TV Review: Dancing With The Stars 2 Premiere

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Over the summer months, the first season of Dancing With The Stars heated up the airwaves. For six weeks, we watched as six couples battled it out until one was named winner, that person being actress Kelly Monaco. Not everyone was happy with that result. Kelly hadn't done the best throughout, but a faulty performance somehow ended up receiving a perfect score. A dance-off was had back in September, and America chose whom they wanted to be named winner for the competition, actor john O'Hurley.

The second season of the popular series premiered tonight, and we definitely have some changes here. We have the same judges and host, but now we have ten celebrities and an all-new Friday night results show. Over the next eight weeks, we will see these ten celebrities dance their hearts out. Will this season fall to a similar fate? Or are the changes enough to make this season a much better fit with the American public?

First let's tell you who is dancing. We have ten couples that started tonight, but only nine will remain following tomorrow's result show. These are our couples for this season:

Tia Carrere - actress - partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Giselle Fernandez - journalist - partner Jonathan Roberts
George Hamilton - actor - partner Edyta Sliwinska
Stacy Keibler - WWE wrestler - partner Tony Dovolani.
Drew Lachey - formerly of 98 degrees - partner Cheryl Burke.
Kenny Mayne - ESPM personality - partner Andrea Hale.
Tatum O'neal - actress - partner Nick Kosovich.
Jerry Rice - former NFL player - partner Anna Trebunskaya.
Lisa Rinna - Actress, host of SOAPnet's "Soap Talk." - partner Louis van Amstel
Master P - teen rap star - partner Ashly Delgrosso

Our judges from the first season return this season, and they are as follows: Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli.

Now you know whom you are watching, let's talk about this week's episode. This week, the female celebrities were dancing the waltz and the male celebrities were dancing the cha-cha. A note from last season on why the males and females are performing different dance styles - they do so because in ballroom, then need to lead, and they are trying to make it a bit easier for the male celebrities to lead with the dance styles they are given. However, just from the performances I saw tonight, the woman definitely led when it came to the male celebrity couples.

The only male celebrity that really showed any lead was Drew Lachey. George Hamilton, Kenny Mayne, Master P and Jerry Rice definitely were led. During his performance, George Hamilton seemed to just stand there. Kenny didn't take the performance all too seriously, and we had some comical moments, but he did try. It takes a lot of guts to get up on stage, and I commend each of the celebrities for getting up on stage and performing. Nerves were noticeable in all are dancers, but this was the first performance. Nerves are expected.

Master P came in as a replacement for his son, and he only had a week to learn how to dance ballroom. That showed, but he also tried. Coming in as a replacement was definitely something to commend. Jerry Rice did well here, but I wasn't as thrilled with his performance as the judges were. He did better than I thought he would though, and as a fan of his footwork on the football field I definitely appreciate his effort.

As for the females, they definitely shined tonight in their waltzes. Each put forth an effort, and that showed. Stacy Keibler definitely won over the judges tonight, and it is even rumored that she is picked to win by the odds makers. Yes, they even place odds for these types of competitions it seems. The women make it very hard to pick one of them as best of the night. Hands down the best male of the night was Drew Lachey.

Tonight's Scores from The Judges:

George Hamilton & partner - 18
Lisa Rinna & partner - 19
Kenny Mayne & partner - 13
Stacey Keibler & partner - 22
Drew Lachey & partner - 24
Tia Carrere & partner - 20
Master P & partner - 12
Giselle Fernandez & partner - 23
Jerry Rice & partner - 21
Tatum O'Neal & partner - 23

Now for my pick to go home tomorrow is between Kenny and Master P. Both made some effort, but one of these two will more than likely end up going home tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow night with the results!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Dancing with the Stars" - Series 2 (2006)

Saw the Results show last night on ABC. So Master P makes it to the next round where Rap will meet Quickstep. It's a Surreal Life, isn't it? Ashley is so "cute"!

One of the nice things to see is how there are two Black contestants participating in Ballroom ... as indicated in the DanceScape Passion thread, Blacks in Ballroom, there tends to be lower participation from the Black community. Maybe we're seeing a new trend here, as Ballroom Dancing becomes more accessible to everyone across various cultures!

Realize he was horrible BUT ... would love to see if there is a strong enough Rap audience to support Master P.

It would actually have been fun to see his son, Romeo, which would reach an even younger urban group.

Lisa Rinna is beautiful but PLEASE, someone tell her to stop getting so much collagen in her lips. She's gorgeous enough without having such extreme lips. Her husband, Harry Hamlin, was in the audience.

Drew Lachey's brother, Nick, was also in the audience. Too bad he split up with Jessica Simpson ... it would have been a media frenzy to have Jessica and Nick cheering for Drew at the event, and if their MTV show had continued, they could have even visited Drew while he practised for Dancing with the Stars. Alas, we'll never know!

So Stacy Keibler is a World Wrestling Entertainer/Wrestler? Our knowledge of pro lady wrestlers to date had been Chyna Doll (a.k.a. Joanie Laurer - anyone see her on The Surreal Life?) ... steroids & boob job gone mad (now, she would have been an interesting contestant also, although the show would have to be renamed "Dancing with the Freaks" - case in point, look at the photo on the right!). Stacy Keibler looks so slim and flexible ... has anyone actually seen her wrestle?

David Letterman had a funny joke the other day ...

"Dancing" + Celebrities = "Dancing with the Stars"

"Dancing" - Celebrities = "Dancing with the Stars"

On another note, Howard Stern premiered on Sirius radio. It was quite interesting to listen to his interview with Larry King on CNN. He said that he tended to TiVo shows like "Smallville" (about Superman's beginnings). He was also one of the few in the shock media circuit to actually support "Dancing with the Stars" Series I and predicted it would do well. Any Howard Stern fans, here? If Howard produced this show, can you imagine what kind of guests he would bring in (actually, he did say his "coolest" radio guests have been Stevie Wonder and Arnold Schwarzenegger).

It's fun to be able to just talk about Dancing with non-ballroom enthusiasts. Great variety show-styled entertainment! Don't know about you, but we're curious how Master P is going to do in the Quickstep ... and whether he will wear a Tailsuit with a Baseball Cap and Sneaker. Maybe he'll set a new trend in men's Ballroom Fashions.

If you watched the show, please share your comments with our other Dance Addicts!

dance is ... PASSION!
http://www.dancescape.com

dance is ... FUN!
http://dancescape.com/mydancefriends

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