‘Dancing with the Stars 23’ review: James Hinchcliffe, Laurie Hernandez, Calvin Johnson take on TV hits
Tonight, the second episode of “Dancing with the Stars” is airing on ABC, and with that we have one message: Hopefully this is going to go a heck of a lot better in terms of controversy than the first one. We’re sure that there will be some good performers, and in terms of theme, we’ve got a great one all things TV. all of the Stars will be taking on routines inspired by some of the greatest hits over the years — for some, it will even be a trip down memory lane!
As per usual, we’ll be your guide as we take a stroll down the ballroom, and offer up a few assorted thoughts on the routines, the scores, and the assorted ridiculousness that comes with this series. Hopefully, there are no ambushes included this time around.
Maureen McCormick and Artem Chigvintsev, “The Brady Bunch” theme – This was a lot of fun. Cheeky cameo from Florence Henderson, and while there wasn’t a ton of content here, we did get the sense that she was far more comfortable than the first go-around this season. Score: 26.
Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko, “I Don’t Wanna Be” – Given her recent injuries, the two had to look at this as a chance to simplify and stick to basics. Sometimes, a good technical dance is all you need, and they had that here … though there were times we could see that the two of them had to change the choreography given her recent injuries. Score: 29.
Rick Perry and Emma Slater, “Green Acres” theme – Sure, Rick looked (to quote a past critique) like a bear stomping around in the woods, but he did hit more of the dance moves and we’ll give him credit for really going all out on this. Score: 22.
Calvin Johnson and Lindsay Arnold, “Family Matters” – This was a lot of fun, mostly because Calvin was so game to take on the Steve Urkel performance, and while not technically perfect, we had more fun here than with any other dance on the night. Also, seeing Jaleel White turn up afterwards was a genius move. Score: 28.
Amber Rose and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, “Game of Thrones” – How was this not at least tied with Maureen’s? We do see flaws in her technically, but the idea of this as only two points better than what we got from Rick Perry is appalling. Score: 24.
Jake T. Austin and Jenna Johnson, “Go Diego Go” – Jake this season could end up being the Star who, despite looking like a contender on paper, can’t quite get it together. Despite an excellent presentation and a fun theme, timing still was an issue. Score: 24.
Vanilla Ice and Witney Carson, “Married … with Children” – We consider this to be yet another good-but-not-great performance from Vanilla Ice, making this the third straight of the variety tonight. We do think that he has entertainment value, but he is spending too much time in his head. Score: 26.
Terra Jole and Sasha Farber, “Bewitched” – This was technically a big improvement over the week 1 performance, and at the same time, we really got the sense that Terra was into this and wanted to make it entertaining. We feel like in some way the challenges that they have working together pushes them to another level. Score: 31.
Babyface and Allison Holker, “The X-Files” – This was the biggest surprise of the night to us! Babyface is such a soft-spoken guy that you don’t get that sense of competitive drive just from looking at him. Yet, it’s clearly there. Score: 30.
Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy, “Ducktales” – This was high-energy and of course plenty of fun! The jive is a sort of performance that is really right up the alley of Laurie, and she was technically proficient while bringing nostalgia to all of us nineties kids out there. Score: 32.
James Hinchcliffe and Sharna Burgess, “The Walking Dead” – This was as loose of a TV tribute as there was! This was more a zombie tribute than the specific show. Still, James did a very good job here given that he had almost zero time at all to prepare. Score: 30.
Marilu Henner and Derek Hough, “Taxi” theme – We feel for Derek as a choreographer here, mostly because trying to adapt this particular song had to be no easy task at all. Yet, she managed to pull this off! Marilu showed a ton of grace and poise throughout this. Score: 29.
Ryan Lochte and Cheryl Burke, “The Muppet Show” – Great effort, and the right sort of attitude. It’s a shame that the actual dancing itself was off for almost the entirety of the performance since you wanted them to be better. Score: 24.
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