Can you believe it? 'Dancing With The Stars' is kicking off its seventh season. In an effort to keep things fresh, this season marks the largest cast of competitors ever. That cast also features both the youngest, and the oldest, contestants to ever appear on the show. There are winners from the Grammys, the Oscars, the Olympics, and the Super Bowl. It should make for quite a show. In another new twist, there is another new format for week one. All thirteen couples performed. Next, one of the couples will be eliminated as the other twelve perform a second number. Then, on the following night, one more couple will be sent home. With thirteen performances, there is a lot to get to. ; Cody Linley / Julianne Hough (Cha Cha Cha) - You have to think going in that this is a couple that will be around for a while. Julianne has her own contingent of fans. In the training video, Cody was distracted by Julianne's hotness, understandably so. They came out for their debut and it was a rather impressive first week performance. Len said, "Brave are the young." He liked their confidence and energy but cautioned them to keep it refined. Bruno called it the flash of youth, and told Cody to focus on his feet and technique. Score: 18 (6,6,6) Rocco Dispirito / Karina Smirnoff (Foxtrot) - This pairing is a little more tricky. Karina runs very hot and cold with fans. To go far, they are going to need some great dancing from Rocco. Unfortunately, as we learned in the training package, Rocco doesn't have any dance experience, which could be a problem. As they started their performance, some of those reservations went out the window. There is potential, but it will require a good deal of work. Bruno said it was a foxtrot on the brink of chaos. Rocco lost the timing, but had good energy. Carrie Ann thought it was cute. Focusing on what was positive she liked his connection with the audience. Score: 14 (5,4,5) Toni Braxton / Alec Mazo (Cha Cha Cha) - Another couple that is hard to predict here. You would expect Toni to be ahead of the curve because of her dance and performance background, which is always a plus. I don't know that Alec really has that great of a following on his own though. Toni was excited to be paired with Alec when she remembered that he was the winner of season one. Her experience really showed here as she seems to be getting into the flow of the ballroom much faster than many of her competitors. Being week one, of course there are improvements to be made, but if their cha cha is any indication, they should have the time to make them. Carrie Ann thought that it was like a week five performance. Len said it was a good mix of basic cha cha cha and some clever choreography. Score: 22 (7,7,8) Maurice Greene / Cheryl Burke (Foxtrot) - I think the biggest hurdle for Maurice might be that he's just not very well known. Track and field just don't get much of a following, so there is a hill to climb there. Fortunately for him, he has Cheryl as a partner. That can't hurt with the voters, and she does usually do a good job with training her partners. With the performance overall though, a solid first week number. Len thought there were parts that were wild, parts that were wacky, and parts that were wonderful. Bruno said Maurice has a great presence, but he struggled in the hold. Score 18 (6,6,6) Brooke Burke / Derek Hough (Cha Cha Cha) - This is an interesting pairing. Brooke has been on enough different shows that most everyone should be familiar with her. For his part, I think Derek has established himself as a solid partner that gets a lot out of whoever he is matched with. Lots of potential for success with these two. Much like Derek's stint with Jenny, Brook comes with a bunch of cute little kids. In training, it seemed the big issue was learning the steps. It was an impressive debut. Brooke moves very well already and I'm curious to see what they will look like once they have a few weeks of training under their belts. Carrie Ann said she has an amazing body designed to dance, adding that she showed great energy and strength. Bruno said Brooke is going for broke, and really liked her hip action. Score: 23 (7,8,8) Ted McGinley / Inna Brayer (Foxtrot) - Inna, being the new girl, doesn't bring a following of her own. There were some rough bits. Ted is ok with the dancing, but has great personality. We'll just have to wait and see if he has a little more aptitude for improvement than Steve did. This is also a case where the dance selection could be very important. Bruno said that at moments he had the elegance of Cary Grant, but at times he turned into Steve Carell. Len thought Ted had style and elegance and praised the footwork. Score: 18 (6,6,6) Lance Bass / Lacey Schwimmer (Cha Cha Cha) - In the training video, Lance said he thinks it's time for entertainers to take the trophy back from the athletes. As we have seen from other boy band guys, they have a head start learning choreography. That was on display here as Lacey gave Lance a very entertaining number that was a little more difficult than the week one norm. Great energy and it really set the bar for what the two of them are capable of moving forward. Len said that what they did, they did well. It was young and modern, but he's old and traditional. I have the feeling that this could be a recurring theme with Lacey. It should be interesting to watch. Carrie Ann's verdict was hot, hot, hot. Great sharp movements, fantastic. Score: 22 (8,6,8) Cloris Leachman / Corky Ballas (Foxtrot) - Cloris is 82. Cloris is a lovely woman, but she's not going to be able to compete for the title. That doesn't mean she can't put on a fun show while she's here. For Corky, this looks like a fun way to get a foot in the door. I suspect we'll learn much more about his dancing