qmharris, I love the suggestions--especially how they tie in with this season's "stars." I think Al would probably be a good choice. I definitely would join the "gauge my eyes out" club is Katie Couric was on my TV any more. Although I would LOVE to see Ann Curry do something like that. I think she is great.

I think the voting system works, though doing the (what should be simple) math in my head to figure out how Rachel got voted off was proving quite challenging for me, sadly. It definitely saved Joey and Ashly the week after they did the jive, since they were in the bottom two the week they danced it. I think the audience panicked at losing the "fun" couple and voted for them a lot, thus sending J&C and J&R to the bottom two, despite Joey and Ashly getting the lowest scores from the judges.

And regarding my original shoe question, thanks for all the answers! However, it was mentioned that the men wore heels as well. I noticed that, but is there a reason for that? Thanks--I love these forums.

Yeah. Guys wear a 1 1/2" heel in Latin (not in the Standard dances such as waltz, tango, quickstep), because it lengthens the leg line and it helps keep the weight forward over the ball of the foot. Also because it's the style.

Also, current shoes are quite flexible through the arch for both guys & gals. This allows a better range of motion through the foot, and a better line when the foot is pointed.

Way back posted a possible second season...gotta love Barry Bostwick in the JOH position. That man is swoonable!

A little birdie close to production told me that the producers may be thinking like TWoPpers, because they, too, have seen John's potential as host. (Nothing beyond that, though.)

And Barry Bostwick would be perfect to slip into the "O'Hurley" spot for the second season.

After reading through I think I'm with many of you guys, I don't want experienced quasi-dancers as the stars. I like the learning curve and mean girl that I am, I like to watch the lack of learning too. I watch this show partly for the light and fluffy factor and I think having super dance stars would lessen this for me. (And isn't it all about me? No, you say. Are you sure?) I'm convinced there are plenty of wanna-bes, almost-ares, and has-beens out there to fill the slots.

Also, after thinking about it for a time (which speaks poorly of the excitement in my life) I think I would like to see the same pros and how they interact with other stars. I would like to see how Ashly works with someone she hasn't crushed on, and I would like to see Alec in more tight pants and open shirts.

I had not thought of ABC pulling a Millionaire on this show. Please, please, don't let it be. This show has been such a pleasant surprise, much more enjoyable than I was expecting. I think it could continue to be fun and cheesy and yummy, if it isn't ruined by it's own success.

Speaking of Amber Tamblyn's father, how awesome would he be? Someone we know can dance, but who hasn't done it in a while. And who didn't do ballroom. Yes, I know he can dance with a street lamp, or on a 2x10. But can he do a bota fogo with Edyta?

You're like smarter, funnier twin brain of mine.


I thought it was bogo pogo. And I still don't know what it is, just that Wayne is still waiting for for Paul to show up and help him.

There's plenty of actresses who dance -- Julia Stiles and Jane Kratkowski come to mind...

Snerk. I don't know what a bogo pogo is either. I think Paul made it up. I think it means "go try out some dance move in the corner while I feel up your partner. Then I'll tell you you're doing it wrong, so you keep working on it while I keep workin' it."

Bota fogos were my favorite samba move. I think I only saw one in the sambas, which was disappointing. They're just so fun to do. I would have been an annoying partner, I think. "You know what this routine needs? More bota fogos!"

Please no Julia Stiles! I couldn't stand to see that flat-faced mouth breather on my screen for 6 weeks.

I don't think I want celebrities with too much dance experience because it's been quite fun watching the improvement over these last few weeks.

Jane Krakowski was in the ballroom dance movie with Vanessa Williams. I didn't realize AT's father danced. Who is he?

Sorry west coast! I do like my voting suggestion, though.


Barney Fife certainly showed them!


Yeeee, howdy!

Russ Tamblyn has over 60 movie credits...but I remember him mostly as Riff, from West Side Story.

If you haven't rented or seen West Side Story, please do. The story is timeless and the music is memorable. An absolute classic of American cinema.

I remember RT as the athletic young dancer who did a lot of stunts on the playground equipment during the Jets/Sharks opening dance. If AT has inheirited even a bit of his talent, she could be a wonder on DWtS.

Then once you've watched West Side Story, see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He plays Gideon, the youngest brother. It's the source of my Russ Tamblyn crush, which will never go away.

Word to all the Russ Tamblyn love. I think he'd be a terrible choice for the show for that reason, sadly. Ditto Barry Bostwick with his stage and screen musical background -- he'd have too big an advantage.

