21 replies to this topic

[carbro]

From the network's announcement:

It will be a season of surprises in what promises to be the biggest and most demanding season ever as thirteen celebrities take the ballroom floor on the hit series Dancing with the Stars, which returns with a three-night premiere event, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on ABC. Each week, all new surprises and twists await viewers. Season seven marks the largest cast assembled to date, the oldest and youngest competitors ever, and includes two Olympic Gold medalists, a Grammy®-winning singer, a television legend, an Oscar® winner, and a Super Bowl champion. Additionally, all four professional dancers who've previously tasted the thrill of victory return to compete against one another for bragging rights. Can one of them reclaim the mirror ball trophy?

Contestants:

• LANCE BASS
• TONI BRAXTON
• BROOKE BURKE
• ROCCO DISPIRITO
• MAURICE GREENE
• KIM KARDASHIAN
• CLORIS LEACHMAN
• CODY LINLEY
• SUSAN LUCCI
• MISTY MAY-TREANOR
• TED MCGINLEY
• JEFFREY ROSS
• WARREN SAPP

For identifications and other details, see -->here.

[Paul Parish]

Chloris leachman will be dancing with Mark Ballas's FATHER, who's also a Latin ballroom champion/ They could have enormous sentimental reserves, if she can dance. This is so exciting. I'm sorry, everybody, I'm slightly beside myself.

Also, the idea of Misty and Maksim is pretty exciting -- obviously she can move, and he's SO strong he'll be able to match her power; which could be very exciting.

And the disney kid can probably dance -- they always can -- and he and Julianne may raise cuteness to fever pitch. Fetch me my salts.

[Helene]

It took a couple of times before the link worked for me -- could be my connection -- but here are more details:

Lance Bass (NSYNC)/Lacey Schwimmer
Toni Braxton (singer/actress)/Alex Mazo
Brooke Burke (host/actress/entrepreneur/celebrity mom)/Derek Hough
Rocco Dispirito (chef)/Karina Smirnoff.
Maurice Green (sprinter)/Cheryl Burke
Kim Kardashian (actress/model)/Mark Ballas
Cloris Leachman (actress)/Corky Ballas (new)
Cody Linley (actor)/Julianne Hough
Susan Lucci (Erica Kane!)/Tony Dovolani
Misty Max-Treanor (volleyballer)/Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Ted McGinley (actor)/Inna Brayer (new)
Jeffrey Ross (comedian)/Edyta Sliwinska
Warren Sapp (football player)/Kym Johnson

For devotees of annual ballroom dancing competitions aired on PBS back in the day, Corky and Shirley Ballas were always among the top contenders.

According to his website Corky Ballas is not only the father of Mark Ballas, but the dancing father of most of the US trained dancers on the show.

[sidwich]

According to his website Corky Ballas is not only the father of Mark Ballas, but the dancing father of most of the US trained dancers on the show.

Not to take anything away from Corky, but I don't think Corky has played that big a part of the development in those dancers other than the Houghs and his son. He's probably worked with a number of them, but I don't think he's coached that many on any consistent basis.

If I were to go so far as to call anyone the dancing father on the show, it would probably be Louis van Amstel who has coached many of the top U.S. Latin professionals. Actually, I think he was coaching the Houghs when they were still in Utah.

[perky]

Chloris leachman will be dancing with Mark Ballas's FATHER, who's also a Latin ballroom champion/ They could have enormous sentimental reserves, if she can dance. This is so exciting. I'm sorry, everybody, I'm slightly beside myself.

Also, the idea of Misty and Maksim is pretty exciting -- obviously she can move, and he's SO strong he'll be able to match her power; which could be very exciting.

And the disney kid can probably dance -- they always can -- and he and Julianne may raise cuteness to fever pitch. Fetch me my salts.

Can we please get a tango with Cloris as Nurse Diesel and Corky as Harvey Korman?

I'm excited about seeing Misty/Maks (yea he's back!) and Karina/Rocco.

