Week 1 of the new season of Dancing With The Stars
The first episode of season 4 of Dancing With the Stars did not disappoint. The evening started with a group performance by the professional dancers. I’m sure it was good – I just had no desire to see that tonight. I wanted to get right down to business and see the celebrities compete.
Ian Ziering and his partner (two time defending champion) Cheryl Burke started off the night. While I thought Ian looked a little bit tense and nervous, I thought overall that the performance was good. He has to be one of the early favorites, based only on the fact that his partner has won the title twice before and knows what it takes to win. She’s worked with two different types of partners in the past, so it’s pretty clear she knows how to adapt routines to be successful based on the strengths of her celebrity partners.
Paulina Porizkova and Alec Mazo (season 1 champion) danced second. She was stiff and nervous, but looked gorgeous. The judges agreed that she was somewhat awkward, but Carrie Ann said she had great potential. She actually reminded me of Alec’s other celebrity partner, Kelly Monaco. Her first performance was so stiff and forced, but she did turn it around and win the title in season 1.
Billy Ray Cyrus and his partner, Karina Smirnoff were up next. For having so much experience in music you would think that he’d be a better dancer. He reminded me of that guy at a wedding who has had one or two drinks, is not drunk, but loosens up enough to go out on the dance floor. He things he’s doing a great job dancing but looks more like he’s having a seizure or spastic episode. I think he might be one of the weakest celebrity performers, but based on the amazing crowd response he got when introduced tonight I think the fans might go pretty far in saving him from elimination, at least right away.
Leeza Gibbons and Tony Dovoloni were up next. I really liked her and her chemistry with Tony, but the judges didn’t appear to agree with me. They said that she needed to relax and loosen up and that her performance lacked flow.
Joey Fatone was up next and is paired up with Kym Johnson. If Kym can handle Jerry Springer I’m sure she’ll be able to handle Joey, as he seems to be a really strong personality. I liked him and the performance. I thought he had a great personality on stage and really sold the performance. The judges agreed with me, and Carrie Ann said the competition this season began right then with him.
Laila Ali performed next with her professional partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. I like Max – he’s probably my favorite male professional dancer on the show this year. Max certainly found his match in Laila – I think she could kick his butt at the drop of a hat. I don’t know whey it surprised me that she was good, but I was very surprised at how well she could dance with only 4 weeks of training. The judges all liked her too. Did I mention that I think Max is great?
John Ratzenberger and Edyta Sliwinska followed, and for only having two weeks of practice and training he did a phenomenal job. He had a better performance and score than some of the celebrities who had the full four weeks of practice. I don’t think he has what it takes to win it all, though. I could be wrong of course, but I think his age is going to be a detriment to him.
Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey and her professional partner Brian Fortuna were up next. They did ok with the judges, but I just didn’t feel their performance. I thought it was hysterical how she danced the entire time with that beauty pageant smile on her face.
After this performance, the unthinkable happened. DirecTV went out on me and I lost the channel. I am so mad that I missed the final three performers. I can’t give any opinions on them, so if there is anyone out there reading this who wouldn’t mind sharing their opinions on the performances of Heather Mills, Apolo Anton Ohno and Clyde Drexler, please feel free to comment on this blog post!
The celebrities will compete one more time before elimination. I really like this change in format. It’s kind of mean and cruel to send someone home based on one poor performance.
[tags]dancing with the stars, television, abc, programming, tv, stacy keibler, drew lachey, entertainment, celebrities, kelly monaco, jerry rice[/tags]
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