I hadn't heard of anyone besides Rachel Hunter (and once someone mentioned NKotB, I had a vague idea about Joey), but I've loved all of the show.

Someone mentioned Erika Slezak up thread as a soap star for the "Kelly" position. She's East Coast, but I would like to see a woman of about 50 in the "O'Hurley" slot as it were.

Change it up then:
This time, female model. Next time, male model: Jason Olive, Marcus Schenkenburg
This time, former male pop star. Next time, female: Debbie Gibson, Tiffani, Martika
This time, male character actor. Next time, female: Edie McClurg, Molly Shannon
This time, female soap starlet. Next time, male: Whoever Just get someone with great pecs and a nice butt.
This time, female reality whore. I'm going to have to agree with the poster above that we go with Bob Guiney this time. Rebecca Budig can play the role of "spouse sitting on the side, glaring at the dance pro for no damn reason." There are better reality show people, but most of them come from CBS shows, or MTV, so getting them on ABC might be tough.

And as the original poster of that, the horrible thing is that he is the person I would least like to watch. He just repulses me. But maybe it's good to have someone like that for the first elimination. As far as ABC reality stars go, he's probably the best known after Trista.

But if we could cross networks, I would like to see Uchenna learn to dance.

I vote for Jennifer Grey and/or Patrick Swayze for next season.

If I were the great casting Oz, the following folks would be on the show pronto:

Women
Roslynn Sanchez
Stacy London (from TLC's What Not to Wear)
Maureen McCormick
Laura San Giacomo
Sarah Silverman
Lolita Davidovitch
Gina Gershon
Danica Stewart
Paige Davis
Jenna Jameson
Anna Feris
Sasha Alexander (now that she's left NCIS)
Sharon Lawrence
Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon

Men...I don't care.

David Duchovny?

If we could cross networks, we'd probably get Stupert in a tie-dyed rainbow tuxedo. Be careful what you wish for.

I don't know Joey, so I can't say whether he lacked focus or not, but I do think that a major handicap for him was being assigned Ashly as an instructor. She seems to be a very competent dancer, but she seems very young and inexperienced as a teacher. Teaching dance (or anything for that matter) is a skill in and of itself, and people who are naturally gifted at it oftentimes find it difficult to communicate what they do so welll. They have to learn how to do it and I think that Ashly is still working on it as well as her choreography skills. (I understand Louis can be a fabulous coach, but I don't think anyone could surmount Trista's attitude).

I'd also say I think that the basics are the hardest thing to teach because they're the foundation of everything else. If the basics are shaky, everything else can fall apart in a heartbeat. One of the things that really bothered me about Joey's dancing is that I don't think that Ashley could ever get the idea of connection and leading from his back across. Even though they were choreographed routines, whenever Joey did any cross-body lead work (or any lead work for that matter) with Ashley, he led so hard with his arm, I kept thinking he was going to rip Ashley's shoulder out.

I'd also say that at least from my experience, dance is very much a process an the times that Joey and the stars have been given to learn how to do ballroom and latin is very short. At least from my experience in learning how to dance, more often than not even when you know you need to work on something (holding the abdominals, working the lat muscles, etc.) it takes time for the connection between the brain and the body to develop. Posture is not an easy thing to fix in a lot of cases, and for someone who has had terrible posture for a long time, it's not going to be a short-term kind of thing.

I do think that to an extent Alec and Ashly were handicapped in their Paso Doble music in that, at least from my experience, the same Paso music is played in 99% of ballroom competitions, and people are just plain old used to choreographing to the same music over and over and over again. I just think it's got to be hard to come up with a routine to all new music on a week's notice.

And just side commentary on people's suggestions for new stars, Amber Tamblyn and Robert Duvall are probably both too experienced as dancers to be good on the show. I'm pretty sure Amber Tamblyn has danced professionally before (I think she's said she danced on Neil Young's tour when her dad choreogrphed it). And as someone said before, Robert Duvall is a very enthusiastic tango dancer and he was also quite a student of Carolina Shag with Shad Alberty before Shad died. Duvall is a *very* good dancer.

Oh no. No. For pity's sake, no. To everyone here who has ever been bugged by John's mugging: just imagine what would happen with Survivor's Rupert on the show. Hurry...write your congressman. Get a restraining order. Sign petitions. Send promises of cash to TPTB in return for not casting him. My God, my head will explode if I have to watch that idiot again.

Please no--do you realize how much that man sweats when he's just standing still? If he was dancing up a storm he'd drench the audience, grease up the floor, his partner and us at home. BLECH.

