Tonya Plank: Dancing With the Stars First Round Eliminations Unsurprising

It's not surprising that the first two to go in this premiere week were comedian Jeffrey Ross and actor Ted McGinley, though it's somewhat unfortunate. This show is much more of a popularity contest than the other dance programs, I think, because there's really very little basis on which to judge the contestants other than how familiar they are to you, how much you can relate to them, how much their personalities appeal to you. None are professional or up and coming dancers, most have little to no dance training, and they vary widely in age, natural rhythmic and musical ability, and level of comfort with movement. So what are you left with? I try to judge based on how hard the contestant seems to be trying, how serious they are, and how much they actually improve throughout the course of the show. But you can't really assess those things on the first go. Ross reminded me of Tucker Carslon. He looked like he was going to have a very difficult time improving. Of course it's horrid to have to dance with ... (link)