Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke - DWTS Season 11

Rick Fox is well named.  And he can move on the court.  But can he move, and be a fox, on the dance floor?  That remains to be seen.  He's got the right partner if he's serious about getting the mirror ball trophy.  Cheryl is goal oriented.  This is her 9th season and she's taken home two mirror balls of her own in the 2nd and 3rd seasons.  She'll work Rick Fox as hard as he ever worked as a Laker.  I think they're a great pair.  I hope they do well.

Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer - DWTS Season 11

First, I have to say: Racy Lacey as a blonde just isn't doin' it for me!  I thought she was a sexy counterpoint to all the bubble-gum blonds on the show.  Now she kinda blends in with Kym, Julianne & Chelsie.  No offense to those lovely ladies - I just thought Lacey had a good thing going.  Ah well, I guess we can just let the whole season be a do-over.  I don't know anything about this Kyle kid but he doesn't look like he can dance...  maybe they'll both surprise me.

Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya - DWTS Season 11

Kurt Warner is one of my favorite football players.  First, he's got such a great cinderella-story.  Second, that awesome cinderella story of his is what finally ruined my favorite quotable stat about a dome team never winning the Superbowl!  Football players have a mixed record on DWTS.  Jerry Rice (and Anna Trebunskaya coincidentally) came very close to winning the mirror ball trophy in Season 2.  Then in Season 3, Emmit Smith did take the mirror ball home.  Jerry is joined by 2 more NFL stars who made it to 2nd place: Jason Taylor in season 6, and Warren Sapp in season 7.  In season 8 though, Lawrence Taylor only made it as far as 7th place.  And just last season Chad Ochocinco made it to 4th but clearly benefited from the fan vote to get him so far.  So we'll have to wait and see how well Warner does.
Anna has partnered 5 other stars: she's made it to 2nd place twice and landed below 10 the other three times.  She's a great dancer but when she was dancing with Evan Lysacek I noticed that she didn't quite rise to the occasion the way Derek Hough did.  He brought every drop of determination and pushed his partner to the limit.  His choreography reflected his knowledge that the final dance was their defining moment and last chance to set themselves apart from every other couple that came before them.  Anna kind of seemed to crack under that pressure.

David Hasselhoff and Kym Johnson - DWTS Season 11

The Hoff! I'll admit I was excited about this one! Come on, be honest... if you've seen the drunken burger eating video you must be a little curious to see if that Hoff makes an appearance. I suppose he'll be on better behavior since it's abc, as opposed to his daughters YouTube channel, but you never know - we might get lucky.
As far as skill, we know The Hoff has been in several Broadway shows.  That means we can't count him out as a dancer.  So he might be just barely acceptable, but he might be this seasons Donny Osmond. 
And speaking of Donny, Kym partnered him as well.  Personally I think she's the perfect choice!  She's cute, feisty, and doesn't fade into the background when she's with a strong personality - she's perfect for an older ladies man like the Hoff.  I really hope he holds on for a while because I'd like to see what he brings to the show.  Good luck Hoff!

Mike "the Situation" Sorrentino and Karina Smirnoff - DWTS Season 11

I know absolutely nothing about Mike "the situation" Sorrentino, other than the fact that he's on MTV's Jersey Shore and was unable to get to the photo shoot that every other celeb managed to attend a couple weeks ago so there's no picture of he and Karina, his dance partner.  But the other day I was scanning the program guide on TV and saw that Jersey Shore was on MTV at the moment so I flipped to it.  My husband gave me a look that seemed to ask if I was feeling alright.  But I ignored him and pressed on.  When I joined Jersey Shores, Snookie & JWoww were covered in plastic bags, cleaning the "smoosh room" so Snookie and her latest male friend could spend some time there without Jwoww being forced to listen to them moan all night in their shared bedroom.  These girls were wearing huge plastic bags!  On their heads!  I found myself hoping one of those girls would suffocate and save me from the complete stupidity.  It was that bad.  I couldn't watch long enough to get a glimpse of Sorrentino, but I really hope he brings a little more interest and intelligence to DWTS than I saw from the rest of the Jersey Shore cast.  Chances are he's a total meat head who isn't good for much more than showing off his 6-pack to all of America, but we can hope he shows us something worth watching.
This will be Karina Smirnoff's eighth season as a pro on DWTS, but she has yet to earn a mirror ball.  I'm not sure if that's because of her past partners or her teaching skills but I have no doubt she'll push Sorrentino out of his comfort zone.  I'll have to with hold any opinions for now since I just don't know with this guy...

Tonight's Bachelor Pad - the final episode

On Chris Harrison's blog, we read that next week is the final episode:  We'll see the final 3 couples compete against each other in a ballroom dancing competition which will determine which couple is guaranteed a spot in the final 4.  We'll see the tell-all reunion portion.  And we'll see the winner of Bachelor Pad, determined before a live studio audience.  I'm excited for the final episode if for no other reason than this is a new show with no previous formula and while the contestants have remained fairly predictable throughout the competition, the show has managed to throw in twists over & over to keep me guessing.
So earlier I pointed out that with the bromance going on between Dave & Kovacs, Kiptyn & Tenley were likely on their way out unless they could somehow win a spot in the final without a vote.  Since we weren't sure how it would all work there was no way to know. 

Since we know the final 4 will be determined in part, by the ballroom dancing competition, we know this gives tenley an advantage.  She's a dancer and will probably have no trouble picking up whatever steps Chelsie Hightower throws at her.  So if Kiptyn has any rhythm at all (which isn't necessarily the case, judging from what little we saw of their dance rehearsals), they have a better chance than we may have originally thought.


Kovacs & Elizabeth could do well, we really have no idea if they've got rhythm.  So if Elizabeth managed to get through the taping without getting into a cat fight with Edyta Sliwinska, they could surprise us and pull a fancy-dancing rabbit out of their hats!


I really have no idea what Dave & Natalie will do on the dance floor.  They seem nice enough, and Louis VanAmstel is a great teacher so we'll have to see...  I'm really not sure they're together for anything more than convenience, as Chris speculated in his blog last week - I don't really see any chemistry between them.  What do you guys think?

So today's latest commercials talk about the contestants choosing between love & money!  More twists in the road ahead...  tonight should be a great show!

Michael Bolton and Chelsie Hightower - DWTS Season 11

I'm just going to come out and say it for the record right now: When I was 13 I had a little crush on Michael Bolton.  Really you can't be too hard on me - he was better looking than my little boyfriend and he definitely had a handle on romance that was sadly lacking in most 13 year old boys.  With that out of the way, now I have to admit that I got a little giggly again when I saw his first DWTS publicity shot.  Can you blame me? Look at that smile!  It screams "I still know more about romance than any other boy you know."  Not that I'm saying he's right, just sayin...  And you know he loves women since The Michael Bolton Charities focuses mainly on helping women who are victims of violence.  You have to admire that. 
So does any of this mean he can dance?  I suppose not.  But it means I'll definitely watch to find out!
I wonder if Chelsie ever crushed on him.  Probably not...  she's a bit too young.  But I bet he's got a little crush on Chelsie...  really though, who doesn't?  She's so cute even I have a teeny crush on her.  And with three previous seasons dancing on the show, she's definitely due for her own mirror ball!  So I suppose I'd like to see this pair do well - but right now I'm not picking any favorites.