'Dancing' judge pays tribute to 'Mommie Dearest'

On a season premiere of Dancing With the Stars chock-full of rewind-worthy moments (Jerry Rice’s dominatrix dance partner! Master P’s non-performance! Lisa Rinna’s krazee lips!), the highlight for me had to be Bruno Tonioli (pictured, right) shouting about a particularly wooden performance, ”I got it from Joan Crawford, ‘Tina! Give me the axe!’"

Now, if you found yourself wondering what the heck the Italian judge was talking about, then you’ve probably never seen the camp-classic Crawford biopic Mommie Dearest. The actual line of dialogue (Tonioli botched it) — ”Tina! Bring me the axe!” — is delivered by Faye Dunaway (pictured, left), deliciously unhinged as Crawford, demanding her daughter’s help in chopping up the family rose garden. I’m not sure if Tonioli’s that quick with his quips, or if he’s been planning to use the line for months, but it was pure poetry in this context.

Speaking of DWTS, which drew a healthy 17.3 million viewers last night, our friends at TV Tattle pointed us to the fact that WWE wrestler Stacy Keibler is the current 2-1 favorite to take home the season 2 crown among PinnacleSports.com bettors, followed by Tia Carrere and Lisa Rinna. While all three looked pretty comfortable on the floor, my $2 is on Giselle Fernandez, whose gizzorgeous waltz might help her overcome the fact that she’s among the competition’s least boldface names. Anybody agree with me? Or are you betting on another competitor?