“Dancing with the Stars” returned for its 15th season, Monday, Sept. 24, on ABC. Dubbed as “all-star season,” the cast contains celebrities who have all previously competed on the show.

The 12 celebrities are paired with professional dancers, both new and old to the show, and together, each couple will dance their way to a chance in the finals and hopefully win the coveted mirror ball trophy.

Being this is an all-star season, naturally the stakes have been raised; not only are the three judges critiquing harder, they also have been given scoring paddles which contain half points in between each number rather than the usual one through 10 paddles.

Just because the season is called all-stars, however, does not mean all competitors are up to par for the competition. While celebrities such as Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, Apolo Anton Ohno, and several others all won while competing in their original season, picks such as Bristol Palin, Kirtstie Alley and Pamela Anderson leave viewers wondering how they made it on the show in the first place, much less the second.

While it was good to see old favorites get back on the dance floor during the first week, it also was interesting to see how much technique many of the celebrities had to re-learn, considering some had not been on the dance floor in several years.

Overall, not much has caught my eye this season. The judges are still their normal selves, bickering with each other and over-exaggerating their critiques. Perhaps the most annoying thing, however, is the fact that the show is not really a dance competition but rather a popularity contest. Although the judge’s scores do have some effect on who stays or goes home, it is ultimately up to viewer votes to decide.

Being a fan of the show since it first aired, I finally stopped watching a few seasons ago simply because the show became predictable and uninteresting.

I thought this season might be different and decided to watch since some of my favorite dancers were returning. However it proved to be a poor decision. Unless you enjoy watching two hours of mediocre celebrity dancers twice a week, I would suggest spending your time doing something much more useful.

Rating: C-

—Erin Peden

Staff Writer

To contact Erin Peden, email staffwriter1@occc.edu.