Ok, things are getting juicy folks! And I’m here to serve it all up to ya.
First things first, as far as the Pros go, Lacey Schwimmer Tweeted (@LaceySchwimmer) yesterday that “I’ve got great news ya’ll!! I am ON this season of DWTS after all!! Get ready for a fantastic season! Halla!!!” Woo Hoo ya’ll! I really missed her last season.
As of Aug. 23, Louis Van Amstel still didn’t know whether he was going to be on this season. Kym Johnson hasn’t tweeted about being on the show either, the same with Anna Trebunskaya and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Wow, looks like Lacey is an early one to know! As we get updates on the Pros I’ll let you know.
Now on to cast rumors:
The first seems to be no rumor and this does NOT make me happy at ALL. According to E! Online (and I think we’ll agree they’re a pretty reputable source) reported that Bristol Palin (daughter of politician Sarah Palin) is set as a cast member for season 11. I have to say (even though she did a short stint on an ABC Family show) that she’s even LESS of a star than Kate Gosselin.
Let’s visit this word “star”. Star: [stahr] noun, adjective, verb, starred, star·ring.
1. any of the heavenly bodies, except the moon, appearing as fixed luminous points in the sky at night.
2. a person’s destiny, fortune, temperament, etc., regarded as influenced and determined by the stars.
3. a person who is celebrated or distinguished in some art, profession, or other field.
4. a prominent actor, singer, or the like, esp. one who plays the leading role in a performance.
Ok, so focus on those last two definitions. Words like “celebrated or distinguished” in the first and “prominent…leading role” stand out to me. Is Kate Gosselin in that category? Is Bristol Palin? This is rhetorical, people, but the answer is NO. En-Oh.
And I realize there have been some supposed “D-listers” on the show (Steve O, as enjoyable as he was, Mark Dacascos, is only the Chairman on Iron Chef but who cares I love him, Tom Delay, politician, and Ashley Hamilton, ugh) everyone has been pretty notable, even if they were “past their time” as far as huge fame was concerned.
I think the producers over at ABC need to get their heads on straight and get with the program. The name of the show is Dancing With the STARS. Not “Dancing With the 15 seconds of fame person who is lame anyways”. Got It, Execs!!!!???
Ok, on with the list of those other awesome people rumored to be joining the cast of Season 11:
Margaret Cho (adore her, very funny)
Jennifer Grey (NOBODY puts Baby in the corner! This is too good to be true!)
Rick Fox (Retired NBA player)
David Hasselhoff (even though he’s had his troubles, this guy has longevity and a great voice)
Kirstie Alley (pretty please, I heart Kirstie)
Audrina Patridge (skating the line there, but ok)
Brandy (great, I wouldn’t object) Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady!!!)
Michael Bolton (the smooth crooner of the bad hair set)
This is a GREAT list I think and if we can keep the “rabble” to a minimum it is shaping up to be a great season for the Fall edition of Dancing With the Stars!
What does everyone think of the list? Let me know! Heard rumors of your own? Leave a comment!
Oh, it was SUCH an interesting week on Dancing With the Stars. And we’re only in week two! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much drama from both stars and pros. Tears, walking out, and little pouting rounded out the week. Frankly, it kind of exhausted me to just watch it.
In these early weeks with so many stars, I like to look back at all the dances and think who I am going to vote for. And THAT’S who I’m going to highlight in my post. We’ll see if that surprises and intrigues you. Hopefully so.
