Pop Culture Kitty

Dancing With The Stars 10 – Week One Performance

Aired 3/22/10

I have to be honest; I was not thrilled when the cast for this season of DWTS was announced. The truth is that the show really should have always been called “Dancing with Celebrities” but this is the most “starless” season ever.  Despite my initial, and still lingering, apathy about the cast I did end up enjoying the premiere more than I anticipated.  A big part of that is because Samantha Harris is gone and the lovely and classy Brooke Burke has returned.  Finally we have a co-host on this show who knows what she’s talking about and can articulate it.

Chad Ochocinco & Cheryl Burke:  (Cha Cha) Really, DWTS?  Of all the current and former NFL players out there you had to go with the crazy diva?  He’s good looking, no doubt, but the man named himself after his football jersey!  In fairness, Chad did show flashes of style and charm.  Surprisingly, he also looked quite nervous.  My preconceived notion of him was of a man much too full of himself to have any self doubt so I thought the nervousness was a very good sign.  I’m not ready to start voting for him or anything, but it wasn’t a bad start.  Scores:  Carrie Ann Inaba – 6, Len Goodman – 6, Bruno Tonioli – 6.  Total = 18.

Shannen Doherty & Mark Ballas:  (Viennese Waltz)  On this evening, Shannen’s “bad girl” image was nowhere to be seen.  Mark gave her a lot of difficult (and clever) choreography to do for week one and I thought Shannen held up pretty well.  The dance did lack grace in some places but the spin at the end was very striking.  Shannen has got a long ways to go but it was a good start.  And yes, I did get drawn in by the story of her father’s recovery from a stroke.  His teary face after watching her dance was very touching.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 6, Len – 6, Bruno – 6.  Total = 18.  I’d agree that Shannen and Chad were about even. 

Erin Andrews & Maksim Chmerkovskiy:  (Cha Cha)  I was prepared to issue a stern warning to Maks to be nice to Erin but it was clear from their setup clip that Erin is more than capable of handling Maks.  They are a good match.  Erin is the celeb this season whose corner I am firmly in.  What happened to her over the past year was terrible and I’m fine with her making lemonade out of those lemons.  Erin has the longest legs seen on this show since Stacy Keibler.  While she did show a lot of personality, Erin does need to figure out how to use those long limbs on the dance floor.  Still, it was another good start.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 7, Len – 7, Bruno – 7.  Total = 21. 

Jake Pavelka & Chelsie Hightower:   (Viennese Waltz)  I don’t watch “The Bachelor” so I don’t really know Jake.  He seems nice enough, and he certainly was trying very hard, but it was a rough dance.  Chelsie has her work cut out for her – but, then again, she was the one who worked miracles with Ty Murray.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 7, Len - 6, Bruno – 7.  Total = 20.  Those scores seemed a bit high to me.  I would have given him a 6 at the most.      

Niecy Nash & Louis van Amstel:  (Cha Cha)  Personality will not be Niecy’s problem on this show.  She’s got plenty of that.  The best part about her being on DWTS is that it will give Danielle Fishel plenty of chances to do her Niecy impression on “The Dish”.  Niecy had the attitude for her Cha Cha but the steps got a bit awkward.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 7, Len – 5, Bruno – 6.  Total = 18.  Bruno was the right one here.  This was a 6 dance.   

Evan Lysacek & Anna Trebunskaya:   (Viennese Waltz)  Their setup clip was all about lowering expectations but it wasn’t necessary.  Evan was just as good as we all knew he would be.  He was very Fred Astaire.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 8, Len – 7, Bruno – 8.  Total = 23.

Buzz Aldrin & Ashly Costa:  (Cha Cha)  Well, they gave Buzz the right partner in sweet, little Ashly.  She was doing a valiant job of trying to cover all the missed steps.  I have no desire to say anything negative about Buzz but there’s no denying that this was a very, very rough dance.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 5, Len – 4, Bruno – 5.  Total = 14.  They were being generous.

Nicole Scherzinger & Derek Hough:  (Viennese Waltz)  To absolutely no one’s surprise, Nicole was fabulous.  She was the picture of grace and the final spin was stunning.  She is a ringer, no doubt, and I do think a serious argument can be made that she is too much of a professional dancer to be on the show.  She’s the favorite even over the gold medal winning figure skater- despite Len’s rant to the contrary.  I’m not sure what got into him when he started rambling off all of Nicole’s supposed flaws.  I couldn’t help but think he was trying to make Nicole seem like an underdog despite her being the clear frontrunner.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 9, Len – 7, Bruno – 9.  Total = 25.  Wow.  9’s right out of the gate.    

Aiden Turner & Edyta Sliwinska:  (Cha Cha)   Aiden is no Gilles Marini but he is certainly very pretty and I think there is some potential here if he can learn to loosen up a bit.  I agreed with Carrie Ann’s comment that there was no musicality but I think there’s hope.  I certainly didn’t think he deserved Bruno’s crack about being another Kenny Mayne.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 5, Len – 5, Bruno – 5.  Total = 15.  That was too low.  The scores should have been 6’s.

Kate Gosselin & Tony Dovolani:  (Viennese Waltz)  Oh, Kate.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone look as terrified as Kate did during this dance.  I was actually quite impressed that she made it through given all that fear.  The judges were correct that Kate is the contestant most out of her element.  Scores:  Carrie Ann – 6, Len – 5, Bruno – 5.  Total = 16.  I’m thinking that may have been a bit of a pity 6 from Carrie Ann.  Kate should not have received a higher score than Aiden.  

Pamela Anderson & Damian Whitewood:  (Cha Cha)  I have to give the woman her due, Pam worked this dance.  It was much better than I expected.  It was definitely campy (see photo above), but it was also fun and sexy and pure Pam Anderson.  I’m both fascinated and horrified by the thought of her doing a waltz.  Scores:  Carrie Ann - 7, Len – 6, Bruno – 8.  Total = 21.  By the way, kudos to Carrie Ann for the fab hair flip when she gave her score.

There will be no elimination this week.  If there were, I’m thinking Aiden would have been the one headed out the door.  He doesn’t have much of a fan base and the judges were really tough on him.  Buzz should be the first to go but we know from the show’s history that he’ll be kept around for a while by the audience.

Full episodes of DWTS can be viewed at ABC’s website here:

http://abc.go.com/watch/clip/dancing-with-the-stars/SH007473660000