Season 14 for DTWS – Need For Re-Casting?

When the cast for Dancing With The Stars was announced Tuesday morning on Good Morning America, the big discovery was that almost none of the rumors of "stars" coming on for Season 14 became reality.  You would think after 7 years on ABC that the show would have gone to the next level with celebrities.  Is it too early to say that this season needs to be recast?

Before the bashing starts let's look at what ABC got right: casting from its own family with Sherri Sheppard from The View guarantees that the ladies will hype the show on a daily basis, same rationale applies here with Maria Menounos on Extra, Gavin DeGraw has his biggest hit of his career right now with "Not Over You" and he has a large female fan-base (the only rumored star to be on board for this season), and Jack Wagner has multiple reasons to be a good pick for ABC (seen weekdays on The Bold and The Beautiful, in the news because of his break-up with Heather Locklear, and is still looked at as a "Sex Symbol" to the target audience of DWTS).

The remaining 8 are an eclectic bunch with former TV stars ("Urkel" and "Laura Ingles"), athletes from football and tennis (Donald Driver of the Green Bay Packers and Martina Navratilova who still plays competitive doubles at 55), the usual entry from the world of Disney (and the potential ringer this season in Roshon Fegan who has a background in dance), the senior citizen (Gladys without her Pips), and 2 participants that most of America really does not know much about.  The buzz on this group has been currently at best lukewarm, raising the question why this show could not do better with their casting.

The last few seasons we have seen numerous rumors swirl with names that would create some more excitement.  Names like Dolly Parton, J. Woww of Jersey Shore, and Kris Jenner of the Kardashian clan had some excitement toward Season 14, and yet nothing!  Who would think that a show without one of the Kardashians could be looked at as a disappointment for ABC.

Seems to me there needs to be some compromises made by certain celebs to come on board and be exposed to some 20-25 Million people every episode, and ABC think a little outside the box.  There are some celebs with "A-List" significant others, former "A-Listers" who are now in commercials, known athletes who need a boost, and then there are those celebs who are just under the radar but starting to emerge for unexpected reasons.

Let's attempt a re-cast for ABC.  See if you think these 8 stars would make you want to watch, and keep in mind these celebrities are not out of the reach of total impossible:

Patricia Heaton -- Already employed by ABC on The Middle (a great show in need of a boost), still seen everyday with the syndication of Everybody Loves Raymond.  Does this not seem like a major win-win for the show, the network, and for Patricia to help expose her show which is in the shadows of Modern Family?

Patrick Duffy -- His redo of Dallas is coming to TNT, he is seen on The Bold and The Beautiful as Stephen Logan (soap star seems to be a requirement for the DWTS cast), soon to be 63 which would fill the required older person for the cast, and he has aged extremely well!

Jamie Lee Curtis -- You are looking at her name and thinking impossible, but upon closer look this talented A-List star has only done 2 films in the last 7 years, has been known more for her Activia commercials of late, and just did an episode of NCIS to great reviews and high ratings.  Was there even a call made to her?  Curtis would bring higher ratings, and give her a huge Welcome Back!

Brian Austin Green -- Former teen idol who has seen 2 of his former co-stars of 90210 do well on DWTS.  Green brings the potential of his wife Megan Fox (A-List!) showing up for support, which may bring more men to watch (not a bad angle huh ............... hire me ABC!)

Roselyn Sanchez -- Not that ABC could have seen that the new movie Act of Valor would have been #1 at the box office recently, but Sanchez brings a cross-section of audience appeal.  The former Miss Puerto Rico has been a Latin Pop star in the past, had a 4 season run on Without A Trace, held her own with Jackie Chan in Rush Hour 2, and has played a dancer in a past film she produced (potential ringer).

Antonio Tarver -- Played Mason "The Line" Dixon in Rocky Balboa, is the former Light Heavyweight champion, and in need of some attention.  Tarver holds the Cruiserweight title - a division lacking in attention as the weight class sits between light heavy and Heavyweight (200 pound limit).  Outspoken, a successful boxing analyst for Showtime, and loaded with charisma makes him perfect for the show.

Anna Kornikova -- I was thinking about Andre Agassi, but since I'm balancing 4 woman and 4 men, and she has an A-List boyfriend (Enrique Iglesias), a stint on TV as a fitness trainer, plus is part of our Pop Culture (a White Russian with skim milk = her)

Andre Benjamin -- Andre 3000 from Outkast, last seen with Will Ferrell in Semi-Pro, and right now is being featured in a commercial for razors.  Former Oscar winner Adrian Brody is in the Gillette spot with him, but the odds are that Andre would do the show and probably win!

One other person who needs to do Dancing With The Stars but may see herself as too big for the show is Courtney Cox.  Former A-List star of Friends is struggling to get Cougar Town going for ABC.  What could make this a remote possibility (although a major long-shot) is that she was there rooting for her ex David Arquette when he was on the show.  Note to ABC: offer Cox a guaranteed for 2 more seasons of her show for one dancing stint.  Win-Win for sure!