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Addressing the failure of Dancing with the Stars spin-off Skating with the Stars, ABC’s entertainment president threatened/teased us by calling its premiere season its “first season,” as if ABC might actually attempt a second. Earlier this week, Paul Lee told TV critics that he thinks the show failed because “we were probably too similar,” and added, “maybe we put them too close together, or we made something whose DNA was really too close together even though the brief before going in there was, ‘Hey, we have this fabulous, culturally defining show. We’d love to extend it.’” He said that it premiered so close to Dancing with the Stars that the comparisons hurt Skating with the Stars. “You were comparing a show at the height of its power, with a fabulous cast, with the first season of a show that hadn’t yet gotten that level of casting and that level of self-confidence, and that was a difficult comparison,” he said. View the original article here

« The Bachelorette: Former Contestant Rescues Lost Snowboarder | Home | Worst Cooks In America: Sophia Gettys Drops The Weight And Tackles A Marathon! » January 7, 2011 09:00:35 by Paula_Kosowski Life & Style Weekly confirms ABC’s “ Skating With the Stars ” winner , soap star Rebecca Budig , is getting engaged. Read more for all the proposal details…Life & Style reports the “All My Children” actress is marrying boyfriend Mike Benson. Benson popped the question to Budig this Christmas with a vintage ring dating back to the 30s from Platt Boutique Jewelry, a rep from the company tells Life & Style. Larry Platt, owner of Platt Boutique Jewelry, says “This vintage ring is perfect for Rebecca. She’s a style arbiter with fantastic taste in jewelry. The ruby accents are a unique statement of love. Michael chose an exceptional ring that expresses Rebecca as a person and them as a couple.” A source tells E! Budig “loved the ring and had actually seen it before Michael picked it...

« American Idol: Steven Tyler Says Jennifer Lopez is “Ridiculous” and “Street”–In a Good Way | Home | Denise Richards-It’s Complicated: Denise Richards Dishes on Santa and her Hot Moms Potluck Dinner » December 24, 2010 10:00:57 by Lori Wilson He may have impressed the judges and the viewers with his newfound figure skating skills on Skating With the Stars, but Jonny Moseley is first and foremost a skier. The amateur skater, but professional skier, will demonstrate his sport of choice at Squaw Valley on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe over the next several days. As the Squaw Valley Chief Mountain Host, Jonny Moseley will join intermediate and expert skiers at the top of the Funitel at 2:00 pm on December 24 and 26 – 30 for a special mountain tour that will include a stop at Shirley Lake and skiing with the Olympic gold medalist. Jonny has had an impressive skiing career, which started after his family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1975. He was selecte...

« The Fashion Show Ultimate Collection: David’s Exit Interview | Home | Survivor: Nicaragua — Fabio’s Victory » December 22, 2010 03:31:47 by Lori Wilson Bethenny Frankel just wrapped up her stint on Skating With the Stars, placing second, just behind the champion, All My Children ’s Rebecca Budig. The busy newlywed and mother isn’t resting on her laurels though, as she is hitting the road on a speaking tour. Bethenny will travel the country beginning early next year to share her secrets on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle while keeping a busy schedule. She certainly knows something about that being a reality TV star, an entrepreneur and an author, as well as a wife and mother. The Real Housewives From New York City star will also share tidbits from her upcoming book “Place of Yes” that is due out in March 2011. Frankel is already a New York Times bestseller with “Naturally Thin” and “The Skinnygirl Dish,” which helps readers turn calorie rich foods into tasty, yet healthier a...

« Top Chef: Anthony Bourdain Compliments Dale L.’s Testicular Fortitude | Home December 20, 2010 07:34:09 by Lori Wilson The semi-finals of Skating With the Stars delivers a group skate, a free skate, the first 10s of the season and a surprise ending. It seems the feud between Johnny Weir and Bethenny Frankel has also been settled. Keep on reading to find out how the Skating With the Stars contestants did this week and who made it to the finals. Despite previous reports , understudy Jonathan Novack did not jump in to replace Brandon Smith after he dropped out of Skating With the Stars due to illness. It seems the former The Bachelorette contestant trained for four weeks in case a skater was lost during the training period, but was then released. This makes more sense than throwing him into the competition during the semi-finals, especially after not eliminating anyone last week. Getting on with the show, the three remaining couples skate a group skate to “All I Want For Christm...

