy gets a number with several of the female pros and troupe members, partnering primarily with Jenna Johnson, whose costume butt floof is the same color as Maks shirt. That's how you know she's Alpha.
More Maks exposure with Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy redoing their trio samba routine with him. Maks has a little trouble getting Laurie's hair out of its ponytail holder mid-routine so he misses getting the "dance competition" number stuck on Val's back. Glad it was just an exhibition dance.
Vanilla Ice is outside performing at The Grove stage. Of course he's doing "Ice, Ice Baby" but the twist is his "bromance" with Rick Perry —the former governor is standing behind turntables wearing a backward baseball cap. Perry comes out at the end and does his thinks-he's-the-cool-dad-at-the-wedding" "hip-hop" moves.
Jenna Johnson is dancing again, this time with Artem, while Felicia Barton sings "Grown Up Christmas List." Then Babyface comes on stage to sing "Winter Wonderland." My best guess is it's close to 70 degrees during this outdoor performance. California, y'all.
When we come back from commercial, Rick Perry is sitting at a drum set, which he proceeds to trash at the end. Gubernatorial mayhem.
Then it's a jacket but no shirt performance from the male pros, along with Calvin and James. It's kind of funny how Calvin is a head taller than anyone else on the floor. Oh, wait, it looks like they've picked up Ryan Lochte partway through the routine. I guess for the shirtless factor.
Jana Kramer and Gleb Sevchenko are back to do their black silk sheets/not-Silkwood shower Argentine tango from Latin Night. Len Goodman wasn't a judge that week — I'd love to hear what he thought of that number.
More highlights of weeks past, then a department store-sponsored Christmas traditions number, then a preview routine from the "DWTS" tour (coming to Baltimore's Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric on Jan. 15).