Dancing with the Stars 17 promises spectacle and pathos

KT: I’ve always liked actress Leah Remini and I’ve also always liked her dance pro partner Tony Dovolani. He just seems so genuinely nice week to week. You never see him have dramatic meltdowns. He’s always flashing that toothy smile of his and I respect him for it. This seems like a genuinely nice pairing in my head … albeit maybe saccharinely boring at times.

CD: I like Leah too. I just worry there’s going to be a Scientology hit on her on live TV. Guess we won’t see Kirstie Alley cheering her on from the audience.

KT: I couldn’t care less about the announcement of Jersey Shore’s Snooki or Christina Millian. While I love their respective dance pro partners, Sasha Farber and Mark Ballas, I don’t really like either of them very much. I’m sure Christina will probably shine under Mark’s choreography, but I personally hope she doesn’t make it to the final three. I really wish both women’s “15 minutes of fame” were up – they’re long overdue!

CD: I don’t mind Snooki. Seeing her outside of Jersey Shore, I think she’s actually a smart cookie who has cultivated that image into a money-making career. She may have come into our consciousness as a drunken “meatball,” but she’s matured from that since she gave birth to little Lorenzo. And Christina who? I only watched half a season of The Voice, and I found her to be the most annoying aspect of the show. But she will probably turn out to be a genuinely nice person who can dance and will charm us all the way to the finals.

KT: I know absolutely nothing about High School Musical star Corbin Bleu (Corbin who?), who is paired with Karina Smirnoff, or Pretty Little Liars star Brant Daugherty, who is paired with Peta Murgatroyd. But then again, I knew absolutely nothing about Val’s partner Zendaya Coleman last season or Kyle Massey from Season 11, and they both quickly became some of my favorites to watch week to week. If either of these two brings even an ounce of that youthful enthusiasm, I think they’ll be sitting pretty.

CD: When I saw the cast pictures, my first thought was “who is that with Karina?” Then I saw his name and thought “what the heck happened to Corbin Bleu?” Maybe it was just a bad shot from a bad angle, but he looked 50 years old and a bit chunky. (Another full on shot of him alone looks much better). I have no idea who Brant is but Peta is my favorite female dancer. She is beautiful with or without makeup and she knows her stuff. I always root for her and Tristan (even though I just end up feeling sorry for Tristan in the end).

KT: I also know relatively little about comedian Bill Engvall, who has been paired with newcomer pro Emma Slater, or NFL star Keyshawn Johnson, who has been paired with Sharna Burgess. But then again, I rarely watch sports and I never recognize very many of the athletes except for Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves! But good luck to both of them!

CD: I just know Engvall as a stand-up comedian and he had a sitcom, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen him perform. I barely know any of the football players on the show (but I did have to root for my hometown hero Jacoby Jones last season), so Johnson is barely a blip on my radar. He’s probably the least well-known football player – to me – who has ever been on the show.

KT: If forced to pick out a winner from this cast, I’m thinking either Elizabeth Berkley or Jack Osbourne offhand, but I will really have to withhold judgment until I see all of them dance. I just see those two having enough personality, and possibly enough of a fan base, to pull it off.

CD: My early prediction puts Berkley, Riley and Milian in the top three for women (Remini could be a wild card), and Bleu, Osbourne and either Daughtery or Johnson as the top three men. We’ll have to wait and see if Johnson is a graceful football player or a stomper. I will predict, however, that the final three will be all women because I don’t think there is a really strong male competitor that can garner enough viewer votes to keep them on the show that long.

So there you have it. What do you think of season 17’s Dancing with the Stars lineup? Sound off below!