There have been a legion of SOI reviews all over the Internet, including on this list, so I shall restrict my comments to how Todd performed in this particular show.

Stars on Ice might be playing to diminished houses elsewhere in the country, but at Madison Square Garden Saturday night empty seats were few and far between. While the only standing ovation of the night was after guest star Scott Hamilton's second number, the audience was nevertheless quite enthusiastic about the skating they saw and not hesitant about roaring their approval of most of the numbers skated that evening.

Todd went two for three in the triple axel department. This is the fifth time I've seen the show but the first time since opening night in Lake Placid that I've seen Todd land the triple axel at the start of the opening ensemble number. The last three times I've seen the show he's opened the proceedings with a huge double axel; but this time around he managed to eke out that extra rotation and hang onto the landing (barely, mind you, but done ).

He wasn't so lucky later in Channel One Suite when he opened that program with a triple axel splat that managed to occur in perfect time to a music crescendo. Undaunted by this mishap, however, he quickly picked himself up and didn't let it affect the rest of his performance in the least. A perfectly gorgeous triple salchow quickly followed and a bit later a nice triple toe loop, and before and after that footwork, spins and more footwork. Having first seen this program in Lake Placid, I saw it again at the Canadian Open and then again at the Hallmark Pro-Am in December, and finally at three additional SOI venues, and throughout these viewings I have found it extremely interesting to watch Todd become increasingly comfortable with the program and to see his footwork continue to improve. It is without doubt a highlight of the show and audiences really seem to love it.

The third and final triple axel attempt of the evening came, of course, in the second act near the beginning of Miserere and this time it was a flawless beauty. It was followed in short order by a lovely triple loop and another gorgeous triple salchow. Where once there was a triple toe loop in the program there is now a triple lutz, which tonight turned into a kind of wonky double, a result of his either having caught an edge or miscalculated the rink length. It is a testament to Todd and his determination to keep up his athletic skills that in a lyrical program like Miserere, where edges, spins and passionate emotion would be more than enough to sell the program to the audience without a single jump, he insists night after night in attempting to insert four triple jumps, including the two most difficult to do (the axel and lutz).

I always enjoy the MSG shows, as they seem a bit more "high energy" than is the case at other venues, and last Saturday night was no exception. Part of the reason for that might be the presence in the audience of so many fellow skaters - mostly after the show, I spotted, among others, Brian Orser, Lu Chen, Arthur Dmitriev, Lucinda Ruh, Maia Usova, Alexander Zhulin, and Tatiana Tarasova with a veritable entourage in her wake.

On the whole I do believe a fabulous time was had by all, both performers and audience.