S29.E01: 2020 Premiere

[OnceSane]

Quote

Professional dancers pair with celebrities to train and compete in ballroom dancing, receiving guidance from of a panel of experts along the way.

Airs September 14, 2020.

[chitowngirl]

Tyra is like parsley here, you wouldn’t miss her if she wasn’t on the plate. She’s following the script.

[LexieLily]

Tyra is not good as the host of this show and too often she wanted to make everything about her, but are we really surprised at that?

And also, for a supermodel that is supposedly all about high fashion (or at least she was on ANTM), that was a horrible pink-and-red pantsuit. 

P.S: Pasha's shell-shocked look of disbelief and inability to know what to do when Carole Baskin showed up in his rehearsal room was the best part of the entire night.

[TwopLurker]

Carol Baskin...looks good and like she's having fun so there's that. 

[jette]

I was prepared to despise Tyra, but you're exactly right, chitowngirl, she's following a well-written script.

Missed Kaitlyn 's dance due to a Hurricane Sally update, so I'll have to find it online.

Glad DWTS is back.

[Quickbeam]

I really miss Tom Bergeron and his snark. That made the show for me. What did Peta do to her face. I didn’t recognize her.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Quickbeam

[Uke]

Week 1:

Well, what DWTS wants to show us first is Tyra?    That's quite a red dress.  Let's hope she changes clothes for the hosting (ok, she did).

AJ + Cheryl: AJ had some issues spacing himself in relation to Cheryl and I think he lost his way for a moment near the end but otherwise good start.  Fair scores.

Chrishell + Gleb:  Messy and seemed to be off balance for most of it.  Gleb didn't seem to be helping her much.  But she sure has the hairography down.  Agree with the scores.

Vernon & Peta:  Posture Posture Posture!  And his bum was sticking out.  Yes, CAI, I saw the lift too.  He has to allow Peta to dance up to his height.  A little annoyed with a time burning embrace. Peta knows all the tricks.  Scores were a point low IMO - docking for the lift on night 1?  Looks like the pros are on notice!

Anne + Keo:  Her timing keeps going off but she looks like she's having a blast.  Very good start for night 1.  She's got a lot of fun attitude but she knows to express humility.  Scores are ok though I wouldn't have minded 1 more point.

Jeannie + Brandon:  First thought was Bambi in heels and struggled with balance in the turns.  But she pulled it together and that was a pretty advanced lift for week 1.  Great start!  Ok with the scores.  Either someone great is coming up or they're holding down the scores for week 1.

Jesse + Sharna:  Quickstep seems quite challenging for week 1 but he did really good.  No obvious foot problems, Great body contact.  Maybe a little excited puppy syndrome with posture.  Wow they're really holding down the scores.  For level of difficulty and doing a very good job, I was expecting a 7.

Skai + Alan:  Not good starting with a fall down the stairs!  It was good but kind of blah.  Surprised to see the 7s.  IMO maybe 2 points too high.

It's 9pm and only 7 done so far.  They'll have to step up the pace a bit.  I really dislike Tyra's outfit.  The hot pink top looks like a blazer tucked into bright red pants.  Kinda ugly.

Kaitlyn + Artem:  Really good cha cha.  Looked like she was in control.  Artem had a few distraction moves and I tried to focus on Kaitlyn when he'd do it and couldn't figure out what he was covering.  Agree with the scores.

Nev + Jenna:  Very nice foxtrot.  Jenna still mugging for the camera, ugh!  Frame was a little awkward and bum was sticking out but otherwise a really nice job.  Scores are good.

Are we to believe Len is awake at 2:10am in London watching the show live?  Uh huh!

Johnny + Britt:  Timing was frequently off but great job.  All 6s? Expected at least 2 7s.

Ok, this is bugging me...we know there's no audience there.  All the piped in applause, shout outs, etc. - it's all fake.

Justina + Sasha:  Fun, energetic, great job.  This gal just lights up the ballroom.  Agree with the scores.

Charles + Emma:  Oh dear!  Very awkward, stiff, he didn't do much.  Emma was so excited for 4s.  Judges were kind.

Monica + Val:  The only thing I really noticed was her shoulders were too high.  It seemed to take a while for her to relax into the dance but I'd write that off to first night jitters.  I don't know what DH's 7 was for.  And CAI would have given a 7 if not for the lifts?  6s were fine.

