Tuesday, November 2, 2010

"Skating With The Stars" lineup announced

Greetings again. At the request of Aunt Joyce, this is Tarasova's Mink bringing a little SWTS delight to Aunt Joyce's already delightful blog.

As announced, ABC will be bringing its own version of a celebskate competition to the air with its inaugural edition of "Skating With The Stars" debuting on Nov. 22.

Most notably (as far as Aunt Joyce and I are concerned), the exceptional Jewess and 'Real Housewife' Bethenny Frankel will be among those "celebrities" (airquotes) competing for the grand prize. Ms. Frankel, who never met a one-liner she couldn't make her bitch, will be skating with U.S. pairs competitor Ethan Burgess.


Why the Bethenny love you ask? Because she is a supreme wordsmith who so deftly played the role of Greek chorus on Bravo's "Real Housewives of New York City." It is a role that we are now in mourning over, as Bethenny has left the show for greener pastures.



Also joining Bethenny and Burgess are the following teams:


  • Olympic Gold Medal-Winning skier Jonny Moseley and Brooke Castile
  • Disney actor/singer/dancer Brandon Mychal Smith and Keauna McLaughlin
  • "Blade Runner" actress (and alleged cray cray nutcase) Sean Young and Denis Pethukov
  • Motley Crue member Vince Neal and Jennifer Wester
  • Soap actress Rebecca Budig and Fred Palascak (I have no idea, either)
But perhaps the biggest skating coup is that Johnny Weir AND Uncle Dick Button will serve as judges. 



50 comments:

  1. WHO ARE THESE SKATERS?

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  2. I literally knew NONE of these people ("celebs" included) without the help of Wikipedia except Denis Petukhov, Brooke Castile, and Keauna McLaughlin, who by the way is, what, 17? What is she doing with all these old people? I thought she was off the ice completely until next year and leaving the door open to compete again in the future.

    And I know Johnny of course.

    This has trainwreck written all over it.

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  3. Brooke Castile was a former U.S. Pairs champion, Ethan Burgess and Fred Palascak (with Melanie Lambert) were former U.S. Paris competitors whom competed at Nationals a few times. Denis P was paired with Melisa Gregory and finished 2nd 3 or4 times at U.S Nationals in Dance, Jennifer Wester was partnered with Danil Barantsev and they finished either 4th or 5th not too many years ago at U.S. Nationals. Of course you know Keauna, Johnny and Dick.. The skaters selected are solid for the most part.. not total unknowns

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  4. McLaughlin is 18.

    The "stars" are hardly that, but IIRC, the first season of DWTS wasn't exactly A-list, either. If it works, they should be able to get bigger names involved next season. If not, at leats it'll be fun for us.

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  5. yay! Finally a show to watch. All the other tv shows have been trainwrecks. The only TV show to watch.

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  6. DWTS is still not "A-list"... It's popular because nearly ANYONE can learn how to dance, at least a little. It's simple enough where any celebrity with some coordination can pull off some fancier dance moves to entertain a crowd that knows nothing about dance.

    Skating, on the other hand, is incredibly challenging, and something that very few people have enough talent to be good at. While the good skaters make stroking around the ice look easy and fun, these "celebs" without much experience make it look awkward and scary. I just don't see "bad skating" having as much of an appeal as "bad dancing".

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  7. The only "celebrity" I recognized is Bethenny, but the rest of the stars are interesting enough in their personalities that I'm now kind of excited for the show. The skating looked decent from the previews.

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  8. Is McLaughlin giving up her eligibility by being on this show? That would be a shame, unless it's possible to be reinstated. Do they still allow reinstatement? Unlike the other cast members, she is only a teenager and must still be shaken from this past season. I don't believe she was even skating at all until last week. It's very, very early to be giving up eligibility already. I would at least allow her some more time in case she has a change of heart about training/competing. She's worked very hard to get to the level she was at in skating, and I certainly would hope a future chance in the sport would not be taken away from her for good.

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  9. I doubt Keauna would have signed up for the first season of this (essentially a "guinea pig" show), if it was going to permanently bar her from skating competitions. She had not been been training up until this point, and there would have been no rush to return unless it really made sense.

    Considering that Mr Weir has been taking steps to protect his own eligibility, yet is still involved in this show (thank god because I can't take Button), I would say maybe the USFSA has granted them permission to go ahead with it somehow. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong because I don't quite know the rules. I don't think they allow reinstatements unless it's under certain circumstances (I don't know what those are).

    But Keauna's a very talented kid and I would hope those close to her would advise her to at least give it a full year since she quit before permanently shutting the door on anything.

