“Dancing with the Stars” returned for its twelfth season with football star Hines Ward, actor Ralph Macchio, talk show host Wendy Williams, Playboy model Kendra Wilkinson, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and other notables.
But the real question for many viewers was “How would actress Kirstie Alley do?”
Alley, a veteran of the big screen, small screen and reality programming, had been pumping up her appearance on the show on Twitter. “GOOD morning my darling leading man…you will be as remarkable tonight as you always have been….lead me Maks..Lead me” she tweeted before the season premiere, in a shout-out to dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
Ward, a wide receiver with the Pittsburgh Steelers, did the cha-cha-cha with partner Kym Johnson. He drew solid scores from the judges; ex-football players have a history of doing well on the show. If you can move well while dodging 200 lbs.-plus men, DWTS is not an intimidating prospect.
Radio host “psycho” Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer received low scores, but the judges said they’d have the opportunity to redeem themselves. Catherwood seemed a little overwhelmed by the big stage, and joked about how he was the least-well-known “star” on the program. He was right–and to make matters worse, he was just about as graceful as you’d expect a guy nicknamed psycho to be. His fox-trot was a herky-jerky affair when it should have been smooth. Actual foxes are more rhythmic.
Macchio, the former star of the “Karate Kid” franchise, wondered aloud about how his 49-year-old body would hold up. (In Hollywoodland is 49 now considered to be a senior citizen?) But he did just fine with partner Karina Smirnoff, and the judges praised his elegant footwork, though they saw room for improvement. Macchio’s character faced bigger challenges in “The Karate Kid” and things turned out pretty well.
Alley was left for last, and posted impressive scores from the judges. She seemed to be enjoying her time on the dance floor and in the spotlight, though her nerves were evident. With growing confidence and flowing moves, she danced the cha-cha-cha to Cee-Lo Green’s song “Forget You.” The fact that after all her tweeting and promoting that she had a few butterflies will probably only endear her to more voters.