Nelly + Daniella:  I'd have expected that dancing to his own song, he'd be more relaxed.  He seemed quite stiff and awkward.  Agree with the scores.  (What's she talking about "alot of hate in this room" with the piped in boos?)  Seems like all the dances are ending with the same posed dip.

Carole + Pasha:  That seemed really short.  It looked like Pasha was talking her through it.  Too many issues to list.  A 3 was a little harsh (considering Charles who barely moved).

Well, kind of a blah night 1.  I don't know if I'll stick with this...I haven't missed a show since season 5.  Oh well, that's it for tonight.

Uke

Edited September 15, 2020 by Uke
Fix typo

[Annber03]

The model walk Tyra did when she came out...I was already imagining the comments there. But I do think she settled in a little better as the show went on. I also liked the red dress she came out in. 

Bruno looks good with silver hair.

AJ, Skai, Vernon, Johnny, and Jeannie were the standouts for me tonight, I think there could be a good competition setting up between them as time goes on. I am surprised that they're able to touch without masks or gloves, though, I would've thought they'd put some kind of protection in place there. It was weird to see people touching without safety precautions. 

Nice to see Len pop in to say hi :). 

[DietCokeJunkie]

I miss Tom terribly, but I don’t miss the audience at all. 
 

I hate it when Artem’s partner is someone I can’t stand. It takes away from the enjoyment of watching him. I don’t even know who Kaiylyn Bristow is, but she looked better as a brunette in her intro package. 

[MerBearHou]

16 minutes ago, Quickbeam said:

I really miss Tom Bergeron and his snark. That made the show for me. What did Peta do to her face. I didn’t recognize her.

Peta — I didn’t recognize her either!!

The Catfish guy was delightful — loved their dance.  Not sure how he’ll be in the super-fast dances but we’ll see.

Poor Charles Oakley — so darn tall which makes it hard to be graceful.  I like him a lot and hope he improves.

Before the show even started, I could’ve predicted that the star-kiddo, Skai, would get the best scores.

Didn’t see Nelly and Carol — got interrupted.  Sorry I missed Pasha’s moment of meeting his partner, Carol.  I haven’t watched any of the Tiger show, but I have heard enough to know she is a sketchy character.  

Derek did a great job as judge.  Constructive, encouraging and honest.

If I could give Tyra a grade, it would be C-.  Just not a fit.  The huge hair and outfits were too look-at-me and I don’t like her manner of speaking at all.  Too fast, too mumbly.  The wrong leadership for this show.

The audio was awful at times.  Hard to hear.  

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by MerBearHou
Fixing Skai spelling

[Tigregirl]

Bring back Tom and Erin!  Tyra is driving us crazy.  Couldn’t stand her on AGT, can’t stand her here.

[TiredMe]

I👏🏻Miss👏🏻Tom👏🏻!      Thank goodness I started watching tape delayed so I could start Ff through Tyra when I realized how unbearable she was going to be. Honestly when they canned Tom I was going to stop watching but then they pulled a fast one and brought back Mr Sex on a Stick Artem and pulled me back in!

I was a bit let down by Johnny. He’s got great showmanship so I was expecting more. Maybe it’s the new girl choreography.

Anne Heche seems like a wacky one. I did enjoy seeing her have so much fun.

[Annber03]

3 minutes ago, TiredMe said:

Anne Heche seems like a wacky one. I did enjoy seeing her have so much fun.

It was a bit startling to see her-it's been so long since I can recall seeing her pop up anywhere. 

But yeah, I'm glad she seems to be enjoying herself on here :). 

[BuckeyeLou]

I'll join the chorus of "I miss Tom", but Tyra did Try to engage with the Dancers.  I do not know who Nev is, but I enjoyed seeing a classic Ballroom Dance.  I thought Johnny Weir would be better, Justina Machado is so much fun to watch & so full of energy,  AJ & Cheryl were a fun way to start off the night,  Carole Baskin was definately the worst of the night.  I was surprised that the judges were judging so Low for everyone...the past couple of seasons they were pulling out 7s & 8s the first weeks.  Tonight, I was surprised to see 3s & 4s.  I thought Derek was a good judge: fair & constructive advice,  I did not care for Bruno's silver hair & I was annoyed with Carrie pulling out the "lifts" penalty again!   The piped in crowd noise was distracting & annoying.