« The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Kyle Richards on Camille Grammer’s Dinner Party and Allison Dubois | Home December 17, 2010 02:30:19 by Lori Wilson Dick Button, Skating With the Stars ‘ answer to Dancing With the Stars ‘ Bruno Tonioli, says some pretty wacky things to the celebrities, while he constructively criticizes or praises their routines. Despite his off the wall one liners, he does know what he’s talking about when it comes to figure skating. Just last week , Dick Button told The Real Housewives of New York City ’s Bethenny Frankel, “Ice is nice, but liquor can be quicker.” Did it make sense? No, but he also suggested she needed to bend her knees and flow on the ice, which did. According to his bio on ABC, Dick Button’s knowledge of figure skating stems from the fact that he is the only skater to have won the U.S., North American, European, World and Olympic championships all in the same year. Overall, Button has won two Olympic gold medals, five straight World Champ...

« The Bachelor: ABC Releases Official Details on Brad Womack’s New Season on The Bachelor | Home December 9, 2010 12:00:10 by Lori Wilson Skating With the Stars judge Johnny Weir can add author to his growing list of professional accomplishments. Not only is the celebrity figure skating judge a two-time Olympian, three time U.S. champion, a pop-culture icon and a reality TV star, but now he is releasing a book about himself come January. Keep reading for more. Johnny Weir’s book, “Welcome To My World,” out January 11, 2011, is “A collection of wildly entertaining anecdotes and essays about everything from pop culture to skating to fashion to Johnny himself. Finally, fans have the opportunity to get to know who Johnny Weir really is, inside and out.” The flamboyant ABC reality TV show judge has also promised to discuss his romantic life in his memoir. Referring to a long term relationship, his book will address his sexual orientation, something Johnny Weir has yet to do publicly. The S...

« The Bachelor: Jason and Molly Renew Their Vows | Home | Skating With The Stars: Injury Plagues Week Three » December 6, 2010 04:00:17 by Lori Wilson One of the Skating With the Stars front runners Brandon Smith was rushed to the hospital during rehearsals today. What will it mean for the Disney star? Will he perform in tonight’s competition? Keep on reading for more. “Sonny with a Chance” star Brandon Smith was apparently sick when he came to the Skating With the Stars set today for rehearsals. TMZ reports that a 911 call was made from the CBS lot, where the ABC reality show is taped, around 11:43 am when Brandon started having difficulty breathing. He was taken to a local hospital by ambulance. Thus far, Brandon Smith has been a strong presence on the ice, moving around with confidence and skill. Last week, Brandon and his partner, professional figure skater Keauna McLaughlin, skated a strong tango that impressed the judges. Johnny Weir called it ferocious and sexy, while Dick Butt...

ABC’s attempt to turn the popularity of Dancing with the Stars into a spin-off series has failed: Skating with the Stars lost a huge number of its sibling show’s viewers, and kept losing about half its viewers throughout its premiere. The two-hour premiere was watched by 11.1 million people, although as The Hollywood Reporter says , “it actually didn’t. Because the time period contained roughly 13 minutes of overrun from the surging Dancing finale (23.3 million, 4.7), which was up at least 18% from last week and surely more once the overrun is added in,” that means the skating series actually had far fewer than 11.1 million viewers. Most damningly is that gap from its lead in: more than 12 million people fled when it came on, and TV By the Numbers notes that “it declined in each half hour.” In its last hour, just 6.91 million were watching, and that’s the average, so it was probably even less by the end. As NPR’s Linda Holmes observed , “Gee, Skating With The Stars flopped? How could...