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  10. I hate these reality shows because they make no sense and are entirely predictable.. The dancers with dance experience will win DWTS. And one of the girl celebs will win SWTS because her experienced male partner will be able to lift her up and twirl her around even if she's not very good. The guy celebs have no chance because they aren't going to be lifting anyone over their head if they aren't completely comfortable skating alone.

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  11. Whoops, I meant to say the celebs* with dance experience right above.

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  12. Surprised to see Keauna McL's name on this list just cause I expected it to be all "really retired people". I too hope that she still can have eligibility after this hot mess of a show is complete. With a good partner and good training, I think she's pretty top notch among US pairs skaters, but she may really need a long mental break to feel better and rejuvenate herself. Right now is too soon to judge how she will feel later. I read a couple of her poems and it sounds like she just needs a lot of time to unwind and relax a little before making any critical skating decisions. I get the sense she is still confused by what went on.

    I'll be glad to see Brooke. I never expected to see her again because she said all last year that her and Ben were scrambling for money just to be able to compete and would absolutely retire. They really had competed a long time, and I think with all the injuries and missed competitions it made it hard for them to afford the money. It will be good to see her again.

    The other skaters don't interest me because I don't really know anything about them. The adagio skater will probably be good because he is so experienced in show skating. As for the stars, I only know Johnny Moseley from the Olympics a long time ago.

    I will watch this show because I will watch any skating, no matter what it is.

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  13. WTF???

    I have my doubts this show will be anymore successful than the 1st "skating with the stars" done in the US, which actually had name skaters and slightly more name celebs...

    I definitely do not see it having the same appeal as Battle of the Blades either...

    That being said, I hope I am wrong b/c I LIVE for more skating on TV!

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  14. Doesn't Johnny claim to like Pluschenko and Slutskaya though? I question his taste.

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  15. We should also note Bethanny's additional FU to Jill Zarin, who made a big deal out of her own skating ability by having an ice skating party and doing a "solo"? Anyone remember THAT?

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  16. I think they should have copied Canada and gotten hockey players to pair up with figure skaters for this show rather than has-been (or never-been) "celebs". No one in America would know who the hockey players are, but at least they'd be starting with a good basic skill set on the ice. Unless they are doing a few weeks of boot camp and basic skating training, the celebs aren't going to last on the ice more than an hour or two at a time and the routines will be incredibly lame.

    That said, if there are decent ratings, it gives me hope that I can go get on the Today Show for something random, become a "celeb" and be cast next season and get to chill with Johnny and Dick. I contend that I have about the same name recognition as some of the celebs amongst my circle. ;)

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  17. Sometimes I think Johnny only claims to like Irina and Plushenko just because they are Russian and not really for how they skate. If he really like them and perhaps want to skate like them then he should have just focused on his jumps, thrusting, do a bielman...nothing else. Then he would be just like them.

    It's weir how I knew more of the c list stars than I knew the skaters. Not a good sign.

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  18. Wow, this "cast" is completely underwhelming. I doubt I'll last more than an episode or two.

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  19. A bomb in the making. I'm all for more skating on tv, but not when it's crappy skating done by "stars" who are actually D-list wannabes.

    Skating doesn't have to be all srs or all about competitions. In fact I enjoy show skating more than comps now d/t current scoring system forcing all programs to be boringly similar. But skating, by being showcased like this, is akin to being promoted as a novelty circus act. You can't help but feel kinda embarrassed for the sport and for the truly artistic skaters who try to promote it as a form of art.

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  20. I like bad TV, so I was sort of excited about this. However, Vince Neil is one of the "stars." Back in the day, he killed his friend in a DUI. Caused brain injuries for the victims in the car he hit. So you think he would have learned from that. But as recently as this summer, he got another DUI. And ABC decides to reward him with a check? I can't watch now.

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  21. I agree, Anonymous 11:02 AM. When it comes to figure skating, I like to see real, trained athletes/artists, not amateurs clomping about on the ice as a TV gimmick. The 'stars' clearly aren't as well-known as the people DWTS has on. It has to be more difficult to find celebrities who can skate well enough to appear on something like this, so that limits their possibilities for a great cast list even more. I'd also be inclined to guess more Americans are interested in watching dancing than skating.

    I don't know. To me this whole thing just sounds like a vehicle to get Johnny Weir more exposure on television. Why is he going around telling Japanese interviewers he intends to compete in Sochi? I mean, as if he could ever pry himself away from being the big famewhore celebrity at this point and regain the focus and dedication it requires to make it to another Olympics!

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  22. Johnny and Uncle Dick are the stars! Unfortunately, no one will be skating with them.

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  23. I live for the way some fans are already being negative about the show, which is a big potential revenue source for skaters.