[miliosr]

So, for those who are interested -- last week's ratings:

Monday - 21.3 million viewers - 1st

Tuesday - 18.3 million viewers - 4th

Wednesday - 15.9 million viewers - 9th

Out: Jeffrey, Ted

[miliosr]

Week Two Ratings:

Performances -- 1st -- 18.9 million viewers

Results -- 5th (tie) -- 15.5 million viewers

Out: Kim

[miliosr]

Week Three Ratings:

Performances -- 2nd -- 18.6 million viewers

Results -- 7th -- 15.1 million viewers

Out: Misty (injury)

[miliosr]

Week Four Ratings:

Performances -- 3rd -- 17.8 million viewers

Results -- 6th (tie) -- 14.8 million viewers

Out: Rocco

[miliosr]

Week Five Ratings:

Performances -- 2nd -- 18.5 million viewers

Results -- 4th -- 16.4 million viewers

Out: Toni

[miliosr]

Week Six Ratings:

Performances -- 3rd -- 18.9 million viewers

Results -- 4th -- 17.4 million viewers

Out: Cloris

[miliosr]

Week Seven Ratings:

Performances -- 4th -- 17.1 million viewers

Results -- 6th -- 15.8 million viewers

Out: Susan

[carbro]

Time to pop in with a personal observation. Football seems to be a fertile field for strong competitors. This week I voted for the first time this season. Even though Brooke has extraordinary natural talent, I cast one vote in error (misdial due to spastic finger) and all the rest for Warren Sapp, whose charm is intoxicating. When Carrie Ann told Warren earlier in the season, "I think I have a crush on you", I was all with her.

What surprises me is that among a field made up largely of entertainers, whose livelihoods depend on being likable as performers, the macho jocks Warren, Jason Taylor and Emmit Smith have been as charismatic as any of the actors, singers, talk show hosts and other show biz types.

[perky]

Time to pop in with a personal observation. Football seems to be a fertile field for strong competitors. This week I voted for the first time this season. Even though Brooke has extraordinary natural talent, I cast one vote in error (misdial due to spastic finger) and all the rest for Warren Sapp, whose charm is intoxicating. When Carrie Ann told Warren earlier in the season, "I think I have a crush on you", I was all with her.

What surprises me is that among a field made up largely of entertainers, whose livelihoods depend on being likable as performers, the macho jocks Warren, Jason Taylor and Emmit Smith have been as charismatic as any of the actors, singers, talk show hosts and other show biz types.

I find this interesting too Carbro. You have only to look at the team dances from last week. Team Cha Cha were all professional entertainers, Team Paso Doble had the two athletes with Brooke. Guess who sold it and performed it the best? Maybe it's just a matter of athletes being able to put their game faces on and get down to it.

And I'm rooting for Warren Sapp as well. I like the competitiveness and inventive choreography that comes out of Kym Johnson when she thinks she has a winner.

[sidwich]

What surprises me is that among a field made up largely of entertainers, whose livelihoods depend on being likable as performers, the macho jocks Warren, Jason Taylor and Emmit Smith have been as charismatic as any of the actors, singers, talk show hosts and other show biz types.

Well, there have been some duds are well, like Evander Holyfield, Jerry Rice and Clyde Drexler. I think athletes are on the whole more coordinated that than the average person, and that helps a lot. With so few U.S. born boys receiving dance training, it's pretty common for the few U.S. born male dancesport competitors to have been former athletes.

I find this interesting too Carbro. You have only to look at the team dances from last week. Team Cha Cha were all professional entertainers, Team Paso Doble had the two athletes with Brooke. Guess who sold it and performed it the best? Maybe it's just a matter of athletes being able to put their game faces on and get down to it.

I think that's part of it, but a lot of it was just Team Cha Cha was sunk before they even started with being charged with: 1) Cha Cha, and 2) Susan Lucci.

Cha Cha is a much harder dance than Paso to try to coordinate in a group (syncopation vs. straight time), and beginner/bronze level figures really don't lend themselves to formations at all. Cha Cha and especially bronze level cha cha is all danced on straight lines (vs. Paso's line of dance) so it is very unforgiving if the group movement isn't well matched and it doesn't lend itself to things like circles or skirt-waving, etc.

Whicever team got Susan was also going to have a hard time just because Susan (leaving aside her nonabilities as a dancer) spends most of the week in NYC, and there was going to be very little rehearsal time with the whole group. There was no way movement and timing was going to match, and that's just always a killer time for team competition. Team Chacha ended up with one good performance (Lance), one pretty decent performance (Cody) and one poor performance (Susan). Team Paso had three mediocre performances, but came out better because that's just how team competitions always roll.