Come On and Do the Tuckermotion With Me
By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: August 27, 2006
WASHINGTON
![](http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2006/08/27/fashion/tucker.190.3.jpg)
(Michael Temchine for The New York Times)
Elena Grinenko oversees the progress of her star pupil, Tucker Carlson.
![](http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2006/08/25/fashion/tucker.190.2.jpg)
(Michael Temchine for The New York Times)
Mr. Carlson wears shoes to match the fancy footwork.
TUCKER CARLSON blabs for a living. Elena Grinenko dances for a living. They’ve been spending four hours a day together rehearsing for their Sept. 12 competition on ABC’s reality hit, “Dancing With the Stars.”
The show pairs professional dancers with “stars” to make 11 teams. Note the rabbit ears around “stars,” and that’s sort of the campy, ironic point of the thing.
Mr. Carlson is the host of the modestly rated MSNBC show that immodestly bears his name, twice (“Tucker With Tucker Carlson”), and his celebrity ilk is about on par with this season’s other contestants. They include the former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith, the talk-show host/civilization-nemesis Jerry Springer, and, what’s-his-name, the guy on “L.A. Law” who went out with the woman who used to play Laurie Partridge as a kid — ah, Harry Hamlin....
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Mr. Carlson says he jumped at the invitation to do “Dancing” for adventure’s sake. It’s good to sample new experiences, he says, especially when you are over 30 (he is 37). His goal is to avoid humiliation in front of an estimated 20 million viewers — roughly 100 times more people than watch him on MSNBC. (His show airs at 4 and 6 p.m.)
“I will never be a great dancer,” Mr. Carlson declares....
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/fashion/27tucker.html