next season. It was a nice performance. We should all be so lucky to do something like that at 82. And that's where things started getting a little wacky. As Bruno started, he said Cloris was floating out there like the battleship Geriatrica. Cloris moved to the judges table tossed a leg up on the desk to try to help sway the vote. Len said, "At your age, I'm surprised how well you dance...Corky." By this time Cloris was working her charms on Len and he told her to mind her cleavage, it was distracting him. He added that this was his chance to be a boytoy. Score 16 (6,5,5) Jeffrey Ross / Edyta Sliwinska (Cha Cha Cha) - Coming into the season, this was the most disappointing pairing for me. Edyta has always been my favorite of the pros, and I don't have much confidence in Jeffrey's dancing. ; Edyta has had great success with partners in the past that weren't the best dancers. There really weren't any surprises here. Jeffrey danced just how you would expect him to. It was a little clumsy, not what you would call fluid. More than perform the dance, he got through it. In his defense, he did suffer an eye injury in rehearsal, but I don't see this getting a whole lot better with two good eyes. The real interesting bit here is seeing what Edyta can do with her choreography to keep Jeffrey in the competition.,Carrie Ann said the flirting was good, and... the form was bad, the musicality was off. She did praise him for coming out to perform despite the injury. Bruno said he hadn't seen such ungainly carnage since Cloverfield in 3D. Score 12 (4,4,4) Kim Kardashian / Mark Ballas (Foxtrot) - I'm really curious to see how this partnership develops. Mark has had a lot of success on the show, but he's also been very fortunate with the partners he's been given. Both of them came into this with much more skill than Kim. This season we are going to see just what kind of a teacher Mark is. For her part, I'm just not sure what the fan reaction to Kim will be. In the training video she said she's most well known for being the star of a reality show. Getting to the performance, Kim and Mark are a great looking couple. Overall I was pretty impressed. Kim still needs a bit of polish, as there were a number of moves that weren't quite finished and bits of it that seemed rather stiff. But this was a nice debut. Len said it was clean and had nice musicality, but there was no chemistry. Bruno called Kim a dusky beauty, but he didn't connect with her while she was dancing. Score: 19 (6,7,6) Susan Lucci / Tony Dovolani (Cha Cha Cha) - This was another partnership I had my eye on when the pairings were first announced. I mean, it's Susan Lucci. Her name alone has to be worth a pile of votes, right? And Tony has always been a solid partner. If they are going to have success, it really does look like it's going to have to come from that ready made fan base. The dancing just wasn't there. Susan was tentative and nervous in a lot of her moves, and it seemed that she didn't know exactly where to be on a couple of occasions. Overall, not the best debut. They have their work cut out for them Tuesday night, and moving forward. Bruno said she looks like a lady, but the cha cha cha needs a slut. She was too careful, and too paced. Carrie Ann though she looked amazing in her dress, and then suggested that Susan put on some weight. Score: 15 (5,5,5) Misty May-Treanor / Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Foxtrot) - All kinds of potential here. I find it amusing that she is the rare female contestant that actually has to put more clothes on when she enters the ballroom. Misty certainly has a chance to carry on the tradition of successful athletes on the show. And she couldn't have a better partner to do it with. Maks certainly has a following of his own, and he's also proven himself as a teacher. This pairing reminds me very much of Maks and Leila, and that turned out pretty well. Carrie Ann said she has never seen anyone attack a foxtrot with so much intensity. She suggested that she try not to muscle everything. Len disagreed, saying it had an elegance and her arms were really nice. Score 21 (6,8,7) Warren Sapp / Kym Johnson - (Didnt see the couple dance.) Phew, that was a lot to take in, but it gives us some clues to where we're headed for the season. If I have to pick just one early favorite, it's Misty & Maks. I'd put Lance & Lacey in a very close second. As to who will be going home. As much as I hate to see Edyta go, Jeffrey is out of his element, and I just don't see him coming around.
I miss Adam Carolla. He injected a lot of humour into a sometimes stuffy show. Has one seen the latest Juicy Fruit gum ad? I think it's Juliana Hough dancing and singing the jingle.
I was not shocked to see last nights elimination of Jeff. He was by far the worst of the bunch. Unlike last seasons there is no clear cut leader. All of these have potential. Cody Linley / Julianne Hough Toni Braxton / Alec Mazo Brooke Burke / Derek Hough Lance Bass / Lacey Schwimmer Misty May-Treanor / Maksim Chmerkovskiy With international style of Ballroom people like Len are really sticky about things that the general public would miss. For example Heel leads in Latin dances, toe leads in smooth. In short they all have a lot of work a head. I can't really say who is going tonight there are a couple that are right at the bottom.
we watch every week - it's a show the whole family can watch. Hubby and I used to do ballroom dancing (before kids) - just enough knowledge to know how much we don't know! ; However, I have a good friend who's competitive in it - so every once in a while I pick his brains about who's doing things technically correct, and who isn't. ; More often than not, he's screaming at the judges for being such turkeys. ; What can you do....
