Dancing With The Stars: Season 12 Premiere!

Typically, My Mid-Life Motherhood is focused on toddler times, but there is much more to my life than diapers.  I thought I would take some time over the next few weeks to share with you one of my favorite escapes . . . Dancing With The Stars.  My oldest daughter and I enjoy watching it, voting and anxiously seeing who will come back to dance week after week.  It's also a great parental opportunity to remind her that we would never let her out of the house in some of those dresses (especially those sported by Edyta!), we don't condone the Rumba til after marriage and, thankfully, we can fast forward our DVR through any of Bruno's inappropriately funny remarks, gestures or dance moves!

If you're a fellow fan of DWTS, then I hope you enjoy my comments, thoughts and predictions.  Below are some of my "live" comments while I watched it on the DVR tonight. 

It's starting now . . . so exciting!  Not sure who all is on this season, I only really know a few of the stars to expect.  Chelsea Staub from The Jonas Brother's show on Disney.  Our family enjoys watching that together.  Kirstie Alley from Cheers, should be interesting to see how she does.  The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio! 

Chelsea Kane (Staub):  Love the dress and the hair.  Paired with Mark, she has great potential.  What a way to start the season!  She did an amazing job on the Fox Trot.  She should be in it to win it for sure.  Beautifully done!  Oooh!  A 21!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner, baby!

Wendy Williams: Ouch!  Poor Tony, I don't think he'll be on there too long with her.  Too bad . . . she's timid.  I'm thinking the first one off the show.  Her dancing does not match her bigger than life personality.  A bit of stage fright I suppose. 14 was about right.

Hines Ward:  Football MVP.  Glad Kym is back . . . she usually does well with the athletes. Cha Cha Cha is a difficult first dance, I always feel bad for the stars who have that first time out.  He's doing pretty well, though.  He should be around for awhile!  21!

Petra Nemcova:  Good for her to overcome her injuries and dance, especially in the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan.  She and Dmitry look great together.  Beautiful Fox Trot.  Love the flowing lilac dress. . .just a lovely dance!  18!  She deserved more than that!

Romeo: I enjoy Chelsie, not a fan of the song.  Another Cha Cha Cha.   This one is not quite doing it for me.  Little rough, although he's having fun.  Sounds like he should do better than his father who was on a previous season and received 2's!  Yikes, didn't know they had paddles that low.  19, a fair score, I think.

Sugar Ray Leonard:  Power of Love, a great song for his Fox Trot. He seems like a nice guy. He does need to work on that boxer posture.  Anna's got a bit of work to do, but he is fun to watch and hopefully will stick around for a bit!  17, better luck next time.

Kendra Wilkinson: Playboy bunny with Louis, oh no he's dressed like a bunny right now.  OK, another Cha Cha Cha. She's reminding me a lot of Denise Richards (whom I think should have lasted longer than she did!)  Not sure how long this bunny will last.  18 is fair.

Ralph Macchio:  The Karate Kid . . . totally had a crush on him in high school!  He does look way younger than 49!  Classic Fox Trot . . . oooh, loving it!  A fun "kick in the head!"  Oh, that was entertaining, like a good ol' Hollywood dance film with Fred & Ginger.  WOW!  A 24! He's headed to the finals.  Reminding me a lot of Donny Osmund!

Chris Jericho: A wrestler . . . hmmm.  Cheryl's a winner and is able to get him dancing I'm sure!  A rockin' Cha Cha Cha song, but he's not rockin' much.  A bit messy, although he's having fun.  A 19 is a generous score.

Mike Catherwood:  Psycho Mike?  Never heard of him, but he's funny.  Snazzy outfits, but a bit stiff on his part.  I do enjoy Lacey, so I hope he can stick around a few weeks.  A 13 . . . hmm. . . I think he should have at least gotten a 14.  He or Wendy are my picks for being the first to leave.

Kirstie Alley:  Oh my, she's paired with Maks!  This is likely to be explosive at times.  I'm predicting TMD with those two together.  No way?!  Is she really 60?!  Wow!  She looks a lot younger!  Surprisingly, she is doing very well with her Cha Cha Cha.  Brings a lot of her energetic personality to the dance floor.  She'll be a fan favorite!  A 23 for Kirstie, a great way to end the night!

My first impression is that this will be a fun and eventful season.  I think Derek will be missed, but there are a lot of other pros on the show that are a fun and creative.  I suspect that Wendy or Mike will be the first to leave, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be Chris.  I will be shocked if we don't see Kirstie, Ralph, Chelsea and Petra in the final four!