Well, if we are twinned brains woopwoopkitty then I need to point out that not only are you smart & funny, you are damn hot too!
Yech! Imagine a tie-dyed tux with a heavily bearded man in it. Now, if it was a guarentee that he was first out, maybe I could handle it, just for the laugh factor. If I was picking former Survivors I think last season's winner, Tom, might be interesting to see, he seemed to master so many things I wonder if he could master dancing, or gawky Ian, just to see if he manage any graceful moves.

I know it's the wrong channel, but an all Amazing Race set of teams would be fun. Actually, Phil's up for trying anything once...think he'd be willing to be one of the male stars? I'll bet he'd listen to instructions.

And I think Paige Davis would have to be disqualified for the same reason that Barry Bostwick and Russ Tamblyn would need to be -- too much dance experience.

Or Burton to see who truly has the best ass: Burton or Alec.

Well, technically, you don't have to watch...

I chuckle just thinking about Rupert doing ANY sort of dance - how 'bout something modern, with Rupert in a tie-dyed leotard. Sorry - the brain bleach is on me.

They could choreograph his god-awful "Aarrrrggghhhhhhh" and that dreadful flexing move he makes to go with it into strategic parts of ALL the dances. He would suck way worse than Evander - at least Evander cleaned up nice.

I liked Evander. He tried. I'm not so sure that the Trista person did.

If Bob Guiney shows up on the next season, I'm out. Until he gets eliminated. I can't bear the thought of even looking at him.

sidwich Thank you for saying what I tried to say upthread, only better than I said it. LOL

Oh I have seen this movie about ten times. He has the best dance sequence ever, love it. He'd be great for DWtS as he's probably pretty rusty and wouldn't know ballroom most likely.

I would rather see him face off against O'Hurley in an eyebrow pop competition. That would be some fine TV.


Any news on what the final dances are yet?

Jon Stewart from the Daily Show paired with Charlotte.

Apparently they will be using the same pros, so match your celeb with a pro. :)

My suggestions:

The Miz from Real World
Rachel Ray (annoying)
Penny Johnson Jerald (Sherry Palmer from 24)
Ryan Seacrest

Can't really think of anyone else...

Oh, I like the idea of Marcus being on my TV again.

And I also admit that I loved Evander, simply because he tried and gave it his best shot.

I'm trying to think of has-beens. Maureen McCormack is a good one.

Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blue. Or we could go further back and get Veronica Hamel from Hill Street Blues. Which makes me think of Connie Selleca and James Brolin for some reason. Kevin or Winnie from The Wonder Years. Or Cage and Fish from Ally McBeal. How about Rob Lowe? He is hotness divine and can't seem to keep a steady job these days. And for a good laugh, Shatner and Spader from Boston Legal. I'm struggling to think of some other washed up shows like Cheers and Larry Sanders and ER (whoops, that's still on for some reason) or Northern Exposure or LA Law. Or we could go way back to the Partridge Family, My Three Sons, and the Brady Bunch.


No! If I do that, then I'll watch Kiss Me Kate and then I'll have to cry over the-late-great-Howard Keel and Bobby Van both being gone. The saving grace is knowing that my mother is the happiest woman not alive, since she's got front row seats in heaven to listen to Howard.

Anybody know what they're dancing the last night? And where do the recently departed come in to play?

ETA: I've got it! Dana Delaney and Stanley Tucci! Ooh.....Cedric Yarborough from Reno 911!

Do we need a reality star? Considering Trista got voted out first, I think that's a sign!

What makes this show so much fun is that the "stars" really get into the dancing. I hope they can find another 6 who are into the dancing (well 5 into it, since we can't count famewhore Trista) and not just looking to get themselves some exposure.

An interesting cast would be some of the so-called "dancers" that have danced in recent music videos. They call themselves "dancers" but put them in this show and we might be amused. Very amused. Let's see....Kevin Federline, Wade Robson, Chris Judd and any other back up dancers that think what they do is actually dancing. Maybe even Paula Abdul...hhhmmm

Actually, this is probably only interesting in my own mind,,,,,nevermind.

No way I want to see backup dancers who married their meal tickets. For that matter, both Federline and Judd are set for life with their respective marriages/divorce settlements. Federline, in particular, seems to have no motivation to work, if he did show up on this, he wouldn't put in the time to be any good at it.

I'd love to see Tom! Or Colby from season 1.
Someone mentioned Megan Mulally (from W&G) which I think is a great idea - maybe pair her with Louis Van Amstel (she's a shortie, isn't she? Plus I think she can handle him).

