The women perform on season premier of Dancing with the Stars

I was very excited that the season premier of season 5 of Dancing With The Stars had finally arrived. I had given a small bit of thought to the fact that I would have to devote three nights of my life to this season premier, but I did not think about the time factor. Tonight’s show was 90 minutes for six dances. Then the realization hit me. ABC is doing everything yet again to suck every drop of lifeblood out of their cash cow known as Dancing With The Stars. Do we really need three hours of the first dances and behind the scenes type interviews?

The show opens tonight with a group number performed by the twelve professional dancers competing in the show. A great number, yes, but in my opinion totally out of place on tonight’s show. The season premier should be about the celebrities dancing with the pros, not about show or group numbers. If you are very, very quiet you can hear a sucking sound. That’s ABC sucking the life out of this show.

We were also introduced to all of the celebrities, even though it was only the women who danced tonight. Did the men look really relaxed or what? The women looked very, very nervous. I’m sure the tables will be turned tomorrow night. They would be doing either a Cha Cha Cha or a Foxtrot.

We also found out that season 2 champ Drew Lachey will be filling in for Samantha Harris as she recovers from the birth of her daughter yesterday.

Jennie Garth and her partner Derek Hough started off the evening with a Cha Cha Cha to Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl.” I was kind of surprised with the choice of song, because it just didn’t seem Latin enough to me. I thought that this was supposed to be a Latin dance and I guess I would be looking for music with that kind of influence. The judges liked her, and said that she did a great job for being first out of the blocks. I was kind of unimpressed. She looked really nervous and maybe that’s why she didn’t come across to me as having a good time or being confident.

Josie Maran and Alec Mazo were next with a Foxtrot. Alec said that he has been at both ends of the spectrum on the show – winning season 1 and being the first to go in another season. I think he could be in jeopardy of being the first to go this season. Of all the contestants, she is one of two individuals I had never heard of and I’m not sure if the viewers of the show are the same ones who enjoy her in the pages of Sports Illustrated and the Swimsuit Issue.

Sabrina Bryan and newcomer professional Mark Ballas performed their Cha Cha Cha next. I thought they were absolutely great. He seems to be really smart, trying to use her strengths in hip hop dancing in the choreography of the dance. Of course the judges caught onto this and Len said he had to take a few points off for it, but my goodness he gave her an 8. Would it have been a 10 if there was no hip hop? I thought Bruno was going to blow a gasket. He loved her. I did too. I felt all this life and energy from her coming through the television screen. And I loved the Pussycat Dolls song. I thought the hip hop worked really well with the song because it’s asking don’t you wish your girl was a freak like me? Here you go, don’t you wish your stuffy old ballroom dancing partner could hip hop like me? The judges gave her a total score of 26.

Marie Osmond and Jonathan Roberts performed a Foxtrot after Bryan. I thought she seemed really joyful in her performance and she was so great playing to the judges, blowing them kisses and almost daring them to give her a bad score. Jonathan has done it again – he seems to have this innate ability to find out what the strengths of his partners are and then play them up. Unfortunately his partners in the past have been those without a lot of name recognition or fan base. Maybe this season he has lucked out with having Marie Osmond as his partner.

Mel B (aka Scary Spice or Melanie Brown) and her professional partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy performed the final Cha Cha Cha of the night. The judges really liked her, and said she was really good and Carrie Ann even said she was better than she thought she would be. They gave her 8’s across the board. I, on the other hand, did not like the dance that much. It seemed really forced. And what the hell was that shirt Maks had on tonight? The sheen on the back was driving me crazy. Let’s see some skin damn it. Don’t cover up that body with a turtleneck, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The final performance of the evening was the Foxtrot of Jane Seymour and Tony Dovolani. What is it now with the producers, are they giving Tony the older female contestants? What was that character’s name in The Graduate? Maybe that’s who the producers think he is. Or maybe they can see his true skills and ability to make these women look great and his ability to choreograph a good routine that plays up the woman. Watching their performance tonight brought a smile to my face. It looked so elegant and refined – but then again, maybe that’s what the elder statesman of the female contestants can bring to the competition that the younger girls just don’t have. I can only hope that at age 56 I look one quarter as good as she does. Hell, I’d love to look like her right now and I’m nowhere near age 56.

The final sucking sound was heard at about 9:20 when we got to hear how the men sized up each other and then Tom Bergeron goes over to them to interview them quickly. I just really wish that ABC would stop trying to put too much into these shows. I think the viewers would really prefer to see the performances of the celebrities and then let it go. Please, please, please ABC cut us a break this season with the results show.

However…..I will be sitting here tomorrow night because I can’t wait to see Cameron Mathison dance!!!

[tags]dancing with the stars, television, abc, programming, tv, stacy keibler, drew lachey, entertainment, celebrities, kelly monaco, jerry rice[/tags]

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