Once again, I was surprised by Shannen Doherty. She can dance, even if she throws hissy fits every once in a while. It’s good for her partner Mark Ballas to push her into doing the harder stuff, and it shows in the performance. Their Jive was super hard, and she had fun doing it and really engaged the audience. Plus I loved her outfit. She just needs to be a little sharper in those flicks and kicks. Judges’ scores: 7-6-7
Nicey Nash did not fail me, she is still my favorite star on the show. Her ability to handle everything with charm and humor really helps her get through her rehearsal time (“When did I become a white man?” she quips when partner Louis Van Amstel tells her he wants to be her “mirror”). Could she do as well in her Foxtrot as she did in her Cha Cha Cha? Their performance was light, airy, used a great song (“I Love You I Do” from Dreamgirls), had great choreography and was just lovely. Carrie Ann made the comment that Nicey knows why she’s moving. It’s the difference between “I’m pointing right at you!” versus “this is the part where I lift my arm up because my pro told me to.” A++ in my book! Judges’ Scores: 7-7-7
It seems that Erin Andrews has real dancing talent and ability. Her solo moments in her Foxtrot with Maks were so really amazing, I almost couldn’t believe it. For someone with no prior dance experience, for her to turn with those lovely arms is a testament to natural talent (and I will give credit to Maks, too). Usually someone does well in the beginning, but the arms are limp, or the toes not pointed, knees bent, that sort of thing. She was really stunning, and their Foxtrot was sweet. Judges’ Scores: 8-7-8
Pam Anderson–darn if she doesn’t know how to get a character (and I’ll grant you Marilyn Monroe isn’t a stretch for her) and keep it in, even after the dance and getting her scores. First of all, you will probably never see one moment of drama from this woman. She really knows how to just try things, do it or mess up and go on with a little giggle. She looked lovely and like a dead ringer for Monroe. Their Foxtrot was solid and very good. Smooth, easy, sexy and smashing. I loved it. And Tom Bergeron said her Marilyn was so good that “a bus load of Kennedys just showed up.” Judges’ Scores: 7-7-8
And those were my votes for the night. Needless to say, I don’t care for drama very much and found myself rolling my eyes a little bit. Of course, I am not in their shoes and putting it all out there for the world to see on the dance floor. But some of it’s just necessary. Yes, I’m hinting at Kate and Tony. Tony was the big man there and accepted responsibilty. But really, no more, please.
You may ask “But why is she not talking about Nicole and Derek’s Jive?” Yeah, wow! Two 10′s in the second week! Technically well done, sharp, sexy, and the audience loved it. For me, though, it wasn’t really exciting. It was unbelievably fast, in my opinion almost too fast. Too frenetic, too pushed. I dunno, I just didn’t get it. Nicey’s Foxtrot was so much more enganging than Nicole and Derek’s Jive. But that’s just my opinion, let me know what you think!
Who will be leaving the ballroom in the first elimination? We’ll all have to wait until tomorrow!
Ugh, after waiting and waiting and listening to all the rumors and guessing which ones might be true–premiere night had arrived for season 10 of Dancing With the Stars!
And, after doing numbers 1, 7 and 9 on this great list from EW.com (thanks Doxietrek!), I settled down for the night.
What a night it was. The red room is officially out–we now have the balcony instead for after dance interviews with new co-host Brooke Burke. I miss the red room and all the antics of the other couples in the background.
It is a little taxing to do a dance-by-dance rundown, so I thought I would change it up a bit. You always have expectations for the first show, and I thought I would give “DWTS First Night” awards. Here are my categories:
Biggest Potential: Shannen Doherty. Shannen handled really difficult choreography that Mark gave to her with a ton of enthusiasm and all the finesse she could give. And after all the gossip about her supposedly bad attitude, I didn’t see it anywhere in the footage. She seemed sweet, and boy does she love her dad.
Biggest Surprise: Pam Anderson. I thought she was going to be stiff as a board, but she surprised me with a lot of grace and ability to smoothly walk across the floor and shimmy those hips. Now if she could just work on that extension…
Biggest Disappointment: Aiden Turner. For some reason I thought that he would bring more dance ability to the party. Oh well. Good try, hopefully he’ll get better. I’m still holding my breath for Edyta Sliwinska. It’s her time to win a mirror ball.
Favorite Couple: (not technical) “If I lose my jiggly parts you gon’ git it,” big girl Niecy Nash tells her partner Louis Van Amstel. This gal is a hoot. After being made wrong all her young life in performances for being the chubby girl, Niecy has come to embrace her body, jiggly parts and all. I love this gal, and Louis is the perfect partner for her, he’s willing to train her hard and really play with her. Love them both.
Best Couple: Cheryl Burke and Chad Ochocinco. They pretty much rock together. Very well done on a hot Cha Cha Cha!
Best Choreography: Mark Ballas’ Viennese Waltz to “The Killing Moon” by Nouvelle Vague. This was such an interesting take to put a goth twist on the Viennese Waltz, and have Shannon be like a doll or a puppet. I liked it, very fresh!
Best Outfit: Anna Trebunskaya’s beautiful lavender Grecian style dress with velvet burn-out pattern. And the flowers in the hair to match were nice, too.
I-Don’t-Get-It Outfit: Cheryl Burke’s drop waist, bubble bottom dress. I really liked the grey/peach color and tulle on the outside, but I just didn’t get the whole thing as a concept, nor did it match the music she picked for their Cha Cha (“It’s Just Begun” by the Jimmy Castor Bunch, a really funky groove song).
Craziest Judge Comment: “At times it was a sassy ol mamma, and at times it was a born again virgin.” Bruno Tonioli (of course) speaking about Niecy Nash’s Cha Cha Cha.
