‘Dancing with the Stars 22’ spotlight: Mischa Barton, Artem Chigvintsev look to contend
We give a lot of flack to ABC from time to time for its “Dancing with the Stars” casting, but sometimes, they do things that are worthy of some praise. Getting Mischa Barton on the show is one such thing. She’s not someone we would have thought of as a contender, and yet at the same time she’s perfect for the show.
Can the actress and her partner Artem Chigvintsev put on a winning performance? That’s something that we’re going to do our best to chronicle in the first of many spotlights that we are doing for season 22. A new one will be posted daily!
Claim to fame – Actress, best known for playing Marissa Cooper on “The OC.” There’s probably a misconception that Barton hasn’t done a whole lot in the years following this show and the short-lived “The Beautiful Life: TBL,” since she actually has appeared in a dozen or so different movies in the past two years. “The OC” is still what she’s known for, and doing this show is obviously a chance for her to use this as a springboard for other projects. It’s worked for many other performers! One of our college roommates was a huge “OC” fan, so there is a part of this casting that brings back those memories.
Partner – Artem Chigvintsev. He’s back after a season off, where the story goes he was originally paired with someone who, for one reason or another, didn’t end up making the cast. We cannot really say one way or another. We’re just glad that Artem has a chance to go far here with someone who has the skills on paper to be a contender.
Strengths – As an actress, Mischa should be very capable of getting into the character of some of the different routines, and we can see the fun of the competition as something that appeals to her. It’s a chance to let go and do something very different than she has over the course of the past several years. We don’t know how athletic she is, but she’s young and is probably at least in decent shape.
Weaknesses – We’re not sure how much her skill set translates into dance ability, and we’re not sure how passionate the fan base for “The OC” still is after so many years. If she can play into the nostalgia, maybe she could get many of these people on her side. She’s just more of a gamble to bank on versus people who has been more consistently in the headlines.
Prediction – Right now, we have Barton lasting a few weeks, but we’re not confident in her fan base just yet to the extent that she’ll make the finale. We need to actually see her on the show embracing the competition, mostly because we don’t really know that much about her personality-wise as opposed to some other people this season.
How well do you think that Mischa will do this season? Vote below, and head over here to see the full cast at present for the season! Also, sign up over at this link to get some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)