First impressions of the new 'Dancing' stars
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Dancing with the Stars opened up a new season Monday night, and since I know you all want to know, here it is: Heather Mills' prosthetic leg stayed on.
Paul McCartney's former wife, whose left leg is amputated at the knee, performed a fairly decent fox trot with partner Jonathan Roberts near the end of the show. She wasn't great, but she wasn't bad either, falling somewhere in the middle of the pack of new celebrities.
ABC has tweaked the show's format a little, giving all 11 stars -- as ever, defined fairly loosely -- two chances to perform before the first results show next week.
Also as ever, our knowledge of ballroom dance here at Zap2it is, shall we say, limited. But here are a few impressions based on what we saw Monday, with the men doing the cha-cha and the women the fox trot.
HOT TO TROT
It's not much of a surprise that Joey Fatone, tonight's top scorer with 24, is a strong dancer. Dude was in *NSync and has done a fair amount of musical theater, so he should be a favorite. But I didn't figure Laila Ali was going to be so good. The Greatest's daughter is confident like her dad, and she showed it en route to finishing just a point behind Fatone.
COULD BE CONTENDERS
After Ali and Fatone, there were several people -- including Mills -- who showed some potential. At the top of that list is -- who knew? Besides lover of all things 90210 TV Gal, I mean -- Ian Ziering. Ol' Steve Sanders showed some surprising chops, and he's paired with two-time champ Cheryl Burke, so he could go pretty far.
Olympic speed-skating medalist Apolo Anton Ohno, who like Ziering scored a 21, seems like a natural performer. The primary reason I haven't lumped him in with the top two is that he's in the middle of his sport's season and might not have as much time to practice as his fellow dancers.
Former Miss USA Shandi Finnessey did reasonably well too, but it looked like, at least when she's in heels, that she's taller than her partner, new pro Brian Fortuna. Mills, late addition John Ratzenberger and NBA great Clyde Drexler had some good moments too and could probably last several weeks. And Paulina Porizkova, she's pretty -- and also reasonably graceful, dancing with season one champ Alec Mazo.
THANKS FOR PLAYING
Billy Ray Cyrus better hope that a lot of Hannah Montana fans, or people who still know the words to "Achy Breaky Heart," or something, watch Dancing with the Stars. Because he's already trotted out a mullet wig (which Karina Smirnoff wore during their routine), and where do you go from there?
Leeza Gibbons, who's made a lucrative career out of being inoffensive, was just that in her fox trot. But she was also kind of stiff and unexpressive, which led to the night's second-lowest scores.
What were your first impressions? Who's got the skills to take home that mirror ball?
I have to say that I'm watching this year because of Paulina Porizkova and I will continue to watch as long as she stays on the show then I will be done.
That being said, I thought going in that she would be one of the first people eliminated due to the fact that she is probably one of the least known of the 'stars'. However, after watching the training bit, she showed a lot of personality and was very adept at self-deprecation. I think that will help keep her in the competition longer.
I will say that I don't expect her to win - that will probably go to one of the guys. My guess right now would be either Joey or Ian. Apolo was clearly the one with the most potential, but his training schedule will likely cost him somewhere in the second half of the year. Apolo's dance was by far the most difficult routine.
I wish that the show would add a degree of difficultly marker to the scores the way they have in diving. That way someone who does a dance that say rates a 2 out of 4 and gets a 24 would have a score of 48 but someone who does a 3 out of 4 routine and gets a 21 would actually score a 63. That would help the judges out a lot you would then not have to factor in the difficulty of the dance into their scores.
Actually, although Apolo had probably the least time to practice out of all 11, his season is already complete. The short track season ended this past Sunday, one day before the premiere. Now Apolo can devote himself entirely to DWTS [as far as I know].
I missed Billy Ray's dance, but I saw his score. What did he do wrong?
I diffinitely thought Joey Fatone was the best. I was surprised Heather Mills didn't do worse then she did. Billy Ray and Leeza were horrible. Unless they improve they should be the first two to go.
Yes, I have been an avid fan of DWTS since season 1. I just can't get enough of the cheesy goodness, and I enjoy seeing former athletes, models, boy band members, etc. out of their element.
Judging from the past 3 seasons, you can usually tell which contestants will end up in the final 3 or 4, but there is usually one dark horse. We really should wait until next week to make our picks because we need to see how the men adapt to the standard ballroom dance (quick step), and how the women pick up the pace with the latin (mambo). I remember some of the past contestants having a more difficult time with the standard ballroom dances since more importance is placed on the correct hold and their posture (no slouching!).
I was in agreement with the judges that Billy Ray Cyrus deserved the lowest score...not anything there resembling the cha-cha. I was pleasantly surprised by Laila Ali and Ian Ziering. Generally, the women were too stiff in the foxtrot, while some of the men were too busy looking down at their feet and counting! Anyways, I thought everyone looked like they were having fun, unlike Season 2's Master P.
Apolo, Joey, Laila, and Ian are all very good and will probably be the top 4. The coming weeks will tell what order these should be in. Joey, Laila and Ian all have excellent partners in Kym, Max and Cheryl and should do well all season. I was nervous for Apolo with his lack of time to train and his very young, new-to-the-show partner. But they were fantastic- great choreography and chemistry and the hardest routine of the night from what I could tell.
Some of the others have potential and there is usually a dark horse, so we will have to see. I am looking forward to next week- to see who seems the most comfortable and skilled with latin and standard ballroom after they switch it up.
I think Leeza had a great Dance! I'll be cheering her on all the way! Best Wishes & Good Luck Leeza!
Sincerely, Paula
I liked Laila Ali and Joey Fatone the best. At least, their performances were the most enjoyable to watch IMO. They seemed relaxed and happy. I agree that Leeza was kind of stiff (and maybe her performance wasn't of the highest difficulty level), but still I thought she did pretty well for the first time out and IMO they lowballed her score just a bit.
While I think overall, Joey was the best, the most surprisingly good, imo, was John Ratzenberger.
I'm hoping that Heather Mills, who danced better than some, goes soon. To me, she is simply a distraction which SHE herself caused by doing the promos worrying that her leg would come off. Obviously she thinks it won't or she wouldn't be doing this.
I'm hoping Apolo picks up the pace next week; he made me smile and that's usually a good sign.
I liked Joey, Ian, and Laila as well.
Shandi can go soon, too; her teeth were a distraction. But GSN is sending out email to vote for her and you know how THAT goes!