Macchio Tonight's Frontrunner - Recap/Review of "Dancing with the Stars" Season 12, Episode 1

It seems like forever since ABC’s Dancing with the Stars was on, but of course, that’s not true. I have just been jonesing for my dance fix as I always do this time of year. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed by the season premiere at all. In fact, I was surprised the competitors were as good as they were, considering not one of them had any prior dance experience. We had it all tonight – grace, magic, performance, entertainment, clumsiness, flat-footedness, stiffness and DANCE!

Macchio Tonight's Frontrunner - Recap/Review of "Dancing with the Stars" Season 12, Episode 1 1

Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas

Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas were first out and definitely set the standard for the night – at least for me. Chelsea has a bubbly personality and a great deal of musicality. Combine that with the awesome Mark Ballas and I think we have our first real contenders, given time. Their Foxtrot was just divine and I just love their nickname – Team Kanenball. Score: 21.

Next up was Wendy Williams who was dancing with one of my all-time favorites, Tony Dovolani. Wendy is a rather large woman who doesn’t seem to have a lot of musicality at all. She and Tony did a decent job, but she’s got a long way to go if she wants to get anywhere near that Mirror Ball trophy. Score: 14

Hines Ward, who said he can’t dance, was really funny during the rehearsal tape DWTS showed us, but once he and Kym hit the dance floor, he showed off some really sexy moves and did a great job partnering Kym. And may I just say, the man has a million watt smile!? Score: 21.

Macchio Tonight's Frontrunner - Recap/Review of "Dancing with the Stars" Season 12, Episode 1 2

Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin

Petra Nemcova is a supermodel and as we all know, she sustained major physical injuries when she was a victim of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Her partner, Dmitry Chaplin, knowing what she’d been through, immediately asked what parts of her body had been injured and then helped her with some massage moves I wouldn’t mind being on the receiving end of! Just sayin’. OK, onto the dance floor and what a beautiful couple they made dancing the Foxtrot. Grace, elegance and beauty are the words I would use to describe Petra and she brought all of that and more to the dance floor. Score: 18.

Macchio Tonight's Frontrunner - Recap/Review of "Dancing with the Stars" Season 12, Episode 1 3

Romeo with his partner, Chelsie Hightower

Romeo is back for a second shot at the trophy after bowing out in season 2. Thank heavens he seems to be in fine physical form so we don’t have to suffer through another season with his father, Master P filling in for him. And at least he’s wearing the shoes – something his father didn’t do and told him not to do either, which may be one of the reasons Master P received the lowest scores ever in the history of the show. Of course, there was the possibility Romeo would be as stiff as his dad was, so I was holding my breath when he first took the floor with his partner, Chelsie Hightower. I needn’t have worried – he and Chelsie gave us a standout performance dancing the ChaCha – very energetic and very sexy with a lot of potential. Score: 19.

Olympic Boxer and Gold Medalist Sugar Ray Leonard is paired with Anna Trebunskaya, who is dancing for her seventh season. As much of a dancer as Sugar Ray was in the boxing ring, I don’t think he did that good of a job tonight dancing the Foxtrot. Although he was very stiff in hold with Anna, he did a somewhat better job dancing on his own. He has a winning personality though and that may carry him though for a while. May I just make one comment about Anna’s hair? As a woman, I can appreciate a beautiful head of hair and she certainly has one. It’s a magnificent mane of flaming red hair that always captures both my husband’s and my attention. Score: 17.

Louis Van Amstel may have finally lucked out by getting reality star Kendra Wilkinson for a partner. As we all know, Kendra used to be a stripper and club dancer and has some really sexy moves as we saw in their rehearsal tape. But it didn’t translate that well on the dance floor while they were dancing the ChaCha. While it was entertaining, I thought Kendra let her nerves get the best of her. Thankfully, when she tripped over her own feet, she was in hold with Louis who was able to catch her and prevent a major disaster! Score: 18.

Macchio Tonight's Frontrunner - Recap/Review of "Dancing with the Stars" Season 12, Episode 1 4

Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff

Ralph Maccio and Karina Smirnoff danced the Foxtrot tonight. The Karate Kid is no longer – it’s Mr. Smooth tonight! The performance by these two was beautiful to watch, entertaining, to say the least, and a crowd favorite. As Bruno said, “Great showmanship;” Carrie Ann followed with: “Amazing surprise;” and Len said it best: “Great potential…best Foxtrot tonight.” Score: perfect 8s all around for a total of 24.

World Champion wrestler Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke were next up dancing the ChaCha and let me say Jericho certainly doesn’t need lessons in confidence or performance. I get the feeling he thinks he can win on sex appeal and performance alone, but we all know that’s not going to happen. The man was totally flat-footed on the dance floor! He did more posing than anything else if you ask me and as one of the judges said, his hips were allergic to the music, and they didn’t work so well. Score: 19, which, in my opinion, was too high.

Psycho Mike aka Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer danced the Foxtrot. All I can say is Lacey certainly has her job cut out for her. Mike totally lacks musicality – his performance was very choppy and he was totally off. Caroline Manzo of The Real Housewives of New Jersey said it best on Twitter: “Mike Catherwood gets points for being adorable and funny…. dancing…..eh, but I say keep him around.” I disagree with the keeping-him-around comment. Score: 13.

Macchio Tonight's Frontrunner - Recap/Review of "Dancing with the Stars" Season 12, Episode 1 5

Kirstie and Maks

They saved the best for last in Maksim Chmerkovskiy. The man can melt hearts. Kirstie Alley? Not so much – although she is funny. Their rehearsal tape was hysterical! It pleases me to say they did a really job – they were entertaining, she hit her steps and really showed the rest of the cast how it’s done. To quote Bruno: “Your foot placement in the ChaChaCha was the best of the night.” Need I say more? Score: 23.

All in all, I think Dancing with the Stars is off to a good start. Several contenders showed up, with Ralph Macchio taking top honors in that category. Chelsea Kane, Petra Nemcova, and believe it or not, Kirstie Alley are the top females in my opinion. I can’t say anyone was as bad as some of the worst dancers (Master P, Kate Gosselin, Kenny Mayne) I’ve seen in previous seasons, which is a good thing, right? Let me tell you one thing though, I really missed Derek Hough! Please Derek, let this be the only season you take off! Your fans need you!

For all things DWTS, go to http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/index. And whatever you do, don’t forget to vote!

All photos courtesy of www.Zap2It.com

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!