Skating with the Stars is lying on the ice, bleeding to death, as it lost 50 percent of its viewers ages 18 to 49 from last week’s debut. It was in third place behind repeats of sitcoms on CBS, new episodes of NBC’s Chuck and The Event, and Fox’s rerun of House and new Lie to Me, which its most-famous star, Bethenny Frankel , couldn’t compete with. The Dancing with the Stars spin-off had just over 6 million viewers on average, losing about 800,000 of them throughout its 90 minutes. Last week, the show tripped and sliced itself open with its skate as it lost viewers throughout its debut, but ended up with about a half million more viewers than tuned in this week. TV By the Numbers reports that “reduced competition didn’t help” as “Skating With The Stars 1.2 adults 18-49 rating was down 50% from last week’s premiere.” View the original article here

« Dancing With The Stars: Brandy And Maks Discuss Elimination | Home | Hell’s Kitchen: Jay Santos Gets Into Holiday Spirit As He Hosts Tree Festival » November 19, 2010 09:00:41 by Shayla Perry The clock is ticking! In just a few days, Skating with the Stars premieres on ABC, and actress Sean Young is busy getting ready to take to the ice. Read on to see what Young said about her experience training for the show, and who her biggest competition will be. The answer may surprise you. Fifty-one-year-old actress Sean Young has been working overtime in preparation for the Skating of the Stars premiere on ABC. “It’s a lot of hard work–the skating and learning how to skate,” Young told Access Hollywood in an interview. “I’ve put on skates before, like when I was a kid…and then I had some time at a Culver City ice rink where my kids would like go ice skating on Saturdays, but that was really just like puttering around,” said Sean. “The last five weeks [of training for the show] have been very...

ABC has revealed the identities of the hosts and professional skaters for its upcoming Dancing with the Stars spin-off Skating with the Stars, and they’re even less famous than the six non-star stars who will be competing . Here are the pairings, according to ABC: “Bethenny Frankel & Ethan Burgess, Brandon Mychal Smith & Keauna McLaughlin, Jonny Moseley & Brooke Castile, Rebecca Budig & Fred Palascak, Sean Young & Denis Petukhov and Vince Neil & Jennifer Wester.” The hosts are Vernon Kay (“host of ABC’s upcoming ‘Million Dollar Mind Game’ and one of the most popular television presenters in the United Kingdom,” ABC says) and Olympian Tanith Belbin (“the most decorated U.S. Ice Dancer in history”). View the original article here

« Reality TV Listings: November 8, 2010 | Home | The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Kim Richards’ Tragic Past » November 8, 2010 07:00:59 by Shayla Perry After the cast of ABC’s Skating With The Stars was announced, the web went wild with reports that former cast mate and BFF of Bethenny Frankel, Jill Zarin of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City was originally asked to do the show, but passed on the opportunity. Where did the rumors come from? What does the casting director of Skating With The Stars have to say about the controversy? Keep reading for all the inside info! It’s just not a reality show without drama, and ABC’s Skating With The Stars is certainly not an exception to the rule. Just days after the cast of the spin-off reality series was announced, rumors began circulating about the fact that Bethenny Frankel was going to be on the show, and not Jill Zarin, who once donned a fancy ice-skating outfit and skated (and subsequently fell) on an episode of The Real Hou...

The Dancing with the Stars spin-off Skating with the Stars cast was announced tonight, and of course the new series has stretched the definition of star even more than its sibling series. Real Housewives of New York City and Bethenny Getting Maried star Bethenny Frankel is perhaps the most well-known and current star, which tells you a lot about the cast. In the “we really need someone who’s a name even though most people haven’t thought about this person in a couple decades” category, we have Sean Young; the ” and in the athlete ringer slot is skier Jonny Moseley. Surreal Life cast member and Motley Crue singer Vince Neil is also on the cast along with Rebecca Budig from All My Children. And in the “who?” category we have Brandon Mychal Smith, a “Disney Channel star,” according to the announcer, whose word I’ll take for that. This train pulls out of the station and gets ready to wreck on Nov. 22. View the original article here