Dancing with mediocrity
I told my girlfriend that this year I was determined to watch
every episode of
”
Dancing With The Stars.
”
”
You say that every year,
”
she said.
”
But this year is different,
”
I told her.
Dancing with mediocrity
I told my girlfriend that this year I was determined to watch every episode of “Dancing With The Stars.”
“You say that every year,” she said.
“But this year is different,” I told her.
This year really won’t be any different from previous years. I’ll watch about a half hour of the premiere episode, turn it off and hope to never hear about it again. I still find it hard to believe that the show has made it to a sixth season. It is so popular that it led to a spinoff show called “Dance War:Bruno vs. Carrie Ann” and video games for Playstation 2 and the Wii systems.
The premise of the show is simple. There are 12 “stars” six men and six women who partner up with professional dancers and compete every week in a certain dance form. There are three judges who rate them on a scale from 1 to 10 and they are eliminated by audience call in votes. It’s based on a British show called “Strictly Come Dancing.”
The judges are Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli. Inaba is a former teen pop star in Japan, choreographer and actress. She was in “Austin Powers In Goldmember.” Goodman was a professional dancer and judge on the original BBC show. Tonioli is a successful choreographer and also judged the BBC version.
The two hosts of the show are Tom Bergeron who also hosted “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “Hollywood Squares” and Samantha Harris who has worked for E! Entertainment Television and “Good Morning America.”
Some of the dancers are Cheryl Burke, Tony Dovolani, Karina Smirnoff, Derek Hough and 20-year-old Julianne Hough. Both Burke and Hough are two-time winners. Burke won Season 2 with 98 Degrees singer Drew Lachey and Season 3 with football player Emmitt Smith. Hough won Season 4 with gold medallist Apolo Ohno and Season 5 with racecar driver Helio Castroneves.
The contestants are usually a mixture of B-List celebrities, soap opera stars and sports stars. Previous contestants have included Kelly Monaco, Evander Holyfield, George Hamilton, Lisa Rinna, Vivica A. Fox, Joey Fatone and Jerry Springer.
The show helped revive Rinna’s career. She now hosts all of the red carpet award shows for E! Entertainment Channel with Joey Fatone. Fatone also has his own game show “The Spelling Bee.” It helped to humanize Jerry Springer, who dedicated his dancing to his blind daughter.
This year’s lineup includes Steve Guttenberg, Priscilla Presley, Kristi Yamaguchi, Marlee Matlin and Adam Carolla. They call it “Dancing with the Stars” but, let’s face it, Steve Guttenberg hasn’t been a star since “Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol” came out in 1987.
I’m not sure if I dislike the show because I can’t dance or because I think that the title is misleading. Cristian de la Fuente is a contestant this year and no offense, but is he really a star? Here are some of the highlights from his acting career. He was in the 2001 Sylvester Stallone racing drama “Driven,” he’s done six episodes of “CSI: Miami” and two episodes of “Ugly Betty.”
Get real stars. How about George Clooney? Or Julia Roberts? Maybe some stars from current TV shows like David Caruso or Jon Krasinski. Try to get Neil Patrick Harris or America Ferrera, the real star of “Ugly Betty.” Have Alec Baldwin as a contestant. It would be funny when Carrie Ann Inaba gives him a bad score and he calls her “a rude little pig.”
These guys might actually be busy with a real career. I guarantee you if they had Salma Hayek or Jennifer Aniston then I would watch every single episode.
I am impressed with the effort that the “stars” put in. I know it’s hard work. The show doesn’t hesitate to remind us. I just can’t get excited about watching it.
Monday was the big premiere and I watched about five minutes then turned the TV off. I told my girlfriend that I couldn’t watch any more.
“That’s what you do every year,” she said.
So I guess this year won’t be any different.