Best Tom Bergeron Moment: “Ok…for those of you who do not believe in parallel universes…” (referring to Len Goodman’s tirade on Nicole Scherzinger’s really good Viennese Waltz)
Season Ringer: Nicole Scherzinger. Pussy. Cat. Doll. Need I say more? They’re all practically (if not really) professional dancers. But she really was super lovely in the dance, I have to say, and although Evan Lysacek was super good, I have a feeling that he won’t fare as well in the Latin dances as Nicole will.
Go For It Award: Buzz Aldrin. You still got it, Buzz. Nicely done.
All in all, it was a pretty fun night. But NOW–the competition begins!
The three finalists: Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel, Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson and Mya and Dmitry Chaplin performed their last dances on the season 9 results show for Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday night. They chose their favorite dances from their 10 week run on the show.
Kelly and Louis chose their Viennese Waltz from the very first show. This dance always stuck with me because not only was it her first dance, she really declared herself in it. Not only as a dancer, but as a new person that people had not seen before. Their rehearsal/talk footage of their journey together was very touching; especially moments between the two of them where Louis expresses how proud he has been of her and the progress she’s made through the weeks (I even teared up).
Their waltz was even better than I remembered it, with more romance, love and grace. Bravo! The crowd chanted her name while the judges spoke to her. She was definitely a crowd favorite. Even Carrie Ann Inaba cried a bit when she said Kelly was her favorite dancer to watch as she went on her journey.
Mya and Dmitry chose their Jive from week 2, and this was always one of my favorites from her (along with her Salsa from last week). Their dance was very cheeky and funny with cute characters. This was a great one for them to pick.
Donny and Kym did their Argentine Tango, which continues to be one of my favorite dances of the entire season (along with Kym’s amazing dress). The two of them had real passion, connection and lust (and this from a happily married man from Utah??). Fantastic dance to end with as the evening progressed.
Unfortunately, the Judges did their ridiculous ranking again, like for the Megamix. This just perplexes me, as it doesn’t give the stars any chance of getting the score that they really deserve. Maybe I was just pissed off that Kelly was ranked 3rd when she deserved more than 26. In that moment, you could tell that Kelly thought she was not going to win. In an interesting turn, Donny and Kelly were ranked 1st with 30 points. Shades of things to come?
As the reveal of 3rd place happened, I was wiggling my toes and hoping against all hope that it was not Kelly and Louis. But unfortunately, it was, and although overall she was happy you could tell she was disappointed. Who wouldn’t after giving it their all and doing so well?
They brought the two finalists upstage with the Mirror Ball in between them and the anticipation was so thick you had to swim through it. We waited with the heartbeat thumping…to hear Donny Osmond’s name called as the winner of the 9th season of Dancing With the Stars! This was truly a surprise upset, as Mya has consistently been the front runner to win the entire season. What a great event, as not only Donny wins, but pro Kym Johnson gets her first and much-deserved win. I was so happy for her, she really deserved it! Mya was super gracious as she expressed how glad she was for Donny and how her experience on the show was amazing.
Donny was so happy and brought his entire beautiful (and huge) family on stage to share his victory. YEA DONNY!
I’ll be back with Dancing With the Stars coverage when they announce the new cast for the spring. But of course I will continue to with my normal dance posts. Ta!
I always have mixed feelings about the finals. I think I expect too much out of everyone, and maybe get disappointed. But I forget that these are the same people as before, just one more week along. So logically, they are not going to turn into full-fledged pro dancers in 7 days (or really 5 days because that’s all the time they get). Tonight I watched with that in mind so I could really enjoy myself. These three stars (and their pros) have really busted ass to get in the Finals and they deserved it! Now I wanted them to show me the stuff!
First the stars did one last regular-style dance by themselves. Kelly Osbourne was first with her Argentine Tango. Now this is my favorite Ballrooom/Latin dance, and I was crossing my fingers that she would do well, and better than her last effort. Fortunately, Carrie Ann Inaba made a visit to their rehearsal to give her some coaching specifically on her emotional connection with her partner. This is something she has always needed to work on, even though Kelly is really “The Transformer” of the show. She’s the one that’s come the farthest and really discovered dance. But she has never quite had that connect with Louis Van Amstel that would allow them to play lovers.