[LizDC]

I watched up through Chrishell to see the new host and other changes.

The set people did a good job hiding the lack of audience in the studio. Was that Bruno’s quarantine hair? The piped in audience noises were weird and distracting. Maybe they could have done what the NBA did and used virtual fans. Tyra was OK but is not a natural at hosting a live event. 

I’m done for this season. I’ll be back when Tom comes back.

Edited September 15, 2020 by LizDC

[nickp1991]

Britt & Johnny deserved better scores

[ams1001]

My former roommate and I usually "watch" together and snark-chat on messenger. I pulled up facebook to send her a message asking if she would be watching, only to find a message from her asking me the same thing. I was debating between this and American Ninja Warrior but since she was watching too I picked this. Will watch ANW on demand another day.

4 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

The model walk Tyra did when she came out...I was already imagining the comments there. But I do think she settled in a little better as the show went on. I also liked the red dress she came out in. 

I was pleasantly surprised she didn't annoy the hell out of me, because she did on AGT. I also liked the one-host format because it meant much less talking to the dancers after. (No going upstairs to talk to Erin was a definite plus.) Though that might change after a few eliminations when there are fewer dancers to talk to and they need to fill more time. Not a lot of room in a live show with the full cast for Tyra to go too far off script. But I would rather have Tom. (I can take or leave Erin, or any of his previous cohosts, most of the time.) 

I thought Johnny's fishnet pants were the most eye-searing look of the night, but then Carole and her hot pink tie-dyed tiger print came out. I did have a good laugh at their song choice. I'm sorry Pasha got her as his partner, though, because I'm sure she won't last long, and I love him and want him to stick around.

I like AJ. He did a hilarious parody video with singer Chris Mann (on Mann's youtube channel) recently. He's a good dancer and I hope he goes far.

I don't watch Catfish and know nothing about him, but I liked Nev; their dance was pretty. (And his kids are adorable.)

When Skai (who looks like she's twelve) was doing the tango, I couldn't help but imagine what kind of tricks they could pull off in an Argentine tango, since she's so tiny and pretty flexible. Hoping she gets to do one.

I had zero idea who was going to be on this season (I had seen a mention of some of the pros who would be back but hadn't looked to see which celebs), and I tried to count how many I did and didn't recognize as they were introduced, but I got lost pretty quickly. (I did recognize more names than faces, though.) I almost didn't recognize Sharna without the red hair.

I, too, like Derek as a judge (much better than his sister); I watched some of World of Dance this past season (only because it was on after something else) and I liked him on that, too. Also enjoyed the lack of audience. I like how the ballroom is set up.

(Is it weird that I didn't notice any of the audience noise that at least two people have mentioned?)

[KayVeeTeeVee]

I thought Tyra was okay, especially for the first night.  Wonder why some of the dancers and stars got microphones after dancing and others did not.  Ditto for streamers, etc.  All in all, it was better than I thought, EXCEPT for the overly LOUD 'audience' audio.  The technician did a good job with applause and boos, but geez, I could barely hear Tyra, especially in the opening.  The applause just went on and on and on and on.  Enough already.

Edited September 15, 2020 by KayVeeTeeVee

[babyhouseman]

Tyra is just boring. I guess her cool lingo is supposed to appeal to the young folks. I wonder how Tom would've responded at certain moments 

It was strange. Not just with Tyra, but with the pandemic format and no Len. 

[madpsych78]

I couldn't even watch Carole, and it looks like I didn't miss anything.

I thought AJ was a smite underscored, but that may have been because he was first. However, I was underwhelmed by Johnny Weir, I expected more from him. I wonder if he would have showed off more had there been an actual audience.

Actually, the ones who I enjoyed the most were ones that I didn't know much about - Skai, Jeannie, Nev, and Justina. I also think they're my favorite ones, personality-wise. 

[HerkyJerky]

36 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

Derek did a great job as judge.  Constructive, encouraging and honest.

ITA!  The only good thing about this new season.  I think Derek honed his judging skills on World of Dance.

