Dancing with the Stars: Week 1

 SPOILER ALERT!

Pamela Anderson is gone. The show couldn’t have picked a better person to hang up the dancing shoes. After all, Dancing with the Stars doesn’t quite have the all-star cast they claim to. There is a lot of excitement, intensity and talent, but not everyone measures up. I understand why the producers chose to put Pamela Anderson in the lineup. Sex sells and she definitely has the appeal. Her dancing, while a bit better than I remembered from her first go-around, was not at the level of the other contestants. She was unsure of her steps and seemed to be moving a bit slower than her professional partner Tristan. One dancer whose level of skill also doesn’t match the others is Bristol Palin. However, Bristol is much better this season. She is much more confident and not just in what she is doing but in herself. She looks much more poised. Her dancing reflects this change in her. I agree with the judges that she is the most improved, but I think she should be the next to go if eliminations were based on dance skill alone.

I picked my favorites for this week, four of them in fact. They likely won’t be my favorites every week, since my judging is based on actual skill, charisma, and performance. Shawn Johnson was very precise in a fox trot that just made me smile. Perhaps it was the yellow costumes. Drew Lachey also performed a lovely fox trot that was bubbly and fun. At this point in the competition I was wondering if I just had a thing for the fox trot. Then, Kelly Monaco came with a hot cha cha that was very precise. To cap the night off and my list of favorites, Emmett Smith delivered a funky and soulful cha cha. He was very entertaining and moved around like he owned the stage.

The most radical of changes for this season is the judges being able to issue half points. This no doubt was done in order to increase competition and decrease the number of ties. The producers are encouraging a horse race mentality this season and this change makes it even easier to see who is right on the leader’s heels, getting ready to edge them out. Only time will tell if this actually works or if the addition of the half points becomes a laughable distraction.

The Dancing with the Stars producers are again having trouble filling time on the results show. Tonight’s show was filled with boring moments to talk to the celebrities to find out what they’ve been up to and why they decided to come back to the competition. Not enough action for me. There were some funny moments, but in my opinion they were not enough to sustain my attention. Stick to the dancing!