Rosado's Recaps-Dancing With The Stars - The Cultute of Pop, DVD, Movie, TV, Pop Culture Review

Rosado's Recaps-Dancing With The Stars

Posted: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 2:38:03 PDT

SEASON 12-EPISODE 1

At exactly 8:00:05 pm EST last night, the boisterous voice of Tom Bergeron combined with the rapid fire visuals of a horrible, yucky visuals of a winter thankfully past, said it all.

We were beyond ready...

Additionally? With the insanity going on in Libya, the horrific aftermath of the tsunami and earthquakes in Japan, and ongoing domestic woes from the economy upward, we need the glittery escapism of Dancing With The Stars more than ever.

...and did I tell you guys not to rag on this cast, yesterday? Weren't they just wonderful last night? Okay, Loveline co-host Mike Catherwood's no Adam Carolla, and Wendy Williams needs to speed it up a bit, but last night's season premiere was filled with surprise pleasures, heavily hyped couples that fell slightly short of initial expectations, and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner up way past his bedtime.

Chelsea Kane/Mark Ballas: Like I said in my pre-season blog dispatch less than 24 hours ago, madman Markus is a battling dancing brute, no matter who his partner is..and after seeing how he molded the Disney channel goddess from Jonas L.A. into a more than dynamite partner for their opening number last night, need I say (much) more? Kane kept up with him brilliantly for a beginner, and her from her 1930's inspired hair-do to a white gown that brought back memories of film legend Ginger Rogers, what a way to kick off a new season...Like all the couplings debuting last night, I'll need another week to see if their first times at the plate were cases of beginner's luck, but truth be told? Chelsea and Mark could be a pair to watch.

Wendy Williams/Tony Dovolani: Given the daytime talk diva's flair for gab, it was way surprising to see Williams so vulnerable in her initial practice sessions with the always likeable Dovolani, who has the worst luck with partners from time to time.

Kate Gosselin, anyone? Sara Evans having to bow out thanks to a meddlin' husband? Ah, memories.

Unfortunately, Williams wasn't able to bring the flair of her talk show persona to the dance floor, mainly posing while Tony did all the heavy lifting. Still, I'm willing to bet Wendy will take a hard look at her performance and want to do, and will be better next Monday. If not, she may find herself in the bottom two sooner rather than later.

Kym Johnson/Hines Ward-The Pittsburgh Steeler fave may have come up short in the Super Bowl this year, but he hit the jackpot being paired with the always phenomenal Kym (how DOES she do those leg lifts onto her partner's shoulders as she did with Hines last night? Breathtaking). Hines did a more than commendable job in matching her footwork in their cha-cha, and his trademark smile was just infectious. So happy to see the friendly chemistry displayed in rehearsal footage make it to the dance floor...and like so many other football pros that do exceedingly well on this program, I can see Kym and Hines possibly going all the way this year; in fact, Jimmy Kimmel picked Hines to be the winner of this year's mirror ball...and since the ABC late night talker has a pretty good record in predictions, it could be a very safe bet.

Petra Nemcova/Dimitry Chaplin: Currently in the news in helping bring awareness to those suffering in Japan via her past experience in a tsunami, the beautiful model's experience made recent rehearsals more than bittersweet...so much so, I picked her last in my pre-season picks. But after the not great, but not bad routine performed with Chaplin, I think Petra could achieve a top 8 or even top 7 finishing, but a lot's gonna be riding on next week's performance.

Romeo and Chelsie Hightower: In one of my rare lapses in Dancing With The Stars trivia, I had completely forgotten that the young rap star had to bail out of Season 2 shortly before premiere time, forcing his dad to step in...None other than the woefully dance step depraved rap superstar Master P., who landed the lowest scores in the show's history (not to mention the most talked about shoes in the history of mankind!).

Although he let Chelsie do most of the work (and boy, can this vivacious, swirling, twirling firecracker of a dancer work), his footwork wound up being slightly above average to me (especially since he wore his dad's shoe while competing last night).

Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunsakaya: Despite the boxing legend's disgust at his rehearsal experiences from time to time, Anna definitely instilled some much needed confidence, making for a charming routine, with a nice little Ben Vereen-ish heel click to boot. Although not as quick on his feet like other sports treasures that have done the show, Leonard's beyond likeable, still possesses the charms of his glory days in the ring (remember how he'd bow to each side of the crowd after a win)...So I'm SO pulling for him to have a top five finish.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis Amstel-Those with money riding on the Playboy fave/reality star may be biting their nails this morning (maybe even her former semi-boyfriend Hugh Hefner). While Kendra's routine wasn't without it's charm (her beguiling smile being an underrated trait), her routine with Louis was surprisingly restrained. Perhaps too much so, owing to a surprising case of audience fright which she revealed to Dancing co-host Brooke Burke backstage. However, if she can calm down, and bring back the sex kitten persona that made her an instant pop culture legend with her old buds Holly and Bridget, she may find herself back at the top with odds makers and viewers.

Ralph Macchio/Karina Smirnoff-Okay, I admit it...I'm eating a bit of crow today after stating I didn't expect this Karate Kid star to be very impressive. But although his 49 year old body parts barely made it thru, I was shocked...and pleasantly so at how wonderful he matched longtime Dancing vet Smirnoff's moves. It had grace, charm and old fashioned magic.

Somewhere, Mr. Miyagi (aka Pat Morita) has to be beaming...will the unlikely male hero of the 12^th season premiere keep on keepin' on? We'll see.

Mike Catherwod/Lacey Schwimmer-Every season of Dancing has to have a Kenny Mayne, or a Tucker Carlson, The Hoff...and this year, I think that not so good honor is going to the Loveline co-host. Despite the presence of the always on Schwimmer, it was a painful routine to watch...and even Lacey admitted on her Twitter feed that she needed her fans to vote more than ever. Unless some sort of magical fairy dust enhances Lacey's training sessions resulting in the Dancing comeback of the decade, I'm afraid we'll be bidding goodbye to Dr. Drew's co-hort.

Chris Jericho/Cheryl Burke-Ah, yes...Team Cherico, and one of this season's best matched pairings with her energetic flair and his wrestling showmanship. Although it was a good rock based outing, they still have some work to do to mesh more as a team. Thus, I'm predicting yet another high finish for one of my fave dancers.

Kirstie Alley/Maksim Chmerkovskiy-Yes, the Dancing producers knew what they were-a doing saving the best for last, here....the true draw of this season for all types of Dancing fans from the dyed-in-the-wool lovers like me to those that whine about each new cast season by season until premiere night proves them wrong..To paraphrase a recent classic TV show, everybody loves Kirstie...and she did NOT disappoint in a smoldering sexy, flirty come hither routine with Maks. Cee-Lo Green's Forget You could not have been a more appropriate number for them to dance to, too....this was the Kirstie Alley I fell in love with years ago, and I've no doubt that many a schoolboy's crush became reignited along with mine.

Whew! Somebody hand me some Evian and a towel! What a week of torture waiting ahead of us for a second act...thank the Lord we've got the likes of Survivor and Idol to keep us occupied until next Monday...but what does team TCOP here think? Hit me back via the Contact Us link at the top or get with me via the handy Twitter and Facebook links below.

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