Initial Impressions of Season 31 of Dancing with the Stars

First things first. Dancing with the Stars has been really kicked around these past few years, and not dealt with like the network jewel it is. Usually it had primo spots in fall and spring, and that has given way to multiple Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor in Paradise versions. Unfair! And, at this moment, it’s being unceremoniously kicked to Disney+ for football. Sheesh.

Personally, I don’t think most people are going to follow it there. They’ll just stop watching, which is sad.

But being the #DWTS junkie I am, I am dutifully signing up for a network on which I will watch nothing else. Sigh. I sincerely hope they have the good sense to have past seasons available for everyone to view.

#DWTS Season 31 had its big unveiling on, of course, Disney+ Day. And my intrigue is never which “stars” are they getting, it’s which pros are coming back? The unveil did not disappoint.

We get some longtime favs: Peta Murgatroyd/Chemerkovskiy, Cheryl Burke and Louis Van Amstel (who’s been gone for eons). We also have brand-new dancers as pros: Koko? Huh? And in between, we have our regular favs. Both Sasha and Emma are dancing, despite going through a divorce. :-( Val Chmerkovskiy is here, but his wife, the glorious Jenna Johnson is not because she’s preggers. Our other favorite couple, last season’s winner Daniella Karagatch and her husband Pasha Peskov are also here.

Filling out the lineup are other favs: the stunning Britt, Witney (back from her own pregnancy), Alan, Gleb, Brandon and Artem. 

They had all these folks out there dancing in Times Square for us, then they finally drop the bombshell that Mark Ballas is also back!!!!!! And also dropped the bombshell that the wondrous and amazing (and Emmy-winning) choreographer Mandy Moore choreographed the opening number on Good Morning America. Here’s hoping they had the good sense to have her signed up for the whole Disney project, because those lame choreographers they had doing the opening numbers last season are NO Mandy Moore.

Also, while we are filling out the who’s there and who’s not scorecards, we are thrilled to have Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Toniolii, Len Goodman and Derek Hough back as judges. We keep hoping (hope upon hope) that they will bring back Maksim Chmerkovskiy as a judge, but so far it hasn’t happened. (Hopefully he’ll continue to do his YouTube videos, critiquing the dances, because they really helped me to understand it.) 

Sadly, they still have stupid Tyra Banks as host, but they had the good sense to add Alfonso Ribeiro as cohost. Hopefully they will nix the elaborate gown nonsense we’ve had with Tyra so far. (Shed a tear here for our beloved hosts, Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews, who didn’t deserve to get bumped as they did.)

Now, to the season.

I know there are a lot of folks who really don’t like Mark Ballas, but I love and adore him, he can almost do no wrong. At the outset, I give him and his partner Charli D’Amelio the edge for the win. On the other end of the spectrum, they’ve given the people with the biggest hearts the most difficult assignments. Favorite Sasha Farber (who has yet to win a Mirror Ball) is tasked with MS survivor Selma Blair, and Britt Benae is given deaf actor Daniel Durant. I don’t know about you, but even as I typed that I’m feeling pain from watching the last deaf actor (who was paired with Peta). They did some interesting routines, but it just doesn’t make sense when so much of what they do is based on sound. I approach both of those teams with trepidation, but I do love both Sasha and Britt, so we’ll see.

An extremely interesting pairing is Gleb and his partner (from RuPaul’s Drag Race) Shangela. Glen’s fault as a dancer (besides not listening to Len) is that he bases so much of his choreography on sex. Like man-woman sex. It will be very interesting to see what he does with a drag queen. I bless the casting director who gave him this one.

Totally based on pairings, not having seen anyone dance yet:

FRONTRUNNERS

1. Mark Ballas and Charli D’Amelio

2. Val Chemerkovskiy and Gabby Windey

3. Witney Carson and Wayne Brady

TEARING AT OUR HEARTSTRINGS

4. Sasha Farber and Selma Blair

5. Britt Benae and Daniel Durant

INTERESTING PAIRINGS

6. Gleb Savchenko and Shangela

7. Louis Van Amstel and Cheryl Ladd

8. Cheryl Burke and Sam Champion

NOT SURE YET, NEED TO SEE FIRST DANCE

9. Peta Murgatroyd and Jason Lewis

10. Brandon and Jordin Sparks

11.  Artem Chigvnitsev and Heidi D’Amelio (Charlie’s mom)

12.  Emma Slater and Trevor Donovan

13. Daniella Karagach and Joseph Baena (Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son)

14. Pasha Paskov and Teresa Giudice (a Real Housewife)

15. Alan and Jessie James Decker

BRINGING UP THE REAR

16. Koko and Vinny Guadagnino

What say you? Have any favorites? Are you gonna be watching on Disney+?

PS—My heart is just breaking for Sasha and Emma. I send much love to them both.

Season 31 starts September 19 on Disney+.

PPS—I know that I’m still currently behind on reviewing/commenting on DWTS (currently at Season 28, Week 5), but I think I’ll be mixing it up a bit as Season 31 begins.

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