I also like the idea of Marcus Schenkenburg. Maybe with Edyta?

For that matter, what about Janice Dickinson (with Jonathan, I think he is the tallest guy)? It would round out her reality-show career nicely!

NO BOB GUINEY, PLEASE! I'd rather see Charlie, if anyone from The Bachelor. Or Andrew Firestone at least. Bob, yuck!

The Charlie suggestion made me think of this...

“Drinking and Dancing with the Stars” They’ll twirl and swirl to drinking songs! Do a shot for every point from the judges! Imagine the fancy footwork that follows chugging a few brews... you’ll love Drinking and Dancing with the Stars, featuring:

Charlie from The Bachelor

Sandra Lee of Semi-Homemade Cooking infamy

Nick Nolte (you’ve seen the mug shot)

Brigitte Neilson from Surreal Life

Tara (my boob is out?) Reid

Dubya

I love it! Espeically since, in an alternate reality, Jon Stewart is my husband. :-) Unfortunately with him doing TDS in New York and DwtS being in LA, it probably will never happen. Or maybe it has already happened in my alternate reality.

Wayyy back some people were talking about dance shoes: Aside from having suede soles, better and more stable heels, snug heel cups, and lots of flexibility, you simply wear them snugger than street shoes. That helps a lot right there with being able to dance in them -- they conform to your foot, they feel like an extention of your foot, rather than like an actual shoe.

Also wayyy back someone asked about the audience: People dress nicely to spectate at dance competitions, and also cheer and boo like you hear on TV, so what you're seeing there is pretty representative. Except the judges in the US don't make oral comments to the whole audience, so you don't get that "boo" factor that DwtS has. However, cheering can get really loud, I was in one comp where people were screaming so loud for me & my partner that it drowned out the music on the video tape. That was a little crazy, but fun too! There is no time or place for audience dancing in the DwtS studio -- people come in, sit in the seats, and in fact are told to stay off the floor. They don't want people tracking in dirt and oil from their street shoes onto the competition floor.

I've been thinking for a while what I would like to change about the show. The truth is that I'm fine with everything -- the weird music, the judges, the level of the "stars" and the chosen pros, even with Tom Bergeron. I will say that I'm not a big fan of the people doing the women's costumes, and also that Lisa Canning should be canned. Or caned.

I just have to say that I'd love to see Sandra Lee and Alton Brown as Dancers on a future edition of this.

It's making me giggle.

I love the idea of Bridget Neilsen. C-F list is where they should be pulling their stars. Never get even near the B's and A's.

Question for musically conversant - "Let There Be Love" sounded to me exactly like "It Had To Be You." Just as much as 'My Sweet Lord' sounded like "He's So Fine", and George Harrison had to pay damages for that one.

This has to do with "Dancing with the Stars" fate

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/C...e&referral=SUPP

Man, some people just don't have faith especially those other networks, but I am concerned how well "Dancing" will do during a regular season. Keeping it on Wednesdays with Lost and the new series Invasion (looks great) may help. But AI results night airs that night too.

Why can't they just decide to make it a summer franchise -- maybe with two editions over the 12 weeks of summer. I'll bet it would do really well for the July sweeps month what with one edition ending and the new one beginning.

That was me. Thanks for the answer.


Thumbs up.


Only if it means an early exit from the White House.

In Denmark, two out of the four judges were former Ballroom World Champions: Jens Werner (Charlotte's former partner) and Anna Laxholm.

For more dancing, check your local PBS station's schedule--ours here in Wiconsin is running

" International Dancesport Championships
"Latin Championship"
This IDSF championship was filmed in Leipzig, Germany on October 9, 2004. The competition is comprised of the Cha-Cha-Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive. " at 7 pm on the 6th of July.

Then they're running the Standards Championships during the week of the 13th, and the Ten Dance Championships the week of the 20th.

ITA - 6 week summer series, and maybe one run mid-season, when reruns would normally be airing. No damned network buys 20-some episodes of any show anymore, like they used to do when I was a kid. Way back then, the olden days when TVs were furniture with tubes inside, reruns only ran in the summer. Nowadays, it's like we get four weeks of new show, and then three weeks of reruns. December/January are all reruns, then new shows for Feb sweeps, then reruns in March/April, new shows for May sweeps. How about a 6 week DWTS stint airing around the holidays to give an alternative show for those of us who puke at the thought of another Jessica/Nick Simpson Christmas special.

And watching them Paso Doble to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" would be fun, too.