[scenicbyway]

I liked the show without an audience, I didn’t miss them at all.  Whoever figured out that they needed Derek as a judge should be given a raise.  His energy saved the show and we know he’s a real dancer to back it up. I also hope he held out for a big paycheck, especially since they fired his girlfriend last year the way they did Sharna and Gleb or Artem.

Tom is the voice of the show, Tyra is great, but not for this show. Claiming she’s watched it since the beginning...she didn’t know Carrie Ann deducts a point for lifts? Since the beginning...

The dancing was not great, I think they gave them less practice time this year. I wonder if it’s easier to dance without the audience?

[djlynch]

For some reason, Bruno really reminds me of John Barrowman. And I'm pretty sure it goes beyond the "gay and hyperactive" thing they both have going on.

My little nitpick is that I don't like that the dancers were introduced with only their first names. Some of them are as famous as the stars at this point.

[OnTime]

It just isn't the same without Tom, especially now when I really want something to be the same. 

Still not sure why he was replaced, but if there was no choice, I wish it was with someone who had been on the show before. One host is fine, but not Tyra. 

She has no connection to this show. 

Edited September 15, 2020 by OnTime

[PikaScrewChu]

That was underwhelming. I swear some of those dances weren't more than 30 seconds. 

[HerkyJerky]

15 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

I like AJ. He did a hilarious parody video with singer Chris Mann (on Mann's youtube channel) recently.

OMG, AMS1001, thanks for letting me know about that.  The parody was frigging hilarious!

[babyhouseman]

3 minutes ago, scenicbyway said:

Claiming she’s watched it since the beginning...she didn’t know Carrie Ann deducts a point for lifts?

Yes. I've been watching since the Jennifer Grey season, and that's one of the consistencies on the show. Somebody needs to give her a quiz on DWTS. lol

[shoregirl]

I liked Skai Justina and Jeannie best. I liked that Jeannie was all for lifts right out of the gate , like no fear about at all. Justina was so charismatic and I already liked her from One Day at a Time. 

The tiger lady was awful. Chrishell was terrible. There's something about that feels so phony to me. "If I check my messages I should have a offer. Should I check it? I'm my got there's a offer." But I bet both of them will last longer than they should.

The rest including Tyra were meh .

I did like Derek as a judge. I thought he had a nice balance of encouragement and criticism with actual suggestions of how to improve.

[nickp1991]

I think Carole Baskin being on dancing with the stars perfectly describes 2020

[Annber03]

1 minute ago, nickp1991 said:

I think Carole Baskin being on dancing with the stars perfectly describes 2020

TVLine's recap pretty much said the same thing:

Quote

“Tiger King‘s Carole Baskin performs a paso doble on Dancing With the Stars” is truly a Mad Lib of a sentence (and yet, in this particular year, it somehow makes complete sense). 

https://tvline.com/2020/09/14/dancing-with-the-stars-recap-season-29-premiere-tyra-banks/#comment-list-wrapper

[Brookside]

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

 

If I could give Tyra a grade, it would be C-.  Just not a fit.  The huge hair and outfits were too look-at-me 

.  

 

Her hair looked like my Barbie's nylon "do" after I spent too much time with the crappy hairbrush (in the early '70s).

 

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, LexieLily said:

And also, for a supermodel that is supposedly all about high fashion (or at least she was on ANTM), that was a horrible pink-and-red pantsuit.

ANTM was never truly about high fashion, and most of Tyra's outfits were ridiculous on that show as well.

[Emily-D]

At the start of the show with that Tyra centric intro I was thinking "oh god here we go", but shock horror I thought she got better as the show went on and she grew more comfortable. I suspect she'll improve more as the season progresses. Look, I'm as disappointed as everyone else in how the show has treated Tom and Erin, but ultimately they aren't coming back (this season anyway), so I might as well accept and hope Tyra doesn't make it too unbearable, at the end of the day it wasn't her decision it was ABCs.

