Dancing with the Stars Fall 2008: Week One, Part One

Thirteen New Stars Strut Their Stuff

Live, from Hollywood, the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars kicked off this evening on NBC. We were formally introduced to the season's brand new cast of 13 stars and their professional partners as they offered up their first dances of the season. Co-hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris quickly got things started by introducing the night's first pair.

Celebrity: Cody Linley, Hannah Montana
Partner: Julianne Hough, two-time DWTS professional champ, country music recording artist
An Interesting Tidbit/Quote: Cody likes rap music. He's also the youngest-ever competitor on DWTS. "If I can just stayed focused on the dance rather than Julianne's hotness, I think we can cha cha all the way to the top."
The Dance: Cha cha
The Outfit: Black shirt and suite, red rose, red lining
The Performance: Cody looked pretty solid to me. He seems to have good basic moves, though he was a little sloppy on his feet. Still, a great effort.
The Evaluation:
Len - "High-energy dancing and full of confidence... great job." But he cautioned him against being overly energetic.
Bruno - "The slash of youth, bursting with energy and excitement" and told Cody to channel his energy into technical cleanliness.
Carrie Ann - "What I see in you is incredible potential."
The Scores: 6, 6, 6 = 18

Celebrity: Rocco DiSpirito, chef
Partner: Karina Smirnoff
An Interesting Tidbit/Quote: Rocco cooked for Karina to give her a sense of who he is. "I'm a chef. I'm so far out of my comfort zone we need new words to describe it."
The Dance: Foxtrot
The Outfit: Classic black tuxedo with tails, red lining
The Performance: I think Rocco is totally cute, but he's not really much of a dancer so far. He was off a few times with his footwork and didn't seem to be sensing the music very well, but seemed to be having fun.
The Evaluation:
Bruno - "That was a foxtrot on the brink of chaos."
Carrie Ann - "I thought it was really cute... what you have going for you is a great connection with the audience."
Len - "For me it lacked any finesse... but good attempt."
The Scores: 5, 4, 5 = 14