‘Dancing with the Stars’ 18 premiere: Drew Carey, Amy Purdy both impress
In some ways, “Dancing with the Stars” can feel a bit repetitive to watch, especially on the first night when you are effectively witnessing the same sort of performances time and time again. So rather than spending time cycling through all of these week after week, we’re going to be unveiling a new feature tonight: Every week for the remainder of the competition, we will spotlight on dance in particular that at least caught our attention … for better or worse. We’ll also post results once we are at the point in the competition where we can actually do that.
Tonight, we’re focusing on the pair that interested us the most going into this episode: Drew Carey and Cheryl Burke. Can you imagine Drew being in the shape ten years ago to even do something like this? That is something you have to give him credit for in the first place.
As for the dancing, what we will say is that it was at least a little bit better than we thought it would be … but we also thought that it was going to be pretty terrible. Drew’s not particularly the best dancer in the world (or even in a small room of people), but he cared about what he was doing! That has to really count for something. Drew could be the Bill Engvall of this season: A guy who stays a long time just because people like him. They also got a very-competent 21 for their first dance, which also included a nice homage to Monopoly.
The premiere episode overall was mostly entertaining. We found Erin Andrews a vast improvement over Brooke Burke-Charvet, the new band to be solid, and the show packed with entertainment. There’s always some fun in the first night, mostly because you don’t know how good anyone is going to be (even if this competition is still mostly about the ice dancers). Grade: B.
Update: We were going to stop with just one contestant, but we feel like we have to mention Amy Purdy and her story. We actually knew her before this season from “The Amazing Race,” but we got to see so much more of her in the spotlight tonight. She got a 24 with a performance that was both emotional and sensational.
What did you think about this dance, and the premiere of “Dancing with the Stars”? Share your thoughts below, and head over to the link here if you want to grab some more news related to the show! Also, sign up for our CarterMatt Newsletter if you want to get some more updates via email.
Photo: ABC