As for the dancing, you can tell that Nev has had serious dance training, the way his danced that foxtrot was so elegant and smooth. It made me smile seeing how much fun Anne Heche was having as well. Obviously the Disney kid was a great dancer as well, they always are. I'm also still in shock at the fact that Artem is back and has an actual good dancer as a partner who isn't older than him. Bless Bruno with the "back where you belong" comment. AJ will be great as well, he had a tough first dance style and whoever goes first always gets bad scores. The stage and the lack of production was good, as more couples get eliminated and each dance becomes longer than 50 seconds it will get ever better. As for the negatives, Johnny was surprisingly not that great, but apparently he has very little rehearsal time so he'll definitely be much better next week. Gleb continues to establish himself as one of the worst pros to ever be on the show and the less said about Carol Baskin, the better!

Finally, a mention for Derek who I thought was brilliant. His positive energy and enthusiasm is so important for the show. We can rightly criticise ABC for firing Tom and Erin, but bringing Derek in was absolutely the right call and well worth whatever the price was. 

[Brookside]

  

 

What kind of stupid name is Chrishell?  Especially "paired" with that giant pair of fake knockers.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Brookside

[nickp1991]

Derek Hough is good at this judging thing

[leocadia]

1 hour ago, LexieLily said:

And also, for a supermodel that is supposedly all about high fashion (or at least she was on ANTM), that was a horrible pink-and-red pantsuit. 

First off, let me say that TB is still a very beautiful woman, and thinner than me for sure, but does her stylist hate her?  Both outfits she had on tonight made her look really wide and boxy.  Between that and the overpowering glitz on the 50lb necklace she was wearing, I thought she  just came across as super bulky.  

No real opinions on the dancers yet. At least it's new programming?

[seasons]

I cringe every time Tyra says "daaansing" or "daaanse". Both in the commercial abc has been bombarding us with and also during the show. She sounds so valley girl-ish to me.

Edited September 15, 2020 by seasons

[Annber03]

7 minutes ago, leocadia said:

Between that and the overpowering glitz on the 50lb necklace she was wearing, I thought she  just came across as super bulky.  

My mom at one point was like, "That necklace looks heavy." 

[ams1001]

52 minutes ago, HerkyJerky said:

OMG, AMS1001, thanks for letting me know about that.  The parody was frigging hilarious!

I highly recommend going back through his channel and watching all his covid parodies (with some other stuff mixed in, some goofy, some sweet (especially the ones for his wife and son), some more serious; I think the Adele "Hello" parody was the first covid song). He really is a great singer and very funny. (And rather easy on the eyes...)

11 minutes ago, seasons said:

I cringe every time Tyra says "daaansing" or "daaanse". Both in the commercial abc has been bombarding us with and also during the show. She sounds so valley girl-ish to me.

That's one of the reasons she bugs me. 

 

[Growsonwalls]

I've loved Anne Heche since she was Vicky/Marley on Another World so it was great to see her still looking so fabulous. She's not a bad dancer. She's my favorite.

Carole Baskin was beyond awful. I felt bad for her. The routine was amusing in a "so bad it's good" way.

I never like it when they get a super-tall NBA star and pair him with a short dancer. The mismatch makes any real dancing impossible. I adore Charles Oakley but he looked so awkward out there. If they get an NBA star get a more regular-sized guard. Isiah Thomas, Chris Paul, Allen Iverson ... you get my drift.

Johnny Weir was a good dancer. Not sure how far he'll go because judges sometimes like to lowball the "ringers." 

[truthaboutluv]

I only watched the opening and the first dance, to see how this would all work. And this isn't even anything against Tyra per se, but it just further confirmed why getting rid of Tom, especially at this time, was a mistake. This new format, due to circumstances, is just naturally going to be a bit clunky and awkward. I mean it might get better by mid-season but for now, it's naturally awkward. And when something is a challenge, you need a pro that can smoothly work through any kinks and awkwardness.

That would have been Tom, especially as he had the added bonus of knowing and being comfortable with the judges and Pros. You have the awkward new format to deal with because of the pandemic and then they add on the awkwardness of Tyra's having to get comfortable with these people who she's had no interaction/professional relationship with. It was just an added weirdness they did not need. 

But while I did turn the show off after the first dance, I did catch a few clips of some other pairings on social media. No one truly wowed, of the few I saw but a lot of them showed potential. So should make for a competitive season. Regarding the comments about Derek's judging, didn't really see much of it, as I just watched clips of the dances, but I'm not surprised.

I've always said that a big part of why Derek won this show so much, is that he approached it in a very strategic way. He understood how to frame his celebrities and the dances in the best way, so they looked very well, particularly on camera and to the television viewers who would be voting. 

