Whats Hot On TV

For once when perusing the cast list for the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars, I’m not reading through the names asking, “Who?” Usually there’s a few names that are easily recognizable, but many of the others having me scratching my head. Not this time, as there were only a couple I wasn’t quite sure who they were, and a quick google and IMDB check gave me all the answers I needed to know. We also have some interesting new professionals joining the show as well.

The one name that has been often rumored about the upcoming season is Lance Bass, and he is now confirmed as being in the cast. The former member of *NSYNC had been rumored to be dancing with a same sex partner for the first time ever on the show, but it turns out he’ll be dancing with Lacey Schwimmer. Now that’s an exciting surprise for me. Lacey was last seen in the finale of last summer’s So You Think You Can Dance and is the sister of Benji Schwimmer, winner of So You Think You Can Dance the season before. Apparently they’re brining in some new blood to give a real challenge to Julianna Hough.

Singer Toni Braxton is joining the cast, being paired with professional Alec Mazo. Her family is no stranger to the reality TV show gig. Her sister Towanda was on the daytime reality show Starting Over, who was not so ironically trying to start over as an R&B singer and didn’t want to depend on her sister’s success. Perhaps we’ll see Towanda on here next, still following in her sister’s shadow, but complaining about doing so. Toni should have some good dancing experience having appeared on Broadway.

I thought I knew who this person was, but I had her mixed up. I thought Brooke Burke was the host of Dog Eat Dog, but that was Brooke Burns, the tall beauty with the Carly Simon smile who once dated Bruce Willis. Instead, Brooke Burke is the beauty we know best from hosting Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Supernova, but she has also guest-starred in several TV shows. She’ll be paired with last season’s rookie Derek Hough, who had hooked up with Shannon Elizabeth both on and offscreen. I’m not figuring he’ll be doing the same with Ms. Burke.

Another star who is no stranger to reality TV is Rocco DiSpirito. Rocco presided over the self-titled restaurant created just for the show, Rocco’s, giving viewers a chance to see the goings-on of the inside of a restaurant way before Hell’s Kitchen was doing the same. He’s got a new series coming out, Rocco Gets Real, but we first get to see him cutting a rug with Karina Smirnoff. Just as I doubt Brooke Burke and Derek Hough will get together, I also don’t think Rocco and Karina will get together as she had done with Mario Lopez.

Maurice Greene I hadn’t heard of before this, but he’s an Olympic Gold Medalist from 2000, running track, and becoming known as the “World’s Fastest Man.” He couldn’t reach Gold, but did win silver and bronze in the 2004 Olympics and is a World Record holder. He’ll be dancing with Cheryl Burke who has won the show in the past.

An Olympian I have heard of is Misty May-Treanor. She and partner Kerri Walsh have now become Gold medal winners in womens’ beach volleyball for two years in a row. They currently haven’t lost a game comptitively in over a year. While it was said that the next pursuit of these two would be to begin families, Misty apparently has one more stop on her tour. She’ll be dancing with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and with her winning attitude and refusal to lose, they could easily go very far.

Kim Kardashian is listed as a model, actress, and reality TV star, but has only recently completed any other acting jobs other than the reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians that follows her family, including stepfather Olympic Gold medalist Bruce Jenner around. I’m not thinking Dancing With the Stars is giong to add any more impressive work to Kim’s resume. She’ll be dancing with professional Mark Ballas.

The oldest person to ever compete on Dancing With the Stars is Cloris Leachman at 82. Traditionally the show has older men on, but none so far have been this old. We know her from many comedic pursuits. She was Mary Tyler Moore’s nosey neighbor more than thirty years ago, and has been in very successful and very funny films such as High Anxiety and Young Frankenstein, and also The Last Picture Show which won her an Oscar. She’ll be dancing with Mark Ballas’ father, Corky, a newbie to the show. Normally this position on the show is filled by a man, that of the oldest on the show and someone with more personality than all the others combined. It could get interesting.

The next oldest on the show is the face of All My Children, Susan Lucci. She defines the role of Erica Kane, but is known more by others as the woman that just couldn’t win a Daytime Emmy no matter what she did. She is also a successful entrepreneur, selling beauty products on HSN, as well as being successful on Broadway. I don’t know how this woman seems to never age. While she doesn’t seem quite as young as when the show first began nearly forty years ago, she doesn’t seem to have aged in at least twenty years. She sems to be matched up perfectly with profesional Tony Dovolani.

From one extreme to another, not only do we have the oldest to ever compete in Cloris Leachman, we also have the youngest with Cody Linley. The name didn’t immediately ring a bell with me, but searching him up on IMDB, I said ah-ha. The 18 year old is on my telelvision at least weekly, if not more, as a costar of Miley Cyrus’ on Hannah Montana, starring as her sometimes boyfriend, Jake Ryan. I know who my daughter will be rooting for. He’ll be dancing with the two time winner Julianna Hough, the youngest professional on the show.

Ted McGinley has appeared on many television shows, but usually doesn’t start them out, joining them usually in their twilight. He’s known mostly for his work as Fonzie’s fellow teacher (yes, that’s how how far along in that series it was … Fonzie was no longer a motorcycle riding greaser, and was now a teacher) on Happy Days and as the second husband of Marci on Married With Children. He’s also been in several movies, but we know him more as the guy that’s usually playing a character that is goood-looking, yet not the sharpest tool in the shed. He’ll be sharing the stage with Dancing With the Stars rookie Inna Brayer.

Historically, football players do well on the show, with Jerry Rice and Jason Taylor coming in second place and Emmitt Smith winning the show. Will recently retired Warren Sapp do the same? He’s a defensive tackle and not an offensive star, and just doesn’t appear as light on his feet as defensive end Jason Taylor. He’ll be paired with Kym Johnson who seems to do well with the more comedic dancers, such as Jerry Springer.

Jeff Ross is a comedian who is known as the “Roastmaster General” and makes several appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and has me thinking he’ll be the first to now appear on Kimmel’s show now, being voted out first from the dance show, following in the footsteps of Penn Jillette, Kenny Mayne, and Tucker Carlson. I hope not, as he’s paired with professional Edyta Sliwinska, the only professional to appear on the show since the beginning. And while she’s come in second, she’s never won. She must be the Susan Lucci of reality dancing shows.

Sports stars usually do well on this show, whether they play football, ice skate, or race cars, but I don’t see Sapp winning the whole thing, and don’t see May-Treanor doing it either, but Maurice Greene could. This early in the game I hate to handicap it, but I tend to think it will go to him in the end or Lance Bass.

For more information on Dancing With the Stars, see SirLinksalot: Dancing With the Stars.

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