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In spite of my most earnest wishes, everybody's favorite fake dancing competition returns to the small screen soon (I should have sacrificed that goat!).

This time the "stars" include four actors, three jocks, two singers, one chef, one comedian, and two . . . uhmm, let's say, "personalities" (fans of the show wouldn't like it if I called them tramps so I won't ).

I also read that Julianne Hough, who apparently sees being one of the world's great dancers as a stepping stone to becoming a mediocre singer, will return.

This season's Beauty-and-the-Beast pairing matches the winsome Kym Johnson with NFL cheap-shot artist Warren Sapp (I wonder if he's going to blindside Cloris Leachman). I hope Kym has some chalk.

Apparently, the same crew of utterly superfluous judges will be back (including Bruno "What's a heel lead?" Tonioli) along with the world's most annoying TV hosts.

Rumor has it that the band will still refuse to play a real Tango unless Miley Cyrus sings it.

Seriously, there actually is one good reason to watch the show this time: Corky Ballas will be among the pros. Unfortunately, he's paired with the 82-year old Leachman (in fact one of my favorite comic actresses) so he may not be around long. I just hope that personality-suffocating Tom Bergeron will let Corky be himself.

I guess that DWTS serves some useful purpose if it gets new folks into the dance studios, even if 95% of them won't stick around when they realize that very few dance teachers look like Alec or Karina.

Enjoy - if you can.



jj

Yahoo! DWTS is a hoot. I will watch every episode, cringe at everything Samantha Harris says, moan over the bizarre music choices and boo the judges and their inane comments. As you say, the studio will be overflowing with newbies which is good for business. Not many will carry on but not because the instructors aren't good looking but because "I didn't think it would be this hard." If I had a nickel...

Mr. jj, you've got some nerve, making all those unfounded remarks about the ballroom dancing world's premiere event. Mark my words, this is just the prelude to the olympics.

It is no more fake than those rasslin' shows, or the moon landing.

Who is this Corky Ballas, anyway? Son of Mark Ballas? Hold on ...

Now, about that goat ...

We started just *before* The Craaaaaze hit. One day, the studio was nice and calm and on an even keel with regulars, next week, POW, dripping with idjits and yes, you could hear "Waah, it's haaaard" echoing throughout the place. Now we educate(independent, amateur, non-competing, volunteer, etc. disclaimers) beginners and have to put up with it first hand. One of my prettier specimens who actually came with a personality I can tell "QUIT YER WHININ or I'm getting the riding crop!"

There has only been one DWTS series shown on UK TV (except on satellite, which I don't have). It was dreadful: I couldn't tell (not knowing the personalities) which were the professional dancers and which the b-list celebs - which doesn't say much for (my opinion of) American dancers, perhaps?

Here in the UK, we are about to find out who will be participating in the 6th "Strictly Come Dancing" series that runs up to Christmas, but it has already been confirmed that the judges, presenters and professionals are all the same as last time. It's good entertaining TV, and the dancing gets reasonably serious by about half way through. All the teachers are happy - it brings a crop of new pupils every year, and by the time they lose interest/give up, a decent amount of their money is safely in the bank. (Or in the case of the US franchised chains, presumably very large sums of money, but then fools and their money always were easily parted).

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Well, I consider myself new to the ballroom dance world; I've been dancing about a year and a half now. I like Dancing with the Stars......it's a fun show. I've participated in a few competitions and I love them too. My favorite dance show is America's Ballroom Challenge.....which is real ballroom dance. I don't take Dancing with the Stars seriously.....I take it as I think it's intended to be taken....as a fun, lighthearted introduction to ballroom dance for the non-dancing public. If the show were a serious dance competition show, I don't think it would have the mass appeal that it does. Sometimes "real" ballroom comp can seem boring....even tedious unless you really love it (and I do love it). DWTS is entertainment.....What is wrong with that????
I enjoy the costumes, the celebrities and the contemporary music (though I prefer "real" tango music).....DWTS is more of a showcase than a competition.

Perhaps because I have only been dancing a short time, I don't feel offended by DTWS. I am a serious reader...and I compare serious ballroom comp to DWTS like this......
most often I read serious literary works and classics....but then sometimes I just want to read fluff...like People magazine....DWTS is like People.....it's fun, light and not to be taken too seriously.

There are times when I watch DWTS that I cringe...(the progressive splits in the Viennese Waltz performed by Maks and Mel B.....that was just yucky)....but overall I'm just happy to have something ballroom televised.
With a serious lack of Ballroom Dancing events being televised...I appreciate DTWS even more.

Of course, no one actually HAS to watch.

I freely confess, I never miss a programme (SCD), and will try again this year to get audience tickets for a live show - which are as rare as hens' teeth.

DWTS has its flaws from the standpoint of the serious observer, but considering what is on television most of the time, it is amazing that a show that presents some level of culture and dignity to the viewing public can persist. Sure, it puts most of the profesionals in a tough place having to work with untrained personalities, there is often a lot of backleading going on, and great liberties are taken with the dances, but it's wholesome fun that gives us serious types something decent to be agitated over. It's awesome! And, there is no blood or other atrocities to feed your nightmares. The worst thing that happens to me is that I grumble to my wife that what I just saw wasn't a real Vienese waltz. Oh, and they do too much open work with the foxtrot. Now that is a serious travesty. Shame on them!

When considering all of the extremely lame "reality" shows in which contestants are voted off based on a judging panel and viewer votes, thank God that one of them is about dancing. It just happens to be the best one, in my opinion. Yes, I was dancing well before this craze hit, but it gave so many of my friends and acquaintances who might not otherwise give dancing the time of day, an understanding of the fun it is. Not the precision, not the nice clothes, not the variations of different dances, but the FUN. For that, DWTS is a grand and enlightening program on an electronic mechanism that certainly has earned its title of "boob tube" through the years. As with anything laced in Hollywood, this show will see its popularity wane at some point. Thankfully, we'll always have the Ballroom Challenge on PBS.

ABC would be a much better show with more critical commentators instead of the cheerleaders they've been using.

They put Ron Montez back on but yanked his teeth first. He used to provide some real insights; now he just "ooohs" and "aaahs" along with the fatuous Marilu Henner.



jj