Dancing With The Stars - Season 8 - Week 1

(I have edited this post to correct one of the dances. They danced a Waltz last night, but not a Viennese Waltz. Apparently those are two different dances. Oopsie)

File Under: Television Obsessions (-a-Go-Go)

Tonight was the premiere of Season 8 of Dancing With The Stars. Exciting on its own, this season brings more excitement with Belinda Carlisle as one of the Stars. Not sure if you've figured that out, yet. :)

Season 8 starts out with 13 celebrities. The first episode had them each performing one dance, either a Cha-Cha-Cha or a Viennese Waltz. Below are my performance reviews summarized in a few words. I'll try not to be biased. Mind you, I don't know all the technical stuff I'm supposed to watch for, I'll save that for Joy to discuss on her blog, here!

Lil' Kim, partnered with Derek Hough
Cha-Cha

The very first dance of the season has got to make anybody nervous, but you would not have known it watching Lil' Kim. I don't want to like her but she was good. It'll be interesting to see how she performs the ballroom dances as opposed to the rhythmic Latin numbers.
Judges scores 7/7/7 = 21

Belinda Carlisle, partnered with Jonathan Roberts
Waltz

Belinda held back and looked nervous but her performance was definitely respectable. In her preview tape, she mentioned that she has issues with spins and this number opened with one. It was a nice dance but it lacked some wow. She's got potential.
Her number for voting is (800) 868-3402. Voting continues for 30 minutes after the show ends in your time zone. Just saying...
Judges scores 6/6/5 = 17

Lawrence Taylor, partnered with Edyta Slwinskaya
Cha-Cha-Cha

Unlike previous football players, Lawrence looked clumsy and unsure of his footwork.
Judges scores 6/5/5 = 16

Steve O, partnered with Lacey Schwimmer
Waltz

Clunky, had a couple OK moves.
Judges scores 6/5/6 = 17

Gilles Marini, partnered with Cheryl Burke
Cha-Cha-Cha

Totally played up the sex appeal and it worked. He's got good moves. He'll be interesting to watch in future weeks.
Judges scores 8/8/8 = 24

Chuck Wicke, partnered with Julianne Hough
Waltz

He had wobbly knees and bad posture.
Judges scores 6/7/7 = 20 ???

Holly Madison, partnered with Dmitry Chaplin
Cha-Cha-Cha

Trained for 5 days, wasn't terrible but has a lot of ground to cover if she's going to last. Not very delicate with her feet. Perhaps it's because she's top-heavy. ;)
Judges scores 6/6/6 = 18

Ty Murray, partnered with Chelsie Hightower
Waltz

He was stiff and shaky, definitely nervous. He lost his way during the routine.
Judges scores 5/4/5 = 14

Shawn Johnson, partnered with Mark Ballas
Waltz

It was really good.
Judges scores 8/8/7 = 23

Steve Wozniak, partnered with Karina Smirnoff
Cha-Cha-Cha

Two words: Pink boa. Three more words: Oh Dear GOD!
Judges scores 5/4/4 = 13

David Alan Grier, partnered with Kym Johnson
Waltz

He seemed unsure of his feet.
Judges scores 6/7/6 = 19

Denise Richards, partnered with Maks Chmerkovskiy
Cha-Cha-Cha

She cried in her preview tape. She looked like she was going to cry after her dance. Uninspired performance, like she phoned it in.
Judges scores 6/6/6 = 18???? SERIOUSLY????

Melissa Rycroft/Tony Dovolani
Waltz

Melissa's claim to fame is being dumped by The Bachelor on TV one week prior. She was a last minute replacement, stepping in for Nancy O'Dell. Elegant performance, lots of ballet moves. Bitch better not get the sympathy vote.
Judges scores 8/7/8 = 23. Hmmm

There will be no elimination show tomorrow. They will return in a week to perform a second dance. Combined scores from both weeks will determine a bottom two, and they will have a dance-off to claim their position to stay in the competition.