Dancing With the Stars kicked off its three-night seventh-season premiere extravaganza last night. While all 13 contestants had a go, only 12 will dance tonight and then, on Wednesday, yet another will get the boot, leaving 11 to tango on in week two. Chances are the most talented celebs won’t get through - the most vibrant, entertaining, willing-to-do anything attention-hoggers will since this is a popularity contest and not a true dancing show.
This is the biggest cast with 13 dancers - youngest against oldest (Cody, 18, and Cloris, 82), father against son (the Ballases), brother against sister (the hottie Houghs), husband against wife (Edyta and Alec). And Cloris against common sense.
There was a new hair color for Carrie Ann – kind of a purple black. Not sure about it. The return of Maksim Chmerkovskiy, the “bad boy of ballroom.” The introduction of Inna Brayer, who made no real impression on me, and Lacey Schwimmer, who will probably last because she’s young, edgy and “Lance & Lacey” just sounds too cool to ditch.
The real action at the premiere started with 82-year-old Leachman doing a lousy dance – who cares – then throwing her leg up on the judges’ table in front of Bruno, praying in front of head judge Len Goodman (and showing him her cleavage, after which he offered to be her “toy boy”) and sitting on judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s lap.
Quickly grasping this was the true competition, the next contestant, comedian Jeffrey Ross, copied Cloris’ leg move for Bruno. Shortly thereafter, Susan Lucci asked Bruno, “You want a slut?” and basically made out with him at the table.
All in all, a dramatic opening night for season seven. Bravo. Keep it up.
Having said all that, the dancing needs to get 100 percent stronger. It’s only the first night, so that’s expected, but don’t forget the disco ball trophy has to go to somebody who can actually dance. I’ll be looking for improvement across the board.
To me, the most talented dancer of the night was singer Toni Braxton. She danced, as Carrie Ann said, like she was already in episode five, but she is also probably the tamest, most boring person there. Will talent be enough to keep her around?
All of the couples have to do two dances this first week and then two couples will get dumped. They get dumped by combining the judges’ scores with the number of audience votes.
Here’s how they stand now, based on the judges’ ratings:
Brooke & Derek: 23 points
Toni & Alec: 22 points
Lance & Lacey: 21 points
Misty & Maksim: 21 points
Warren & Kym: 21 points
Kim & Mark: 19 points
Cody & Julianne: 18 points
Ted & Inna: 18 points
Maurice & Cheryl: 18 points
Cloris & Corky: 16 points
Susan & Tony: 15 points
Rocco & Karina: 14 points
Jeffrey & Edyta: 12 points







BROOKE BURKE BABY!!!
SHE’S GONNA WIN