Dancing with the Stars Gets Back to What It Does Best

A tremendous night on Dancing with the Stars - excitement, controversial judging, bad dancing (you know you love it), great dancing and not too many couples.

The producers have made a number of changes from last season, here are the main ones:

The Good

• 16 couples was too many - I had forgotten who had dancing at the start by the end.  11 is just right.
• A good cast selection - a couple of ringers (Evan and Nicole), a couple of stars with no real chance (Buzz and Kate), some with potential (Aiden and Niecy) and a maverick (Pam)

The Bad

• New scoreboard graphics - I think the paddles are enough!
• The Sky Box - first off, it's not very high and secondly it seems a bit clumsy to make the couple walk across the floor and up some stairs

Undecided

• Brooke Burke. I thought having a new co-host would give the opportunity to do things slightly differently (better).  Brooke was OK, but no different from what Samantha did really.  (Comment from a friend - "Hey!  That woman's got Samantha Harris' wig and dress on!")

Overall, the night was an improvement (although I enjoyed season 9) and gave a lot of hope for the season as a whole.

The performances:

Chad Ochocinco & Cheryl Burke - Cha Cha - 18.  I think they must put a "middle of the pack" dancer on first so they have a base score to compare the others against.  Chad was pretty good, allowing some of his personality to come through, but not as much as I expected.  A solid start.

Shannen Doherty & Mark Ballas - Viennese Waltz - 18.  Some good choreography from Mark, and Shannen gave a good performance, bolstered by the presence of her ailing father in the audience.  I was surprised at the number of tweets along the lines of "I liked Shannen and I didn't expect to". Perhaps the tweeters didn't realize she isn't the same person as they saw in 90210.

Erin Andrews & Maksim Chmerkovskiy - Cha Cha - 21.  Erin seemed to be a pre-season favorite but I didn't really know why people thought that.  However, her long legs and the presence of Maks made her one of the favorites to be around for a while.

Jake Pavelka & Chelsie Hightower - Viennese Waltz - 20.  Jake did very well, but was a little stiff at times.

Niecy Nash & Louis van Amstel - Cha Cha - 18.  Niecy dedicated her dance to thick girls everywhere.  As always, Louis got the best out of his partner and Niecy did very well for someone with no real experience.

Evan Lysacek & Anna Trebunskaya - Viennese Waltz - 23.  A very graceful performance as you would expect.  Evan must be one of the favorites.

Buzz Aldrin & Ashly Costa - Cha Cha - 14.  Got through the routine, kept to the beat.  He is 80 years old though, and no Cloris Leachman.

Nicole Scherzinger & Derek Hough - Viennese Waltz - 25.  One of the favorites, a ringer and currently the best dancer.  The choreography showed her best aspects.  I did agree with Len that her footwork looked awkward at times.

Aiden Turner & Edyta Sliwinska - Cha Cha - 15.  Aiden was stiff, and Edyta did her normal thing of dancing around her partner.  I do think he has potential (just as Ty Murray had a bad first dance, but stayed around for a while).

Kate Gosselin & Tony Dovolani - Viennese Waltz - 16.  Live by reality, die by reality.  I don't know why Kate has so many detractors, she tried her best, was nervous and didn't do too bad.  She actually has potential I think, it's whether she has viewer votes.

Pamela Anderson & Damian Whitewood - Cha Cha - 21.  That woman is a performer!  And very, very flexible!  It was an electrifying performance that made you miss the fact she missed the beat quite often, and her feet only occasionally seemed to be in the right place.  She can only get better at dancing technique, the key is whether she can build up a viewer following.

Overall, I think Buzz and Kate are most at risk, but we have seen very different performances in the second week, and of course who can really say who the viewers will vote for?
Who was your favorite?