‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 17 spotlight: Leah Remini and Tony Dovolani

While there are some “Dancing with the Stars” cast members that you feel good about and others you don’t, Leah Remini is one of those people who you really could go either way about. She is someone who has been in the headlines a lot lately for Scientology, and we wonder whether this and her recent stint on “The Talk” have allowed people to forget her fine work on “The King of Queens” for so many years. Leah can be a very funny lady, which is what could give her a good chance at doing well this season.

While we would not be too shocked to see Leah go home in a somewhat surprising way, we will at least say that there are a few other tools that she has in her corner to help her overcome some early hurdles.

Professional partner – Tony Donovani, who is one of those said tools. This is a man who tends to work very well with mothers (not named Kate Gosselin), and women who come from an entertainment background. He knows what it is like to both go home early and win, and he should be able to educate Leah on how to survive the scary first week.

Strengths – The biggest thing that Leah has going for her right now is a history performing and being on live TV. She should handle this better than the reality stars or the TV science guys, and we could see her especially doing well channeling the emotion in some lyrical ballroom routines. Tony does a fantastic job with some of the dances like the foxtrot and the waltz, and they should be a dominate pair there.

Weaknesses – She is certainly has an unknown amount of dancing ability, and we fear for her in terms of whether or not her recent headlines will create some sort of false impression that she is someone who migrates towards drama. That’s hardly the case, but we know that most Americans have a short-term memory. (To be fair, most Americans agree with her stance on leaving Scientology, but that story hardly lets her personality shine through.)

Prediction – The best-case scenario that we see for Leah is around fourth for fifth place, and we think that she will probably finish at least somewhere higher than eighth. She should be familiar to most viewers, and we think it will only take an episode or two before viewers take a shine to her personality and forget all about something like all of the interviews that she has done as of late.

What is your take on Leah this season? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below! Meanwhile, click here if you want to read the rest of our “Dancing with the Stars” spotlights, and we’re going to have our full predictions for this season up come Monday.

Photo: ABC