1 hour ago, scenicbyway said:

I also hope he held out for a big paycheck, especially since they fired his girlfriend last year the way they did Sharna and Gleb or Artem.

One, Gleb wasn't fired last season. He was paired up with Lauren Alaina. And two, no shade, but shade, I would hardly compare their unceremoniously letting Artem and Sharna go to Hayley, who really brought nothing to the show IMO. She was a troupe member who did serviceable dance bumpers. 

[kangminnie]

Tom's absence is really noticeable and I don't think this was the right time to fire him. His quick-witted humor would've really helped the show when there's no live audience this season. I didn't enjoy Tyra's hosting tonight and I felt she was awkward with the contestants, but I want to give her a chance since she hasn't hosted this type of show before.

Glad to see Artem and Sharna back, and am excited to see what Britt and Daniella bring as competing pros this time. I also really like Derek as the head judge. He seems very encouraging while providing constructive criticism to the celebs.

[SHD]

Anne Heche was really channeling her inner Sally O’Malley. “I’m FIFTY! And I can KICK!”

My preference would be for them to bring back Tom and dump the fake audience noise. I didn’t even like the real audience cheers and boos.

[sue450]

1 hour ago, Growsonwalls said:

I've loved Anne Heche since she was Vicky/Marley on Another World so it was great to see her still looking so fabulous. She's not a bad dancer. She's my favorite.

Carole Baskin was beyond awful. I felt bad for her. The routine was amusing in a "so bad it's good" way.

I never like it when they get a super-tall NBA star and pair him with a short dancer. The mismatch makes any real dancing impossible. I adore Charles Oakley but he looked so awkward out there. If they get an NBA star get a more regular-sized guard. Isiah Thomas, Chris Paul, Allen Iverson ... you get my drift.

Johnny Weir was a good dancer. Not sure how far he'll go because judges sometimes like to lowball the "ringers." 

oh thank you ! I am not the only one who remembers anne heche on another world ( soap opera) The last thing I remember her in  was a movie she and harrison ford were trapped on a deserted island..

 

    so they are trying to be politically correct and hired tra banks (black) and she has long flowing BLONDE barbie hair  and her skin color is the lightest I have ever seen it.....kind of misses the point,doesn't it> 

[Sister Havana]

The fake audience noise was way too loud. I was watching with my mom, and we could barely hear Tyra and some of the music over it. I’m glad they ditched the band, though. And I miss Tom and Erin!
 

I thought AJ and Johnny were underscored. Nev was really good - I was not expecting that. I think Charles and Carole will be the first two out. 

[boyznkatz]

Everyone was good except chrishell, Charles and Carole Baskins. Why did they save her for last? She was horrible and not that interesting, either.

Tyra didn’t offend me but she was pretty boring. Derek was even more boring. I miss Tom and Len already.

Johhny Weir and A.J. Got robbed. 
 

I really liked Anne Heche and Keo. It would be awesome if they win.

 

 

[Electruck]

I miss Tom. I think part of the difficulty for Tyra was a necessary vast space between her and the competing couples when she’d talk to them. It makes a difference, harder to create warmth across that distance.

Loved Justina, and am surprised no one has mentioned her yet.

Everyone who didn’t watch Carole and Pasha missed Pasha’s excellent rear in those leopard pants. Actually, I missed Carole’s dance... because of Pasha’s excellent rear. Dancers have the best bums.

[Back Atcha]

1 hour ago, SHD said:

My preference would be for them to bring back Tom and dump the fake audience noise. I didn’t even like the real audience cheers and boos.

I'll take the fake audience noise if I can have TOM BACK!!    I don't know what producers continue to hire Tyra.  She makes every show ALL ABOUT TYRA.  She's not quick or witty.  Someone should arrest her wigmaker...and the costume designer for good measure.

[Annber03]

6 minutes ago, Electruck said:

I think part of the difficulty for Tyra was a necessary vast space between her and the competing couples when she’d talk to them. It makes a difference, harder to create warmth across that distance.

This is a good point. 

[Back Atcha]

2 hours ago, ams1001 said:

That's one of the reasons she bugs me. 

There are SO MANY!   She (alone) will probably be the downfall of this entire program.