‘Dancing With the Stars’: The most shocking results show of the season?

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What was that?

No, not the unsurprising elimination of model Josie Maran from ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ What was up with that strangely entertaining results show?

DWTS episodes pack a lot of fun but tend to include a lot of filler as well, with the results show typically being the guiltiest culprits with unnecessary recaps, interviews, jokey sketches and a drawn-out elimination process. And during the season premiere week, when the show was padded with an extra day and an extra hour, it seemed inevitable that Wednesday’s results show would be just as overlong as ever. But out of nowhere came a results show actually filled with entertainment, a little contemporary flavor, drama and some funny writing to boot.

Make no mistake about it, it was still longer than it needed to be, unless, of course, viewers had missed Monday and Tuesday nights and were only able to tune in for the results show (which in that case would actually be quite a neat little boiled-down version of the week’s events.) And the show did not get off to a promising start as Marie Osmond and Albert Reed looked around and smiled nervously at the cameras, clearly not yet enrolled in the Dancing with the Stars Mugging University that Joey Fatone graduated magna cum laude from last season. But as the judges noted, dance-wise, Monday and Tuesday nights were the best start to any season of the show, and the rest of the results episode followed in in suit.

After all, how can you go wrong with Dolly Parton? How? She’s talented, she’s infectious, she is smoking for however old she is, and she clearly needs to be on every DWTS results show. But the episode didn’t just stop with a visit from the ‘Dolly Lama’: tap dancer extraordinaire Savion Glover performed, which is always a treat, but he also hipped up the show some. It seemed just the tiniest bit possible that a few dance moves from ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ were replicated on Monday and Tuesday nights of DWTS, and if that and the booking of Glover indicate that ‘Dancing’ is trying to become a little more contemporary, that’s not a bad move.

While Kenny Mayne had a less than illustrious experience on the second season of DWTS, last season his ESPN-like commentary during the finals added a nice touch -- more cutting and sharp humor than the show usually features, and fortunately, somebody noticed and brought him back Wednesday night for a small sketch about looking for the roots of dancing. It wasn’t exactly necessary or relevant, but it was funny, probably because Mayne isn’t afraid to make fun of the show, and the show lets him do it.

Perhaps the most unexpected part of the results show was the reaction of Josie Maran when she found out she was eliminated. It was uncomfortable. She didn’t seem pleased. But, it was real, of all things. And anyway, Mark Cuban got to stick around for another episode, which might make for better TV -- he has a somewhat unpredictable Quentin Tarantino quality about him that Josie just doesn’t possess (plus, it’s well-known that every time a supermodel is eliminated from a reality TV program, an angel gets its wings).

If DWTS can maintain a winning streak for the results shows, it might just do a 180 from previous seasons: make the competition shows the unnecessary episodes and the results shows the must-sees.

-- Claire Zulkey