Let me tell you she did NOT disappoint. Her footwork was excellent, lines were beautiful and they really smoldered when looking into each other’s eyes. It was the real connection this time, yea! Strangely, this was the lowest scoring first dance of the night, with a 9-9-8, and I sincerely believe it was the best first dance of all three. Maybe the judges were warming up or something. The only big criticism that I heard was from Bruno Tonioli who said that Kelly’s “free hand” was doing odd things while she danced. Ugh, whatever.
Next up was Mya. Len Goodman paid her and Dmitry Chaplin a visit as they rehearsed. Len’s intention as they practiced was to really push Mya to her limits in the Paso Doble. He even yelled at her about her kicks, that she could kick his upper hand out of the way. This is a great thing, because I have thought through pretty much the whole season that Mya was too cool of a cucumber, and never really revealing much or reaching her limits.
Technically, the dance looked good and had that measure of anger and sharpness that the Paso calls for. But I really didn’t feel the passion that it needs. The Paso is such a difficult dance to pull off and make look super spectacular in my opinion, you really need a variety of great moves coupled with a really great passionate anger with your partner. Nothing can hold a candle to Mel B. and Maks Chmerkovskiy’s Paso in season 7. Incidentally, Len mentions Mel’s dance in his critique of Mya, saying hers was up there. As you can guess, I do not agree. Judges scores: 10-10-10.
Donny Osmond was next with his Cha Cha Cha. Bruno made a visit to him and partner Kym Johnson to help sharpen up his technique enough to match his showmanship. This is great because Donny can always pull out a crowd-pleasing performance, but not be technically perfect. Bruno took him to task and really put him through his paces. Oddly enough, I didn’t see much evidence of this in his Cha Cha, where he did what seemed as little actual dancing as possible. I thought I might be wrong, but my friend sitting next to me echoed my thoughts exactly. The judges seemed quite happy with it, so it’s possible I don’t understand the man’s role in the Cha Cha. Judges scores: 9-9-9.
A new element this season was the Megamix, where all three couples danced a “superdance” at the same time. Three dances, same choreography (by Nick Kosovich from seasons 2 and 3). This, in theory, is a great idea, I always love the pro dances where up to 5 couples dance at the same time–but those are not PRO dancers. Do you know how hard it is to have six people dancing in complete synchronization and stay in a specific formation? HARD. I personally thought that the Megamix was a mess, and the girls outfits were rather unflattering and distracting. They combined Viennese Waltz, Samba and Jive which to me was rather jarring.
In any case, the stars seemed to enjoy themselves, which makes it all ok in the end. Mya came in first, Donny second and Kelly third for 30, 28 and 26 points respectively.
Lastly was the most anticipated dance: the Freestyle. They kept on saying that the Freestyle can make or break a dancer and they could win or lose the trophy with it. I have to say, I completely disagree, and the Freestyle is always interesting to me, but NOT my favorite. I feel that the Freestyle is some odd excuse to trot out every single trick, lift and leap you’ve ever wanted to do. It’s never simply been about dancing. Freestyles usually do not live up to expectations and don’t always get the best scores.
Kelly and Louis were up first with a disco Freestyle to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”,which she had adopted as her theme song, just because her DWTS trip has definitely been an up and down one for her. Yet she still came out shining. Her dance was fun and free, with lots of smiling and singing along from her (which I love). Also thrown in were lots of tricks, not all of which were completely pulled off. But she smiled and laughed the whole way along and never gave up. This got her kudos from the judges if not high paddles. Judges scores: 8-8-8.
Mya and Dmitry did a puzzling Freestyle to “Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray. I liked it a lot, mostly for the reason that they didn’t pull out every trick in the book. It was good dancing, but not show-stopping. And her outfit was super cute. I think they should have gone with Mya’s out-of-the-box idea. Judges scores: 9-9-9.
Donny and Kym were last with what was the most entertaining Freestyle of the evening. Donny did what Donny does the best: entertain us with energy, enthusiasm and style (why didn’t everyone do that?). “Hollywood at it’s best, ” yelled Bruno. Agreed. Carrie said his Broadway number went down into history with the best, including Drew Lachey’s “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy” and Shawn Johnson’s Jabbawokeez-inspired Freestyle. Two really great ones in a sea of not really memorable Freestyles. Judges scores: 10-10-10. Well deserved.
The voting has been unpredictable this season. Almost as unpredictable as this season’s predictable winner. But the probability of Mya winning the mirror-ball trophy does not take away from the suspense. Will the obviously enormous fan bases of Kelly’s and Donny’s come out screaming overnight to deliver an upset? Even though all three stars have delivered a fantastic season (Mya included), I am keeping my fingers crossed for Miss Osbourne. Nobody deserves the win more.
