DWTS: Let the Dancing Begin Again!

Posted by Cynical Sarah on March 25, 2010

The first time I tuned in to Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) it was for work reasons. Shannon Elizabeth was on, and as a pseudo poker celebrity, I had to write about her stint on the show for the website I was working on at the time.

When the season was finally over, I breathed a sigh of relief at not ever having to watch again. Then the season came with Chuck Liddell. There’s no work excuse for wanting to watch him; I just like the UFC and wanted to see how he’d do. I watched the entire season even though he was booted near the middle.

You’d think a guy with boxing experience would be light on his feet and have a sense of rhythm. He was a bit frankensteiny the whole time, though, stomping around the stage. But for a man I wouldn’t want to face in the cage, he sure cleans up good and looks like a real sweetheart on the dance floor.

When that season was over, I once again said, “I’m done with this now.” That plan was thwarted when I noticed this week that the season opener had magically shown up on the DVR. Neither I or my hubby had thought to cancel the series recording, so there it was, daring me to watch again.

And I did.

On Wednesday I fired it up while I ate a late lunch. My excuse was boredom, but perhaps it was more because I couldn’t just delete the show without watching it – there wasn’t even any celebrities in particular that I wanted to see. I think I’m on the hook now for another season too, because I still haven’t canceled the series recording.

Since I’m hooked, you’re stuck getting to hear about my impressions of the show now. Lucky you!

This season (in order of performance on Monday) includes:

• Chad Ochocinco, football player
• Shannon Doherty, actress
• Erin Andrews, ESPN host
• Jake Pavella, The Bachellor
• Niecy Nash, actress
• Evan Lysacek, gold medal figure skater
• Buzz Aldrin, former astronaut
• Nicole Scherzinger, recording artist
• Aiden Turner, soap star
• Kate Gosselin, reality TV mom
• Pamela Anderson, actress/model

I don’t want to go into the individual performances. I’m not a dancing expert anyway, not even by Zumba class standards. After a few seasons of watching, though, I can tell just how bad the dancing actually was by how little the judges actually say about it.

For instance, the judges barely even commented on Buzz Aldrin’s dancing this week. His Cha Cha was pretty bad even in layman standards, but it’s not like we want to see an 80-year-old doing much hip action on the dance floor. Not only is there an “ewww” factor there, but safety could be an issue at his age. As bad as it was, if you were new to the show you’d never realize it by the judges comments.

They all talked about his bravery as a test pilot and then the first man to walk on the moon and now doing DWTS at age 80. Bruno was the only one who even mentioned the actual dancing, and it was to say that Buzz looked like he still had his moonboots on during the dance. Good for laughs, yes; good for helping him improve, not so much.

On the other hand, you can tell when someone is doing really well in their first time out because the judges get super nitpicky right away. When someone like Evan Lysacek or Nicole Scherzinger come out and nearly nail a performance, the judges get super technical and talk about pointing toes and heel leads.

If you keep those two things in mind, you don’t even have to see the judges scoring to know how people are going to rank. Buzz at the bottom because he was so bad they couldn’t even talk about his actual dancing, and Nicole at the top because they had to really dig for a criticism. Everyone else gets scattered in between.

Nicole is a clear contender this season, but she also has a bit of an advantage with prior dance experience. The choreography for her Pussycat Doll performances may not be ballroom dancing by any means, but she still has an advantage with choreography experience and musicality.

Evan also has that same advantage with his figure skating background. Remember how Kristi Yamaguchi dominated DWTS a few seasons back? With the Olympics having just finished up too, he’ll have some advantage with the voters before their memories of him start to fade.

Some of the surprises of the first show were Ochocinco and Erin Andrews. Of the two, I think Ochocinco will have more staying power though. Football players tend to do really well, and Ochocinco has some natural talent that just needs to be refined.

My underdog pick of the season is going to be Aiden Turner. I’ve never heard of this guy, and I couldn’t even tell you what soap opera he’s on, but he’s hot and he’s got an accent. It’s just too bad dance ability didn’t come with those looks. He scored one point better than Buzz this week, and DWTS will lose a large chunk of its sex appeal if he ends up out first.

Of course, they’ll still have Pamela Anderson to make up for some of that loss, but it’s not Pammy that I’m wanting to see shake her groove thing when I’m watching.

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Tags: dancing with the stars, tv

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