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  24. I do think Johnny's star will be outshone tremendously by Uncle Dick. My palms are already sweating over the Bethenney Frankel practice montages and her comments about Uncle Dick's critiques.

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  25. For some of us fans it's not about what makes skaters money, it's about not caring to watch D-list celebs flump around on the ice to get attention! Sorry!

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  26. Amazed ABC couldn't scrounge up a few more skaters that skating fans have actually heard of. They must be very jealous of CBC's largely A-list line-up for Battle of the Blades. I mean, Katia Motherfucking Gordeeva.

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  27. ARE THEY GOING TO LOSE ELIGIBILITY?

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  28. AJ mentioned that the USFSA could possibly be sanctioning this (which I suppose would allow the eligible skaters to remain that way?) That would explain Weir's involvement in this show... and probably Keauna's too since she is still a very young age for pairs. I mean, if Kwan and Cohen are still eligible, it's obviously something really important to maintain just in case.

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  29. Vince Neil has quite a history, and it's not cute. It's gotta be tough finding quality celebs for a show like this.

    I would kill to see Keauna skate with a 6' guy someday. I loved her with Rockne and loved the way they matched, but maybe the extra height would give her a little breathing room and making it slightly easier. Plus Keauna+Rockne shot right up to the top of the U.S. so fast, I think she may have been too young to take all of that in. I could see how it could get overwhelming. Coming back as an adult with a refreshed attitude rather than an inexperienced kid with unreal expectations could do a world of good for her mental state. Even if she's not feeling it now, I hope that door is still open for her! She is wonderfully talented.

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  30. I don't know who most of these "stars" or (or some of the skaters, either), but will watch just to see Uncle Dick. Given his age, it's probably the last paying gig he'll get. I can see Johnny rolling his eyes already.

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  31. I'd kill to see Rebecca Budig skate as Greenlee then have Kendal come on and re-enact some Nancy-Tonya drama. That's about the only way I'd watch.

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  32. I just have bad feelings about this.

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  33. To all of the negative posters, don't watch the show if you don't feel like it. Figure skating fans aren't the target audience. They're targeting people watching DWTS. It doesn't matter if the pro-skaters aren't big names because the general public won't know who the big names are anyway as the sport isn't promoted on US tv. It's great they didn't choose the same skaters we see constantly everywhere on TV (eg. BOTB/Thin Ice/skating with celebs on Fox) or ice shows (eg. SOI). Happy to see new skaters. By the way the show is about celebs and their progress on the ice, not about skaters. Can't wait to see it!

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  34. You can hardly make progress on ice in two months if you barely know how to skate... But almost anyone can learn to dance a little even if they have no basic training at all.

    As for "negative posters"... Being negative doesn't mean we aren't going to watch the show. I'll watch any skating on TV even if it's a trainwreck. But just like DWTS, it doesn't mean I'm going to like everything about the format.

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  35. Can't wait to see this with witty Johnny on the judging team. I wonder who the 3d judge will be - if they follow DWTS format, it will have to be a female. And Uncle Dick as the head judge - I almost don't care who's skating. It will be fun, and skating needs more exposure on TV. Hope it gains some more fans.

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  36. I hope Yamaguchi doesn't judge... She was too nice to everyone on the Thin Ice show.

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  37. Fred Palachak is on Torvill and Dean's show Dancing on Ice here in the UK. His wife Mel is on the show too and outshines him in pretty much every department. She's quite sparky and full of personality while he seems to have all the personality of a dish cloth.

    Dancing on Ice has been massively successful here and that's without any pro skaters with decent credits. They managed Todd Sand for series one but after that I think I've only recognised one skater. British public can't name any skaters other than Torvill and Dean anyway so they think they're all World Champions lol.

    Mind you, at least the British version has actual "celebrities." I haven't heard of any of these ones!

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  38. jwe's new out is a safety dance. rumour has it tm dealed that if jwe accepted the award and posed for the mag she would support him for 2014 and not leak a pic or a vid. there was also a little pressure from jc and ea. i heard theres a film or pic out there with jwe in a compromising situation involving someone elses' penis. not fair cause jwe was drunk and stoned off his ass at time of pic. tm is doing this so abott and rippon can medal in 2014. like one guy asked-so how is your triple. even gays are hating this fluff now cause the focus and issue of importance with tm, jc, and ea (and some sex starved fans) appears to be jwe's sex life and sexuality which jwe can and will change at any time of HIS choosing (tm take note-the only one you're fooling is YOU). so stop the flamin bs already and get the show on the road.

