It was announced this morning on Good Morning America! Here’s the cast for season 7: N*SYNC member Lance Bass (he’ll dance with new pro Lacey Schwimmer), Grammy winner and Broadway star Toni Braxton (dancing with Alec Mazo), actress/host Brooke Burke (paired with Derek Hough), chef/reality star Rocco DiSpirito (partnered with Karina Smirnoff), Olympic track gold medal winner Maurice Greene (with Cheryl Burke), reality TV star Kim Kardashian (dancing with defending chamption Mark Ballas), 82-year-old actress Cloris Leachman (dancing with newcomer, and Mark’s father, Corky Ballas), Hannah Montana’s Cody Linley (dancing with Julianne Hough), All My Children Star Susan Lucci (with Tony Dovolani), beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor (paired up with Maksim Chmerkovskiy), Ted McGinley (partnered with newcomer Inna Brayer), entertainer Jeffrey Ross (dancing with Edyta Sliwinska) and retired Super Bowl champ Warren Sapp (paired with Kym Johnson) .
Of this cast, I’m excited to see Lance, Susan and most of all Cloris. Good for her, over 80 and doing DWTS. But, let’s face it, a lot of this cast scrapes the bottom of the barrel in terms of stars. Dipping into the reality category with Rocco and Kim. Snooze… And Ted McGinley , who is usually brought into a show as it completely jumps the shark. Oy!
Oh well… I’ll still tune in, albeit via Tivo so I can jump the commercials and Samantha’s tedious interviews . The new season starts with a three-night “event” on Monday, September 22.
I adore Cloris Leachman. I wonder if she’s doing this to stick it to Mel Brooks (who, it is rumored, wouldn’t cast her in the Broadway production of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, despite her participation in the workshops, because he didn’t think she could handle the rigors of the performance schedule at her age).
I confess I don’t watch the show (although I tuned in a few times to watch Marlee Matlin, who I think is amazing) but I might sneak a few peaks at Cloris. (Or Rocco, depending on what sorts of costumes they put him in….)
I do think it’s cool that they got the gold medal beach volleyball gal. That shows some currency on their part.
I’ve always thought Chloris L. had a lot of spunk. She is my grandma’s age, which is amazingly cool.
And you know that my girls will watch it so they can cheer for Cody Linley. :-)