The long national nightmare is over. Cloris Leachman has been kicked off Dancing With the Stars.

Her departure Tuesday couldn't have come soon enough. The 80-something attention sponge was quickly becoming the Sanjaya Malakar of ABC's unscripted dance competition, mugging her way through dance routines she could barely negotiate physically -- like that crazy aunt you try to keep away from small children at family gatherings.

Producers groused anonymously to the gossip sheets that she was ruining their ratings cash cow (you'd think bringing in Lord of the Schmaltzy Dances Michael Flatley as a guest judge this week would have accomplished that anyway).

And it was hard to decide whether watching Leachman lurch around in low-cut costumes, ignoring the show's hosts to cut up with the judges, was endearing or just sad evidence how badly this eight-time Emmy winner had fallen.

The only plus from Leachman's performances was the way she kept confusing co-host Samantha Harris, a refugee from the E! channel who seemed to react like a dog smacked across the face with a rolled-up newspaper every time Leachman would barrel past to crack a joke or curse a low score from the judges.

But toward the end, Leachman began to look like that 4-year-old singer audiences refused to kick off America's Got Talent; after awhile, keeping somebody around who can't keep pace is just cruel.

So the show's audience finally released Leachman -- and us -- from the pain of pretending that her antics were still entertaining. 

And with her gone, just one question remains: Will the show get so predictable we won't even care whether Warren Sapp takes it all or not? *