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  39. I don't know. To me this whole thing just sounds like a vehicle to get Johnny Weir more exposure on television. Why is he going around telling Japanese interviewers he intends to compete in Sochi? I mean, as if he could ever pry himself away from being the big famewhore celebrity at this point and regain the focus and dedication it requires to make it to another Olympics!


    the whole famewhore thing is not for jwe. jwe's name is already out there. its to get and secure tm's, joey's and eric's place. jwe is being used as a vehicle a car to drive other peoples passions and thats not right even in GLBTA terms. tm is backing abbot and rippon as the next american sweethearts of ice-skating for 2014 and is rumoured to be anonymously spreading rumours to USFSA press that jwe is not competing when jwe has already thrown his hat into the rink. why else would they be so quick and work so hard behind scenes to get jwe a spot in out mag. out mag created jwe's BS award and PAID tm a nice chunk of change just to get jwe in the mag. eric gave a nice slip of the pic {o look!} but not til tm gave command. jwe did say that tm was the ringleader of all of this so to the rest of you i say pay no mind to the b*&^$ behind the curtain.

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  40. cause lets face it Johnny's face can sell lots of things especially gay and glbt porno mags. tm knows theres lots of $$$ to be made cause gays will buy anything with johnny's angelic face on it in hopes of getting that face and its mouth around their cocks. right? STEP RIGHT UP you gay guys ROTFLMAO!!!! well thats what tm is selling. no really how much is tm charging for admission? its like someone posted before--tm never made it and never had it as a real prof ice skater and secretly envys jwe's success. shes quietly promoting abbott at every turn. jwe needs new mgmt now more than ever or he'll spiral into a black hole abyss. in 2011 the foundation will crumble and things will begin to unravel for tm, jc, ea and others who consider themselves a part of jwe's tight little inner circle. the circle will not hold.

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  41. Something tells me this swts thing is just the beginning of the unraveling of events. Johnny wants his Olympic medal and will stop at nothing to achieve this. Johnny has a powerful female (not tm not gaga not a gay guy not jekitten not misfit not auntin not bsontwit not french not mbh not alicia) backing him from behind the scenes. Together, he and this female represent a powerful and positive force to be reckoned with. She intuitively knows and understands Johnnys true desires and seeks only to have them fulfilled. Anyone who stands in his way from now on will have to GO.

    ANYONE.

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  42. just so its clear to johnny's fans, rm is friends but not in love. rm made it clear in an interview that he's in love with his bf who is an investment broker (hello BIG MONEY) who he's been seeing for almost a year. sry jwe fans.

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  43. right on anonymous 5:26am. rm's recent comment was his nice way of sayin "i'm not available. i'm happily taken". when will jwe's fans and co-workers ever get it through their thick f*^%in skulls. now on to bigger, better and more important things. so johnny, how IS your 3A coming and how are things looking for Soch?

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  44. anonymous 2:54 and 3:20, truefax ea and jc have a personal agenda where jwe is concerned and it has nothin to do with hair or make-up. tm knew this would happen when she set it all up. before jwe met ea and jc he was going to break contract with tm. he may still break from her cause now he's tired of the bs fun n games.

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  45. anonymous 6:24, just like with "cruel intentions' tara's triumph is not over any one female or a group of females. tara's triumph is over johnny. johnny needs to watch "cruel intentions" and LEARN. tara has many faces and then there is the face she thinks only she knows. the one she sees when she looks in the mirror.

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  46. its expected that tm, eric or joey or someone from the jwe camp will read this and turn what anony 5:46 posted about rm to the opposite and on its ear out of spite. thats what they do. thats all they know.

    have fun twisting things around kiddies. is this game for grown-ups too? i wanna play.

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  47. eric you are telling frenchie the places where johnny goes in nyc. she was "magically" within 2 blks of where he and the boys were tonight. i'm calling and informing the cops. she was there in the area stalking him with your help. you are the only one i know who would text her with the info. if johnny wants to see her he can call her and tell her his whereabouts himself.

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  48. anonymous 3:52 IKR. So thankful I dont have to put my nose up erics or joeys ass to be a good friend to and for Jwe. Feels so good to be above that. There are profs in the area who are much better suited to Jwes needs. He needs to get rid of the rats. They are sabotaging his career. A mano e mano talk with The Donald held in secret w/out anyones knowing will explain.

    And Im sure eric and joey will read these posts and will hatch a plan and will do everthing they can to destroy Keri-Lynn's dreams and break her heart now especially before the Grammys. He or someone from his shop invited her to come by the salon for a day of beauty but KL refused siting what she calls red flags in a release waiver that erics salon wants her to sign before services are rendered. She told me that with that waiver, they can take your eye out with chemicals and you would end up with no recourse to recoup damages in the courts. Not good.

    The plot thickens. Hope Jwe reads this.

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